1) Laptop Key Cover
It’s inevitable that your laptop will be with you absolutely everywhere you go. You will use it to take notes in class, you’ll watch Netflix while you’re eating pizza, you’ll take it outside with you on those beautiful fall and spring days. In order to protect it from your tears, food crumbs and literal dirt, get a keyboard cover! If anything gets on one of them, just take it off of your computer and give it a good wipe or even run it under water! It will be much easier than trying to clean between your actual keyboard keys.
2) Backpack
This one can get redundant, but I still see girls carrying completely over-stuffed ginormous Vera Bradley totes and leaning to one side in order to support their mammoth textbooks, or guys scrambling to hold all of their textbooks and loose papers while running through campus. There are so many cute options with all the different designs you could possibly need (laptop sleeve, water bottle holder, a myriad of pockets). Invest in a backpack and carry your cute tote on those miraculous days when you only have one or two classes. Save your back!
3) External Phone Battery
If you don’t have a smartphone in college, you’re lucky! The battery life is terrible. In order to save your lifeline, bring an external batter that’s all charged up in an extra pocket or pencil case. If you get an extra USB charging cable, you can stick both of them away until you need them and there’s practically no extra hassle. Try to get one that is at least 2600 mAh (milliamps) because that’s typically the power your actual phone battery will put out (iPhones and Samsung phones for reference). This amount of power will give you another complete charge in your phone, which can be priceless during those long library study sessions or when you’re running from class to the dining hall where there are no outlets to be seen for miles!
4) Winter Weather Gear
It’s of the utmost importance that you get your snow boots early! Marywood’s campus is notoriously treacherous (especially heart attack hill or the incline from Adams Ave to the LAC) when the wintry weather hits, so make sure you’re prepared before it happens! You’ll thank yourself in the future, I promise. Also included in this category are rain boots, umbrellas, a good winter coat, and an ice scraper for your car!
5) Coloring Book
I’ve never met a college student that doesn’t like to color. Grab yourself a ridiculously cheesy or childish coloring book and some colored pencils and go to town! Most people don’t know that the LAC has a meditation room (located on the second floor off of the middle stairwell), so why not pop in between classes and color to take your mind off of how scary school can be? You’ll be amazed at how much clearer your head will feel and how much more mentally energized you’ll be to take on the rest of your day!