The heavy cost of heavy drinking

With aggressive drinking and partying comes a heavy price tag in the shape of a hangover.  Every college student figures out their hangover prevention system by their third or fourth year of college, but I’m about to give all the youngsters out there the secret to bouncing back after an all day bender.  So take out your notepads and pay attention, this will save you a lot of Sundays which would otherwise be lost to recovery.

Key Principle 1: Don’t Crash Before Hydrating

While it may be extremely hard to not simply face-plant into your bed as soon as you get home after a long night of partying, you’re going to have to resist that urge.  The number one cause of hangovers is dehydration (it’s science), so you’ll have to do your best to drink lots of water (or even better, drink something with electrolytes like Gatorade).  If you’re planning to really get after it one night, you might have to just setup the water rehydration plan before you go out. One of my favorite moves is to already have a glass of water or gatorade sitting next to my bed before I go out so I don’t forget to drink it before hitting the bed.

Key Principle 2: Learn to Recognize Your Shrinking Sobriety

The ability to tell when you’ve had too much to drink and then cut yourself off is a skill that can only be obtained through years of training in the most raucous party environments.  You’ll just have to get your reps in during your first couple years of college.  Once you learn to recognize when you’ve had too much, you’ll be able to prevent a lot of bad hangovers and more importantly, prevent bad decisions you may or may not regret (see TextsFromLastNight).

Hangover Prevention Myths:

1) Eating a big late night dinner will prevent the pain. FALSE.  This can actually backfire on you if the food contains a lot of salt which will cause even more dehydration.  Just stick to Key Principle 1 and you’ll wake up on Sunday and feel like running 6 miles.

2) “Sticking to beer will keep you in the clear”. FALSE. Once again, it’s all about hydration, and even though beer has a lot of water in it, it can still dry you out, especially if you’re planning to do some heavy day-drinking.  However, drinking beer can help you work with Key Principle 2, because it’s slower than ripping shots of tequila and trying to figure out if you’ve had too much.

Keeping these principles and myths in mind the next time you go out will save you some serious pain on Sunday morning so you can spend more time doing homework, studying or drinking more on Sunday.  I’m open to more suggestions from readers as well.  Cheers.

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

Now that January is approaching, many students will be taking advantage of the multitude of J-term study options. I highly encourage every student to spend at least one January studying instead of taking a break from school; not only will it be an academically and socially rewarding experience, it can be a whole lot of fun!

The first step in making sure that you have a successful J-term experience is determining exactly what you want to do. There are several options. Probably the most common is just taking a J-term class. This is very similar to taking a class during the semester, with a few notable differences. First, obviously, is the shorter length of the class. Because you only have one month to complete the class, you’ll be going to it more often and for longer periods of time. You might go four or five days a week, and anywhere from three to five hours at a time (depending on how your school does it; there is a lot of variation). And while this may sound like way too much studying when you’re supposed to be out of school, you have to think about the class you’re taking. For example, I took an English class focused on hard-boiled detective fiction, in which we read books like The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep. How cool is that? Many departments offer fun classes over J-term, so check out the catalog and see what you can find.

Another study focused option is studying abroad. Most schools offer study abroad programs, and those that don’t can hook you up with one that does pretty easily. You can travel all over the world and study whatever you’d like. Many students at my university studied theater in London, theology in Rome, and business all over Europe. I studied ghosts and monsters in 19th-century British literature in the UK. You have all kinds of options, both in classes and destinations. Some programs even travel through different areas, so you may be able to see several different countries over the course of a month. To find a study abroad program, check out www.studyabroad.com.

Another great J-term option is the service-learning trip. This is less focused on academic learning and more centered around volunteer service. You could be building houses in Mexico, helping out at a school in Tanzania, or doing natural disaster cleanup in South America. There are many service-learning organizations that take J-term trips with college students—ask around your campus, and you’ll be sure to find at least one that you can hook up with.

No matter what you do over J-term, I recommend making the most of it. Take one or two to do nothing (you deserve it), but use the rest of them to do something beneficial for yourself and others. Maybe it’s studying, maybe it’s serving, or maybe it’s something completely different. What have you spent your J-terms doing? Leave comments below and let us know!

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

There’s no denying it now. No matter where you live, winter is here. Most of the country has seen some snow, and those that haven’t are getting cold (well, relatively, anyway). Most college students are done with finals by now, or will be very shortly, so it’s time to get outside and enjoy the winter! You may be thinking, “Enjoy winter outside? Why would I do that? I’d much rather be inside!”

Many people go into a sort of hibernation during the winter and hide out inside throughout the cold months. And this is certainly a viable way to go about it. There’s something to be said for grabbing a good book and parking yourself in a chair for the day. But if you do this all the time, you’re missing out on a lot of opportunities! Winter, even though the weather can be nasty, is a great time to do outdoor activities. You just have to know which ones to go for.

Something that a lot of people forget about once they get out of elementary or middle school is sledding. When was the last time that you went sliding down a hill on a flimsy piece of plastic? It’s probably been a long time. But do you remember how fun it was? You can buy a sled for a couple bucks (or make your own—large lunch trays work pretty well), find a hill near your house, and go for it! Get a group together and get out for a couple hours. You’ll be surprised at how much fun you have.

Another activity that you may not have done in a few years is ice skating. Whether you’re good at it or not, it can be a really fun time. Yes, you might fall a few times . . . but so will everybody else! Unless you’re friends with several people on the hockey team, it’s pretty likely that no one will be a very proficient skater. Many skating rinks have student nights when you can rent a pair of skates for a few dollars, and if there’s a skating rink on your campus, you may be able to rent skates and get on the ice for free (if not, it should be very inexpensive).

One great winter activity needs little explanation: the snowball fight. Whether it’s organized or impromptu, throwing snow at your friends and family is awesome. It’s just that simple.

In addition to all of these classic activities, I encourage you to get out and try something new this winter. Rent cross-country skis or snowshoes, and spend an afternoon at a state park. Try skiing or snowboarding. Do something that you do in the summer—throw a frisbee or a football, or go for a run—in the snow instead of inside. Just start trying things, and you’re bound to find a winter activity that you enjoy!

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

The end of the semester is here—your professors will be calculating your grades very soon. Hopefully, you’re confident that you’ll be getting A’s in all of your classes. But, as anyone who has gone through college will tell you, that’s not very likely. What is likely is that you’re not too sure about some of your grades; and if you’re not doing so hot, you might be worrying about some of them. You only have a couple days (at the most) to convince your professor to kick your grade up a notch or two. What are you going to do?

This isn’t a useful strategy in this situation, but I have to say it. Next time, don’t let your grade fall throughout the semester! Work hard through your class, and you won’t have this problem.

But that’s not the case. You’re worried about your grade, so you’re trying to figure out what to do about it. One of the best ways to show your professor that you’re concerned about the class and working hard to improve your grade is to do really well on the final. Easier said than done, yes, but you have to work hard to get out of the hole you dug yourself into. Start early, and get some serious studying done. Use effective study strategies, get enough sleep, and get out there and slay the test. If you can get an A on the test, your professor might be willing to bump your grade up a bit. If you class has a final project instead of a final exam, do the same thing. You have to create a pretty strong impression, so don’t mess around.

If you’re not so confident in your abilities to impress your professor academically, you’ll have to take more direct measures. Go talk to your professor about the class. Don’t bring up the subject of your grade, but ask questions about the test or your project. Get some clarification on things you don’t understand. Show your professor that you want to turn your academics around and that you’re willing to work hard for the class.

Similarly, going to class-organized study groups is a great way to show your commitment. Your professor may show up to one of these sessions, or s/he might get a record of who attended. Even if the professor doesn’t find out that you were there, it’ll help you test-taking or project-completing.

An absolute worst-case scenario strategy is to directly approach your professor about your grade. This isn’t likely to work, and can be extremely awkward, so I don’t recommend it, but you might be able to get moved from an F to a D- if you make a really strong case. If you have to go this far, I wish you luck, because you’re going to have a tough time. But it could be worth 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

Just like staying involved in your high school, staying connected with your college—both while you’re there and after you graduate—is both rewarding and important. And while the two have several things in common, there are different ways in which you can maintain your level of involvement in your college campus. Because of the great differences in how high schools and colleges are run, you’ll have to go about the process a little differently.

One of the more immediately obvious differences is the way in which you’ll find out about opportunities for involvement. Because universities are so much larger than high schools, there’s almost sure to be a volunteer coordinator or another similar person working there. A good way to go about finding this person is to contact your college’s office of alumni affairs or alumni council (both of which you should be able to find on the school’s website fairly easily). Someone in this group will be able to direct you to who you need to talk to.

After you talk to the correct university representative, you’ll probably start noticing another significant difference between high school and college in this respect: in college, it’s much more organized. In high school, it’s often pretty informal, and you can just walk in and start helping out somewhere. At the post-secondary level, you’ll probably be placed in a very specific place to do a more specific task. You’ll still have the choice of what you want to do, of course, but it’s likely that the options will be tailored to the needs of the school. It’s also fairly likely that you’ll be working in a group; groups of alumni often gather to do some sort of service project for their college.

Alumni organizations are also good ways to get involved. Many alumni groups organize regular volunteer sessions at their college, and you can hook up with them by contacting your alumni office and asking about organizations that stay involved with the school. It’s often easier to do it this way, because you might know a few of the people that you’re working with, and at the very least, you have something significant in common. A lot of these groups use Facebook or another online social networking tool to stay in touch, and this makes it really easy to find out about events that you can take part in.

However you get in contact with your school or an alumni group, it’s good to get out there and give back to your school. You’ll be working for a good cause, get to meet other alumni from your college, and have fun. So, whether you’ve graduated already or not, find out about doing some volunteer work around your campus. You’ll be glad you did.

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