Quick Life Update

First of all, I've been so into my classes and clubs this semester that I didn't even realize that I let the blog slip away. As I've said before, this blog is much more of a free time or stress reliever to me than a thing to check off of my to-do list every day or weekly. This semester, I've become much more focused on myself and becoming a better me and I think taking a step back from from Hoosier Step of Prep has been a large part of that. In the process of becoming a better, happier me, here is what I've done (so far):

Changing from Pre-Medicine to Pre-Physical Therapy

Changing from Pre-Med to Pre-PT was a huge step in becoming a better me. My pre med courses were making me stressed, anxious, unhappy, and depressed. Over the summer I took a Career Directions Inventory test and the results had Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy has the top careers that match my personality. After meeting with the psychologist that administered this test, and hearing what my personality was in his words, "You hate people, but you want to help people" (honestly, amen to that), I knew I had to make changes. So I did. Immediately. Now, I'm in classes that are more focused on my major and not on pre-med. I can honestly say, that I enjoy going to class now.

Becoming more involved in CHAARG

I've been involved in CHAARG (Changing Health, Attitudes, + Actions to Recreate Girls) since sophomore year, but I was never a full participant due to class overload. Now, I've attended most of the group workouts, joined a small group (and attended almost every Wednesday night workout), and joined the Fall Fit Plan. I also convinced a friend that I met freshman year to join this year so that we could keep each other accountable. If you want to get involved in CHAARG, I definitely recommend it. I has provided me with a community of women that are always up to go for a workout, fro-yo, or tips for healing my sprained ankle. To find out if your campus has CHAARG, click here.


It probably doesn't seem like much, but these two things have improved my life tremendously. Since making these changes, I'm less stressed, more relaxed, and more open to leave my studying for a night to do something fun. I'm so thankful for my friends that have helped me so far and that they have been so supportive. I hope to soon get back on a posting schedule, even if it is just once a week, but for now, becoming a better me is still on the top of the list.

Making Your Closet Work at College with MakeSpace

When transitioning between high school and college, one of the hardest things to do is to downsize your closet. Since I go to school and live in Indiana, I need clothes for all four seasons. I'm lucky to be able to leave most of my clothes at home and switch out clothes between campus at home every few weeks as needed when the temperature begins to change. My closet at home is definitely larger than my closet at school, and there is no possible way I could fit all of my clothes into my closet down here. A lot of my friends that are from out of state bring wha seems to be their whole closet to their room (which I think is insane and way too much clutter, but to each their own). I think as college students, we all wish that our closets either at home or at school looked like those dream closets that we see all over Pinterest, but there is no way that is going to happen.

We would love to have a closet that looks like this

via Houzz

but in reality, we're stuck with a closet that lacks hanging space with small drawers.

A perfect solution to your closet problems are to store clothing that you currently don't need in your closet.  With MakeSpace, you can store your seasonal clothing, along with anything else you need stored, and MakeSpace will take your bins and store them for you. This way, you never have to visit a storage unit. This is also perfect for those who are new to cities and can't fit all of their belongings into their small apartments. Features of MakeSpace that I think are really important to consider are the they will pick up and deliver your bins, they provide free MakeSpace Storage Bins, and the storage rates do not increase.

MakeSpace currently services New York City, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles. This is a great option for those who attend colleges within the city or work in the city. I'm too far from Chicago to use MakeSpace, but if I lived closer, I would definitely use MakeSpace to declutter my living space and closet. MakeSpace has announced some future spots where they will be offering their storage services and they plan to announce more soon! To see all of their current and future self storage locations, click here.

c/o MakeSpace

c/o MakeSpace

c/o MakeSpace

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Why You Should Stay on Campus for the Summer

Just two weeks before the spring semester was ending, I decided that I needed to stay in Bloomington for the summer to take some courses. Even after I found a sub lease for the summer and signed for classes, I was apprehensive about being in Bloomington for the summer. Previous to this decision, I had plans to work at home, shadow doctors, and relax.

However, after spending eight weeks living with four sorority sisters in a dingy, college rental,  I know that I made the right decision. Here are some reasons why you should stay on campus for the summer and take a few classes:

Smaller class size:

Two of the classes were relatively small compared to what the class size would have been during the fall or spring semesters. My Organic Chem class, which is usually 300 people during the regular year, only had 60 people enrolled. My Abnormal Psych class only had about 30 enrolled and because my lectures usually have 100 or more people in them, I really enjoyed having a smaller class.

 

Get you know your professors:

I had already taken two other classes with one of my professors for the summer, so I was really excited to take a third with her. After going to her office hours a few times, she was able to help me with my test anxiety, and was someone I could talk to about what was going on with my other classes. As a result, I ended up getting one of my best grades of my college career.  Go to your professor's office hours to get to know them, you never know how they will help you!

Get to know the town:

I used the summer to explore Bloomington a little bit. I ended up spending time at local parks playing tennis there with friends and exploring the local hiking options around the lakes. I didn't have time to do these during my first two years of college, so I'm glad that I was able to explore this summer during my free time!

Fewer distractions:

There are less people on campus in the summer, meaning that there are less distractions in public studying places. Also, because your course load is probably much smaller than during the regular year, you can focus solely on one class without being distracted by other assignments. 

Improve your GPA:

Summer classes are easier than classes during the regular school year because you have more time to study and have the ability to focus solely on the one or two classes that you're taking.  Summer classes are also the perfect time to retake classes that you want to improve your grade in. At IU, you can retake and replace grades that are included in your GPA for up to 10 credit hours. I retook a class this summer and I am currently in the process of 'X-ing' out the first grade from my GPA so only the newest, better grade for the course is counted. All of the studying is definitely worth it!