With the advent of the new year and my first semester here at Cal, I’ve quickly discovered my back-to-school essentials. These are the things I find myself using on a day to day basis and have become integral to my campus routine.
1. Spotify Premium and a pair of headphones
How else are you going to romanticize your fall semester without your own personal soundtrack? I consider having a music streaming platform an overall life essential but Spotify’s student discount offers a premium subscription, as well as access to Hulu. With the sheer size of UC Berkeley’s campus, playing music or a podcast adds ambiance to your campus stroll. Either playing slow jams in the morning with the Berkeley fog as your backdrop, or rap music while working out, I’ve nearly developed a full dependency on listening to music. A nice pair of headphones also gets bonus points as they have almost become an accessory in and of itself.
2. Google Calendar/A Planner
This is another no brainer, but as someone who didn’t use Google Calendar prior to attending UC Berkeley, this has been a life changer. Google Calendar is the universal planner used by Berkeley students. Between classes, student organizations, and work, the platform helps organize my day to day life. As both a Virgo and a visual person, you can also alter the color palette to enhance the aesthetics of your calendar. It can also be paired with Google Tasks, which makes me feel generally more on top of my workload.
3. A comfortable pair of shoes
Walking UC Berkeley’s campus isn’t always for the faint of heart. Even if you aren’t walking uphill– which would be a surprise– there’s a lot of walking to be done between classes, getting food, or even heading home for the day. The other day I wore Boston Birkenstocks around campus and let me tell you, it wasn’t ideal. A comfortable sneaker is a staple for any university, especially Berkeley.
4. Pepper spray
Do I feel comfortable on and around campus? Most of the time, yes. Am I actually ever going to use pepper spray and would it stop a crime? Probably not? Regardless, I still think it’s a good safety measure to take just in case. Since Berkeley is a populated city, crime is bound to happen, and getting a million WarnMe notifications is a common Cal experience. As a woman, I just generally feel better knowing I have some sort of self defense item on me because even if I don’t use it, it’s better to have something instead of nothing at all. It doesn’t have to be pepper spray either. It can be a taser, knuckle rings, or a sock full of quarters.
5. Caffeine
I haven’t yet developed a caffeine dependency, but I have a feeling that I may soon. I have 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. classes twice a week, so I only get to sleep in on weekends. Not to mention that the midday slump I get in combination with my more mundane lectures makes it practically impossible to stay awake. Besides the energy boost, there are a lot of tasty ways to get caffeine like coffee, matcha, or chai. You can also go the energy drink route with a Celsius or a Redbull. Getting in some caffeine will help you get everything you need done throughout the day.