Blancing School and Friends

Hello future Penn State Women Engineers!  I am Victoria Heasley, and I will be a sophomore this year, so I just went through everything you will face during your freshman year.  Being an engineer is a lot of work and requires a lot of studying, so I was frustrated at first by the fact that many other freshmen were always hanging out with friends on week nights, and it seemed like they all had less homework and studying to do than me.  I wanted to tell you some tips and personal experiences that I had during my busy freshman year, and how to keep everything under control.  Try to balance work and fun each day to try to keep your stress levels down.

Each day after classes, I had a lot of homework and studying to do.  However, I wanted to also see some of my friends.  An easy way to hang out and talk with your friends each day is to plan to all go to the dining halls together for either lunch or dinner.  This way you can eat together and still be able to talk and take a break from the work.  Last year, I would plan on meeting with some friends each night for dinner, it was a great study break, and I had to eat anyways, so why not eat with some friends?!  By being able to talk about my day and just relax for a little, I was able to relieve some stress each night during dinner.  Another idea is that if you have a club meeting that night, plan on meeting some people from the club beforehand and eat dinner together. This way you can eat a quick dinner and all go to the meeting together.  

Another great way to manage your stress and your time is to take a little bit of time each day to go the gym.  Each night, I would schedule about forty minutes when I would go to the gym.  My friends and I would go to a class together or we would just go and work out together.  I was a great way to spend time away from studying.  And if you can’t go with someone else, don’t worry about going alone. I often went alone last year, and I loved having time to just get away from studying and being able to blow off some steam. 

By scheduling sometime in the week to be with your friends, you can have a break from all of your school work.  But, don’t feel like you have to every night.  Last year, I felt that I had to be able to hang out with friends, study, join multiple cubs, workout, and still manage to sleep at some point.  Obviously, I became overwhelmed.  Find a balance between school work and seeing your friends.  You don’t have to do everything.  

Some fun study breaks to do during the week:

•          Plan dinner with your friends
•         Go to the gym (with your friends or by yourself)
•         Attend club meetings with your friends!

Now after the school week, you will want to take a break.  Luckily, your first semester is Football Season!  This is a great opportunity to have a fun Saturday with friends and helping to cheer on the Nittany Lions.  Fall was my favorite time, because everyone looked forward to the games on Saturday.  Have fun with these and make sure to dress in all PSU spirited clothes! (Also, make sure you don’t paint your face with something that might cause terrible tan lines, this was a past experience of mine…I actually had PSU tan lines on my face for two weeks!!!!)   And when it isn’t Football season, there are many other sporting events that you can go to on the weekends, like basketball, volleyball, and hockey. 

Another great idea for the weekend is to all go to dessert!  There are so many places at State College where you can find something sweet to eat late at night.  My friends and I often visited Insomnia cookies, Kiwi frozen yogurt, Happy Valley Freeze ice cream, or even the creamery.  It was a great treat after a long week, and we always had fun picking which place to go.  

On the weekends, my friends and I also loved to have game or movie nights.  We would all go to someone’s room to play board games or watch a movie and of course ate snacks and talked!  It’s a great idea to pack some of your favorite games and movies to bring to college.  (And if you don’t have any good movies, the HUB has a free movie every weekend!) 

The weekends should be a time to relax and have fun with your friends, but remember that you can also get a lot of studying and homework done during that time too.  It is important to do some work.  With these tips, hopefully you can plan time with your friends that you will all enjoy and still have time to do work, so you won’t be too overwhelmed during the week.  

Weekend fun:

•          Football games (or other sporting events)
•          Dessert nights
•          Game or Movie Nights

I hope all of you enjoy your first year at Penn State, and remember that you don’t have to do everything, and don’t get too overwhelmed with school work.  Take some breaks and get to know your friends.  You will have a wonderful year!