Student Life (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
University has become an accepted rite of passage into adulthood, three years of independent living, self-motivated learning and enriching opportunities. Inevitably this experience comes with a fair few bumps and bruises, but as long as there is no serious damage then it is all part of the learning process.
I take a look at three uncomfortable, but usually avoidable situations in which students can regularly find themselves.
The Hangover
Alcohol plays a huge part in student culture, from booze-fuelled freshers weeks, to visits to the union between lectures. The subsequent hangover can steal away entire productive days, even interfering with education. The easy cure would be to give up alcohol, which is what I chose to do, but that can be seen as not embracing the student spirit. So what else can you do?
- Know your limits, if you have an important morning then be sensible with your drink.
- Find your hangover prevention or cure, it may be a big fry up, or drinking raw egg before bed, or maybe one of these.
The All-Nighter
There are time where despite your best intentions you find yourself stocking up on high-caffeinated drinks and sugary snacks in preparation for an all-nighter. These are not fun experiences, forcing yourself to work very hard mentally when usually you would be relaxing. Having said this, they are not an indication of failure, my best essays tend to be written the night before hand-in. So how can you turn an all-nighter into a success?
- Prepare, by having an essay plan, plenty of reading and detailed notes you make the essay process much more simple. Without this preparation you make the chances of writing a good essay significantly lower.
- Find the right environment, usually a case of home versus 24 hour library. Personally the library offers less distractions, shelves full of books to reference and is far enough away from bed I can forget about it for a while.
- Avoid following all-nighters with busy days. If you haven’t had the sleep you usually need you will struggle the following day.
The Overdraft
Budgeting is not unique to student life, but often it is one of the first experiences of managing money effectively. Sometimes a visit to the overdraft can be the only way to afford food and electricity. Top tips:
- Know your income and expenses then budget around these.
- Do not treat your overdraft as free money. This is often a sales tactic used by banks when getting you to sign up for student accounts. Your overdraft should be a last resort if possible.
- Don’t panic if you are in your overdraft, ensure that you are managing your money responsibly and have a plan to pay it back.
So there’s a little snippet from my personal guide for surviving student life, it may not suit everyone but so far it hasn’t done me any harm.
Related articles
- Student debt? I hardly notice it (cleardebt.co.uk)
- Precautions of Pulling All Nighters (graceoks.wordpress.com)
- Flipping Lectures! (remoteworker.wordpress.com)
- Understoodit Helps Confused Students in the Classroom (betakit.com)
- Where Do You Go to be Brave? (ruqaiyahdavids.wordpress.com)
- …And The Whip Cracked (thelegacymupub.wordpress.com)
- Students ‘taught how to pass exams not how to think’ (itv.com)
