Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012 - (Page 40)

one step ahead Common Sense for a Happy, Healthy Freshman Year Your ﬁrst year at college will be a time of extraordinary change. For some of you, this will be the ﬁrst time you’ve left home for an extended period. For me, leaving high school and entering my ﬁrst year at Tufts was a kind of graduation from childhood. This transition can be disorienting, and I found myself quickly forgetting some common sense concepts. Here are a few basic habits that I forgot—but then relearned and now practice regularly. These might sound obvious, but once your schedule ﬁlls up with classes and social activities, it will be important to keep these at the front of your mind so that you don’t forget them. Eat consistent and balanced meals. It’s almost scary how quickly you can get so caught up in your new academic and social life that you forget or don’t make time for healthy meals. I quickly learned that taking even 30 minutes out of my day for lunch or dinner made a significant impact on my mental and physical well-being. (I also met some of my best friends at the dining hall.) It’s very tempting and easy just to grab something quick, but the quick-access foods tend not to be the healthiest. Taking a little time for a good meal will pay off in better concentration and better health, which will allow you to keep up with your academics. Get plenty of sleep. High school has probably already made you familiar with the challenge of getting enough sleep. College will provide even more challenge. It is important to take time for yourself, to rest your brain and recharge with fun activities outside class—but it’s also important not to pillage your sleep hours for this purpose. While you might think you can survive on little sleep, that isn’t the point of college. This is a time to thrive—which you can’t do if you spend most of your waking hours in a state of caffeine-induced consciousness. Keep on top of your academics. In my experience, college work comes in cycles of volume. A period of relatively easy workload can be followed by a few weeks seemingly designed to flatten you. I found that staying one or two assignments ahead in your classes can serve as a sort of academic buffer between you and the frenzy that can happen at the end of the semester. In the crush of finals week, you’ll be very glad that you created that cushion for yourself. Find your own balance. When you first arrive at college, you probably will be bombarded with advice and tips (like these) as to how to make the most of your college experience. You’ll frequently hear the word “balance” thrown around, but there is no single by James Barasch formula for finding it, and ultimately you are responsible for your own college career. Yes, it will be disorienting and at times frightening, but having been through it myself, I can assure you that finding your own balance of work, social, and personal time will be a significant growth experience. If you keep an open mind, are not afraid to experiment with organization and time-management techniques (I personally recommend Google Calendar), and build good habits during your first year, your college experience will be much smoother. Keep your perspective. As a new freshman, I had heard much about the “college bubble,” but I didn’t believe that I would become so wrapped up in college life that I would lose sight of the bigger picture. How wrong I was. College life can easily absorb all your attention, and it can become overwhelming. My advice is not to prevent this from happening—it’s at least partially inevitable—but to come up for air every now and then. Take time for yourself, sit in a quiet place, and let your mind wander from your immediate, pressing concerns. Think about your future, the meaning of life, even the origin of the universe. Exercising this “gestalt muscle” has served me well many times. It relaxes, grounds, and reaffirms, promoting the mental well-being and balance that is so vital to the college experience—and to life itself. CTY alumnus James Barasch is a sophomore at Tufts University, where he is majoring in History, Classics and Political Science. James writes a bimonthly book review column, “Barasch on Books” (http:// blogs.tuftsdaily.com/?author=74), for The Tufts Daily’s blog, Jumbo Slice. In his spare time, James enjoys ballroom dancing and participates in the Tufts History Society and TUPAC (Tufts University Presents Archaeology and Classics). 40 imagine Jan/Feb 2012 http://blogs.tuftsdaily.com/?author=74 http://blogs.tuftsdaily.com/?author=74

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012
Contents
Big Picture
In My Own Words
Reading Tea Leaves
iGEM: Synthetic Biology, Brick by Brick
Young Biologists, Big Discoveries
My Journey to the International Biology Olympiad
Lab Notes
Macro Menagerie
My Summer at SIMR
Selected Opportunities & Resources
The World on Stage
Lessons from Chess
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - January/February 2012