The exciting haze of being back to Bentley has passed, and the painful reality of homework, studying, and actual deadlines that don’t involve tanning or vacationing has caught up to you. As a freshman—or even as a senior experiencing the first semester for the last time—it is all too easy to get too absorbed in seeing friends and partying. In order to avoid a semester-long case of the Sunday Scaries, here are simple ways to make the adjustment into the semester smoother.
1.) Start New Habits Early
It only takes two weeks to form a new habit. If you’re guilty of making a million GPA-related resolutions at the start of the year—only to find yourself with a notebook covered in coffee stains and useless doodles by the time midterms roll around—consciously make the effort to sit down and take useful notes. Using colorful pens and even spending the money on nicer notebooks are easy ways to make the process a little less miserable—and after four classes worth of notes, it will become your normal routine. The same can be said for getting more sleep, drinking less coffee, or any other goal you have this year. Start small, and start early.
2.) Learn How to Pack your Backpack
As ridiculous as this may sound, bear with me: there is literally nothing worse than being left with just five minutes to print an assignment before class, trekking up to the library, and realizing you never actually clicked print on your laptop, leaving the only copy of it on Lower. Having your chargers, laptop, and an emergency snack on you at all times can only help you. Just make sure not to over-pack to the point that someone has to perform CPR on you half way up the Smith stairs.
3.) Call Home
You never realize you’re homesick until you break down at 2 AM while studying for an accounting test and all you want is your mom. There is absolutely no shame in calling family or friends from home on a weekly basis, because sometimes all you need to feel grounded is for someone to make fun of you for that stupid thing you did when you were twelve.
4.) BUDGET
These six letters will dominate the rest of your time here at Bentley. Budget time, budget money, budget your life. You have an entire year to go, and if you find yourself with a single-digit balance in your checkings come October, it is already too late. Take the time to give yourself a weekly allowance before you go overboard with dorm décor, costumes for party themes, and takeout every night. Planning your week out in terms of time and spending can save you from some major heartache down the road. Plus you’ll be inexplicably sad if you run out of discresh after the first month, and have to use actual cash to get mozzarella sticks.
5.) Pace Yourself
You have all of college ahead of you—do not try to cram it into a single week, or a single weekend. Give yourself time to enjoy everything Bentley has to offer, because looking back on it, I promise you will cherish it a lot more if you have more than just First Week to remember.