For those who regularly keep up with my blog posts, this post is going to be a little different. I’m currently a sophomore, but I started this job during my first semester here at Amherst. At the time, I was still adjusting to college life, and before I officially started working as a student blogger, I kept a small notebook with some tips and lessons I learned while navigating Amherst. Below are a select few I think you might find helpful!
- Do laundry in the early morning or late at night on weekdays if possible! The laundry room can get pretty busy during the weekend.
- Where you eat in Val depends on what level of loudness you’re comfortable with. If you’re looking to sit in a quieter place, sit in the front room or upstairs. If you’re fine with a moderate amount of noise, you can sit in the middle room near the coffee machines. If you enjoy the noise and overlapping conversations, sit in the Russ Wing.
- If you can, go to your professor’s office hours early! A lot of students like going to office hours, especially for STEM classes, so it can get crowded pretty quickly.
- Watch for falling acorns during fall, especially when you’re eating food on the First Year Quad with friends.
- If you need a clicker for one of your classes, keep it in your backpack at all times. Even if you can sprint from the Stirn Auditorium to your dorm in the 5 minutes it takes your Econ professor to set up the clicker quizzes, it’s more worth it to just always carry it with you.
- After it rains, there’s often still rain falling from trees, so make sure to avoid walking under trees post-rain if you don’t have an umbrella or hoodie.
- You’ll find yourself defending your hometown/state/country a lot, and even though you might feel embarrassed at first, everyone does it. It’ll also help you cope with feelings of homesickness by creating a romanticized idea of your old home while you adjust to your new one.
- Always keep a window cracked at least halfway open and/or turn the fan on during the day when you’re not in the dorms during fall/before winter. It’s always good to keep a constant airflow in the room.
- If you have an 8:30 a.m. class and don’t feel like walking all the way to Val for breakfast, consider keeping a box of cereal in your room so you can eat a few handfuls of cereal before your class, especially if you can’t get lunch until 12:30 p.m.
- Remember to check your AC mailbox! Even though you think very few packages can fit in there, small packages often find their way in there.