What I learned from my first semester of college!

It is currently December which means that I am officially done with my first semester at college! The results are in! I passed all my classes, made friends, found a job on campus, and joined a club! So what did I learn? What will I do differently next semester? What will I do exactly the same?

Staying Organized!

• One thing that I did to stay organized and make sure all my assignments were turned in on time was to print out my syllabus and put it in the front of each binder. This way you will always be reminded of when an assignment is due! 
• In your room it is a good idea to make a spot for all your textbooks. The worst thing you can do is be in a rush for class and misplace your textbook. My dorm came with a desk that has a shelve above it, thats where I keep my books.
• Prepare the night before! I cant tell you how many times I woke up with 10 minutes to get to my class. It is a good idea to lay out piles the night before. This way in the morning all you have to do is grab that pile of books and go! 
• Everyone has there own way of staying organized, this is how I did it. I have a binder for every class with a folder inside of it. I also have looseleaf paper. In addition to that I put my syllabus in it. Find out what works for you. 

Roommates! 

• You have to understand that problems will arise! There is no going around this. The difference between good roommates and bad roommates is whether you can make it past the problems. The way you do this is by discussing your problems. If you don't like something your roommate is doing bring it up with them. If they don't know what they are doing wrong they are not going to change. This also goes the opposite way as well. If your roommate brings something up you have to respect them. Listen. Talk. Come to a solution. 

The fun stuff! 

• Going out every night might seem like a great idea at the time but trust me YOU ARE WRONG. There is a reason sleep is required. You are not going to learn as well, or function as well.  Remember why you are at college. You are here to learn and get a degree. Now I'm not saying that you cant hang out with your friends ever but do it in moderation. Find a balance between school, sleep, and social life. 

Getting sick!

•  All I can say about this is be prepared. I don't care how good you think your immune system is or how often you sanitize or how clean you keep your room. Sure this stuff helps, but you are going to get sick. Prepare for this when you go to school I cant tell you how many times I made emergency runs to the local drug store for NyQuil. 

Food! 

• You are going to be on your own now so you are going to want to eat everything your parents wouldn't let you. DO NOT DO THIS. They didn't let you have it for a reason. Telling yourself that you will work it off tomorrow is never a good idea and chances are you wont, so just don't. The freshman 15 is not required. Make healthy choices and it wont happen to you. 

Homework! 

• I can not stress enough how much you need to do this. You will get a lot of readings, READ THEM! Even if they seem irrelevant at the time they will creep back up I promise! In addition to the readings keep up with your assignments. Keep a calendar and plan out what you should do every night. 

5 signs you are with the right guy!

Everyone has different expectations in a relationship. Some people want safe, they want someone that they know will always be there. Other people might want romance, and others? Well maybe they want excitement and adventure! There will never be a one list that lets you know you are with the right person. This is how I Know I am. everyones list is a little different. This is how I knew that I was truly in love with my significant other.

1. you can picture a future. 

The idea of happily ever after no longer scares you. You can imagine your wedding day, but beyond that you can imagine the happy years that follow.

2. You have similar values. 

This is not necessarily religion and politics although that can be included. My key things are:

• How to raise kids 
• Moral values 
• marriage?

also included in this for is character, who is he as a person? Do I like that person?

3. You can argue 
there are a few things that separate a good argument from a bad argument.
here is my criteria for a good argument:

• When you argue you are making progress. you are not just yelling at each other to yell at each other. In order for this to happen you have to listen to each other and trust each other. 
• you also have to understand that fighting is a natural thing but you cant walk away angry.

4. You have separate things. 

Its always nice to do stuff together. however, you cant always be together. You need separate things. separate friends and activities, without any hard feelings.  

5. You have things to do together. 

Although spending time apart is a must you also should have things to do together.  Find activities that you both enjoy! movies, concerts, hiking. It doesnt matter what it is as long as you both can have fun doing it. 

MEETING THE PARENTS tips, tricks, and rules.

Me and my boyfriend have decided to go out to eat with his parents next month. This will be the first time I meet his parents. This made me nervous so I decided to research this a lot. I am sure I am not the only one stressing about what to wear what to say and how to act. So to save you from all the research I did I thought I would make a post about this. Be sure to let me know how it goes with you, and if theres something else I should add. xox

CLOTHES! This is probably the most stressful thing, for me at least. I have a million questions running through my head. Is this to casual? Is this to dressy? is this to conservative? Is this to colorful? ect. I think you get the point.
Here are a couple tips to make this easier!

1. Stick to your style. Its really important that your boyfriends parents get to know the real you.

2. With that in mind Dress conservative. You don't want to make a bad first impression. Don't wear inappropriate clothing, cover yourself up ect.

3. Dress with the event in mind. If you are going out to eat dress accordingly.

4. Don't over do the makeup. let them see the natural you! You are gorgeous flaunt it.

5. Don't wear jewelry you are going to play with all night. 

6. keep in mind who you are meeting. If his parents are very classy dress with that in mind.

so now here are some outfit examples for different styles! You don't need to follow these exactly but they are good starting points!

The rules: 
after you have your outfit planned out you can release a major sigh of relief. But then your body begins the nervous jitters. You realize that although you have accomplish something major this means the meeting is coming closer. So i have put together a small list of rules to follow to ensure a positive night with his family!

1. Be yourself
This is really important. He is introducing you to them because he likes the real you, so why wouldn't they?
Helpful tip: If they are talking to you about something you know little about don't just chime in to look like you know it. For example if they are talking about a football game and you don't watch football just ask them to recap it! This way you wont get caught in a sticky situation and you come across as interested in their interest! In the long end they will respect you more! 

2.  Be Helpful 
The ways you can do this depends on what you are doing with his family. If you are going over to his house for dinner offer to bring a plate (appitizer, dessert). You can offer to set the table, bring dishes out or back to the kitchen, offer to help clean up or do the dishes. The amount they are willing to let you do will vary but the offer is what is important. If you go out to eat there is not much that you can do. However you can open doors for his family, after all its the small things that matter. 

3. MANNERS, MANNERS, MANNERS! 
This is SO important. you have to think of this as a first date, or an interview. Its much easier to create a good first impression off the bat then it would be to change their opinion of you. A really good way to do this is with manners. 

So lets review the basics: 
- Maintain good posturer (sit with a straight back NO SLOUCHING!) 
-Chew your food with your mouth closed (if they ask you a question while you are chewing just motion to them that you are chewing and respond after you finish chewing) 
-Put your napkin in your lap. 
-Hold your silverware properly.
- Do not forget please and thank you. 
- when you are eating cut your food up as you go into tiny manageable bite sizes. 
-Do not touch your phone. It will make it look like you are bored and you would rather be somewhere else. Instead turn it off or on silent. If you think you might be tempted to take it out leave it in the car or at home. 
-keep your elbows off the table. 

4. Be respectful. 
This is a really big one! respect there wishes. If they want to pray go along. Use your manners. Engage in conversation. A big thing is to remember to find a balance of talking about yourself and talking about them. The purpose of the night is to learn about each other. You don't want to constantly be talking about yourself, but you also don't want to be always turning the conversation away from yourself. 

LONG DISTANCE!!

For those of you who may not know my story I  met my current boyfriend at college. We are both from different states so when we go on break the driving distance for us is around 5 hours. While thats not an extremely long distance, during the break we don't see each other. We both live in the midwest and the weather gets really snowy and the roads get icy. I have learned a few things on how to deal with long distance that I want to share with you.

1. Be patient! 
when you spend a lot of time apart you can get impatient, and stare at your phone for hours waiting for a response. you need to be patient. They will get back to you when they have a chance. 

2. Stay busy!
Being a part for a long time can be hard when all you do is think about them. The time will go faster if you distract yourself with work, friends, and family. 

3. Find a healthy amount of talking!
Every relationship is different. With some long distance relationships is reasonable to talk everyday all day. With other relationships maybe a Skype call once a week is enough. and other people are in-between. Find what works for you. 

4. Plan activities!
there is various things that you can do long distance. you can Skype at a coffee shop as a coffee date. watch a movie at the same time. ect. 

5. Before you spend the time apart plan something big!
Before you leave plan a date. It doesn't matter what it is. It will be nice to have something to remember before you leave. 

6. Before you leave talk about where you are at! 
The biggest thing is that you need to define cheating. Some people believe that flirting would qualify. For others it would be sex. Have this conversation before it causes problems later. 

NOVEMBER FAVORITESS!!!

yes it is that time of the month! November is always an exciting month. Its getting closer to christmas so obviously I started listening to christmas music and decorating my dorm! Also its THANKSGIVING! you get to go home and eat tons of food! When all you eat is college food and ramen noodles this really is a treat. thanksgiving this year was a wonderful time. I am the youngest of my siblings so we are all in different stages in my life as well as in different places, so when we all get together its awesome.

Enough talking about November though Ill get to my favorite products!

1. Better than sex mascara. 
This is a product that I have wanted to try for a really long time. I have heard wonderful reviews about it. So finally I purchased one for myself! AND OH MY GOD ITS ABOUT TIME! I love it I have really short eyelashes and this fixes that. Now I am desperate for a decent mascara, out of the millions I have tried I haven't really been impressed by any but I am with this.  This does have a couple downfalls in my opinion( but i'm going to buy it again) its a really wet mascara, and due to this it gets everywhere. In the past I have used mascaras such as they're real, clump crusher, telescopic lashes and so on they all have similar brushes they are small and spiky. The better than sex mascara is huge! So it is possible that I just need to adjust.

2. Fit Me Matte + Poreless  My makeup routine has always consisted of foundation and powder on top. I had no desire to change this however this month I ran out of foundation. I was planning on sticking to the routine. I have not had a problem with how my makeup has turned out so far. However this was changed when I went into the store and they didn't have my foundation! I looked all over and all I could find was this product by the same brand. I loved the old product so the idea of trying something new was crazy to me. I was upset but I still bought it. I am really glad I did this! The new and improved part of this foundation was the fact that it is matte. I have never heard of a matte foundation before and i was just very skeptical of the results. Thankfully though it works amazing. It gives a powdered look which eliminates a whole step in the makeup process. In addition to that everything that I loved about the original product exists in this product.

College Update

One of my classes got cancelled today so I wanted to write an update. Sorry if this post is long a lot has been going on! To begin I will start with school. As many of you know I am currently a college student and I am studying communications. One of the big things that happened was that I actually switched my major. I came to school with a plan and that plan was that I was going to study Applied Social Science with a concentration in sociology and anthropology. After taking a beginning course in both anthropology and sociology I realized that major was not for me. I based that decision off of the fact that I wanted something more hands on, something more engaging. I talked to some people that were further into the major and they talked about doing a lot of lengthy research projects and a lot of reading. This was not what I wanted.
 
For as long as I remember communications was always my backup. Becoming a lawyer is still the end game though so I had to consider that before I made my decision to switch. In order to fully understand this I met with an admissions advisor from a well known law school in my state. When I talked to her I asked her what was really important to study as an undergraduate. She told me that as a undergraduate their is no specific major that is required but english classes that develop writing skills is a huge help! That was exactly what I needed to hear to switch. I changed my major later to communications. I am really excited to start taking english classes next semester. I am planning on taking english 102, professional writing elements of style, woman and war, and fundamentals of speech. All of these classes seem really exciting to me!

So clearly this is just about classes I will write another update post on some other stuff!