5 Random Things I’ve Learned In College

Graduation Day. I never thought it’d arrive, but it’s snuck up on me faster than a sleek red corvette on the interstate. Over these past four years, I’ve met some amazing friends and gained a proper sense of what my true life passion is. Never did I think I’d witness the University of Florida’s National Championship Football game in 2006, take a spring break cruise to Mexico, or manage my own healthy lifestyle blog. Overall, I’ve learned a lot about my quirky self and I honestly don’t regret a thing.. which is good, right?

For you lovely undergraduate girls, enjoy these 5 random tips to help you make the most out of your remaining college years.

1.When It Comes to Cereal.. Use Portion Control

What’s your favorite type of cereal? How about irresistible Frosted Mini-Wheats, crunchy Cheerios, or good ol’ Captain Crunch? Lets just say I have a uncontrollable weakness for breakfast cereal… in fact in my terms it should be called “anytime cereal.” What sounds good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner? Why, a giant bowl of hearty and delicious cereal of course.

I will admit that because of cereal, I unfortunately gained the dreaded Freshman 15 which left me feeling pretty self-conscious about my body. Ever since then, I’ve made a huge effort to double check the nutritional information and portion size listed on the side of the box. When it comes to these tiny and crunchy forms of goodness, moderation is key my friends.

2. Don’t Drink the Hunch Punch

As wide-eyed and adventurous freshman, we are gullible for anything that college throws at us; whether it’s the cute boy down the hall or the bright pink hunch punch sitting out at your upstairs neighbor’s party. Whatever you do though, please don’t drink the hunch punch. Because the alcohol is masked by tropical fruity flavors, it may be extremely difficult to stop at just one cup.

The truth is that you never know what the goofy pair of college boys added to the hunch punch mixture earlier, and the side effects could be deadly. My freshman year, I bravely dipped my red cup into a bucket of seemingly innocent hunch punch, later to be diagnosed with an evil case of Mono. I spent my entire Spring Break sleeping and feeling like death while at home in bed. Case and point: Don’t drink the hunch punch.

3. Get an Internship… Pronto

We have all heard how terrible the economy is and to combat that, all you need to do is take on a few internships during your college career. Ideally before you graduate college, you should have had at least 2-3 internships. Dreaming of working for NBC one day? Then it’s best you apply to one internship locally in your college town during your freshman or sophomore year. You’ll have more of a chance to get hired on as NBC’s intern with one relevant internship already listed on your resume.

Apply to College Lifestyles’ Virtual Internship or checkout Intern Queen’s website to find the perfect internship for you. For those of you who are obsessed with social media, we recommend you read our helpful article on How to Find a College Internship on Twitter.

4. Don’t Pull All-Nighters

Uh-oh. It’s finals week and you have approximately 28 hours to furiously cram for your marketing exam. You have over 12 chapters to read in your hefty textbook and twenty pages of class notes to outline. Immediately you brew a fresh pot of coffee, plop yourself near the computer, and skim through your notebooks. By 3 AM you find yourself uncomfortably cross-eyed and doodling artistic palm trees and ocean waves in the margins of your book. If this study schedule sounds vaguely familiar to yours, we recommend you stop these procrastination habits right now. For two exams I’ve attempted the all-nighter method, and I can honestly say when I sat down to take the test my mind went completely blank.

So what’s the solution? About 2-3 days before your test, jot down a strict study schedule of what you need to have completed by a certain time. Your day should involve something like this: Wake up at 9am, eat breakfast, study, eat lunch, study, eat dinner, study, and then go to sleep at 11pm or Midnight. If you have a case of the late night munchies, read Shelly’s article on Top 3 Brain Foods for Students.

5. Try New Things

Whether that means food, clothing, a dance club downtown, or school organization… try new things. Make a college bucket list of weekend road trips to popular local landmarks and document your awesome trip in a Facebook album. I could go on and on about how exciting and worthwhile these random adventures will be for you and your friends, but you have to make the effort. Read Emily’s article to learn more about how to plan a fun and memorable road trip this summer. While you’re in college, always remember that life is a journey, not a destination.

What Other CL Interns Have Learned:

@KaitorTot: don’t always go out to have fun–movie nights in are just as (if not more) awesome! Red box + food + friends = memories

@Steph_Hardiman: Don’t listen to anyone else. Be who you are, do what you love, make a difference, change the world.

What random things have you learned so far in college?

Shannon May is an intern with College Lifestyles (TM).  She is a Marketing Major at the University of Florida and a member of Alpha Kappa Psi. Feel free to contact Shannon at intern@collegelifestyles.org and follow her on Twitter to learn more about her career hunt and healthy lifestyle blog.