Black Elle Woods

4.10.17

so i’ve been thinking about this for a few days, and i wanted to make a list of some things that i wish people had told me when i was a freshman in college

don’t skip class.

really, don’t skip unless it’s absolutely necessary. i had a professor who didn’t tell us when the tests were going to be until the class before. go to class.

if you get lost, look around for an office and ask where to go - especially during the first few weeks, everyone is happy to help you figure things out.

buy a planner. keep it in your backpack 24/7. keep it out in class. professors change due dates and assignments constantly and you don’t want to forget things - two missed assignments can become four and suddenly you’re making a C in a class you need a 3.0 for. 

join organizations!!! join clubs or something that will keep your societal needs fulfilled and also look good on a resume. volunteer work too, work at events, and get friends to join you. it’s more fun than you might think.

also always have a binder with blank paper in it. always. 

keep your phone and computer chargers with you all the time because you will need them and you will use them.

no one will look at you funny for eating food in class (just don’t eat anything crunchy for the love of god)

don’t go out for food constantly - this is the fastest way you will spend money, and before you know it you’ve spent $400 on food in a month which is like. ridiculous.

keep to the right of the sidewalk, and don’t bunch up with your friends. you’ll understand in a semester or two. 

get your college email sent to ALL your devices. don’t know how? contact your school’s IT department.

that paper that’s due in a month? make an outline and collect resources now. it takes ten minutes and you will be super glad two days before it’s due when you haven’t started it yet. 

take time to go outside. take walks. eat a salad. 

go to bed before midnight. i promise, you won’t do it at first but you’ll thank me later. 

sometimes a good night’s sleep is better than an A on an assignment. get it presentable, sleep, and do better next time.

I know a lot of first time college goers are going to be really stressed out as they prepare to move. I’ve compiled a huge masterpost that may help you with some things. Hopefully instead of stressing out, you’ll feel more equipped for the move and be able to enjoy the excitement!!! :-)

Good luck to all of you!!!

Ever wonder what your life would be like if you lived up to your full potential? Would your body be healthier? Your skin clearer? Bank account bigger? I think about these things all the time, and, judging my a previous post, you guys do to. Below is a chart designed to help all of us live up to our full potential. I’ve broken it down into time frames to help keep you from getting overwhelmed. Write the chart down and hang it someplace where you can see it all the time. I will be starting this challenge tomorrow, 9/8. I’ll check in with you guys every Sunday to track my progress. I have specific goals in mind for myself, and you guys should make some too! I really want to know how you guys are doing. Tag your progress posts with #sbfpc so I can track it and take a look. Let’s get to it!

EVERY MORNING

Stretch. First thing. Really give your body enough time to wake up. Touch your toes. Roll out your shoulders. Do not hit snooze!

Do your full skincare routine. I have mine detailed here, but do whatever works for you and your complexion. Be gentle and consistent. 

Brush your teeth and floss. I used to be a big floss-skipper too, but you’d be amazed at how dig of a difference it makes. Rinse with a whitening mouthwash. I use one by Crest, and I notice a major difference in my teeth’s overall whiteness in just a few days.

Give yourself enough time to get ready. Whether you’re a wash-and-go kind of girl, or someone who spends an hour doing a full contouring routine before class (and either one is fine!), make sure you aren’t rushing. If you need to wake up a few minutes earlier than normal, so be it. Rushing sets an awful, stressed-out tone for the rest of the day. Allow yourself to be relaxed before taking on the day.

Eat something. I’m not going to say eat a big breakfast, because some people (myself included) just can’t eat in the morning. But you should eat, or at least bring a little something with you to work or school. If you can’t eat a full breakfast, grab a fruit! You won’t be as hungry come lunch time, making you less likely to gorge yourself.

Shower. You can do this at night, in the morning, whatever. Again, this is something you should allow some time for. I don’t wash my hair every day, but I do condition it every day (from the ears down). Scrub yourself with a delicious-smelling body wash. If you shave, make yourself as smooth as a dolphin, dude. If you don’t, then don’t and don’t ever ever ever let anyone make you feel bad or weird about it. When you get out of the shower, wrap yourself in a fluffy towel and totally slather your sexy self with lotion. Top to bottom. Do it as soon as you can post-shower so it can really sink in. 

Put leave-in condition throughout your damp hair and comb it through.

Put on an outfit that makes you feel good! So important!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Take a look at your daily to-do list. Knock out the most pressing stuff first. Take pride when you cross things off your list.

Make your bed! Oh my god, make your bed. Do it. Do it. Do it. 

EVERY AFTERNOON 

Follow the “touch it once” approach. This is a truly life-changing thing. When a task is in front of you, no matter how big or small, just do it right then and there. How many times have you gotten a work email or homework assignment and thought, “Eh, I’ll do it later”? And then later never comes? Once something pops up, do it once. Squash it and be done. Cross things off your list and feel like a badass.

Try to go for a walk at lunch. Even one little lap around the block or campus will reenergize you like nobody’s business. 

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Be present. This is so hard for me too, but you have to make a major effort to be present in whatever you’re doing. Be engaged and plugged-in and just exist in the moment. Give 100 percent.

Be friendly to friends and strangers. A smile goes a long way.

Eat something. Eat what you packed for lunch (see below) and take a break from working while you do it. You need “you time”!

EVERY EVENING

Take your makeup off as soon as you’re in for the night. Wash your face with your full routine and let your skin have a break. 

Workout. You can also do this in the morning. Whatever works for you. Make a great playlist and go hard af. Get your cardio in. Get your strength training in. Earn every freaking sweat bead forming on your forehead. Earn your shower!

Knock out your homework. Life is infinitely better you don’t have anything hanging over your head. Half the time, the energy and emotion you spent dreading/putting off your work is ten times worse than the work itself.

Make a list of what needs to be done tomorrow. It’ll set you up for success the next day, and you won’t forget anything!

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Lay out your clothes for tomorrow. This will save you SO MUCH TIME in the morning omg I can’t even tell you how important this is.

Eat something great. And once you’ve decided to be done eating for the night, be done. Brush your teeth so you can’t eat again.

After brushing, do a whitening treatment. Whether it’s classic baking soda, a Crest white strip, or a laser. Do something. And floss! Retainers in too, ladies 0:)

Relax! Take a few hours to do what YOU want to do. Scroll through Tumblr, binge on some Netflix, FaceTime gossip with your friends, anything. Do whatever makes you happiest. 

Shut the electronics off an hour before you want to go to bed. Put your phone on sleep mode. If you stare at the screen, it will keep you awake and alert and you won’t be able to fall asleep. A good night’s sleep is crucial for weightless and general happiness lol

Do a quick sweep of your room and see if there’s anything you can put away real quick. A clean space is a happy space.

Crawl into your bed (aren’t you happy you took the time to make it?!) and read a book by lamplight for a while. When you start to feel sleepy, go to sleep. Don’t push it. You kicked ass today and you deserve rest. 

EVERY WEEKEND

Do something with your friends. It just has to be one thing. Even if you’re just hanging out at the coffee shop, spending time with your squad will make you a better, happier person.

Drink water. Drink water. Drink water. Drink water!!!!!

Do something just for you. Set your laptop up in the bathroom and watch a Netflix marathon while you take a bubble bath. Buy an old school bottle of Mr. Bubbles ($3 at Target!) and really just soak. Relax. Light a candle.

Do something creative. You can read a book, write, blog, draw, code, anything. It just has to be something that speaks to your passion.

Track your progress. Just do this once a week so it doesn’t become all-consuming. And remember that non-scale victories are just as important as shedding pounds.

Take the time to be grateful. Tell your friend how much you admire her taste in music. Mention to your mom how much you love her cooking and how happy you are that she takes care of you. Thank your teaching after an especially interesting lecture. When you do something awesome, take a moment to admire yourself. Be grateful for even the little things.

So Dartmouth’s dorms can range in quality - some of the rooms are really, really nice. Others are okay, others can be your typical prison room dorms (just kidding, but not really). To be placed in a nicer dorm, you’ll usually have to apply for a Living Learning Community, which places students who want to work towards a specific academic interest on one floor (if you have more questions about LLCs, let me know!). 

That floor will be in the McLaughlin residential area, which is arguably the newest dorm with the most perks - air conditioning, elevator, walls that aren’t made of cement bricks, a lot of space, private bathroom. As a freshman, I’d say your chances of having a single is pretty limited - however, if you are placed in a dorm like McLaughlin, the chances are, you’ll be placed in a two-room double, which means you and your roommate will have your own separate rooms that are connected to each other. It’s the best of both worlds, in my opinion, and something that I know a lot of my friends enjoyed having. However, this isn’t a guarantee - you could potentially end up in a one room double, which means two people are sharing one room in the typical dorm room style, or you could end up in a suite, with two+ roommates. 

Freshman housing at Dartmouth will also include the River cluster, which is a pretty typical living space. I wouldn’t say it’s horrible (it gets a bad rap but people get used to it), but it’s definitely not as nice as McLaughlin - and it’s actually really far from a lot of things. Granted, this is Dartmouth we’re talking about, so “really far” means maybe three more minutes of walking. At River, you will most likely share a room with a roommate. 

There’s also the Choates cluster, which is also a pretty typical living space. I’m not going to lie to make it sound nicer than it is - this is your typical prison room dormitory. The rooms I saw were fairly cramped, and you will most likely share with a roommate. Also kind of far from campus. But you’ll bond with all your fellow freshmen! You’ll have more friends than people living in some special housing area so there’s that. 

I know that a new addition to the freshmen housing include three new areas that used to be upperclassmen housing, include the Fayerweathers, Wheeler, and Richardson. These rooms aren’t overly nice or overly terrible, and you’ll also probably share with a roommate. I’m not 100% sure about the situation here, since I knew a lot of upperclassmen who had singles in these buildings, but the College will most likely attempt to put you with a roommate to get you integrated at Dartmouth. The one REALLY nice thing about living in these buildings is that they’re really, really close to the center of the campus (aka the library), which is a freaking luxury during freshman year. 

And finally, you could live at East Wheelock, which is where I lived my freshman year. This, along with McLaughlin, is one of the nicer dorms on campus. It is a bit older so it doesn’t have air conditioning or elevators, but it does have private bathrooms and (usually) a two-room double. However, unlike last year, when you could apply to live here as part of a special LLC program, the chances of you living here are completely up in the air due to the new housing system. If you get sorted into East Wheelock House, then you’ll probably live at EW - but if you don’t, then I’m afraid you’ll probably not live there unless you join an LLC that’s housed at East Wheelock. 

All in all, I would say your chance of being placed in a complete single is kind of limited. However, if you have special conditions that absolutely require a single, such as mental or physical issues, then feel free to let the residential office know. They will be able to make accommodations.