Now I have 5 days left until I move in and I'm almost ready. I did my dorm shopping roughly 2 weeks ago but there's still a little bit more shopping I have to do so that I get most things on my college checklist. I also need to get a laptop. I've had the same Lenovo Thinkpad PC for about 3 years and while it's been great, I got it for free used and it has problems that I can't deal with in college. Like the fact that when it gets too hot, it'll just shut down and it does this often, even when there's a cool surface underneath it. It's just become too much for me, especially since I'm a Creative Writing major who will have to do a ton of writing on the computer and I can't afford to lose my work. So I'm going to get a Macbook Air (13 in, in case you wanted to know) and see how that goes. I've heard a ton of good things about it so I have high hopes. The only problem is that I'm not extremely familiar with the system since I've basically used PC my whole life but I'm up to the task of learning.
Apple had this "discount deal" where you could buy the 13-in on sale for $949 and a pair of Beats wired headphones for $200-$300 (depending on color), but then I went to Best Buy's website and I saw they had the 13-in on sale for $899. And I also went on Amazon where I do a lot of my shopping and found the Beats wired headphones for $139-$170 (depending on color). All I could do is shake my head. I first found out about Apple's "discount" from someone on my college's Facebook group (something you should get into by the way, but I'll talk about this more later) so I checked it out and this is what I found. This is why it's important to research expensive products before you buy them or else you will get cheated (this also goes with textbooks, something else I'll talk about later).
I still need to get toiletries and school supplies, both of which I will buy at Target because they always have the best prices. And earlier this summer, I also bought some books about college preparation, 1 of which I read, 1 of which I barely read, and another of which I'm in the middle of reading. For those of you in high school, nervous or who want more info about college, or those of you in college already who need some guidance The Naked Roommate by Harlan Cohen is perfect. I know that I haven't started college yet, but the book touches on any and all questions I had about college and gives much more information. I HIGHLY advise that you read this before you go off to college because it'll likely save you a lot of strife and confusion. The other book that I'm in the middle of is How To Become A Straight-A Student by Cal Newport. I'm only about 2 chapters in and I haven't started school yet so I can't tell you how great it is but so far, I've learned a lot about time management and how to study in a way that helps me retain more info in less time. In both books, the authors said that they interviewed a ton of students. Cohen interviewed students from all over the country (USA) while Newport said he stuck to students from the most prestigious schools, like the Ivy Leagues. Cohen gives advice on the overall scope of the college experience while Newport's advice is focused more on time management and study/schoolwork habits. However, I think the two of them together make a very useful combo. I will write a review of them, maybe at the end of my first year so that I can get a good feel for how helpful or unhelpful they are.
Anyway, I think that's enough for today.
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