The University Life
the blog that will guide you through university
Samstag, 8. September 2012
Dienstag, 4. September 2012
Laptops
A
laptop; those who don’t own one already are most likely going to buy one sooner
or later. They are incredibly convenient in an era where life becomes more and
more digital by the day.
When it
comes to going to university or college, you might want to narrow in on a few mostly
technical properties.
The operating system
In
general I would recommend going for the old classic Microsoft Windows. Everyone
knows how to work it, all software is compatible and the price is reasonable.
For
those who are into graphic design and art might want to consider going for
Apple’s OSX. Although the price of an Apple laptop is considerably higher,
there is a lot of software related to graphics and design available for OSX,
and it’s one of its main purposes.
Lastly,
there’s Linux. Although Linux is free and the possibilities are basically
unlimited, you have to do 90% of the work yourself, and the final product is
never really as good and usable as you’d like it to be; kind of like Ikea
furniture. Anyways, if you’d need Linux you’d most likely know it.
Battery
Commonly
overlooked, but one of the most important aspects of your laptop once you’re in
university or go to college. It’s extremely frustrating when you have still
work to do, but no more battery and no power source. Spend some money here,
you’ll thank yourself later.
Hard disk and RAM
This is
where you might want to a little money as well. A big hard disk drive is
convenient at any time, and RAM memory increases the overall speed of your
laptop. Personally I advise going for more than 320GB hard disk drive, and for
RAM you’re good at 4GB.
The CPU
The two
big players here are Intel and AMD. The discussion whether one or the other is
better will go on forever, but recently the Intel i-series are very common.
Here’s a brief overview:
i3: Uses
very little energy, and still manages to deliver some reasonable computing
power. It does what it needs to do, but not a lot more.
i5:
Reasonably low on energy, especially for the good computing power. Very good
overall choice if you still want to watch some high quality movies or play a
simple video game every once in a while.
i7:
Extremely strong CPU but uses a lot of energy. Since your laptop preferably
needs to make it through the day without recharging, this might not be a good
choice. Practical if you are a hardcore gamer, but again: if you’d need one
you’d probably know it.
Graphic cards
Again,
there are two big players: Intel’s nVidia and AMD’s Radeon. Both do a good job,
and unless you’re a hardcore gamer it doesn’t really matter. Today’s standards
are good enough for HD video and even most games.
Netbooks
These
are actually very interesting. They’re not only very cheap, but also small,
lightweight and usually have very long battery life due to the very small CPU.
If all you need to do is working with text documents, spreadsheets and internet
pages, you might want to at least consider buying a netbook instead.
Donnerstag, 30. August 2012
Intro Activities
A lot of
universities start the year with mainly social activities that target getting
to know each other as soon as possible. You’re now in a course with hundreds of
other people, and making new friends doesn’t come all that naturally to some
people. It is advisable to take part in these activities. In fact, most of my
best friends are people I met on my first day, two years ago.
It’s
usually not very hard to notice who has the potential to become your friend,
and who has not. People with similar interests usually find each other really
soon, making friend groups in a matter of days. However, this obviously
requires that you are open an honest towards other people. If you decide to
pretend being someone you are actually not, you are going to get trouble
maintaining friendships sooner or later.
These
activities can vary between meeting up one afternoon in a small pub and a whole
camping trip in a deserted forest. Either way, it’s usually a lot of fun and
really worth the small effort.
Whether
you are a very shy person or the extremely social type of person, making new
friends at the start of the new academic year is a great opportunity, since
everybody is new here and eager to meet new people. You are only new once;
don’t miss out on such an easy chance to make new friends!
But it’s
not only the social aspect of these activities that is very important and
helpful. Usually you can hang out with older students and such, who know
everything about the university and the city, and they had the same experience
of being new as you have now.
It’s
usually a good idea to listen to their advice; you will most likely benefit
from it sooner or later in your academic career.
Roommates
Once you
move out, the chance is big that you will be living together with one or
multiple roommates. This is a pretty new experience, and you have to make sure
you can get a long at least for a bit. You are living in the same place, after
all.
A very
big advantage is when your roommate is or becomes a good friend of yours. This
depends on a lot of different factors, like interests, personalities, time
schedule and a ton of other reasons.
Actually,
living with a roommate does not require being friends with him/her, but offers
a very good opportunity to make a new good friend. You’re probably going to be
together a lot, so why not make the best out of it?
Tons of
sitcoms and movies always bring in roommates being best friends, and this is
one thing that is true for a large part. I’ve been living together with someone
for almost 2 years now, and this guy is also one of my very best friends.
One
thing you should look out for is roommates becoming romantically interested in
each other. I’m not saying that it is impossible to pull off, but I have also
seen it go wrong countless of times. After a roommates-break up things can get
very awkward.
This can
prevented by moving in with a roommate you could never become sexually
attracted to. It might seem unnecessary at first, but it is probably a better
idea to search for romance outside of your living room.
A good
idea is to set up some basic rules or a cleaning schedule. This will most
likely positively affect the living atmosphere of your apartment or dorm. I’ve
seen places where the kitchen turned into a dirty dishes storage room, and who
knows what kind of creatures grow under all those piles of garbage.
Mittwoch, 29. August 2012
Going Abroad
Going
abroad for a semester, a year or even longer can become one of the greatest
experiences in your life. It has tons of advantages, like learning a whole new
language, experiencing a new culture, meeting a lot of new people, seeing
different teaching methods and of course expanding your career network.
Personally,
I have never studied in my own country. After high school I moved to Germany to
study there. At first I had a lot of trouble learning the language, but my
friends helped me very well and I learned really fast. I will never be a native
German speaker or a native English speaker, but that will never hold me back
from trying to improve.
I still
think going abroad was the best choice of my life, it was great for my personal
development and it also opened a lot of doors for me.
If
you’re abroad, you are going to be a foreigner in a country you probably don’t
know that well yet. The transition is actually surprisingly easy, especially
because most people are willing to help you out. Don’t be prejudiced about the
inhabitants of a certain country, they won’t be about you. Although, after
living abroad for 2 years, my friends and I can have a good laugh about the
rumors about both my home and my new country.
Having
studied abroad will also help you later in your career. During your abroad
studying, you built up an incredible arsenal of skills. You learned a new
language and showed that you are not afraid to take risks to improve yourself,
and companies are in desperate need of people with these skills.
You will
have a lot of career potential. Not only will it be easier to find a job, your
existing career will also grow a lot faster.
Most
universities host one or more programs that involve studying abroad. This will
make it easier to pick an abroad university, preparing your stay, finding a
place to live there and getting some advice to take with you on your
adventurous trip.
Dienstag, 28. August 2012
Eating Healthy
You just
moved out, probably live on a very small budget and don’t have any time either.
Eating healthy might not crack the top ten of your priorities list, but don’t
underestimate how important it really is.
I get
it, ramen noodles are cheap, fast and they even taste kind of good, but if you
take a little time to learn some recipes, cooking healthy will eventually come
natural to you. Book stores usually sell cooking books for students. These
contain cheap healthy recipes that usually only take little time and skill to
make.
Here’s
something I regularly make (2-3 people, or just put it in the fridge and eat it
later):
Ingredients:
Head of
lettuce
2 Eggs
1
package of feta cheese
1
paprika
2
Tomato’s
Half a cucumber
Few
strips of bacon
1 Apple
Some mayonnaise
or salad dressing
Some
bread, preferably whole grain.
How to
make (10-15 minutes):
-
Boil
the eggs
-
Bake
the bacon
-
Wash
lettuce and tear into medium size pieces
-
Slice
paprika into strips
-
Slice
tomato’s into quarts
-
Slice
cucumber into little pieces
-
Slice
apple into, well, slices
-
Slice
eggs into quarts
-
Slice
feta cheese into cubes
-
Put
everything together to your liking with the bread as a side
You can
add some nuts, tuna or other ingredients to your liking.
Enjoy your cheap, healthy delicious meal!
Montag, 27. August 2012
Sports
A lot of
people tend to give up on playing sports once they go to university. First of
all, playing sports will greatly improve both physical and mental health.
Remember, a healthy body equals a healthy mind!
Second
of all, university is a great place to try out new sports. Most universities
host a sports program where people can practice all kinds of sport, usually for
a very good price. Always wanted to try kite surfing? Go for it.
If
you’re not sure what sport to do, you can always try fitness. It’s pretty cheap
(or even free if you go for a jog outside) and although it might seem like a
lot of unnecessary work, it’s actually a lot of fun once you get started. I
personally go to the gym three times a week with a good friend which is really
great, and who wouldn’t want to be the proud owner of a nice six-pack?
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