As summer is sadly coming to a close, I have found the motivation to start preparing for this coming fall semester. I've bought school supplies, cleaned my apartment, and started back to school shopping for new clothes. I've also looked up my professors on ratemyprofessor.com to see which classes I can skip, bought my favorite alcohol for syllabus week, and planned my nap schedule for every day of the week. While I feel pretty prepared to go into the semester successfully, I've come up with 10 goals that I want to accomplish throughout the semester and that you should consider as well in order to have the best semester yet.
1. Lose 30 pounds
What will force you to go to the gym more than setting a really lofty goal like losing thirty pounds? For someone that is five feet tall it's pretty difficult for me to lose 30 pounds but by setting this unrealistic goal, I will be at the gym 24/7 trying to challenge myself to get there and therefore even if I only lose 5 or 10 pounds I will still be more in shape than ever before.
2. Constantly have at least $1000 in bank account
The first part of this is actually getting $1000 in your bank account. After you do that, make sure you're always having this extra money sitting in there in case of an emergency. Can't afford groceries for the week or refuse to pay for your prescription medication just to keep that money in the bank? That's the idea! You should only spend the money in dire need, such as last minute decisions to go to dollar-you-call-its or when you split buying a baby pool for your apartment with your roommates. Things such as the two listed above are the exact reason why you should always keep some extra money in your bank account because emergencies happen.
3. Watch at least five full series on Netflix
This will determine your dedication as an individual. The more seasons in the series, the better. First of all, being well-versed in different Netflix series will give you great people skills and help you better communicate with your peers. Secondly, you show how dedicated and determined you can be towards something, which will definitely earn you bragging rights during job interviews later on. Plus, if your interviewer has seen the same series, you can bond over it. It's a win, win!
4. Go a whole night out only drinking beer
So, a lot of people can probably do this no problem. However, for people like me you can barely drink more than one beer without feeling full, tired, and disgusted by the taste. Yet, once graduating college and moving out of a college town, you won't have the choice of one dollar drinks every night of the week, and therefore need to learn how to drink beer because it is the cheaper option. This goal will help you save money which makes it a necessity, even if you need to drink beer every single day of the semester in order to achieve it.
5. Keep your last unexcused absence for each class until the last week of classes
So this one is nearly impossible, but can still be done. We all use our two or three unexcused absences in our classes within the first month because we are lazy and really working towards our Netflix goal above. However, come the week before finals you have seven papers/projects due and need to study, but are being forced to go to class to "review" things that you haven't even taught yourself yet and don't understand whatsoever because you were online shopping during that lesson in class. If you save your last unexcused absence you can skip class that day in order to read the book and work on your papers without being up until 5 in the morning.
6. Go to DC's every single Wednesday
DC's has $5 liquor pitchers (which they put in their huge pint glass mugs) every single Wednesday. If you don't take advantage of this, I'm not sure I can understand your logic as a human being. Get two of these and you're trying to avoid puking in the DC's bathroom by bar close. How can you pass that up? I know where I will be every Wednesday night. Double points if you achieve this while having an 8 a.m. on Thursdays.
7. Get close with your TA in your hardest class
If this means having to go to office hours every single week or buying him/her drinks at the bar, you gotta do what you gotta do to get on your TA's good side so that you pass that tough Gen Ed that you've been dreading taking since freshmen year. While my TA's are all super boring and don't respond well to sucking up, you might have better luck than me.
8. Hit up every frat tailgate in one day
Considering that tailgate season is by far the best time of the year, you need to take full advantage of it. That means you have to go to every single frat tailgate in order to get the most free beer, see the most people you can, and have the most fun possible. If this means showing up at the first tailgate at 4 a.m. and staying at the last one long after the game ended (even if you're the only one still there) that's what you'll have to do in order to maximize your experience.
9. Learn how to cook something other than Mac and Cheese
While Mac and Cheese for every meal is pretty gourmet, learning how to cook something else might help add some variety to your nutritional intake. Whether this be pancakes and bacon or homemade pizza, these are definitely meals you need to start working on learning how to make. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.
10. Don't get in a drunk fight with any of your roommates the whole semester
If you're telling me you have never drunkenly cried while yelling at your roommate that you hate her for not walking to get pizza with you at 2 a.m., you're lying. However, you're getting to a point in your life where you need to get over this stage of scream-crying for Falbo's while your roommates try to sleep. So, roommates, prepare yourself because the drunk fights are (probably, maybe, hopefully) over.
