Surviving Your First Semester at BYU-I

The semester's about to start up here at BYU-I, so I thought I'd do a post with some college survival tips for you guys! So here are my four tips for making it through your first semester (or any semester, really) of college.

Try new things, but don't be afraid to say no.

If you participate in every single thing your roommates/ward members/FHE brothers invite you to, you will explode and fail your classes. It's important to have fun and socialize since that's a big part of the college experience, but you can't be afraid to turn down an invite to something (or a few things) because you don't want to miss out on the excitement. If you have a test Friday morning, it's probably not a good idea to do a midnight McDonald's run with your roommates the day before. Just use some good judgement!

Be kind, but firm.

This mostly applies to roommates, but it can apply to other people you meet here as well. You're gonna have roommates that want to eat your food, borrow your clothes/makeup, and even ask you for money occasionally. It's important to be Christlike and kind, but it's also important to stick up for yourself. You turn down your roommate's 5th plea to borrow some money for breakfast, so she gets mad at you. Frustrating? Of course. Upsetting? Definitely. But NOT something you should be worrying over. There will be roommate disagreements that can't be avoided, but as long as you keep a level head and keep Christ in your thoughts (trust me I know how hard that can be when someone is screaming at you), you'll be ok.

Go to church.

I know, I know, I probably sound like your (real) mother right now. But honestly, it can be hard to get up and ready on a Sunday morning (or afternoon, even) to go sit in a chair for three hours when you'd rather be sleeping after a difficult week/long weekend. But you've got to do it. Not just for practical reasons (they take attendance at church, and you gotta attend regularly to get your ecclesiastical endorsement) but also for your mental well-being. The more you grow academically, the more you need to also grow spiritually. Skipping classes is never a good idea for your academic growth, and skipping church is the same thing.

Eat real food.

Life gets crazy busy and since you don't have a personal chef, finding time to make yourself some real food can be a challenge. But it needs to be done! Pre-packaged stuff from the MC or Walmart might be easy, but your body (and your brain) need nutrients to make classes enjoyable/tolerable, and to help you on tests. My suggestion is this: pick one day of the week that's your least busy (whether that's a week day or a weekend, it doesn't matter) and do your cooking for the week. Take recipes from Pinterest or that you brought from home and cut them in half, and you should have enough food for at least 3-5 meals. Tupperware (with your name written on it to keep out those moochy roommates) will become your best friend!

Want some advice on what to wear once the cold really hits Rexburg? Click here for my winter fashion tips!