1.) Apply for scholarships for next year

It seems early to apply for things regarding next year, but application portals are closing left and right. Whether you are a potential, incoming, or current Hawkeye, apply for scholarships for the chance to help lift some of the burden of the cost of college. The University has some of its own opportunities, but don’t forget to check out your hometown opportunities or nationwide scholarships as well.

2.) Plan a closet cleanout

You won’t need ALL of your warm winter gear after spring break. Keep a few sweatshirts for days when the weather is gross, but pack away all of those bulky coats and sweaters before the break. If you are a current Hawkeye, you can take them home during spring break. This is what I do, and I swap them out for a bin of summer clothes to take back to Iowa City. If you are an incoming Hawkeye, this is a good time to plan what warm clothes you want to bring to college. Donate things you didn’t wear this winter, and pack things you will wear again.

3.) Plan classes ahead

You may need a backup plan for your back-up back-up plan in terms of registering for classes depending on your level of education. At Iowa, generally, seniors register first and freshman register last for classes. Get a grasp on what you want to take, and keep an eye out for the availability of your ideal schedule. Whatever you do, DO NOT get hooked on one schedule especially if you are an underclassman. You have plenty of time to take that one class that didn’t have a seat left, you have plenty of time to readjust your work schedule to accommodate the classes you have to take, and you have plenty of time to practice waking up earlier. Trust me, a schedule unlike your top pick could be flustering, but it is best to (roughly) plan ahead in registration so you are not scavenging classes the day of your registration.

4.) Give a good push

You are so close to spring break. You could be going on an insane vacation or just picking up extra hours at work, but no matter what, spring break is your time off from school (ideally). Study for those mid-terms and push through those projects. You will have the break you deserve soon.

5.) Re-evaluate goals and progress

Going into spring break is a great time to self-reflect. How is your semester going so far? Are you keeping up with the goals you set? If not, that’s okay! You have a whole week coming up where you do not have to worry about physically being in class. Use this time to set yourself up to achieve your goals. Of course, take the break you need, but towards the later half of the week, aim high. Do what you have planned on doing all semester: start waking up early, eat healthy, hit the gym, get ahead in homework, and start studying for that test.

6.) Submit your housing application

If you want to live on campus, housing applications are OPEN. This means people are already choosing their rooms. The faster you do this, the better chance you have to get a room you want on campus.

7.) Apply for opportunities!

Spring semester is the time to apply for activities in the fall. For incoming Hawkeyes, this may just be a self-reflection on what activities or clubs you want to participate in soon. However, keep an eye out for opportunities meant for freshmen specifically, there are lots! Whether this be first-year (honors student) Primetime, a course meant to transition you to campus, a course meant to help you find where you belong, or something to do with getting into research, there is a program made to make you feel valued and like you belong here. Simply do some google searches “uiowa” with what interests you and see if there is a program you can apply or sign up for right at the start of your college experience.

For current students, apply to help new students to campus feel welcome and oriented during OnIowa!, play to your strengths that make you unique and involve something you love in a research workshop (I did this one!), apply to the executive board of a student organization you love or plan to join a new one, and plan to attend the career fair after the break!

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No matter how hard I seem to study or prepare for finals, I am always exhausted after they are over. Many students feel this way because of the emotional tax that finals week takes. Stress is high, and sleep is low. It takes a while to feel like things are back to normal, and that hurts around the holiday season. Here is how I recuperate after finals:

1.) Eat well

After finals, I know my body needs to be nourished. Getting a full meal after my last final (and a healthy one) always makes me feel like I have a little bit of life back together. Giving my body the vitamins and nutrients it needs will help in the long run of recovering for finals too!

2.) Get a treat

College finals are not an accomplishment to ignore. The whole week is taxing on the body with stress, not to mention the exams themselves. Having a pick-me-up in the form of a sweet treat at the end of the week is enough to make me smile and feel like I accomplished something big.

3.) Drink no caffeine (after finals)

As a normal college student, I drink a lot of caffeine on a normal day. During dead week and finals week, this amount sometimes doubles. When I am done with finals, I always feel like I need a caffeine detox. This comes with a headache, but I always sleep it off or take some medicine for the headache so I don’t develop a dependency on my finals week caffeine tolerance.

4.) Sleep

I couldn’t tell you how much sleep I loose during finals week. I never feel like I can catch up, but a day of just sleeping as much as I can without an alarm to wake me up always makes me feel rejuvenated. Especially after not drinking caffeine after finals, I can sleep off the headache.

5.) Clean my room

Having a clean environment always gives me some peace of mind. My room tends to become a little disorganized during finals week so doing a little cleanup makes me feel like I am back to normal.

6.) Visit friends

During the school year, I visit with my friends often. During finals week, not so much. When finals are over though, it is wonderful to catch up with friends and not have to worry about school.

7.) Pack to go home :)

Packing to go home gets me excited to see my family, go home for the holidays, and get out of the school environment. Getting what I can ready always gets me in a good mood.

I hope you all rejuvenate quickly after finals and the semester went in your favor. Now enjoy your break! You all deserve it.

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Knowing what to expect in college for a workload is probably among the hardest things to guess because it all depends on the classes you are taking in a given semester, but looking at class structure can give you a great idea of what you are getting yourself into. If you know how you like to be assessed, even better! You can create your schedule to be tailored to you and you can prepare yourself for assessments that will be given over the semester in the form of exams, essays, and group projects.

I have yet to have a class that incorporates all three of these methods, however, I have found that science-heavy classes (without a lab) will be your heavy exam-based classes. Here, there are often so many students in the class that exams are the most efficient way for a professor to access your knowledge. On the other hand, humanities and lab courses have the most papers and essays because this is the easiest way for the professor to see if you can apply the knowledge you have discussed in class in a context that may not have a “correct” answer in ways such as the hard-core science classes. In terms of business-related classes, you will find the most group projects here. Professors in this realm like to try to emulate true team projects as you would see in the workplace, so they find that judging group project work and progress is the best way to access your knowledge in business-related classes.

What I have found to be my favorite is trying to have a good mix of these types of courses to keep my sanity as a student. In my freshman and sophomore years, I had a humanity-related general education class every semester that had me write papers or complete presentations. This was a good break from the exams from the hard-core science classes that are related to my field of study.

I found that I took this diversity in my schedule for granted this semester when I signed up for all science classes. There is no scheduled “exam week” or “midterm week” in college, so depending on the class, you can have an exam every 2, 3, 4, etc. week. For me, none of my classes were on the same exam cycle, so I have had an exam (or 4!) every week. This became terribly exhausting. I felt like I fell into the bad habit of cramming for exams and I wasn’t getting assessed to my full potential. Needless to say, I’m throwing some classes for my humanity-field minor into my schedule for next semester to prevent this from happening again!

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To-do lists get me through my traditional day in college, but there comes a time when some things just don’t fit in a typical day’s to-do list, and get procrastinated. Now that fall break is here, I have been finding myself stuck with a to-do list that I have procrastinated on over the semester. This puts me in a college-student-conflict of deciding to procrastinate more and take advantage of my break or taking advantage of my free time to get things checked off that list. Keep reading for how I am finding the best of both worlds during my fall break and how I plan on using this strategy while school is in session!

This fall break, I was so excited to come home and just take a well-deserved break. However, my haunting to-do list regarding preparing for exams, post-graduation plans, work, research, job shadowing, and more was constantly on my mind. Knowing I had a full week to accomplish my tasks, I soaked in some good family time for the first couple of days of break and got some Christmas shopping done. Then I set a schedule for myself to get this work done.

I thought it would be more break-like for me to just do my work when I felt bored and had nothing else to do. I found this worked well for a while, but a schedule made sure things still got done. I tried making soft deadlines for myself and this helped a lot by ensuring I didn’t overwork one day and had nothing to do the next. It also allowed me to be spontaneous to visit with friends and family while I was home.

Another thing I began doing was prioritizing my to-do list in chunks. This has helped tremendously by making sure I do not feel bad if something does not get done in the time I need it to because I knew I was getting the most important things done. Chunking my workload has allowed me to take breaks and take time off if I need to.

In school, I plan to use this to-do list approach of chunking my list and setting my own deadlines. I envision this will help me ease some stress related to deadlines by breaking up my assignments into pieces and hoping to get them done before the actual deadline!

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Is fall your favorite time of year too?

Iowa City in the fall is not only gorgeous with the leaves on trees changing colors, but super fun also! Here’s some fell activities that keep me busy every year:

Iowa City’s Fall Shop Crawl

Need an excuse to explore downtown? This is it! Participating in the shop crawl means you go to the variety of stores downtown and get discounts from participating stores. All while sipping on fall drinks like apple cider available at every store! There is a flower shop downtown called Benos that I just can’t pass up. I get a succulent every time I go by.

Wilson’s Apple Orchard

Just 10-15 minutes off of campus is an apple orchard that can truly keep you busy at all times of the year with fruit and flower picking, but fall is their biggest hit season! I went to Harvest Fest this year which was one of the last good days for apple picking and the perfect time to get a pumpkin. There was live music and lots of great fall food and sweets.

Football Season

Football season is part of the definition of fall. Enjoying the Hawkeye games is a great way to spend your weekends in Iowa City. Whether you tailgate, enjoy the game at the stadium, or watch from home, Hawkeye football is an Iowa City staple for fall.

Iowa City always has something going on! Fall is just my favorite time here. Other than these annual events, the Campus Activities Board (CAB) puts on wonderful events for fall as well, and they emphasize celebrating Halloween with their annual haunted house!

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This past weekend was very eventful for me. Friday, after my classes I hit the road for 4 hours to drive home, picked up my family, and together we drove to Chicago the next day. Sunday, I woke up at 3:30 a.m. to meet members of the University of Iowa’s Dance Marathon to prepare for our marathon run.

I should preface, I have not always been a runner. One might ask, how on earth did you get talked into running a marathon?

The answer is honestly it didn’t take much convincing and here is why:

College has been a place where over the past few years I have met people who have made bigger impacts on my life than they could ever imagine. People I have met through classes, student organizations, and even guest lecturers have made impacts on me that are motivational in getting me to do things just a few years ago I could never imagine. One of which would be running a marathon.

Dance Marathon at the University of Iowa is a student organization that financially and emotionally supports kids (and their families) who are undergoing cancer treatment or bone marrow transplants at the on-campus pediatric hospital, Stead Family Children’s Hospital. There are countless members of this organization who are inspiring. Almost without hesitation once I heard people were running the Chicago Marathon for the kiddos we support I signed up. Dance Marathon is just one of many connections I have made as a student that have tied to a unique experience here at the University of Iowa.

The moral of the story, at the University of Iowa you will make connections with people all around you, but the people here are passionate and will bring something unique to the table. Whether that be getting you to participate in a unique experience, or just changing your perspective on things around you, you will find home and life within campus.

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The stress of college can easily keep you sedentary at your desk studying, but it is important to get yourself moving outside of just going to class. Here are a few ways to keep active in college that is a low time commitment:

1. Sign up for campus 5ks

   • News flash: you don’t have to run a 5k, you can walk, jog, or do a mix of both!
   • Kickoff to Kinnick was this past weekend and is always a good starting point for 5ks when it comes to getting into running. There is a solid mix of people who walk and run this one, and there are discount codes for students to sign up if you keep your eyes open.

     

2. Take a morning walk

   • When you are reviewing notes before class or rewatching lectures, do it in a mode where you can take it to go and get some steps in.
   • I like to walk to go get my morning coffee and instead of listening to music on the way I will re-listen to a lecture to be productive at the same time.

3. Skip the CAMBUS

   • Don’t get me wrong, the CAMBUS is amazing if there is terrible weather, but most of the time you can walk where you need to go in a more timely manner than waiting for the bus.
   • Get those steps in!

4. Join an intramural sports team or a related club

   • UIowa has a whole list of about every sport you can play as an intramural team. This gives you the ability to play a sport you love or just want to try without the whole commitment of playing for the official team. Here is the link for information regarding Uiowa’s intramural sports.
   • Sometimes joining an intramural team is still too much of a commitment, and that is totally understandable. There are still ways to play sports in college to get moving. Here is a link to all of the registered UIowa student organizations that are related to sports or just getting moving.

5. Get your friends involved

   • Getting a group of friends together to stay active not only will keep you accountable, but it adds to the fun of staying active. You can play spikeball on the Pentacrest, sand volleyball in City Park, or go on a walk and have someone to talk to.
   • The Campus Recreation and Wellness Center have lots of group classes you can look into here. Super fun to do with people you already know!

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Hey Hawkeyes! Football season has officially begun and the most anticipated game of the year is coming up right around the corner, the CyHawk game!

I went to the first game of the season already (pictured below with some of my friends!), and I was well prepared! I’m here to make sure you have all of your game-day essentials too.

A clear bag or lots of pockets

Kinnick Stadium has a clear bag policy, so no normal purses are allowed. Lots of people just use their pockets, but many people (including myself) have bought a clear purse or fanny pack to carry miscellaneous things. My bag even has a Hawkeye on it!

Water!

You are in direct sunlight, screaming at the top of your lungs, and on your feet dancing around in the student section. It is important to stay hydrated. In Kinnick, you can bring your own clear water bottle and even refill it.

Appropriate clothes for the weather

At the beginning of the season, it is so hot you want to wear as few clothes as possible so you don’t sweat too much. By the end of the season though, you have to bundle up in full winter gear because of snow. Make sure to plan your outfit accordingly for the temperature.

Poncho

If there is even a slight chance of rain in the forecast, I like to pack my poncho. It takes up almost no room in my bag and even has a Hawkeye on it. It was only a few dollars and is great to have on hand for the games because there isn’t much shelter from storms if it downpours.

Face Decals

Adding a Hawkeye sticker, glitter, or even some gems is a fun way to show some extra Hawkeye spirit and pull an outfit together. They are sold in just about every retail location in Iowa City and are pretty cheap. I buy a whole pack of stickers and share them with friends so we can match.

Sunglasses

This is probably the most forgotten item, and sunglasses freebies are not always given out at the games. It is great to pack your own.

Sunscreen

Being in the student section, you are most likely in direct sunlight which does damage to your skin for as long as you are there. Protect yourself and put on some sunscreen before the game.

Hawkeye gear

If you aren’t in black and gold, what are you doing? Wear some Hawkeye gear to support your team! Popular items include football jerseys, striped overalls, and simple t-shirts.

Hawkeye spirit and knowledge of our fight song

You have to cheer on your team while you are in Kinnick, or else it is no fun! An easy way to do this is to sing along to the fight song when the band plays it.

Something to make your outfit unique

Fun outfits are a football game staple, whether this is cool shoes, fun jewelry, a handmade top, or a neat hat, unique outfits draw attention and make the game fun!

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