(little) Acts of Kindness

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College students live in a different world and it often comes with its own social etiquette. You may run into new dilemmas like, “Can I dance to the music in TDR?” “What do these jeggings say about my legs?” and “Is there a right way to do laundry?”

Though I can’t answer your questions about jeggings, here are a few sticky situations in which you can bestow little acts of kindness upon your fellow students.

The Future is Unclear:

Remember senior year of high school when you had submitted all your college apps, but hadn’t yet heard back? And then at any public event or family gathering, you were constantly asked what your plans were?

Being asked then, when you were absolutely unsure of your future, was just as annoying as it is now, for those of us who haven’t purchased a 10-year planner and begun filling in every month.

It may be tempting to start conversations with, “So what are you planning on doing after graduation?”

Please conserve the net level of sanity on campus. Consider how much you hate being asked that question by every aunt, cousin, and wrinkly neighbor whenever you’re home. Instead, just start the conversation by asking if they saw “The Tourist”. On second thought, try “Tron”, no one’s seen “The Tourist”.

Be a Groupie:

Each new semester brings new classes – and professors eager to teach you about the “real world” where, apparently, adults do group projects. On their own time, outside of normal class hours.

Since I don’t foresee the professors changing their strategies anytime soon, the best thing you can do now is to brace yourself, and become a groupie.

A groupie, you say? Here’s how: If you can, pick good group members to work with. Make sure you have a clear conversation about how responsibilities will be divided and when they will be completed. The last part is the simplest: follow through. You don’t leave the Rolling Stones halfway through a tour, and you don’t leave your fellow project members hanging. Bet you never thought you’d learn something from your parents’ generation.

Fall in Love:

College is stressful. College can be difficult. But it is time to realize: YOU are not alone.

Hard as it may sometimes be to believe, the students around you have schedules just as taxing and homework just as time-consuming.

Much as I hate comparing college life to falling in love, here goes: In love, we would all like to believe that our situation is so unique, so epiphanous, that no one could ever completely understand what we’re going through. It’s hard to open your eyes, stop babbling about that perfect moonlit walk home from the frat party, and see that other people have been just as much in love. They’ve even written poems on it! And books!

So it is with the college regime. We all have papers to write. We all have that one professor with absurd expectations. We all have busy schedules. It’s true!

This semester, spread a little love, and when your buddy starts telling you about that whopping 5-pager he has due on Friday, don’t interrupt with a detailed explanation of your own workload. You’re both students, you both have homework. It’s the natural order of things. Now ask if he wants to order a pizza.