I was coming into IU from out of state, with no possibility of weekend trips home, no preparation for the unpredictable Indiana weather and no friends. So I felt pressured to find the perfect roommate. I had heard what I now know to be a myth: that your roommate had the power to make or break your freshman year. So I felt beyond lucky to find Lucy* through the Facebook IU Class of 2018 page, who was in the same desperate online-dating roommate search as me. We started sending pages of messages back and forth daily, starting from spring break and going until the day I heard her voice in the hall outside our room and just knew it was her. Our conversations consisted of family, boys, life goals and how our teachers wrote eroticas – y’know, the standard stuff. I explicitly recall telling my hometown friends how I already had a best friend waiting for me in Bloomington, even though we had never met.

However, that little belief didn’t totally hold true. Once we were in Bloomington, we just didn’t click. I still believe Lucy is a great person, with immense kindness and an enjoyable sense of humor, but sometimes people just don’t mesh. Maybe we were both just a bit too quiet, or even – as oddly as it sounds – we were just too similar. When we were together in person we just didn’t seem to have much to talk about. In the first couple months of school, I found myself in a friend group, made of my roommate and two girls down the hall, that I just did not belong in. I must stress again that these were great girls, I have no bad words to say about them, but they were just not meant to be my college best friends.

An upperclassman scared me when I was told that I had to find a place to live and have signed a lease by the end of September (which is totally false!) There was also a point when I broke down from homesickness for the first time that year. I realized I hadn’t found my best friends / future roomies in college yet, I had no one that I would want to go to if I needed comforting and I had no one to stay up late at night with laughing about boys. I was terrified that I wouldn’t find that someone. For the first time I wondering if going out of state was the right decision (I’ll write a separate article about this, but spoiler alert: one of the best decisions of my life!). Don’t worry though, this freshman year has a happy ending!

Just because your roommate isn’t your best friend, you can find your group elsewhere. This upcoming year I will be living in a house with five other friends and honestly I could not be more excited. My tips are to put yourself out there, get involved and work past any nerves.

In my case, there was a retreat, coincidentally for WeAreIU. An all-day adventure outdoors with a group of people I had never met before. I was terrified. I don’t know what I feared the most, maybe being awkward? But I worked past those nerves, laced up my sneakers and went outside to be picked up by another girl going. At the retreat I met another freshman, Macy, who was as equally close to not going that day. But because we both decided to go to this random retreat, we met each other, and now I’m happy to call her one of my best friends at IU. It still freaks us out to think about how easily one of us could have decided to not go, resulting in us never meeting.

I also recommend to meet friends of friends. Some people are the type to keep their friend groups separate while others like to introduce all their friends to each other. If you have friends of the latter type, take that opportunity! Through Macy, I met her roommate Amber, who soon became my “ride or die.” (Honestly, huge shoutout to WeAreIU because I probably wouldn’t have my two closest friends in Bloomington if it weren’t for that retreat!)

Last tip from how I found my best friends: put forth the effort to hang out with others. That girl you talked to once in your organization? Ask her if she wants to grab dinner. That guy you met during orientation? Maybe he wants to get together now that you two are back on campus. Shoot him a text. Even message those girls you talked with on Facebook that you almost became roommates with (that’s how I met one of my best friends and now future housemates). 

You might still be disappointed that your freshman roommate didn’t turn out to be best friend, that’s understandable. I had friends who found it really awkward that my roommate and I just kind of coexisted without talking in the room. I was fine with the situation (as long as we weren’t fighting). However, if the situation is unbearable for you, do know you have the option of switching.

I've heard some roommate horror stories, you don't want to let your situation dictate the success of your freshman year. If you are in a similar experience to mine, I recommend finding friends in your hall. For some, all of their best friends came from their dorm, and it could be the same for you. Having a friend who lives in the same hall as you will be beneficial for many reasons. 

1. Convenient entertainment. 
2. A shoulder to cry on. 
3. A familiar face for a mid-day pick me up. 
4. You're sick for the first time without your parents to take care of you. (I got the flu over fall break and was lucky I had a friend in the hall who was willing to bring me soup when I lacked the energy.)

Even if your roommate is your best friend, I still wholeheartedly push the same tips. It’s important to branch out in college, to find a wide variety of friends in different circles and to not feel confined in one friend group. College is the perfect time to meet new people - that may be my favorite aspect of college actually – so use this time to find your true friends. Happy rooming, Hoosiers!

*Name has been changed to respect my roommate’s privacy.

I graduated from college debt free thanks to my parents. They opened a 529 plan for me when I was just a little girl. Bonds were bought in preparation of my four years, checks were written specifically for the college fund etc. It was an important cause that my family members wanted to contribute to because not many of them were able to participate in higher education. 

Many of you now have had the privilege of viewing your first bursar bill, and now you're all beginning to wonder how you're going to pay for college. It's funny how a large number in a tiny box can give us the biggest reality check. 

Let's talk options, specifically ones that don't necessarily include LOANS. The "L" word can be a dangerous thing for college students. Loans aren't free money; they come back to haunt you about six months after you walk across that graduation stage. 

So what can you do? 

You can apply for this every year. Google FAFSA and many have tried to debunk the myths about this excruciatingly tedious application. 

The truth is, many of you will qualify for some kind of aid and many of you will not. 

FAFSA claims there isn't a parental income maximum, but I'm here to tell you that my parents always made too much money to qualify for any financial assistance. I say apply once and go from there. 

Surprise, surprise there are unadvertised scholarships at IU. It never hurts to ask, so you might want to consider contacting the financial aid office and inquiring about any money that may be available to you. 

This is often based on need and achievements. Test scores, grades and extracurricular accolades can all play a part in getting financial assistance from the state. Look into it. 

This can range from saving to mom and dad to working a part-time job. Many students work their way through college. Even if you can't cover all your tuition, the lower the loan amount the better. Here's where you might want to put that high school grad money to good use. 

Apply, apply, apply. I would avoid applying to nationwide scholarships because it's kind of like trying to win the lottery. BUT there are a lot of local scholarships available to students. Seek out organizations in your community that you think may offer students financial aid. Scholarships aren't always broadcast to the public, so tap into organizations that you know are frugal. Those of you who volunteer often within your community, you've got a leg up.

Loans are not your only option, but they are sometimes unavoidable. Here are some suggestions if you need to go that route.

1. If you take a loan out, try and create some cash flow for the following semester/school year. This may help you avoid taking out another loan, or at the very least a lower amount. Try to manage your mountain of debt, it's easy to borrow money and keep partying on, but come graduation and an entry level salary, you'll wish you made smarter money choices. 
2. The lower the interest rate the better. You want to pay as little to borrow the money as possible. 
3. Get federal subsidized loans. The government (as long as you're in school) will pay the interest charges. 
4. Plug the numbers into a student loan calculator so you keep in mind how long it might take to pay back. 

I'm not a loan expert, but there are plenty of people who are! DO YOUR RESEARCH and ask for advice. I personally really like Rachel Cruze, she's funny and blunt. 

The eats at IU. 

Just in time for the August 1st deadline to change your meal plan. 

For those of you who are moving into the dorms, it's obviously essential that you have a meal plan. My suggestion: get the standard plan. For the average eater this is more than enough. When you factor in eating out and microwaveable meals for when you're too lazy to leave your room (this will happen), the standard package should suffice. 

The standard plan gives you 1,300 I-BUCKS. It's a "declining balance system," not a "meal per week" system. This can be to your advantage if you limit yourself on that buffet line or while perusing the shelves of the C-store. If you do run out of BUCKS, you can always add to your plan. 

As glorious and convenient as it is to eat on campus, it also costs an arm, a leg and your future first born child. DO NOT. I repeat. DO NOT get a meal plan after your first year at IU. Restrain yourself and learn to pack your lunch; utilize that kitchen you've been living without for a year. This decision will save you some major bucks, some pun intended. 

A little IU hack for ya: be frugal with your I-BUCKS freshman year, because they rollover to your next semester. The discount lessens from 60 to 25 percent, but you get to keep the luxury of eating on campus for one more semester. I would even consider adding a few more BUCKS to your plan at the end of the year that way you're stocked for fall. Here's the catch: you have to use up all your BUCKS by the end of the fall semester, they won't rollover to the spring. 

Beware of the late night munchies! While you have a meal plan, try and limit your nights eating out. Ordering food at midnight can turn into a nasty habit while living in the dorms. There's a good chance you'll gain that freshman 15 and lose your savings. Your meal plan isn't free money, but it's required and already paid for. Try not to tack on too many more food expenses. 

Limiting eating out goes for all of you who are living off campus too. Spend your dollars at the grocery store. A loaf of bread, cheese and a pound of turkey can feed you for at least a week. I understand that cooking is a pain at times, but cook with the intention of having leftovers.

Food is a necessity, but there are ways to pinch pennies in this area. Money saved here can go towards that bursar bill balance. 

Utilize your student activities fee. Every semester you pay $101.79. This fee allows students to take advantage of opportunities all over campus for little to no cost. Yes, adventuring off campus is fun, but it can also get expensive.Don't waste this $100, check out what campus has to offer. 

What are you paying for? Well, let me give you the highlights. 

Here you get a ridiculously great discount. Students can buy tickets for a good $10-20 off regular prices. You're seeing national shows, popular artists, etc. for cheap. It's awesome. 

Bowling is discounted for students and there is a huge billiards room. The IMU is definitely an underrated place to hang out. Most students use it for food and a place to nap, but it's got some great entertainment options. 

This is the largest student programming body on campus. They plan concerts, lectures, free food events, etc. Some events cost money, but most are free to students. 

1. Weekly film series: UB hosts movie screenings of recent releases in the Whittenberger Auditorium. The auditorium has a large screen and theater like seating. It's FREE and $2 for your date if they don't happen to be an IU student. 
2. IU Block Party 
3. Official Little 500 concert 
4. BloomingCON 
5. Nearly Naked Mile 
6. Homecoming parade 
7. Big Friday: Yule Ball
8. IU step show

Homecoming parade

Kevin Hart sold out in minutes.

IU Block Party 

Go to the gym! $70.52 out of your total fee goes towards your membership to the campus gyms. On top of using equipment, courts and workout spaces, students can also attend group exercise classes for FREE. Specialty classes and personal training are discounted for students. Intramural sports for a small registration fee are also a big way that students like to get involved on campus. 

There are plenty of entertainment options on campus. There's ALWAYS something going on. If anything go to call out meetings that have free food. I suggest making an IU bucket list. There's nothing wrong with treating yourself to a dinner out or a road trip to Indy, but managing your fun money during college is crucial to affording your four years. 

The last post in this series on Digital Literacy was about evaluating digital information sources. This post is about creating and communicating information in the digital world. Really, it's about your contribution to the digital world.

The Digital Literacy Task Force of the American Library Association (ALA) says a digitally literate person "Possesses the variety of skills – technical and cognitive – required to find, understand, evaluate, create, and communicate digital information in a wide variety of formats."  Note the use of the word "variety."  Our Internet-connected world seems to provide an infinite amount of variety. Information is conveyed as text, photos, animated images, audio, and video. New technologies are being developed that will even deliver smells to our smartphones. Read about that here.

So you may think that the idea of creating information sounds a little strange. I could go into an entire discussion about the definition of information and how information differs from data; but I won't. What I'm talking about here, is you using technology to make something new. You can take a digital photo with your phone, write a paper using Word, record an audio podcast with Audacity, create a work of art using Photoshop, etc. As a rule, when you make something, your goal is to communicate an idea or a feeling. You are speaking your mind.

Before the Internet became what is is today, it was difficult to get your ideas and opinions heard by others. Now, opinions flow like water on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and all of the other social media networks. Today you can publish your own ebook and sell it without getting approval from anyone.  You can write an iPhone app and sell it to people all over the world. If there's a cause that you care about you can create a blog to publicize it. Need funding for the cause? You're bound to find like-minded people who are willing to make a donation. 

With so many people contributing so much to the digital world, you run the risk of getting lost in the crowd. Here are some tips for getting your voice heard.

• Find your Niche. There's something for everyone on the Internet, so there's an audience for the thing that you're interested in. Find something that you care about and blog, vlog, and tweet about it. Search for what other people are saying about your topic and share that with your audience. 
• Become an Expert. Learn everything you can about your topic and share that knowledge with others. Create tutorials. Write a book! Write reviews or create videos discussing relevant work on the topic. You might be able to make a living selling your expertise on the subject.
• Get to Know People. It is a small world after all. The Internet makes it easy for you to meet people from all over the world. You might have valuable information to share with someone who lives in Suriname, and that person might have something amazing to share with you! 
• Learn the Tools. There are so many ways to communicate using the Internet. How many tools do you have in your digital toolbox? This is the part of the post where I put in a plug for IU IT Training. We have no-cost workshops for members of the IU community on everything from spreadsheets, to photo editing, to programming and web development, and a lot more. Like us on Facebook, subscribe on YouTube, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to stay up-to-date on all of our offerings. 

I look forward to seeing some of your digital creations!

• Are You Digitally Literate?
• Digital Literacy: Evaluating Information Sources
• Why blog? Five Reasons to write for WeAreIU!
• Social Suicide: Some Advice for Using Social Media in College

Of all the emails you receive as an incoming freshman to IU, one you should pay close attention to is the link to the mysterious “private community”. With all the other forms, links, and things you need to do before college, why is this one so important?

The "private community" is a social media application called Schools App. It comes in two flavors, a free mobile application (Android/iPhone), or a free desktop version, which is powered by Facebook. (Though, whether you use mobile or the desktop version, they both pretty much contain the same content and features.) What’s so great about Schools App is the fact that its user base is composed almost exclusively of IU incoming freshman, with a few transfer students and IU staff scattered about. Schools App has had such a big impact on its users that on multiple occasions people choosing between schools have said that the app was one of the main reasons they had chosen IU.

The central focus and hub of the app is what's called the ‘feed’. Think of it like Twitter or Facebook’s Timeline. Here, people post all sorts of things, from small biographies about themselves to try to match with a prospective roommate, to snapchat screenshots making crazy faces with jokes in the captions. Trends will emerge: The day dorm assignments were released there were hundreds of posts, asking who is in what residence hall or who their roommate was. Everyone will list all their social media account handles, trying to get people to follow them. As the users pile up so do the number of likes and comments on each of the postings, and they seem to follow the order of events that we all tackle together as freshmen: Joyful posts about their IU acceptance, to Red Carpet Days sign-ups. Direct admission letters to housing contracts. Roommates to paying the dreaded Bursar.

Yet the feed isn't all work and no play. People make jokes, a lot of jokes. Concert Invites, thoughts about the upcoming school year, pictures ranging from IU merch, to vacation pictures. And even the infamous Groupme invites. (Which is a separate app, so I won't get into it here, but s/o to my bootyfam19 squad).

With almost all of us being freshman, there is a lot about IU and college life that we don't know, and so people ask an enormous amount of questions on the feed as well. These could be as simple as what to wear at orientation or how to use IU's website, to serious, such as what laptop to buy or what classes to take. People will ask about what dorms are the best, the worst, and most importantly which one's have A/C. The out-of-staters ask about weather and the in-staters ask about places to eat. My point is, everyone asks everything, no matter what. Books, concerts, hiking trips, you name it.  Yet, surprisingly, all the questions seem to get answered, and in a timely manner- usually by students or the few faculty members on the app if it’s a school related question. It was great to see so many people help each other for no reason at all. It was my first clue to the fact that the IU Culture of Care is an actual thing. This makes the app a valuable resource for not only entertainment, but for information.

Thats not all Schools App has to offer, though. You can also create a meetup, receive important announcements from IU officials such as RPS (handy for when housing apps come out), look up students by almost any search criteria, join groups, and you can even slide into people’s dm’s in the messaging section (If you know what I mean).

The Schools App is a valuable tool your freshman year and beyond, in both an academic and social light. I learned so many things from the questions that were asked, and answered a few of my own. Vital information from other students that I would never had known otherwise. I also met a lot of people, from all over the state, country, and even world; I can honestly say I have made friends before I had even stepped foot on campus. Two huge aspects of college all rolled in one, it will make your friends at Purdue and other campus's wish they had it, I know mine did.

-K

As Stevie Wonder once said, "Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand." Music brings people together and expresses things that sometimes, words just can't. Since I've been listening to my collection of songs endlessly this Summer (I absolutely love music and have to have SOME motivation during all of my packing, unpacking and moving sessions), I wanted to write a post about four songs that make me proud and pumped to be a student at Indiana University. So while you're missing IU and counting down the days to Welcome Week, listen to these beauties and GET EXCITED for the upcoming year! 

Since this is IU's official fight song, you just need to know it. When this plays at football games, students, alumni, staff and fans all join in. Another bonus: it's the perfect opportunity to display those spirited fists to blades that you've been practicing and perfecting, all summer long.

I discovered this song the summer before I attended IU and played it on repeat until I had the lyrics down. You don't have to do that, but this. is. my. jam (and a lot of other Hoosiers', too). Whether this song comes on at Assembly Hall or orientation, it consistently gets me excited and makes me drop whatever I'm doing to sing and dance (or jump up and down, whatever) along. This song in particular carries a lot of good memories with it and reminds me how much I truly love being a Hoosier, and how proud and fortunate I am to attend Indiana University.

I couldn't include one or the other, because I love both versions. Jim Nabors is the traditional singer of the song, which he sung at the Indy 500 for 36 years. After he retired from singing the song in 2014, Straight No Chaser picked it up in 2015 after singing it previously for various events. Both performances have their merits. A Hoosier at heart and an acapella group that was formed at IU, how can you choose just one?

WHEN WE BLEED, WE BLEED CREAM AND CRIMSON. And if you don't...well, you might want to go get that checked out by a professional. 

This is officially the first week of my senior year and this past month I have excessively thought about how I wanted to make it the best year I have ever had in Bloomington. Many of my friends, that are now Alumni of this great university, have told me how they felt like their senior year was the fastest year to go. My goal is to try and slow it down. Now I know that I cannot stop time, but I can try and make the most of each day because it is all so limited (that means less binge watching TV this year). I thought that the best way to make the most of my last year in Bloomington is by saying yes to whatever opportunity comes my way. If you know me you would know that I am not much of a risk taker and I have no trouble at all with saying "no," but I feel like the past three years of saying no has led to more pillow cuddling and TV binge watching nights than exploring the town. I want to change that and share the experience with all of you. 

Now I know that I don't want to say "yes" to anything that strays from my moral compass, but I want it to be anything that can add to my experience here at IU. I'm not sure what opportunities will come my way so I cannot really give a preview of the kind of experience that I expect to have, but I have been in college for three years now and I know that opportunities are always knocking. But as a back-up (just in case nothing is ever knocking) I have made a list of things that I want to do before I graduate called My Top 20. I did not want to start from scratch so I looked to a special list that you may have seen or heard of....the IU bucket list!

I've completed most of the things on the list and some I took off because I honestly don't have any interest in doing them. After editing the list I noticed how small it had gotten, so I came up with the idea to bring the list back to 20 items and from there every idea that I took off was replaced with another idea.So lets take a look at my updated bucket list:

1. Attend the Little 500 men’s or women’s race.

2. Hike around Griffy Lake

3. Attend an event hosted by the Student Alumni Association. 

4. Relax near the fireplace in the IMU.

5. Look at the stars from the Kirkwood Observatory.

6. Wear IU gear to the Homecoming parade.

7. Attend an event at the IU Auditorium

8. Support the local arts at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

9. Paint a Jordan Avenue bridge for a special event.

10. Attend more Little 500 events 

11. Request an old manuscript in the Lilly Library.

12. Run the Nearly Naked Mile (or at least cheer your friends on).

13. Shop and dine under the holiday lights in the square in downtown Bloomington.

14. Cheer on the Hoosiers at a free athletic event.

15. Attend a basketball game.

16. Go to a comic book store.

17. Eat at a local restaurant  

18. Cheer on women athletes at a home game.  

19. Play 20 Questions with 20 Hoosiers*

20. Write two blogs each month reflecting on progress.

I am really looking forward to this year of new experiences. As always thanks for reading! I cannot wait to share my experience with you. 

IU's online learning environment, Oncourse, is on its way out. It might, in fact, be gone by the time this post is published. Canvas is already here!

First, if you've used Oncourse in the past and have files stored in the Resources area, read this IU Knowledge Base document to find out how to move them. Your next step is learning how to use Canvas. In this post, I'll point you to some resources that will help you do just that!

This webinar provides a brief overview of some of the most common Canvas activities for students, as well as an introduction to other resources that are available to help you. Specifically you'll learn how to:

• set your notification preferences
• use the messages tool (inbox)
• access your assignments and tests
• view your grades
• access your group site

No sessions are currently scheduled for this one, but you can catch the recorded webinar here.

The Tips blog has some articles to help you get the most out of Canvas. Take a look at "Uploading Assignments in Canvas at IU," and "Canvas spotlight: The Calendar Tool," for some good advice on using some of Canvas' features.

You can find help with Canvas here. Go to lynda.iu.edu to log in with your IU credentials. lynda's course, "Up and Running with Canvas 2015," features 42 video tutorials. 

You can also get help directly from Canvas. Just click the help button when you're in the application to find a variety of support options.

Once you start using Canvas, you'll get a feel for how it works. If you're used to Oncourse, I think you'll like Canvas more. 

Feel free to let us at IT Training know if you have specific Canvas questions. 

I stepped foot on Indiana University’s campus in the fall of 2011 a shy, intimidated and wide-eyed 18-year old. I ventured away from my hometown of St. Louis, and I knew exactly two people on campus. My best friend and twin brother were all the way in Colorado.

At times, I felt lonely, lost and unsure. I considered transferring. However, through time, I found my place at Indiana. I made friends, found my passion, went out of my comfort zone and made memories to last a lifetime.
It took time, but eventually I felt at home in Bloomington. Four years later, I can happily say my time spent there was the best four years of my life. Here’s my list of advice to ensure you do the same:

I can’t stress this enough. The best way to make a large campus feel smaller is to make friends and discover your passion and join an organization on campus. Whether it be writing, dancing, hiking, acting or sports broadcasting as IDS editor Evan Hoopfer wrote, "you have to find your something." If you find yourself unhappy like Evan and I were early on, join a club. Heck, join multiple clubs. Take a chance, go out and meet people and stick with it. Evan found his place at the IDS. I found mine with sports broadcasting, serving as a tour guide and my fraternity.

In whatever organization you choose to get involved in, make it a choice to make an impact. Don’t just be a member of the group, be a leader. You’ll develop leadership skills and a feeling of accomplishment. Taking on a leadership position serves as an avenue to help others and make a difference in someone’s life. The decision will also reap future benefits, especially in the job search. Employers will hire someone with a 3.5 GPA and multiple leadership positions over someone with a 3.9 GPA and no campus involvement every time.

College is a scary, yet exciting time. It’s a time to try new things, step out of your comfort zone, and most importantly, find your passion. I entered college and originally opted to play it safe: Attend a top-10 business school, major in accounting/finance and graduate with a good degree and high-paying job.
I have several friends that are passionate about those areas of study. Many are now making very good money right out of school working for Fortune 500 companies. However, that path wasn’t for me. Accounting and Finance bored me. It seemed to too professional, uncreative, and only an avenue to a future (and probably good) paycheck. Instead, I changed my major to marketing, a more creative and dynamic discipline of study. I earned a certificate from the journalism school. And…I found sports broadcasting as a passion.
My freshmen year floor-mate and now good friend Adam Cohen introduced me to WIUX, the student radio station. I saw Adam chasing his passion and sophomore year I decided to do the same. I had always been interested in sports broadcasting and marveled at the work of Dan Schulman, Mike Tirico, Joe Buck and others. But could I really turn that into a career? At first it seemed silly. Initially I looked at it as just a hobby. But as time progressed it turned into a passion and a possible career. I then interned for a professional baseball team as the broadcaster and director of Media Relations after my junior year and am now currently working in the same capacity for a professional baseball team in St. Louis. Chase the dream. It can, with hard work, turn into reality.
I hear several of my friends say all the time, “I wish I was going into something I actually enjoyed.” Don’t let that be you. Chase a dream, not money, status, or a job title. I challenge you to be more like Rob Sherrell: he majors in stand-up comedy.

With all that being said, always have a backup plan. Things don’t always work out as planned, so it is important to have a Plan B. Diversify yourself with another area of study. I earned degrees in both journalism and marketing. Should the whole broadcast thing not work out, I can rely on my business skills I’ve gained to mold into a new career path. A back-up plan gives you another career path option, but also allows you to expand your knowledge and horizons by becoming an expert in another area of study.
Final tip: a second, and different, major or area of study will give you an edge in the job hunt. Earning degrees in marketing, Spanish, and graphic design? That gives you an edge. It differentiates you. Same goes with a journalism major minoring in business.

Once again, this expands your knowledge and helps you develop new and alternate perspectives. It also differentiates you from others and gives you an edge.

Be different. Be weird. In my mind, someone telling you that you’re weird is the biggest compliment you can get. It means you’re different. It means you aren’t boring. It means you bring a different flavor to the table. Find something you really love and don’t be afraid to embrace it. That could be an organization, a charity, a class, etc.
It sounds strange, but I almost didn’t become a tour guide because of this. Among my friends, it was seen as weird and different (at least that’s what I thought). Nobody I knew wanted to be a part of the organization with me. Luckily, I stuck with it because I knew it was what I wanted to do. I had a passion for helping others and this positon allowed me to fulfill that.

Safety is a very important issue upon college campuses. My biggest advice in regards to staying safe is using common sense. Know and take advantage of all the safety features your school offers. Always let your roommate know where you are, don’t walk around by yourself at night, etc. Using common sense can help you avoid most safety concerns.

Getting to know your professors helps ease that transition into the sometimes very large lecture halls that you will encounter early on in your college career. Meeting them will help them get to know you, help you get to know them, and therefore allow you to feel much more comfortable in class. The teachers can also serve as valuable resources whenever you may need a letter of recommendation sometime down the road in order to get that job you want or in my case, study abroad. All teachers are very accessible and want to get to know you and help you. However, you as the student must take initiative to go and get to know them.

With only eight semesters in college, I didn’t see any reason to spend one away from Bloomington. I wasn’t all that interested in learning another culture overseas and just didn’t see the time. My perception of studying abroad started to change throughout the course of my college career and I decided to spend four weeks during the summer to study in Oxford, England.
It was one of the best decisions I ever made. It changed my outlook on life and opened me up to new adventures and experiences that I never thought I’d have. I met 24 best friends along the way that joined me in immersing myself in the England culture. We saw Shakespeare plays, punted on the river, took trips to local businesses and weekend trips to Dublin, Paris, and more. It opened my eyes up to a whole new world and after initially being hesitant to go, it’s something I recommend to everyone.
Go for a whole semester if you have the chance too. Academic advisors make sure the classes you take go directly toward your degree and there is plenty of financial aid out there for support.

Joining the Greek Community was one of the best decisions I ever made at IU. It’s not for everybody, but I recommend everybody go through the process. I truly believe there is a fraternity or sorority out there for everyone. Joining a fraternity gave me a brotherhood. It gave me lifelong friends and memories that will also last a lifetime. I benefited from joining the Greek Community both socially and academically. When making academic decisions, I had several older brothers in the house there to recommend certain teachers, classes, programs, and many other things. They help serve as a network that I can fall back on now and years down the road.

Have you ever paid for a movie and not gone? I sure hope not. That’s essentially what you are doing by skipping class. You (or your parents) paid for you to earn a college education. It a privilege that many people simply can’t afford to do. Take advantage of that privilege to learn something new, gain a new perspective and have fun. Yes, class can be fun! Make sure to enroll in classes that interest YOU, not the easiest classes or the ones your friends are taking. Plus, going to class leads to higher grades (yes, it’s true).

400-person lecture halls exist in college. Does that scare you? Chances are that it very well may. In order to combat that, sit in the first few rows of the lecture hall. This allows you to make your own class of 30 and will help you pay attention. You’ll find out that many of the others behind you will be sleeping, on Facebook…and flunking out! Yep, many won’t be back the next semester.

Volunteer at a local school, check out a play, a festival, or even attend the weekend Farmers Market. There are so many ways to get involved in whichever school you choose. Find something you enjoy and go for it. Make a difference and get to know the place you’ll be calling home the next four years.

Once you find your passion, my biggest advice is to go all in. Take Sports Broadcasting for example: join the broadcast club, take broadcasting classes, and get to know your broadcast professors. Once you’ve mastered that, become a leader in the broadcast club, start finding broadcast opportunities, network and search for internships. Make sure to start that internship search early! Even after freshmen year…nothing beats experience in the job hunt.

Remember broadcast student: don’t just take broadcast classes. Take an acting class. Learn about The Beatles or about Rock N’ Roll. Take an Art Class, a class on coaching or even dive into Psychology. It doesn’t matter what classes you take. Make sure to keep learning every day and take classes that interest you! Take that leap of faith.

College is the time to experiment, try new things and discover your passion. I’ll use myself in this example. Upon entering college, I was extremely shy and deathly afraid of speaking in front of others. However, I always loved helping people and I was especially interested in helping prospective students make their college decision.
In other words, I wanted to be a tour guide, but as strange as it seems, I was too scared. So what did I do? I took steps to build confidence. I took two public speaking classes. I worked with my professors on speaking techniques. I learned to effectively incorporate humor into my speeches.
What happened next? I became a tour guide and made my tour the best one out there. That involved researching about the University, knowing my stops perfectly and learning where to incorporate humor. Slowly but surely, my tours became better, I became more confident and started to love being a tour guide. All because I took the time to step out of my comfort zone!

One thing I learned in college is that you can never have enough friends. Be nice to everybody and be friends with as many people as possible. Yes, it’s important to build close, meaningful friendships too. But outside of that, make friends with that random kid in your class, or that girl on the bus or someone you meet at the bar. You’ll find the more people you know, the happier you’ll be.

Choose your major wisely. Enjoying it is a good start. Outside of that, look at the opportunities available to students and what past students have gone on to do. In terms of academic growth, opportunities and job placement, some academic areas are much better than others.

The saying “it’s not what you know, but who you know” is and always will be partially true. In other words, the more people you know the better. Constantly attend network events and get to know people in your desired major/career. At the very least, you’ll learn advice and have a possible connection down the road. It’s amazing how willing people are to help out eager, ambitious and likeable students.

Completing an internship is extremely important. Start this search as soon as possible! While internships are most commonly offered to juniors, some still are available to freshmen and sophomores. Most companies will not hire a student full-time without prior internship experience. Plus, internships help you learn about your desired career path (what you like AND don’t like) and provide an opportunity to put your skills learned in the classroom to real-life!

“How do you get from where you are to where you want to be? I think you need a dream, a goal, and you have to be willing to work for it?” I think you need all that and a mentor too. A mentor can use his/her past experience to guide you toward a certain dream. It’s someone that can help outline a plan of action and help you complete it. A mentor can be anyone: a professor, a parent, an advisor, or even a friend.

Getting good grades in college is very important. The better you do in school, the more opportunities there will be. For example, many businesses won’t look at a candidate with a GPA below 3.2.
But outside of that, make sure to have fun too. Dress up for themed parties, tailgate, go on dates and dance all night. You’ll learn more outside the classroom in college than you will learn in it. College allows you to meet people from all over the world. You’ll discover your similarities and differences, all while going to school away from home for (probably) the first time.

Don’t be that kid that hates going to class. Take classes you enjoy and bring energy! You’ll find that participating will help you enjoy the class more. Embrace the learning environment and work on learning something new each day.

Stay on top of your studies and develop good study habits. School favors the one that is the most prepared. Start studying for that test five days in advance instead of five hours. Divide the test into sections and tackle one section each day.
For a test over three chapters on Thursday, I had a routine: Chapter 1 on Sunday, Chapter 2 on Monday, Chapter 3 on Tuesday and bring it all together Wednesday night. You’ll find out that making the final day a review day will give a huge boost to your test scores! Is it more work? Yes, but you’ll feel more prepared and it’ll be totally worth it.
Also, always make sure to study in a good environment. I preferred quiet areas with little distraction. Whatever your preference is, make sure to always study in that environment! Finally, always do your homework. You’ll find that homework is usually worth up to 20 percent of your class grade. Simply completing each small assignment goes a long way.

Your schedule will soon get hectic. There is always something to do and something going on. Now, the key is learning how to prioritize all these activities and learning how to say no. Between school, extracurricular activities and a strong social life, you must decide which is most important. Believe me, you will have a test on Friday and your friends will be going out Thursday night. You need to learn to say no and make sure academics are your number one priority.

…Or a Sunday, Monday, Wednesday or any other uncommon “going out” day. This comes with limits of course, but if you have the time it’ll be well worth it. Whether it be at a bar, a theater, a park, a sporting event, or even your own living room, always find time to go out and spend time with friends. These unexpected nights out usually turn out be the best and ones you won’t forget.
Get a call for a spontaneous mid-week date party? Always say yes. Pacers are in the Finals and you’re offered free tickets? Go for it. Camping on a Tuesday? You betcha.

A healthy you is a better you. Going to the gym and exercising regularly helps relieve stress and will also help you feel better about yourself. Take advantage of intramural sports and the (mostly) free gym access! Most importantly, it will help you avoid the infamous Freshmen 15.

Are you analytic? Develop soft skills. Learn how to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing. Learn how to construct an argument and work with a team. In other words, don’t be one-dimensional. The opposite is also true. If you are already a strong communicator, challenge yourself to become more analytic and well-rounded overall.

Always take time each day (or at least each week) to stay in touch with those you care about. Call and thank mom and dad every now and then. Keep in contact with hometown friends. Never forget where you came from because that experience shaped who you are today.

Help yourself (or your parents) out by applying for scholarships! Many require little to no effort and can go a long way in terms of easing the load on your family financially.

Many schools offer programs prior to the start of freshmen year. Look into taking a class or going on an outdoor adventure. Whatever path you choose, these programs will help you become accustomed to the campus quicker and allow you to build friendships before school actually begins.

Unlike high school, you’ll be able to schedule your own classes in college. Take the time to do research and map out your schedule effectively. Pick classes in buildings nearby and close to each other. Avoid awkward gaps between classes. I’d also suggest avoiding 8 a.m. classes if you aren’t a morning person.

This can relate to everything you’ll face in college and life in general. Stay positive and upbeat! Everything will always work out if you maintain a positive outlook.

Always live in the “now” but also start to think about the future. The earlier the better and it all starts with creating a resume. Seek advice on creating that resume and seek out help on landing your dream job.

This relates to the dorms freshmen year. Keep your door open and be nice to everyone! Sure, you won’t be best friends with everyone you meet, but at the very least, be friendly with everyone and don’t close yourself out to those around you.

Drink…or don’t drink. It doesn’t matter. No one will judge you either way. However, if you choose to drink, do so responsibly. Learn your limits and how much you can take without doing things you’ll regret. Drinking too much can lead to several negative side effects, both on your body and with personal relationships.

Learn the campus you’ll be spending the next four years at both inside and out. Go hiking, biking, camping, check out the local lakes and quarries, etc. Spending time outside is always good for the soul.
38. Take fun weekend trips every once in awhile.
Channel your inner adventurous spirit and find time to get away for a weekend. Find some friends and go explore another college town, big city or anywhere else you can think of! It’ll be worth it and a ton of fun too.

College is full of new experiences. You’ll encounter difficult along the way, so it’s important to utilize all the resources the university has to offer and to always ask for help. This can relate to difficulty with school work, illness, class scheduling, picking a major, choosing a club to join…anything! Remember that people are always there to help you through tough times, you just need to ask!

It’s okay and very normal to miss home during your first few months at school. Things are new and different and that can be scary. If this happens to you, remember to give it some time. Friendships and bonds take a while to form and school may not seem like “home” until a semester or two has passed. Have the courage to accept that times are changing, things are different and that it may take time until you feel completely comfortable in your new environment. You may find that some of your high school friends will make friends at their school quicker than you. Don’t let their supposed happiness and success bother you. Focus on you own happiness and things will work out.

When you enter college, nobody cares how cool, uncool, or popular you were in high school. It’s a fresh start. So leave everything from high school in the past. You’ll be better off for it.

It’s okay if you don’t know exactly want to do with your life. If you don’t know that, just find a direction. Find your intended direction isn’t working out? That’s fine too. Always remember that it is never too late to change your major or career course. College will open your eyes to many new experiences and you’ll discover a passion for something you didn’t know you had. Whenever you find that passion, go for it.

The town of Bloomington shrinks in half during the summer when all the students leave. Things are quieter, more peaceful, and absolutely beautiful. Spending the summer is a unique and wonderful experience because it makes you feel like the campus is yours. You’ll get the luxury of attending classes during days of perfect sunshine and explore parts of campus and the city when things aren’t loud and overcrowded with students.
44. Attend as many sporting events as you can
I’m probably showing bias here, but sporting events are just another way to get involved in the community and on campus. Oh yeah, and they’re fun too!

Always find time to give back! You as a college student are extremely fortunate and it’s important to remember that and help out those in less fortunate positions. Volunteering is fun and can be done in a variety of ways. Always look for ways to

Make the most of spring break. Spend the time giving back, catching up with hometown family and friends or going on an adventure with newfound college friends. Travel somewhere and make memories to last a lifetime.

Have fun! Meet new people, try new things, and above all else, enjoy the experience! The next four years will turn into the best of your life if you focus on doing so. You’ll learn more about yourself than you ever thought you would and have the time of your life! I’m jealous and excited for all the wonderful possibilities your future holds.

Kevin

Want to ask Kevin a question? Contact him at kevin.schaefer07@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at kevin_schaefer7. He’s always available to help!
 

Last month I talked about why you need an online portfolio, and all of the tools available to you in order to create one. However, this month I wanted to expand on these tools. Not everyone is technology literate. When others talk in code it might confuse the crap out of some, but creating a website doesn't really have to be hard. Learning code can be fun and easy!

Technology is everywhere around us, and if you want to be on top of your game then you need to take hold of these technological resources and learn everything that you can. IT Training offers instructor led courses about nearly everything software and hardware related that you need to know. They have offices at IUB and IUPUI, and offer in class and online workshops (aka classes you can take in your PJs). The best part--these workshops are absolutely free for all faculty, staff, and students. Since it's free, you might as well take advantage of it right?!

So, you're looking to build a website but know nothing about coding. The first step is to figure out your budget. If you're interested in building a generic site and possibly have a few bucks to spend then look into Squarespace or Wordpress.org. You'll need to pay a hosting fee, but having the ease of not knowing any code and still creating a site is sometimes worth it.

If you've got nothing to spend, then consider learning a bit of code and taking advantage of IU's free resources. IT Training offers courses in HTML & CSS, and even offers some amazing courses about some cool software like Dreamweaver CC that could really help you out. After you learn some of the basics that can help you create a killer website and portfolio, then look into IU's hosting software and see if it's right for you.

 

Welcome to Eigenmann!

Get ready for the best year of your life. Living in college dorms is truly a once in a lifetime experience.  No matter which IU neighborhood you end up in you will have roughly 50 kids on your floor. Odds are someone will always want to do something whether it’s going to the library, catching an IU sporting event, or checking out the newest fourth street restaurant. There will always be someone around looking for fun.  The bonds you make on your floor are unlike any other. 

Location

Eigenmann is located in the central neighborhood for an overview of the other neighborhoods check out An Easy Guide to IU's Dorms.  Eigy sits at 1900 E 10th street, right on the edge of campus.  The E bus will be your best friend. Conveniently across the street the E bus will take you all around camps, the union, and Kirkwood. When the winter comes around being located on the bus line is a great treat. Lucky for you the dorm has two bus stops with access to three different bus routes! The Bloomington bus to college mall/target stops on the side of the building! This provides an easy free way to get to pick up groceries and anything else from the mall.  Eigenmann is also the closest dorm to the SRSC. Free Zumba classes and a world-class gym are just a few steps away. There will come a day when dorm food gets old luckily Pizza X and Jimmy Johns are right across the street!

Amenities

On the first floor Eigenmann has it’s very own computer lab stocked with computers and printers free of charge. For nights when its too cold to walk to the main library Eigy has it’s very own. In the basement of the dorm there is a mini library providing a quite place to study late into the night.  

Food

Located in the central neighborhood the closest cafeteria is in Wright, only a short walk away.  Although I didn’t spend much time there because Eigenmann has it’s very own convenience store, cafe, and a Cool Beans coffee shop that serves Starbucks drinks!

The Union Street Center (on campus apartments)  are across the street! This a  great dinning option for healthy eaters! Various organic drinks, healthy granola bars, and many gluten free snack options can be found here! Check out more on the Union Street C-store and cafe in this article Tasty Tuesday at IU: Union Street Market Review.

When dorm food isn't cutting it for you anymore, many Bloomington food options are just across the street. Pizza X, Jimmy Johns, bubble tea, Subway, Red Mango are all less then a two minuet walk! Many of those restaurants can be purchased with your student ID through  campus access.

The only compliant I have with the food around Eigenmann is how easy it is to get! Very dangerous watch out for the freshman 15!

Rooms   

 The Rooms Are HUGE!!! Much bigger than anything else I’ve seen on IU’s Campus. Follow this link to view the floor plans http://www.rps.indiana.edu/eigenmannrescenter.cfml?subpage=floorplans An unique benefit to eigy are the half walls that create a divide between you can your roommate. They allow each roommate to decorate his or her side to their hearts desire without intruding on the other.

Each room comes with an extra long twin size bed, dresser, wardrobe, and desk. As you can see in the picture below you will have plenty of room for your own fridge, microwave, and in the back corner I even squeezed in some extra shelving purchased at target. 

Another view of the dorm, in the beginning of the school year my roommate and I decided to put both of are beds on the same side of the room, you will have plenty of room do so but in the end we found it most convenient to each have are own space. 

If your looking for easy access to Bloomington busses, various in-dorm food options, and BIG rooms Eigenmann is the place for you!

If have any questions about Eigenmann or dorm life in general please feel free to contact me!

Until next time, Lo

Do you like to write or do you hate it? When your instructor assigns a paper do you cheer or do you groan? Well, probably very few students cheer at the thought of writing an academic paper. If you're one of those few, you have my respect and admiration. This post is for the less enthusiastic among us.

Writing comes easily to some people. I've always felt I had a knack for it, but I've come to realize that my grammar skills are a bit lacking. I was okay with the basics, but there were some rules that I just didn't know or fully understand. If I wanted to be a better writer, I had to get better at grammar. Naturally, I turned to the Internet for help.

Of course, there is more to writing than grammar. When you write, you have to consider your: topic, audience, medium, etc. For now, I'll focus on Internet resources for getting help with the mechanics of writing.

Paste your text into the Grammarly web app and get a run-down of your wiring mistakes. You can also download the Grammarly plugin for MS Word to get better grammar and spell check results than you would with Word's native checker. Grammarly has a free plan, but serious users will want to pay for the full product. There are other checkers out there, but I haven't found anything better than this. Here's a video demo of Grammarly in Word 

. 

If you like listening to podcasts, try Grammar Girl from QuickandDirtyTips.com. Mignon Fogarty (AKA, Grammar Girl), talks about grammar in an easy-to-understand way. She'll give you tricks for remembering things like when to use a semicolon instead of a comma, or why you should say "that," instead of "which." If you like the podcast, try one of Grammar Girl's books in print, Kindle, or audio.

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab is a great resource for student writers. OWL has in-depth grammar guides to help you understand the most complicated English rules. OWL is also great for learning how to format papers for APA, MLA, and Chicago Manual of Style.

If you're serious about improving your grammar skills, the DailyGrammar has lessons and quizzes that will give you all that you need, and more. Check out their grammar glossary to learn terms you never knew existed. 

That should be enough to keep you busy. Remember, if you want to get better at writing, you have to keep writing. Being an avid reader helps too.

Now that you're writing, you'll need some word processing skills. Read this post about how to get the most out of Word 2013.

One day while walking past Kelley, during my senior year at IU, I noticed a common problem. When it was predicted to rain, bicycle seats would be covered up by grocery bags. I thought that there had to be a better and more convenient way!

CLOAK'D was born shortly after! CLOAK'D is the ultimate bicycle saddle bag implementing an innovative, built-in water proof cover that is storable in a mesh side pocket. The advanced interior and exterior design of the saddle bag and mesh pocket, ensure outside elements stay out and your inner valuables stay safe and secure!

Don't be late to class again because of tying a plastic bag around your seat! Don't walk into class again with a wet butt! Save time and embarrassment with CLOAK'D!

Please learn more, and support us on our live Kickstarter campaign at: bit.ly/getcloakd

Name: Griffin Sinn
Hometown: Bloomington
Degree and Major: BSPA, Public Financial Management
Graduation Year: 2015
Agree: Yes

As a rising sophomore, the burning question now becomes: what the hell am I going to major in?

I’ve been flipping between marketing and information systems, maybe even operations management and the co-major or technology management has always looked appealing.

Yes, if you are not familiar will Kelley majors those words may just look like a bunch of business jargon that make no sense. Yet no matter what school or are of study, many students suffer with the same dilemma, you are not alone. Those steadfast accounting majors from birth still give me the chills.

This is undoubtedly the hardest realization I have come to. What I major in directly affects what my first job out of college is and what job that will lead to next. As an Information Systems major, I will lead a life in the technology sector with limited space for creativity. Yet on the flip side, I will have less security, but more room for creativity.

Before I choose what I want to major in, since I enjoy classes for both majors, I need to choose what I can see myself doing in ten years and being absolutely happy.

This may contradict my first realization, yet it's just as true. Whatever it says on my resume will not over power what I work towards and decide is my dream job. Growth continues after four years of business school and career paths change. 

Do not be scared of choosing a major. Find classes you enjoy and follow that path.

The ten "o"s may have been over the top, but it makes a point.

IU is an ENORMOUS school. With so many different programs and possible majors, you truly have the freedom to major in whatever you want to. Even though I am in the Kelley School of Business, I plan on minoring in Studio Art through the Henry Redford Hope School of Fine Arts. With so many open doors, you can pair any two majors together, any minor and major, creating a truly unique degree.

For potential freshman, the plethora of options may be overwhelming, as they were for me. But two years later as I am thinking about future careers and a diploma in my hand, I am very thankful for all the opportunities that Indiana University holds and the freedom I have to choose the education I will receive.

Click here to see the Kelley School of Business Academic Bulletin

(See the end of this blog post for definitions of all the acronyms)

What comes to mind when you read the word “sustainability”? If you’re like a lot of the people I’ve talked to (who aren’t in SPEA, or at the IUOS, or at Hilltop Gardens, or getting their BAESS – there, I think that’s everyone), I’m willing to bet that it’s a lot of, “Go Green!” slogans, or using less electricity, or taking shorter showers. Of course, you’re not wrong. There’s so much more to sustainability, though. The “more” is what takes sustainability beyond catchy slogans and to a level of social justice, equality, economy, and longevity.

You may think I listed all those words to sound fancy. You’re right, I did.

But they’re all also crucial parts of sustainable practices. After two years of working for the IUOS, I’ve come to define sustainability in terms of all of those aspects. In my mind, sustainability is the practice of creating an equal and mutually beneficial society in the present and the future.

See? No mentions of greenery there. 

It’s a surprisingly simple idea: sustainability is the concept that the people of today (read: you and me) should be working to create a future that’s just as good, if not better, for our children, but that we should also be working to create a better present. That means environmentally, yes, but also socially.

Let me give you some examples of sustainable projects around the Bloomington area so you can see how sustainability impacts everyone, not just SPEA majors. In fact, I’ll give you three:

• Hoosier to Hoosier
• Global Gifts in Bloomington
• Campus Garden and Tutor Room partnership

Hoosier to Hoosier

 Hoosier to Hoosier is an event sponsored by the IUOS, the City of Bloomington, and Cutters Soccer Club that every year allows students to donate their used textbooks, bookcases, televisions, appliances, etc. for different students to purchase in the coming year.  

This event serves as an example of economic and social sustainability because it helps students help other students, creating a sort of cyclical system on the IU Campus. This forming of a community benefits Bloomington socially, but the funds that H2H generates also help Bloomington businesses. The amount of funding each involved organization receives is based on how many volunteer hours the organizations put in to the event.

The Hoosier to Hoosier sale will be taking place on Saturday, August 22nd this year (2015) at their Warehouse, located on 1525 Rogers St., Bloomington, IN 47403.

Global Gifts

Global Gifts is a Fairtrade store with four locations in Indiana and Ohio. Nonprofit and staffed by volunteers, Global Gifts provides a place where artisans from Africa, North and South American, and Latin America can sell their goods. All these artisans are paid fairly regardless of gender, race, or class.

Fair trade stores work to fight against poverty and for equality and fair treatment of employees. This kind of work is a form of social justice-based sustainability, and benefits people both locally and internationally.

IU Campus Garden and the Tutor Room

The IU Campus Garden (different from Hilltop Garden, but in the same location) serves as a working area for students and Bloomington locals, allowing all who come to volunteer their time in the garden and eat or take home some of the garden’s produce. That alone supports community based sustainability; it allows for the development of community and centers itself on the learning of skills to grow food and to better oneself. The reach of the garden is long, however, and the sustainable aspects of it don’t stop there. 

The IU Tudor room actually purchases food from the campus garden to serve throughout the week. Renowned for its classy charm and delicious food, it can be surprising to realize that the food at the salad bar or the vegetables in the frittata are local. That, however, is part of the sustainable influence of the garden. The Tudor Room (and RPS Dining Halls, as well) support the garden when they purchase food from it, and in turn the garden helps to benefit students, staff, faculty, and families who come to IU. This is both a continued version of their community based sustainability as well as economic and environmental sustainability.

These three organizations provide perfect examples of how sustainability reaches beyond “going green”. Sustainability is the idea that a community should work together to help itself; that cooperation will bring about a better present and future. You don’t have to be a SPEA major to see the importance of sustainability and if you look closely, you’ll find sustainable practices in more places than you’d think. 

Abbreviated Acronym Dictionary

IUOS: Indiana University Office of Sustainability

SPEA: School of Public and Environmental Affairs

BAESS: Bachelors of Arts in Environmental and Sustainability Studies

Did you hear the news?

Is it all over social media?

So, this lady woke up in the middle of the night after hearing a sweet voice calling her name, it was so pleasing that she had no option than to respond to the caller.

"It's me," the caller said. "You have always wanted to come to me, so why not now? This is what you wanted right? Come over."

She kept moving closer. She opened the first door, then the second, then the third. She flipped the curtain to check if someone was outside, she saw no one, but heard the voice still calling her. She opened the last door, but quietly enough not to disturb anyone. Just when she was about to step outside of the house, another voice called her from behind. This second voice was not as pleasant and romantic as the one outside, now she was torn between the two. She finally took a bold step outside to meet the sweet romantic voice.

She went outside to meet this sweet voice, but it had stopped calling her. She looks back towards the door and all she sees is darkness, dark enough that she couldn't see into the house.

Curiously she kept walking, casting brief looks and hoping to see or hear the voice again. As she walked on, she saw all the goodies she wished for herself: beautiful cars, beautiful houses, blurred faces of happy people and all sorts of people dressed up busily going to work. She began to wonder to herself, where am I, and who called me out here. Then all of a sudden everything disappeared, and the voice told her, "Everything you saw out here is for you depending on how you live your life. If you continue working hard, all your wishes will come true."

"No one called you here, it's your imagination, the voice you hear is the real you," the caller said. "The not so pleasant voice you heard from behind you is the dark side of life. Don’t ever look back to that, all adversities in life are embedded in there, keep moving and make yourself happy. Always wake up with a smile on your face as that will also encourage others."

With a lot of mixed feelings, this lady jumped from her bed only to realize it was a dream. Right away she started sharing on social media.

What the woman has actually done is draw all the scenes onto a picture board, and is sharing it on social media.

I am pretty sure if you are not friends with her, someone will tag you, or re-tweet this handle to you very soon.

So that sweet pleasing voice you hear from far away is deep inside you, it is the REAL YOU!!! Live it!!!

Whether you're taking notes on a computer or on a mobile device, there are tons of applications out there to help you find a process that works for you. Taking notes should be smooth, simple, and should work well with your learning style. Applications are a great way to take notes, and here are a few I think that you need to be aware of!

This app is one of the most basic handwriting apps out there. Now, when I say basic though, I do not mean "unimportant" or "not the best." For taking those every day notes--Penultimate is by far one of the most superior…and, its free! 

Penultimate is (in my opinion) one of the easiest to use when it comes to handwriting apps for iPad. You can achieve the natural experience of writing on pen and paper that you are used to without the actual paper. This app is run by Evernote; therefore, by setting up an account you can sync your notes over all devices to be easily accessed, printed, or shared.

Notability is a power-house! This app is available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and you can sync all of your notes between devices through iCloud. Taking your notes with you where ever you go is a little tricky with this application because you have to have the actual app to view them (unlike Penultimate which sync via Evernote which can be viewed with any web browser). However, this is still one of the best note taking apps out there.

Notability is the one spot shop for typing, writing, annotating, capturing images and even recording your meeting and lectures. A lot of people use this app to annotate on their lecture slides and record their professors voice while s/he is talking. This app is powerful yet still simple to use.

Microsoft OneNote is definitely the way to go. Hands down, this is the one app I will swear by. It is clean yet hardworking. You can draw, type, and link different items. But what gets me about this app is that it is organized. OneNote allows you to create color coded tabs, with seperate notebooks. And then each tab has any number of pages within it.

If you're an organized learned like me, then you'll love the ease of OneNote. It is availabe for the PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad. It syncs via OneDrive so you can have your notes wherever you go. If you're interested in learning more about how you can use OneNote for your note taking needs, check out one of IT Traininings upcoming workshops!

There are tons of note taking applications out there, but the above three are by far my favorite. Play around with them and see what works best for you! Do you crave that pen and paper feel that Penultimate can give you, or what if you're an audio learner, or how about the organization of OneNote? Whatever type of learner you are, there's bound to be an application for you!

Did you hear the news?

Is it all over social media?

So, this lady woke up in the middle of the night after hearing a sweet voice calling her name, it was so pleasing that she had no option than to respond to the caller.

"It's me," the caller said. "You have always wanted to come to me, so why not now? This is what you wanted right? Come over."

She kept moving closer. She opened the first door, then the second, then the third. She flipped the curtain to check if someone was outside, she saw no one, but heard the voice still calling her. She opened the last door, but quietly enough not to disturb anyone. Just when she was about to step outside of the house, another voice called her from behind. This second voice was not as pleasant and romantic as the one outside, now she was torn between the two. She finally took a bold step outside to meet the sweet romantic voice.

She went outside to meet this sweet voice, but it had stopped calling her. She looks back towards the door and all she sees is darkness, dark enough that she couldn't see into the house.

Curiously she kept walking, casting brief looks and hoping to see or hear the voice again. As she walked on, she saw all the goodies she wished for herself: beautiful cars, beautiful houses, blurred faces of happy people and all sorts of people dressed up busily going to work. She began to wonder to herself, where am I, and who called me out here. Then all of a sudden everything disappeared, and the voice told her, "Everything you saw out here is for you depending on how you live your life. If you continue working hard, all your wishes will come true."

"No one called you here, it's your imagination, the voice you hear is the real you," the caller said. "The not so pleasant voice you heard from behind you is the dark side of life. Don’t ever look back to that, all adversities in life are embedded in there, keep moving and make yourself happy. Always wake up with a smile on your face as that will also encourage others."

With a lot of mixed feelings, this lady jumped from her bed only to realize it was a dream. Right away she started sharing on social media.

What the woman has actually done is draw all the scenes onto a picture board, and is sharing it on social media.

I am pretty sure if you are not friends with her, someone will tag you, or re-tweet this handle to you very soon.

So that sweet pleasing voice you hear from far away is deep inside you, it is the REAL YOU!!! Live it!!!

IU students enjoy this time of year for a few reasons. By now you’ve settled into your new place, gotten a feel for your class schedule and you have high goals for how this is going to be your best semester ever. For a lot of students, they hope to switch up their life with the addition of a new furry friend. 

I know, you’re thinking, “If I just get a dog I would finally have the motivation to run with it and lose that 10 pounds I’ve been meaning to. Plus it will have one ear that sticks straight up and one that flops, those are the cutest.”

All jokes aside, this is one decision that you should really think carefully about before running to the nearest pound or contacting your friend giving kittens away on Facebook. Getting a pet while in college is a bad idea for a few reasons:

College living is unique because it’s one of the few times in your life where it is socially acceptable to sleep in public places, eat desserts out of a mug, and go out on a Tuesday. With an ever-changing college schedule you are free to do essentially anything you want at any given time. Insert a pet into the equation and you lose some of those freedoms. You might find your boss unhappy with you when you have to leave work to let your dog out to use the bathroom, or you may have to turn down that weekend trip to Chicago because nobody is willing to care for your pet on their own days off. College also means adjusting to new living situations and schedules. These big changes can stress animals out when and if you end up barely interacting with your pet because you’re too busy, what’s the point?

What can happen when you leave your pet alone for too long.

This is one of the most under-anticipated challenges to owning a pet that I’ve seen. Unless you live alone you will need to get all of your roommates on board with adopting a pet too because you share the same living space. Everyone may be enthusiastic at first, but don’t think that they’re automatically agreeing to take care of the pet as if it were their own. Living with roommates is already tricky and you can get into some hot water by adding a potentially noisy, messy, or allergy-inducing new member to the household. 
You will be presented with all sorts of new issues when it comes time for making housing arrangements for years to come. If you’re changing roommates it can be very hard to find someone willing to live with your pets, not to mention finding an apartment that will allow pets. If you do find an apartment, they will likely charge a monthly pet fee for the higher risk of damages. I called some popular apartment buildings around Bloomington to see what their pet policies were, below are my results:

IU campus housing - Strict no pets policy.
Greek housing - no pets.
Smallwood - no pets. 
Stadium Crossing - Said they do allow pets for some units but couldn't give me any further information.
The Village - Pets are allowed. $250 down when you register the pet and $25 a month after that. 
Reserve on 3rd - Phasing out pet policy because of damage issues.
Off-campus house (no company association) - Landlord prefers no pets but allows them with $200 down and $25 a month.
Hoosier Court - Allows pets, call for pricing.

The possibility of not being able to find a roommate who wants to put up with Fluffy and the already-difficult decision of finding college housing is reason enough to wait until after graduation. 

You may be chowing down on Ramen for a week straight because you had to buy flea medication for Rex, or it was time to spay your new kitten. If they actually get sick it’s a nightmare to find time to visit a vets office in between classes. Not to mention the actual price of the pet itself - I don’t know why anyone would buy a pet from a pet store when you can get one from a shelter or Craigslist for free but factor that in too and you might find yourself in a hole financially.

This shows some of the costs associated with owning a pet.

This goes along with housing, but it’s so important that lazy college students understand this. If you hold off on doing dirty laundry for weeks and can’t seem to find time to wash dishes, why on Earth do you want to take on the responsibility of a pet? They aren’t just cute little angels that shower you will love and provide snuggling during Netflix while you’re #foreveralone. Pets scratch, shed, poop, and pee and if you’re constantly ignoring the full litter box your pet and roommates will be very unhappy. 

Adopting a pet is a long, long commitment to make. Most college students can barely decide what to eat for dinner every day, let alone made a huge commitment like owning a pet for the next 12+ years. One of the worst things you can do is adopt a puppy or kitten and then give it away in six months when it’s no longer small and adorable or starts to become too much work. You should also think about what will happen when you graduate; you’ll be moving to a new city and it’s hard to plan for that when you and your pet come as a package.

Pets are nice when you’re watching internet videos or visiting home, but caring for them while keeping up with your life in college is just not realistic for many students. I focused mainly on cats/dogs in this article, but if you've been thinking of bringing a small animal like a rabbit or even a hedgehog into your life be sure to weigh the pros and cons. 

I'm not hating on owning pets, I've just experienced/heard of horror stories that can come along when college students and pets mix. College is a time to discover more about your interests, make friends, and have fun. Think carefully about the responsibilities of a pet. Only you can know what is best for you.