collegiateromantic

[collegiateromantic]

"she was putting on her brave face, but her bravery was real."

Before the coffee gets cold, Toshikazu Kawaguchi, trans. Geoffrey Trousselot, p. 106

[collegiateromantic]

Ali Smith, The Whole Story and Other Stories

[collegiateromantic]

Actual good first-time college student advice:

Wear jeans/pants that “breathe” and bring a sweater, even if it’s scorching hot out, until you know which building blasts the AC to 60 degrees F and which feels like a sauna

Backpacks with thick straps are your friend!  Messenger bags are cool and all but if you’re commuting with a lot of stuff, symmetrically styled backpacks are better for your back

You are your own person and you can walk out whenever you need to or want to, so long as you’re not disrupting the class.  Meaning you can go to the bathroom without permission, take a breather if you’re anxious, answer an important phone call, etc.

If you don’t like the class on the first day, if you can- DROP THAT CLASS AND TAKE ANOTHER ONE!  It’ll only get worse from there!

If you can, take a class outside your major; it’s a good break from your expected studies.

You are in charge of your schedule.  Your adviser and guidance counselor is there to ‘advise and guide’ but if you don’t like certain classes and you can substitute for others, that’s your choice.

Consequently, if you are changing anything drastic in your plan, talk with your adviser and instructors.

Pay attention to your credit hours and grades.  Never leave this to the last week of school, you will be sorry and stressed beyond belief!

Unless it’s a lab book or otherwise specified, go to the class for a week or so before buying an expensive textbook.  Some classes, while having it on their required list, do not actually use the textbook a whole lot and you might find some of it scanned online.  Rent if you can or buy used online (schools actually don’t give discounts).  Use your best judgement on what you think you need.

Tell the people who go up to you selling or advertising things you are not interested in that you are in a rush to class and don’t have time to listen to them.  It’s less rude and they’ll leave you alone.

The smaller the class, the better it is to have some sort of acquaintanceship with a couple classmates.  They might save your ass if you are absent one day or need to study.  And talking with them makes the time go by faster without it being so insufferable.

You don’t need to join a club or sport, but internships are cool and useful!

If you can afford it, take a day off once or twice each semester if you’re too exhausted.  Just be aware of what you missed and if it was worth missing!

Your health is the most important, this goes for mental health too!!  Note: College-age/upper teens is when mental disorders like depression and anxiety are most commonly diagnosed.  Most schools have therapy services, especially during exam time.  Look into it if you need to!

Communicate with your professor if you are having trouble with something.  Anything.

Eat and stay hydrated.  Bring a water bottle and snack to class.

All-nighters will happen but never go over 36 hours without sleep.

It’s going to be hard and there will be times you might think about giving up.  This WILL happen.  You just have to make sure what you’re doing isn’t making you absolutely miserable and/or there is something rewarding and positive to look forward to at the end!

[collegiateromantic]

cats are really useful for when you need a small animal to sit 10-15 feet away from you and stare at you with unceasing neutrality

[collegiateromantic]

a magical girl? all girls are magical, you fool

[collegiateromantic]

Yearning for someone to love and write witty letters to.

Yearning for the kind of endless love that transcends time and space.

Can you tell I just finished this is how you lose the time war?

[collegiateromantic]

My only goal as a dm tbh

the way you win at DnD is making your friends laugh

[collegiateromantic]

I went straight from high school to university, and straight from my undergrad to my grad. And now I graduate in less than a month and am facing the inexplicable fear of being an adult in the world with a job that I am technically qualified for but don't feel prepared to do.

[collegiateromantic]

JOY HAS A HABIT OF RETURNING. BTW

[collegiateromantic]

"And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next."

Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch, 771

[collegiateromantic]

". . .life--whatever else it is--is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random. That Nature (meaning Death) always wins but that doesn't mean we have to bow and grovel to it. That maybe even if we're not always so glad to be here, it's our task to immerse ourselves anyway: wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn't touch."

Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch, 771

[collegiateromantic]

you know what will salvage this expensive and unemployable degree? a second, even less employable degree!! #grad school

[collegiateromantic]

when the warmer weather starts it's like, this is it. it's time to start reading a fuck-off huge novel and cart it around various parks to read throughout the summer

[collegiateromantic]

i believe you can always get back to yourself. you can always soften into being again. no matter how long you might be stuck in a pattern of unhappiness, of being jaded, of feeling guarded from the world in some way. there is always a path back. give yourself a chance to find it.

[collegiateromantic]

The Song of Achilles by madeline Miller has ended me. I can't believe it took me so long to read this, I'm sobbing and my cat looks very concerned. Anything that Madeline Miller puts out, I will read.

The beginning was a little slow for me, but I'm also just starting up another semester so that might be it too, but I read the later 3/4s in two sittings so one could say it hooked me pretty good.

4.5/5 stars

[collegiateromantic]

Wow did I love sword catcher by Cassandra Clare. I did not read her mortal instruments series (mostly because I was in middle/high school and fantasy wasn't fully my jam yet) and I don't know if it would be for me at this moment in my life, but this book was great. The use of conlang, the world building, the relationships (the will-they, won't-they), the magic, the politics, the religious tensions. All stuff I love in a book. I am extremely excited to pick up the rest of this series as they are released !!!!

4.5/5 stars

[collegiateromantic]

Before they are hanged by Joe Abercrombie was, from what I can tell, a great set up to the third and final book in the first law trilogy. The pacing of this novel was a little off for me and I had to put it down halfway through, but that's just because I'm very much a mood reader and I just wasn't really feeling it. However, I picked it up again this week and I thoroughly enjoyed the second half.

As the story progresses I'm growing more fond of characters I truly hated in the first book (particularly jezal). And abercrombies writing style is growing on me.

4 / 5 stars