Essentials for Surviving Your First Year in College

Autumn has always been my favourite time of year. Why? For oh-so-many reasons! The air gets crispier every morning, we're getting closer and closer to Christmas with each passing day, and it's the perfect season for staying inside with a good book and a cup of tea.

But more than anything, autumn comes with the promise of new beginnings. Going back to school after the long summer holidays was always something I looked forward to.

So very few things in life could possibly beat the excitement of not only going back to school after the summer, but also starting a whole new life - as a college student!

I'm so glad you asked!

It is really very simple. You need things that make studying easier and more effective, and items that make it easier to do all the things you're not as excited about - like getting up early to go to that research methods class (yes, I speak from experience). And items to get non-studying things, like laundry, out of the way so that you can focus on what you are there to do.

(Studying, remember?)

Whether you're a first year student or just changed your major for the third time, here follows a list of five essential things for surviving a(nother) year as a college student. Some of these items may be things you haven't even thought about, but all of them are things that either made my own college life a lot easier, or that I have since discovered and wish that I had back then.

Hint: It's more than instant coffee and stationary.

Let's get back to those research method classes. I studied psychology for five years, and some of the subjects I loved, some were just kind of meh!, and others... well, others I hated!

My research method classes started at eight o'clock in the morning on Fridays. What an ungodly hour! I once fell asleep while the lecturer showed us a video of, eh, something. After that I started making a big batch of coffee in the morning and drink half before shuffling out the door, and pour the rest in a thermal mug with a lid for the lecture. Brilliant idea! I had no problem staying awake anymore.

Though I desperately needed the bathroom about fifteen minutes in.

It is a fact universially known that all college students produce an enormous amount of laundry.

Being a student in a city only one hour's drive from my parents' house allowed me to take my laundry home every weekend. The official explanation was that there were rats in the laundry room at the dorm. The less official explanation was that it was just so much more convenient to hand it over to Mom Saturday morning and have it returned, freshly cleaned, smelling of flowers and neatly folded on Sunday.

When I moved to Dublin, Ireland, for one semester, the whole going-back-to-my-parents-in-Norway-to-do-laundry thing was a little less convenient. Also, there were no rats. Let's just say the learning curve was steep...

I quickly learned the convenience of having a laundry hamper one could also carry around with you. You save time and energy (you need those for studying, remember?) by not having to move the dirty clothes from the hamper to a bag before going to the laundry.

Keep one in your room for all those cups of tea or French press coffee. Or instant coffee. Or instant noodles. The possibilities are endless! Buying an electric kettle was one of the first things I did when I moved into my dorm. And apart from my pillow it was possibly the most used item in the room.

Raise your hand if you don't like to share a bar of soap with other people in the community shower. I thought so! When in college I was always looking for ways to make the morning shower more efficient, quick and painless. It didn't help that we had only two shower stalls to service the entire floor, and I inevitably ended up rinsing out my conditioner to the sound of increasingly impatient knockings on the door.

Additionally, I really preferred an easy way to carry all my belongings into the shower as conveniently as possible, without dropping anything or carrying my razor in full view of everyone I may meet on the way there.

Once you have moved away from home it doesn't take you long to realize that

1) Takeaway food is expensive (not to mention often unhealthy)

2) Instant noodles get old real quick

and

3) Your Mom will not come over and cook pancakes for your breakfast or her famous meatloaf for dinner, no matter how much you crave it.

There is only one solution. You must learn how to cook. On your own. Sorry about that.