Fool-Proof Back to School

By Karolyn Castaldo on August 30, 2012

As summer comes to a close for most campuses around the country, DU students are still enjoying their last weeks of sunshine, lounging and relaxation. Whether you’re an incoming freshman or starting your senior year, the first week of school is always an anxious time. You find yourself saying goodbye to the people you care about at home, and while that may be sad, you’re excited for the adjustments that the school year has to offer. Here are some tips to make your back-to-school experience the best one yet.

Read, read, read, read. 

In your last weeks before school, it seems weird to be spending your time reading, but if you are not a bookworm, or if you are, but tend to lend your summers to trashy romance novels, you need to get your mind back into academic mode. Spend your last couple of weeks before school, or even the first week on an in-betweener that is both fun and challenging. Your mind will be refreshed and you will be amazed how well-acclimated you feel to homework and your class-load when it starts to pick up.

Reminisce, but keep looking forward.

Photo from Flickr.com by SMBCollege

Yes, it’s wonderful to recount all of the wonderful times you had over the summer, but don’t bombard your friends at school with every little detail. If you constantly talk about your friends at home and how much you miss them, your friends at school will feel like you don’t need them. Keep the conversation open and in the direction of the present so that it includes them as well. This will also help you move yourself more smoothly into the feeling of school as well.

Give yourself reminders of home. 

Do you often get homesick? Even if you don’t, it’s great to hang pictures or keep scrap books that will remind you of home when you’re missing it. This is especially important in the transition period between summer and fall-term because you are not quite used to the scenery of your new living space at school. Skyping, emailing, texting, and calling your friends and family from home helps with this transition, as long as you keep the last tip in mind.

Revamp your style.

Clothes, hair, makeup, piercings, musical taste, phraseology, whatever you choose, bring something new to the table. To really make this school year feel new, you need to feel like a new you, too. But, like anything, this needs to happen in moderation; don’t go overboard. If you usually wear a lot of light colors, you don’t need to switch your entire wardrobe to black. Just buy one new dark shirt and let the new-you-feeling sink in! Leaving the summer-wear at home will aid you in gearing up for a fall of hard work and fun with your school friends.

Establish a relationship with your old flame. 

This certainly does not mean that you should call up every guy or girl that you talked to drunkenly at a party at the end of the term last year. If you and that special someone left things unsettled at the end of the year and said, “we’ll see how things go after the summer,” then you should check where you are at. They may have met someone over the break, or they may not have. It’s important to give yourself closure. If they have not, maybe you can start what you had again. Either way, there is no reason to let things be awkward just because you are unsure of where you stand with each other. This goes for friends that you had hit a rough patch with as well. Clear your slate!

 Get involved. 

Last but not least, get involved. If you found that you were bored with school last year, it’s because you weren’t doing enough, or you weren’t doing enough of the right things. Instead of overloading with heavy classes and only honor societies or tutoring, try finding a fun on-campus job, playing an intramural sport or joining an interesting club instead. These will provide stress releases and give you a way to meet new people with similar interests. Making new friends and having fun will definitely guarantee a better back to school experience than ever before.

Don’t let the end of summer get you down. With these fool-proof tips, you’ll be back to school and on top of your game in no time.

 

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