1. Know Your Style to Schedule Your Class
To me, registering for class for next semester is fun. By the time I register for classes, I usually have been bored to some of my current classes and expected for a while to take several interesting classes. Meanwhile, it is also important to schedule classes in a smart way. For example, if you are a morning person, you could take several morning classes while remaining awake. If you know you could only stay active in a specific time period, you could schedule your classes back to back during that period. If some of your required classes have only one session at, for example, 8am, then you could either choose to go to bed earlier the night before or do not schedule any class after that in case you need a nap. Also, don’t skip your lunch for class, especially your class is from 8am to 5pm back to back. Hypoglycemia will kill you! One small advice for you if you take back-to-back classes: try to find shortcuts for your classrooms so that you could save more time and energy.
2. Hard Class VS. Easy Class
I’ve heard of several “easy A class” lists, which might be helpful for students to boost their GPAs if they find major classes tough and challenging. However, if you get to choose between an easy and a hard course (considering you like them both), always go for the hard one, which not only makes the tuition more worth it, but also lets you meet people that are really interested in learning and not there to just get a degree. If the course is too challenging, you can always go to professor/TA’s office hours for extra help. Honestly, you don’t know which class would lead to your future career, so try your best to learn each of them.
3. Say No to Catch-Up
It is not like high school anymore that we will get coached through anything. College academic responsibility is all yours. That being said, it is your responsibility to go to every lecture and discussion. But, remember, that is only half of achieving a good grade. During your free time, you need also to do a lot of research yourself, discuss the material with your fellow classmates/TAs/instructors, finish worksheets and read through textbooks to improve your understanding of those courses. Never procrastinate! It only gives you much, much more pressure and you may get a bad result of your assignments.
4. Travel For Cheap
If given enough spare time, the first thing I would like to do is travelling. Travelling can be expensive, but there are bunches of good tips online to save money. One important thing before travelling is to book rooms – you could choose to find one through Airbnb or CouchSurfing, or book cheap hotels, which can save much money. Yet, you still need to be cautious of the cleanliness and sanitation of the places you will stay. Checking the mattress and corners of the room can effectively help you find bed bugs if they are present. One website you could check for the presence of bed bugs in apartments and hotels across the U.S.A. is www.bedbugregistry.com.
5. Food and Refreshments
I gradually find it harder and harder for me to prepare food and cook myself. Instead, what I do is to grab a piece of energy bar at Walgreens, or a sandwich at Potbelly. If given time, I would spend one weekend tasting food in different restaurants, ice cream stores, and cafeterias. Some good places I felt surprised to find such as Paradiso Café on Nevada & Lincoln St. I always try their home-made strawberry cream cakes and they also sell birthday cakes which need to be pre-ordered. Snow Meets Coffee is another cafe that I think is worth me driving to the Champaign downtown. I would recommend you to try both the snow cream and coffee there. Le Peep on Neil St., Original Pancake House on Springfield Ave., and Sammy’s Pancake House on Mattis Ave. are always my top three choices if me and my friends go to have a brunch. One particular restaurant I would always go to during my movie nights is Star Karaoke BBQ in Savoy – they have various options in their menu and I usually go for their sweet potato pizza and seafood noodles. On campus, I like the mushroom melt flat at Potbelly – a healthy place for sandwiches. Original mixed with strawberry frozen yogurt at Cocomero is also one of my favorites. I am not a foodie person, but I have to say that food can make us happy; so whenever you have time, go and get some delicious food.