Your Student Guide to College Life

June 12th, 2009

Frisbee for College Students

Some people might say that football is the official college sport, because it’s followed so closely by millions of people around the country. Others would argue that basketball is the epitome of college sports, because of March Madness and the hype generated by the NCAA tournament. I have to respectfully disagree with both of these groups of people, and declare the official college sport . . . frisbee!

Unless you’re in the depths of a frigid winter, you’re almost guaranteed to see at least a few sets of people throwing a frisbee around every time you set foot on a college campus. And in the summer, you’ll see college-aged kids throwing frisbees on campuses, in parks, at beaches, in streets, and everywhere else that you might find groups of people. Where there are college students, there are frisbees.

Why is the frisbee such an important symbol of university life? There are many reasons, but I believe that the most important one is the also the simplest: because it’s so much fun! There’s something inherently satisfying in throwing an object that doesn’t look like it should be able to fly over great distances and having one of your friends snagging it out of the air with style before throwing it all the way back. Frisbees are easy to carry around in a backpack, are cheap (and thus easy to replace when thrown into a lake or lost in other ways), and easy to start up games with. Because of all these reasons, the frisbee is—and always will be—a favorite of college students.

If you haven’t thrown a frisbee since you were a little kid, or have never been very good at it, this summer is a perfect time to get into it and learn! Odds are very high that one of your friends plays pretty often, so ask them to get out and throw with you for a little while. They can offer some tips on your throwing technique, and you’ll be playing catch in no time (and, most likely, you’ll be hooked). You can now easily kill an hour with a group of your friends just throwing back and forth (if you think an hour is a long time to do just that, try it sometime—you may find that you’ll play a lot longer without even noticing!).

Once you’ve got the throw and the catch down, you can start trying other frisbee games. Try catching it behind your back, between your legs, or while jumping in the air. Have a competition with a friend to see who can catch the disc with the most style. You can also try disc golf, which is an adaptation of “normal” golf. Disc golf courses are popping up all over the country, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find one near you. Disc golf is one of the most fun (and free!) sports around (it is, by its very nature, extremely relaxed). Whether you’re just learning to throw, or working on lowering your score on the course, get out there and have fun with a frisbee!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

June 11th, 2009

Free Summer Activities for College Students

One of the best parts about summer is the amount of free activities that are going on. Whether they’re put on by your local college, the city you live in, your church, or another public or private group, you’ll have many opportunities to enjoy some free entertainment (which is especially nice as a student with limited income). You might have to do a little leg work to find out when and where these events are, but it’s definitely worth it.

There are many ways to find out about free summer activities, but word-of-mouth is usually the best way. Ask your friends about events they’ve heard of, and when you find out about something going on, let people know! Invite your friends, and tell them to invite their friends—start sharing information between groups of friends, and you’ll have more free summer fun on your hands than you know what to do with. You can also check your local newspaper or city magazine; most of them have events calendars that will list free events. There are many places online that will give you the information you’re looking for, as well. Just Google “free events [your city name]” and you should get at least a few useful results.

Many cities have a free concert series in the summer, where local bars show up and sell drinks, companies will have promos, and you’ll get to chill out and listen to local music. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the type of music being played, these concerts are a lot of fun (they also make for good dates, if you don’t want to take your date out to an expensive restaurant or movie). It’s always cool to hear local musicians—and if you play in a band, maybe you’ll end up on stage for one of the events!

Another common free activity is outdoor movie showings, many times put on by art galleries, museums, history centers, or other nonprofit organizations. A lot of these groups will show indie movies that you’ve never heard of or older, artsy movies. Attending one of these free showings is a good way to expose yourself to movies that you wouldn’t have watched otherwise, and enjoy a summer evening when the sun isn’t blazing down on you. Some groups also offer family-friendly movie nights, and show kid’s movies (think Disney and Pixar).

There are many other smaller, less-organized events that pop up every now and then, as well. An apartment complex might have a community grill-out night, a local church could put on a lawn games competition, and schools often put on free productions through their theater programs. You can really find almost anything for free if you look hard enough. So no matter what you’re interested in and what you like to do, explore a little this summer and hit up some free activities, even if they’re not things that you would usually do. Step outside of your comfort zone, and you might find that you really like something you’d never even thought of before!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

June 10th, 2009

Spending Summer at Home

If you’ve spent the last 10 months or so living on campus, it can be a bit of a shock living at home for the summer. While some students have apartments that they stay in throughout the entire year, most of the people that live in dorms will spend their summer at home. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this . . . it can just be a little tough. So to keep you from going nuts, I’ve provided you with an abbreviated guide to spending your summer at home.

One of the most important things you can do to keep your sanity when living at home is to stay in close contact with your friends from school. If you live near where you go to school, it’s pretty likely that several of your friends will live pretty close to you, so you should be able to meet up often for lunch or to toss a frisbee around. If you’re going to school across the country from where you live, this might be a little more difficult. If you’re lucky, a couple of your college friends will live within driving distance. If you’re not so lucky, you’ll have to resort to keeping in touch via email, Facebook, or the phone. If you’re far apart, you should still try to hang out at least a couple times throughout the summer. (Perfect opportunity for a road trip!)

In addition to stay in touch with your friends, you should make peace with your parents as soon as possible. Let them know that you’re thankful that they’re allowing you to stay at home (think of all the money it’s saving you), and that you’re willing to compromise on any rules that you disagree upon. Most parents are pretty cool with letting you do pretty much whatever you want—you have been living on your own for almost a year, after all. If your parents have some rules that you disagree with, like curfews or limits on how many friends you have over for a party, you should address this soon after you move in. Remember that your parents are being gracious in allowing you to spend your summer at home, and try to peacefully resolve the dispute.

Getting a summer job can also be a great way to make sure that living at home for the summer is a good experience. Not only will it get you out of the house often, it will also provide you with some cash so that you can a) go out and do things on the evenings and weekends and b) live on your own next summer. It’s tempting to just hang out and relax at home all summer, but I highly recommend getting a job (okay, you can probably take one summer off . . . it can get financially difficult, but it’s worth it).

As long as you can maintain your social life and keep the peace with your parents, spending your summer at home won’t be a big deal at all! In fact, living at home can be awesome . . . you don’t have to pay for food, you have a nice bed to sleep in (much better than dorm bunks), and you get to see your family every day (which may seem more like a curse than a blessing at first, but you’ll come to appreciate it in the coming years).

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

June 9th, 2009

Summer Volunteering for College Students

Although it’s easy to think of summer as time that you can spend completely on yourself, it’s important to think of others as well. You’ll have significantly more free time (especially if you don’t have a job), so why not do something that you can feel good about?

While spending time working without getting paid may make you groan, it’s something you should seriously consider. You don’t have to spend a whole lot of time, and you can make a big difference in the lives of people who aren’t as fortunate as you are. By the end of an afternoon, you’ll feel good about what you did, and you’ll have the opportunity to meet and learn about other people (and maybe learn something about yourself, as well).

Once you’ve decided to volunteer, you can start the process by thinking about what you feel strongly enough about to dedicate some of your time to. Are you passionate about helping the homeless? Feeding the hungry? Saving the environment? Working with children? Almost any interest can be indulged through some sort of volunteering, so find something that really means a lot to you—you’ll be more likely to want to volunteer, and you can make a difference on an issue that you feel strongly about.

Once you’ve determined the issue that you’d like to address with your volunteering, it’s time to figure out where you’re going to volunteer. Most local churches, school, and many other organizations have volunteering programs, so you can get in touch with a counselor or program worker and start getting ideas. You can also check out websites like 1-800-Volunteer.com to find a list of local volunteering sites. You can also get in touch with programs like Habitat for Humanity, Feed My Starving Children, and The Nature Conservancy to get information on working with them. Call up the coordinator of your local site and set a time to get out and help.

It can be a lot of fun to get a group of friends to volunteer together (and it makes it a easier to show up for the first couple times if you’re not alone). Talk to a few of your friends that are interested in the same causes, and suggest volunteering once a week or bi-monthly. The more people you can organize, the more of a difference you can make.

After getting a group together and choosing a site, all that’s left to do is get there on your chosen day. You might feel a little weird if you’ve never done it before, but volunteers and volunteer organizations are always very welcoming and helpful—they understand that you’re in an unfamiliar environment, and will help you with whatever you need. Stick with it, and pretty soon you’ll be the one helping the new people!

It can seem like a pretty big sacrifice (one you may not feel especially inclined to make), but spending your time volunteering and helping others is one of the best things that you can do with your free time. Try it out this summer—you won’t regret it!

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com

June 8th, 2009

Finding a Summer Job

Whether or not you had a job during the school year, it’s time to start thinking about getting one for the summer (I apologize if I sound like your parents). Even in today’s economy, there are plenty of jobs for high school and college students. In fact, it’s probably a good time to be a student, because companies will be less willing to pay for experienced employees that require higher salaries and more benefits. Still, it can be somewhat difficult to find a job. Here are a few places to start looking for high school and college jobs.

Once you get over your distaste for joining the working world, you’ll have to find a job to apply for. As a student, you have quite a few options. Probably the best is to talk to your school counselor, academic advisor, or career development center about finding a job or an internship. In you’re not sure of the difference between the two, I’ll give you the short version: an internship is just like a job, but one of the objectives of it is to gain experience in a career field (they also may be unpaid). Summer Internships are more common for college students—especially upper classmen—but high school students can also find them. Companies will often contact schools to let them know that internships or jobs are available, and your advisor can help you find one.

Using the internet and sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder can be a great help, because they are very popular with employers. You’ll be able to view thousands of jobs on these sites, and it’s pretty likely that you’ll be able to find at least one that you want to apply for. If there are large companies near where you live, it’s also a good idea to go directly to their websites and check out their “Employment” or “Careers” sections. Searching for “jobs [your city]” may also help you find out about opportunities that aren’t listed on employment sites. It’s also possible to use social networking sites to find jobs.

One underutilized resource for finding jobs is your parents. Not only might they know about job opportunities where they work, but they also might know other people who know of jobs (and who might even be able to help you get an interview). Any other adults that you can talk to will also be beneficial. The more connections you have, the better your chances of finding someone who can help you out!

After you’ve exhausted your other options, you can resort to one of the less effective measures—driving around and looking. Smaller companies (especially restaurants and small shops) will put out “Hiring” or “Help Wanted” signs. If you see one, stop inside and talk to the owner about scheduling an interview.

No matter how you choose to find a job, be persistent! There are a lot of job seekers, and fewer and fewer jobs. Don’t give up if your first few choices don’t work out. The more applications you send out, the more likely you are to get an interview (and, of course, a job).

As always, if you have any questions, comments or funny stories you'd like me to share about college or the blog, email me at stu@stuvu.com