5 Free and Useful Apps for College Students!

Living on your own is quite an adjustment. Here are 5 useful apps to help you make that transition:

1. Evernote – Stay organized and keep all your ideas, thoughts, notes, reminders, and everything across all your devices complied into one useful app. Create to-do lists, set voice reminders, and you can even connect to other peoples’ Evernote accounts to share information! So useful to a college student juggling multiple classes, jobs, new apartments, bills, etc.
2. Skype – Get the Skype app to stay connected to your friends and family back home. You can message, video call, send photos, call mobiles and landlines, and chat with anyone anywhere. Also, enjoy unlimited data size!
3. Foresquare – Make the most of where ever you go! When in an area, find fun things to do and places to go based on personal recommendations from people with your taste. Also, record where you go and what you thought of the places so other people can get the inside scoop as well. It’s useful when you move to a new town.
4. Friends Around Me – Experience the ultimate mobile social network. Synced with Twitter, Facebook, and Foresquare, interact with people all over the world via chat, pictures, and create profiles for your friends to see. It’s convenient to know what your friends far and close to you are doing.
5. Cheap Gas – Find cheapest gas near you or in your city and earn points that lead to rewards to help you save money! Super useful for college students traveling to and from home or anyone just in their city or going on long drives.

Missing That Puppy Love

I think we can all agree that one of the hardest things about leaving home is leaving behind a dog (sorry Mom). Our dogs tend to hold a very special place in our hearts that is hard to learn to live without.

Sophomore Danielle Durante left behind Snickers, the adorable little shih tzu, and misses her terribly.

“She’s been in the family for 8 years now, and not waking up to her little face every morning has definitely been an adjustment,” Durante said.

A dog is a big tie to home and can really make one feel nostalgic while away at school, she said.

One of Durante’s biggest concern was that Snickers wouldn’t remember who she was when she came home for thanksgiving break freshman year. But one of a dog’s greatest attributes is their undying loyalty. She says her little pooch recognized her immediately and was overjoyed to reconcile.

Check out this moving video of a soldier returning home after months away from his dog. A few months away at school will feel like nothing!

Unfortunately I cannot promise the same for cats. While I nearly cried at our reunion, my cat Mikey couldn’t seem to care less about my return. In fact, he kind of ignored me the whole time I was home.

Freshman Matthew Kloss left his dog Lola behind, and misses her everyday.

“I miss her cuddling with me and always being there for me when I needed to be cheered up,” he said.

He says he doesn’t Skype his dog because that’s “weird” but he does go home to visit her.

“I actually go home to see her all the time, which my parents really like because they get a chance to see me too,” Kloss said.

Community Project Director for the Woods Humane Society Steve Kragenbrink says he gets a lot of Cal Poly and Cuesta kids coming in to volunteer and play with the animals. He says 85% or more students first look into volunteering because they miss their pets at home, and Kragenbrink says its a great outlet.

“You can come out, spend time with the animals, get your ‘fur fix’ as I like to call it, and we will take care of the vet stuff,” he said.

However Kragenbrink urges students to volunteer rather than adopt because at this point in a college students’ life, it may not in fact benefit the animal.

“Ask any student where they will be in 5 years and they usually don’t know,” he said. “Some pets will live for 23 years, are they ready for that commitment?”

Also, many students balance 16+ hours of class, maybe a job, extracurriculars, and may not have enough time for a pet.

Kragenbrink says coming to volunteer is a much better option and students should really look in to it.

“You get that companionship you’re missing or looking for without the full responsibility of owning a pet,” he said.

He says getting involved is easy. All you have to do is visit the Woods Humane Society website and all of the info is there. They have orientation meetings twice a month but once you are oriented students can take the animals on hikes, to the beach, and even sometimes home for a night, he said.

“Make sure you have enough free time for volunteering,” Kragenbrink said, “There is a training process, you can’t just hit the ground running.”

That being said, for many of us who really miss our sweet lovely animals back home, this is a great opportunity to get your “fur fix” and feel some genuine puppy love.

A Day in the Life of an Alpha Phi Live-in

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to live in a sorority house? Is it anything like the movies? Are you a freshman girl thinking about living-in next year? I sat down with two Alpha Phi live-ins and the President of Alpha Phi to try and get the inside scoop on living in the chapter house.

Help Me I’m Poor

If you are in college you probably feel this way more times than not. The less-than part-time job I work making sandwiches and collecting minimum wage is surprisingly insufficient for the lifestyle I cannot help but live. Whether it is a pair of shoes I don’t need, a meal I could have cooked, or a movie I’ve already seen, I always seem to be buying things I can’t afford.

Why just the other day I was doing a bit of casual shopping. I went to Target specifically for Taylor Swift’s new album (which in my eyes is a necessity). After paroozing through the store for 20 or 30 minutes, I went to check out. Yes, I had the CD but I decided that in that moment I also needed a few more things. I came home with a whole bag full of clothes and nick-nacks I will most likely never use. A pink bedazzled santa hat? It’s not even christmas. The movie Grease? I literally know every word, I don’t need to own it. The jingly dog collar? I don’t even have a dog. Then naturally on the way home I started to feel guilty about all the retail therapy so I stopped off at YoCray for some comfort food. Total expenditure of the day: $73. So unnecessary!

I know I can’t be the only person out there struggling with this, so I’ve devised several tips to help you stay away from unnecessary purchases.

1. Don’t carry any more than $10-$15 on you so you at least have a spending limit.
2. Keep a stocked fridge and pantry so cooking sounds more enticing that driving to Chipotle.
3. Select a friend to be your money buddy. Don’t let each other buy things you don’t need!
4. Freeze your credit card in a block of ice. (I saw this in a movie…)
5. Just don’t go to Target. Like ever.

The best advice I have for keeping track of your money is making yourself a budget. Add up all the money you make in an average month, then subtract standing costs like rent or groceries. Subtract the amount you wish to save (saving is always a good idea) and then subtract like $50 extra dollars for a little wiggle room. Whatever is left from your monthly income (if any) is yours to spend! I know, I know, its pure genius. And we can all thank my mom for that one.

There is always the obvious answer: find things to do for free. Well these “free activities” are extremely hard to come by. Everything costs something these days. Go for a walk, a run, to the gym, the pool, learn to knit, get a job, a pet, a friend, or a hobby? If anyone out there reading this has ideas of things to do for free, please help us all out and post a comment. I’m not trying to spend money but I’m also not trying to sit around and do nothing all day. So what should I do?

So Sick of Being Sick

Well, its that time of year again; flu season. Everyone either was sick, is sick, or they probably will be. But being sick at home is more like a stay-cation, complete with On-Demand, chicken soup room service, and the tender-love and care of a sympathetic mother. Being sick away at school is a completely different story.

With no one taking care of this poor college sickling, and no energy to take care of oneself, a bedroom quickly transforms into a death trap of disease, used tissues and weird smells.

Sophomore Jessica Nazzareno says she’s pretty much been sick for the past 7 weeks. She said it started off during WOW week as a sore throat but has now progressed into more serious flu-like symptoms.

“I had a fever of 102 and I couldn’t reall move,” Nazzareno said. “It was really hard for me to take care of myself.”

Nazzareno said her roommates we’re as helpful as they could be but it wasn’t the same as having a mom around.

“All my roommates felt really bad but they had their own stuff to be doing other than making me soup and getting me water,” she said.

Its not just her mom’s TLC Nazzareno finds herself missing, but also the simple comfort of her own home, she said.

“Home is the best place to be when you’re not feeling well,” Nazzareno said.

After a long-awaited trip to the Health Center, Nazzareno finally made it out of the dark, thanks to a heavy reliance on NyQuil and Codine, she said.

“The medicine definitely helped by allowing me to sleep and start to get better,” she said.

Here is a link to a site that will help you find the right medicines to maximize your wellness.

When at the immobile point of sickness, consider calling the After-Hour Nurse-Line offered to all Cal Poly students.

Nazzareno promises she’s finally getting better but not before getting the rest of her roommates sick.

Roommate Michelle Woyshner is now struggling with the flu as well.

“We don’t blame her for getting us all sick,” she said. “It’s impossible not to when we are all living so close together.”

Woyshner said she has comfort foods such as the obvious chicken noodle soup, but also Mac n’ Cheese or a peanut butter and Jelly sandwich.

“Having a comfort food is a good way to feel connected to home and make you feel better,” she said.

Epidemiologist Ann McDowell with the Public Health Services said things get a lot more hectic during flu season.

“We get a lot more flu vaccine and we have public vaccination sites,” she said.

Public health services offers birth control, family planning, tuberculosis screening, help with quitting smoking, and yes, immunization, McDowell said.

Being sick at school for the first time is a difficult process everyone must go through eventually. Thankfully McDowell leaves us with some first-timers advice.

“Stay home, drink plenty of fluids, don’t go to class, and don’t spread your sickness to other kids at school,” she said. “Make sure you take care of yourself this season.”

 

A Little Self-Reflection

So I’ve had this blog for several weeks now and its time for a little reflection on how I’ve been doing. So far I’ve gotten 513 views! At first I was impressed that 513 people cared about what I had to say. But then I realized that’s less than half my friends on Facebook… and as far as viral goes, it’s a wildly underwhelming number. Justin Bieber has like 47 million views on his boyfriend music video so I’d say I’m pretty far from trending.

That being said, those who are reading my blog seem to really enjoy it. They say my writing is funny, amusing, and relatable, which is great because thats totally what I’m going for. There are a few AP stylebook errors which can be easily fixed and some advice was given that more tagging would attract more readers. Good to know.

The readers reaction to pictures was surprising. Many people liked them and said they were amusing and appropriate. However my grades on my photos have not been the best. Perhaps there is some technical aspect missing in my pictures that my peers don’t recognize. I’ll have to look into that.

In my opinion this blog called iMusical is really great because she has a lot of credible expert sources with great quotes. Also her links to other websites are so strong and relevant I actually click on them. It’s got a nice set up (quite similar to mine) and a lot of great information for people interested in local music.

This site has a lot of great pictures that are appropriate and candid. They really draw out emotion and relate back to the blog and the stories.

On my next couple of blogs I will be sure to focus on clearing out small errors and keeping my writing relatable and fun to read. I will also focus on better quality and more appropriate candid shots because I think those really build a story.

I’m definitely going to try to get some more followers maybe via Twitter or Facebook.

Also, Stupidest is not a word… oops.

Interactive Maps

So for this week’s blog post, I’ve created here an interactive map that shows you all the places I went on Tuesday when I was running errands. I hit up the grocery store for some food, got some Starbucks (duh), got screen protectors from the Apple Store, stopped by YoCray (yum), and lastly went to the ATM on campus before coming back home. It’s important to make a plan of where you’re going to go first when running a bunch of errands, otherwise you may find yourself driving back, forth, and all over town, which can get pretty frustrating. Here’s what I did!

Roommates: Can’t live with them… but you do

Living off-campus means a whole new lifestyle unimaginable to those living with Mom and Dad or even the dorms. But there is one thing I think we all can agree merits a big sigh of relief: choosing a roommate. For the first time picking a roommate can depend on compatibility and friendship rather then family or random assignment. So obviously this means no more drama and nonstop fun… right?

For sophomore Connor Doscher this is exactly the case. Doscher said he is

Doscher (Left) and his roommate Nate Schlack (right) #roomielove

living in a two person apartment with his best friend, Nate Schlack and life couldn’t be better.

“Nate and I are best friends and we spend all our time together anyway,” Doscher said. “This is honestly just more convenient.”

Doscher said its easy to confront his roommate with any issues he is having because they are so close. Fortunately for them, it never comes to that, he said, because they have very similar living habits.

“I’m not about to get mad at Nate for a mess he’s making when I’m working on my own on the other side of the room,” Doscher said. Logic at it’s finest.

Here is a link to some fun things you and your roommate can do to bond!

On the other hand, many times living with friends can be difficult. Choosing to remain anonymous to avoid further drama, an unnamed source says her and her roommates’ friendship is suffering.

“We’re good friends but spending all this time right on top of each other is creating tension,” she said. “We are constantly fighting about the stupidest little things, its exhausting.”

That being said, Sophomore Meaghan Manghera thinks its still better than living with random roommates in the dorms. She had a pretty bad experience.

“The main issue my roommates and I faced last year in the dorms was the fact that we all had completely different lifestyles,” she said. “We all ate, slept, studied at different times of the day and unfortunately not all of us knew how to compromise.”

She said she tried to spend as little time as possible in the room but eventually she had to approach her roommate.

“One of the roommates and myself tried to approach and talk to the other roommate about room etiquette, like maybe using a desk lamp so we could turn the lights off at a reasonable time, and even tried to compromise but it never really got anywhere,” Manghera said. “We’d talk about it and say the changes were okay, but never really followed through.”

Manghera said she doesn’t know what else she could’ve done to fix it.

My roommate (left) and I (right) working out a small tiff…

Doctoral Intern Betsy Lindeland works at Cal Poly’s counseling services. She says she helps mediate situations for roommates living on and off campus.

“On-campus first-years aren’t living with friends or people they know so there are a lot of issues that arise from that,” she said. Off-campus roommate issues generally stem from their existing friendship.

Lindeland said these are a few good tips on the best way to absolve roommate situations.

“Its about teaching people how to approach their roommates and friends in a way that’s not threatening or judgmental,” she said.

• Avoid passive aggression
• Respond to situations reasonably
• Keep an open mind
• Effective communication is key

Here is a link to some more useful tips on how to make your living situation work.

Although living with a friend can be tons of fun, it doesn’t always completely eliminate drama.

“When you’re living with a friend you want more than just a roommate and things can get complicated in that sense,” Lindeland said.

Even so, getting to live with a friend is still an amazing experience, so get stoked and choose wisely.

Getting Ready for a Night Class

Night classes pose as both a blessing and a curse. Theoretically there is the whole day to get things done, finish homework, do chores, etc. But in reality, with no mother around to nag you out of bed, many students end up just sleeping the whole day though.

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The Twitter Machine

I swore it would never happen… but the day hath cometh. I made a twitter account. I post little blurbs about this here blog, retweet appropriate tweets, post information about living on your own, etc. I feel like a celebrity.

As it turns out, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. I follow people, read their blurbs, people follow me, read my blurbs, its blurb-tastic! I also have this cool little widget at the bottom of this page that shows my latest tweets. Plus writing clever/informative tid-bits is kind of my forte. Don’t tell but I think its kind of fun. Bring on the hashtags #letsdothis

If you want fun, silly, yet totally helpful tweets passing through your twitter homepage then be sure to follow @SpreadYourWing3. Also, tweet me your thoughts on my blog or any fun stories or tips you have on the topic. I’ll even follow you back. Get on that Twitter hype!