For those who regularly keep up with my blog posts, this post is a continuation of my previous post, similarly formatted to this. 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 few more tips I think prospective students might find helpful!
- Check the weather before you head out! The weather is unpredictable, especially during fall, so it’s always nice to have a rain jacket or umbrella on you in case of rain. This is something that seriously took me some time to adjust to as I’m from Northern California, where the weather always remains between 50 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit year-round.
- The doors in some dorms are heavy and tend to slam really loudly, so please do your neighbors a favor and try to close the door quietly, especially if you’re walking in and out during the early hours of the morning or late at night.
- It’s important to stay in touch with friends from home! Some ways I like to stay connected to my friends is by asking to call them and catch up or texting them whenever I’m back in town and would love to meet up for dinner.
- As a first-year, it’s a good idea to befriend upperclassmen, especially ones who are in your prospective major(s), so you can get some honest and useful advice about which classes to take. Upperclassmen also just generally provide good advice and can help answer any questions you have at all about anything, and those who have cars on-campus can also help when you need a ride.
- There are some studies that psychology students are doing for their senior theses, and these are an easy and quick way to get some cash, especially the ones that are 10-15 minute surveys.
- After daylight savings time in November, the sun sets really early, as in around 4 p.m., so if you’re not used to this (like me), mentally prepare yourself for extended periods of darkness and adjusting to that change.
- Enjoy studying outside when the weather is still nice. Once fall starts to end, the weather is often too cold to spend much time outside.
- Bring dollar bills for the vending machines! You never know when you get a little hungry, and even though it’s not common to carry cash now, it’s super useful to use for vending machines in dorms.