Being an adult can be difficult. There are certain rules one has to follow in certain situations, and often those rules are unclear. They no longer have to be, thanks to Kelly Williams Brown’s “Adulting: How To Become A Grown-Up In 468 Easy(ish) Steps.”
While a how-to guide can be dull, Brown spices her book with drawings and real life experiences woven into great tips students (and even people who are already adults) can use in their lifetimes. The subjects range from learning how to cook and what to keep stocked up on, to love and how to handle relationships.
The beginning of the book starts off with the smaller things, such as getting one’s mind right and putting things into a realistic perspective to achieve one’s goals. As the book progresses, the topics get more involved and complicated, just as situations in life. Moving out is a big step, and Brown includes plenty of tips to deal with domestic life away from one’s family. In later chapters, she discusses starting relationships and connecting with your family, things people living away from home often forget. Brown does a fantastic job at making the content easy to understand, while also giving it a humorous curve at times, providing an excellent flow and an interesting read for whomever picks up a copy.
Bored this summer? Getting ready to move? Curious about the proper etiquette when denying an RSVP to a party? Pick up a copy Brown’s book or visit the Adulting Blog and you’ll be growing up in no time!
My entire life, I always thought that it would be really cool to be able to speak other languages, but I never really wanted to put in the work to learn how to speak them. However, in order to be accepted into my university, I had to take at least two years of a language. So, with this in mind, during high school, I took Latin. My experience with Latin was mostly a terrible one, so I thought I would never take another language. However, I decided to take my chances in enrolling in a foreign language this semester. I enrolled in French, with no experience at all involving the language, and I’d like to explain my experience in the order that all these emotions occurred.
Confusion. In a class where absolutely no one has any previous experience with the language, the teacher wanted to get our class used to hearing French. In order to do this, she spoke in French for about 90 percent of the first week. This is, I might remind you, a language I do not speak.
Pride. Unlike Latin, with a spoken language, you are actually able to apply your new knowledge to everyday life. In the first week, I learned how to say “I don’t know” and “My name is Steven” and I felt amazing. I could walk around telling people who I was, and everyone was impressed.
Fascination. For about a month, French classes rolled by, and I loved learning new things every day.
Anger. If you’re going to make rules for verbs, and nouns, and conjugating them, why would there be exceptions?!? Why would they do that to us?!?
Acceptance. No matter how hard I tried, I would never be a master of the French language. So I accepted that when our teacher would teach us one word, I’d have to learn two. I’m not so sure about how well I maintained that rule, but it worked decently for the duration of my semester.
Happiness. At the end of the semester, we had an oral exam with our teacher, in which she would ask us questions, and we would have to talk to her in French. My happiness came from the fact that I could, indeed, respond to her, and I understood what she was saying….mostly.
Overall, I recommend taking a foreign language. It involved a decent amount of work, and definitely isn’t required in all cases, but it was fun, and I now have the ability to explain how many family members I have in a different language. What were your steps of emotions in your language classes?
For some, summer break means it’s time to go home. After living at school for the past few months, this can be a big adjustment. It means having to abide by your parents’ rules again. For me, I have to continually check-in with my mom, as well as be willing to drive my sisters around (using my own gas might I add). Let me tell you: I hate it.
Being at home also means that you’ll be seeing old friends from high school. People change when they go away to school, and sometimes your old friends aren’t who they used to be. I’ve found that new friends from school and boyfriends have separated my friends from high school and I. If we do see each other, it’s nothing like how it used to be.
I will say though that there are definitely perks to being back home for three months. First of all, it means no more fending for myself for my meals. My mom takes care of the grocery shopping and cooks dinner. There are also the perks of not paying for laundry. If you’re like me and lived in a dorm or somewhere where you had to pay for laundry, you know how nice it is not to convert all your money into quarters anymore.
No matter what your home situation is like, it is important to remember that you are going to be there for three months. Take advantage of the time with family and old friends because time with them is limited when you are away. When I come home for the summer I like to try and visit my old softball team. The summer gives me an opportunity to catch up with people I haven’t seen in awhile.
Summer break is a time to enjoy yourself and relax while taking a break from school. No matter if you’re happy or upset about spending the time at home, try to enjoy your time and make the most of your time off.
Apps are perfect whether you want to make the most of your time or totally kill it. Phone and computer apps have been part of our life for some time now, but below are 5 top apps you may not have heard of that will make your college life easier (or more fun).
SnapChat
SnapChat is the latest craze as far as image sharing goes. More private than an instagram and safer than sharing pictures through MMS, Snapchat gave us something we never knew we were missing. With Snapchat you can send pictures and 160 character limit messages to your friends. The only catch? There is a time limit. You can only view the picture while your finger is holding on the screen and the picture will disappear after a maximum of 10 seconds. So get your selfies and weird pointless camera shots ready to share. Warning: This app is addicting!
Secret Tip: Photos can be captured for later by simply taking a screenschot. So think twice before sending anything too crazy.
Just Wink
Just Wink is a fun greeting card app. Don’t worry this isn’t your crazy aunt’s email birthday cards. Just wink incorporates contemporary design that is perfect for any daily pick me up. The American Greeting Cards app has tons of designs and subjects to choose from. Some of our favorites include breakups, “my bad,” and bromance. So start sending some cheer now through texts or email.
Favorite Feature: Cards can be customized by adding photos or by finger-signing your name via touchscreen.
Dunno
Dunno is used for when you simply dunno. It’s a great productivity app built around a search concept. Imagine your friend drops a reference that is over your head; you simply enter the reference, word, or phrase into Dunno. It performs a few searches and notifies you when you its complete. Search results are similar to anything you may find in any other search engine like Google. Dunno is unique because it saves the searches in a queue so you don’t miss a beat in the conversation. Review your searches and learn what you may have missed throughout the day.
Highlight: You can mark relevant notes and share them with others.
Evernote
Evernote is an organization and web clip app. You can sync it to your PC and your phone. There is even a Google Chrome Browser extension which makes browsing the web easy. You clip what you want and are interested in to save for later. You can share these clips with friends who can access them from any device. The app truly optimizes organization. The best feature of this app is a search from image. Great for taking images of class notes. Take an image of an instructor’s notes in class and research them later then share the results with your classmates.
Usage: Although this app works great on smartphones, you’ll enjoy it best from an iPad or Tablet.
Highlight
Highlight is a social app that is getting a lot of buzz from tech junkies. It has been featured by Anderson Cooper, CNN, NY times, and the wall street journal. Highlight accesses your Facebook and Linked In accounts to help you stay connected or meet new friends. Highlight alerts you when people who share your interests are nearby. This is a great app for traveling or getting adjusted to a new city. You can see if a lot of people who like the same sports team you do are all at the same bar, or if a local concert has a lot of people that have the same interest in music as you. Highlight takes the guessing out of social hot spots.
Caution: This app may stream detailed information about you and your location, so read the privacy policy and know what information you’re giving out.
The best part? They are all FREE! So go to your app store now and get started.
What app are you currently obsessing over? Let us know in the comments.
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