College is like the shallow end of the pool we call life. In college, we test the waters and learn how to be real people with responsibilities.

Aside from lessons we learn in school, there are skills that every self-sufficient man and woman should pick up while they’re in college to help them overcome life’s many challenges. 

Here are three simple skills you should add to your utility belt (if you haven’t already) to help get you through college life a little easier. 

Learn some first aid. This one is a life skill that everyone should pick up, regardless of where they are in life. But now that we’re in college, we don’t have our parents to look to when we do something stupid and hurt ourselves.  Basic first aid is incredibly useful and could save your life (or someone else’s) one day. You don’t have to be a doctor to know how what to do when you or someone else gets hurt. 

For cuts and scrapes, wash with soap and water. Keep it covered with something clean and dry and change the dressing daily. Scabbing is a sign of proper healing, so don’t pick at them unless you want a gnarly scar.  If you sprain your ankle, remember RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). Paired with some Advil, this procedure will do you well for most minor injuries. For serious ones, staying calm is the most important. Freaking out doesn’t help anyone. In cases where you might be bleeding profusely or could have broken something major (like your neck), freaking out can actually kill you. So keep it cool to increase your chances of survival.

Also, get certified to perform CPR. You never know when someone is going to keel over in front of you in the Wal-Mart checkout line.

Learn how toget rid of a hangover. This is definitely a skill every college student could put to use.

The root of all hangover evil is dehydration. That “I was just hit by a minivan” feeling you get in the morning after a night of debauchery is mostly caused by the dehydrating effects of alcohol.  My solution: put a bottle of water underneath your pillow at the start of the night and chug it before you go to sleep. This can be risky for those that have problems with wetting the bed, though. Tread lightly with this one, because waking up in a puddle of your own liquid waste is the worst way to start the day.

If you’re afraid of ruining your mattress, there are other options. If I forget to rehydrate the night before, I have a routine for curing my hangover the next morning. It starts with the most delicious form of liquid refreshment man has ever devised: blue Powerade. I’ve never met a hangover that 44 ounces of blue Powerade, Tylenol and 30 minutes in a dark, quiet room won’t fix.

Learn how to deal with cops. A real college experience isn’t complete with some minor run-in with the law. I’m by no means advocating illegal activities, but most people’s stories about that one time they got put in cuffs come from their college days.

Rule number one: tell the truth. Honesty really is the best policy when dealing with the boys in blue. The easiest way to make a situation that involves the police worse than it is already is to lie. If you lie, it will always end up making things worse. End of story.

Rule number two: do what they say. Getting rebellious and showing off to your friends by disobeying an officer is another really easy and moronic way to dig yourself into a deep hole with the fuzz. A cop has plenty of ways to make you do what he wants if asking nicely doesn’t work. Avoid the pain and humiliation. Do what you’re told.

If you enjoyed this article, let me know on Twitter @dillonhavens, and I’ll write more like it in the future. Like I said in my article “Five Ways to Have a Good Day,” learning something new is an essential part of any awesome day.