Syllabus Week is definitely one of the most looked forward to weeks of college. Classes are easy, there is a party to go to every night, and there is basically nothing to worry about. Life is good, but don’t fool yourself into thinking that it will always be this way. Eventually (maybe even this next week) classes will get harder, and your body will fight back at you for all the nights you’re going out. Here’s how to survive syllabus week, and start you year off right.
1. Show up to classEven if you’re in an 180 person lecture hall and you’ve heard that your professor never takes role, still show up to the first week of classes. In the first week, it is mandatory for professors to take role to make sure that everyone who is attending the class actually enrolled. Professors may also edit their syllabi in class, giving you a new project or changing a test date, OR they’ll inform you of their mandatory attendance policy.
2. Write down important datesI promise, there will come a point in the semester in which you beat yourself up for not being more organized, if you don’t get organized now. At the very least, grab a semester at a glance calendar from the ALEC and write down when your major tests, papers and projects are due. Find out now when your crazy weeks will be so they don’t knock you off your feet when they come around.
3. Use the buddy systemFrat parties are fun, until you pass out under a table or end up hooking up with a guy you’ve never met. If you want to go wild, bring a friend who will be sober enough to tell when enough has been enough, and will make sure you end up safely back home. If you promise to be someone’s sober buddy, do not take five shots of whisky in the first thirty minutes of the party. No one wants to make decisions that they’ll majorly regret later, and no one wants something bad to happen to the people they promised to be responsible for.
4. Start healthy habits nowNever have to lose the freshman 15 by never gaining it. Eating nothing but pizza and Pop-tarts all day and drinking all night will quickly catch up with you. Make small changes now, like only drinking water, or adding fruits and veggies to every meal. Try to do something that will make you active every day. Your body will definitely thank you in a couple of months!
5. Meet new people and be social every day The first week of college is a perfect time to meet new people and to start making new friends. Even though it’s easy to just take a nap every afternoon or stay in your room binge-watching Netflix, it is so important to get out and be social every day. Say hello to the girl down the hall, or ask the nice guy from your math class to grab lunch with you. Go to a club meeting for something you are interested in, and meet people who are interested in the same things! Even if you don’t feel like it now, eventually you’ll want to go out with friends, and if you haven’t made an effort the first week, it can be that much harder to find new friends.
Feature photo by India Pougher