How to start your spring semester right

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by: Fernando Bauzo

Welcome back to school! I know many of you dread hearing those words, but at least the school year is almost over. What better way to start off your semester than with several inches of snow and temperatures well below zero, with a sprinkle of unpredictable Midwestern weather? If frozen water isn’t your favorite pastime, hopefully reading my article will be. Here are a few tips to help you start your semester on the right foot (no discrimination against lefties).

Sweater Season

I would like to start off this list with a display of my incredible ability to remix any song:

“Sweater gang, Sweater gang, Sweater gang, Sweater gang

Sweater gang, Sweater gang, Sweater gang, Sweater gang!

Spend ten racks on Alexander Wang

High fashion is my name, ooh

I love winter, I let down my mane…”

I think that is enough of that. The point I’m trying to make here is that the best time to wear a striped sweater is all the time! Sweaters are in every season. Not only do they keep you warm, but they show that you have a sense of fashion that never goes out of style. Just ask anyone who lived through the 70s, or myself.

Scrap the Resolutions

You’ve decided to start going to the gym this year. Chances are, that’s not happening. Why? It’s because you decided to jump on board the resolution train. Resolutions are a bad deal. The only thing worse than starting a new year’s resolution is writing a Don Jones paper at 3am. If there is any life lesson you should take from Star Wars, it comes from the wildly strange master Yoda. “Do or do not, there is no try.” Resolutions are just a fake sense of accomplishment that accomplishes nothing. If you want to go to the gym, do it. If you want to change jobs, work it, girl. Scrap the resolutions, and do it like Nike. Or Shia LaBeouf.

Get Organized

I get it. We’re college students. We have poor time management skills, waste too much time watching Netflix, and constantly forgot to do our homework. I’m not saying that students are unable to function like this, but you should probably shouldn’t continue living your life like this. Again, papers at 3am are a bad idea. If you need help planning things out, look no further than your wonderful university. They hand out these little helpful tools every year called “planners.” You know, those little booklets you keep throwing away at the start of the semester? You can actually use them to segment your time so you don’t spend 6 hours watching Friends. You can even write down your homework assignments so you don’t forget them. Just try not to forget your planner in the LINK.

Make New Friends

Most likely, you don’t have any of your friends in your classes anymore. Everyone has parted ways, and now you’re stuck in a class full of freshmen because you didn’t take this course earlier in your career like you were supposed to. It can be rough. However, this is the best time to make friends. Friends are very useful to help you advance as a student. There’s always that one student who purchased their textbook a week before classes started. Make friends with them, of course! It is your responsibility to show them “de wey”. If you forget to, that’s fine. It’s not that important. What is important is that you now have a study buddy! You can bring snacks, and they can bring the textbook. There is no better way to make a new friend.

Start Journaling

The last semi-useful tip I have for you is journaling. There are many advantages for keeping a journal:

Helps you identify and understand your thoughts and emotions
Helps relieve stress
Gives you confidence in your writing ability
Allows you to chronicle all your mental breakdowns (they make for great children’s bedtime stories)

You’ve made it this far into the school year, so congrats! It has been a rough one. Hopefully these tips can help you kick-off the new year in style. If they don’t, then you’re probably not doing it right. Trust me, I’m a certified quasi-tip giver.

Bon courage!