Photo by Allyson Paynter

I started this blog in February 2008. I was taking the year off due to sickness. In my buckets of free time, I worked on this project, in hopes of making myself feel more prepared for college. I started college that September.

I’ve always referred to my college as College X, located in City X. Well, if you really want to know, I took Journalism at Holland College in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. At the end of the two year program, I knew I didn’t want to work in a newspaper office. News reporting is way too stressful for me and there were only a few times I actually cared about the subject matter of the story I was working so hard to get right.

So, I went back to school for one more year in September 2010 to take Interactive Multimedia, again at Holland College. My tiny class consisted of 7 students and one amazing instructor. It was one of the best, busiest years of my life. I graduated with an average of 91.5% and knew it was a better field for me almost immediately. Before graduation, I had my business registered. I am now a freelance web and graphic designer.

Hopefully some day I’ll have a studio outside of my apartment but for now, Athena Studios is a one-woman show with lots of stuff to do.

(The lovely photo above is me on the night of my graduation.)

So. What now? I think it’s time I stop blogging on Kill Jill Goes to College for good. Not that this blog has been alive for a long time. But I’m done with college. My life has changed so much since I started this blog. For one, I love color! I’m not a little emo kid anymore (although I still worship Death Cab For Cutie). I lived in a lovely old house for the first semester this year and was evicted (the owner sold the house 6 months into our lease). I moved into an apartment, believing it to be a temporary arrangement- and now, on Monday, I’m signing a lease on that apartment for a year. Yay!

Below are a few words of wisdom I learned, all on my own:

• If your part-time job is effecting your school work and if you can at all afford to quit, let it go. It isn’t worth it.
• Use your student ID to get discounts on as many things as you can, while you can.
• Keep your friends from past years at school. There are reasons you became friends in the first place. Don’t forget about them, just because you don’t see them very often.
• Start networking while you’re still in school. To be honest, I do most of my best networking on Twitter. And last, but not least…
• Don’t let the idea of a long distance relationship scare you off. You might just miss out on something amazing. (That’s right, kids. Kill Jill found her Kill Jack.)

For me, going to bed early = waking up early. In this case, 5am. And I could not get back to sleep. Too much stuff going on in my head. I was thinking about how fast this semester went by, how my Flash project is kind of a disaster, how I have two shifts left of my part-time job (hell yeah!) and how I have to pack my stuff up and move, like, three days after Christmas.

Oh yeah. Another update for y’all. Our landlords sold our house six months into our one-year lease. Merry Christmas to us! So, we all had to find new places to live. My friend Jenn, who I met in my first year of college, is going to be living way uptown while I’ll still be downtown. Makes me quite sad, I gotta say. But I’ve found a place literally five houses down from mine- a 6-month subletting dealio– with a nice gal who works a lot. After that, I hope to get a place with my pal Charlsie (best friend from high school who is now a university student in City X).

Anyhoo. Not the point of this post, at all. Getting up before 7:30 makes me ramble, apparently.

I was browsing my old blog posts on here and I came across this one: Kill Jill’s Resolutions For 2010. I wrote a list of goals, included here:

1. No chips. I actually gave up eating chips this summer. I’d just like to continue this goal.
2. Continue not smoking. I don’t smoke. Never have. I’d like to continue not smoking in 2010.
3. Impress people. I want to do well in my second newsroom internship, which starts on Monday. (Yikes.)
4. Avoid a full hard-drive. I have to stop downloading legally acquiring new TV shows and movies before watching the old ones I haven’t gotten around to watching yet.
5. Avoid relying on credit card too much. This speaks for itself.

How did I do? Let’s see.

1. I rarely eat chips. (I prefer popcorn anyway.)
2. I still don’t smoke. (Holla!)
3. I did do well on my second Journalism internship. I got one helluva recommendation letter from the editor, too. Hells yeah.
4. As for #4, it’s still an issue I’m dealing with. But to help battle it, I just bought another computer! Hey-o!
5. I still use my credit card, but I always pay it off within the month.

So, all in all, not a bad year, goal-wise. But what about the news?

1. Canada won two gold medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. And Sidney Crosby got even hotter.
2. Tiger Woods and his golf club got into a bit of trouble. (Amirite?!)
3. Huge volcano thingy in Iceland went off. The sky was black with ash for days. More concern about stranded tourists in Europe than the ecosystem of Iceland.
4. Paparazzi suddenly become interested in Sandra Bullock.
5. The Social Network came out. That movie is awesome.
6. WikiLeaks got their hands on a young girl’s secret diary and posted lots of nasty comments made by the other girls at school. Or something.

I’ll likely make up a list of goals for 2011 soon and post them. Yeah, I can do that.

So. What do you think was the top event of 2010?

Make sure you eat before you shop

Before you say anything, this blog is close to being abandoned, pretty much. I posts guest posts when they come my way, but these things happen. I don’t really have time for friends often, let alone keep up with my blogging. School work keeps my super busy, as does my part-time job. I’m quitting the job right before Christmas so I can focus 100% on school during my second semester.

It’s strange to think this is my very last semester in college.

Well. Probably, anyway.

To be quite honest, I’m getting pretty tired of being a student. I’m 22. I’ll be 23 when I graduate in May. I’m ready to give adulthood a go. What exactly does that mean for your old pal Kill Jill?

Well, I hope to start a web design business, get an apartment by myself, start paying back my student loans (ugh) and make a go of it.

Anyway. It’s been a good run. I’ll try to post when I can, but I can’t make any promises.

Applying to college as a high school student/graduate is one thing; trying to transfer from one college to another is entirely different. For one, your decision is taken in a shorter time period and is fraught with uncertainties; and for another, you need to find a college that not only suits your needs but which also accepts credits you have earned during the semester or two you spent in your current college.

It’s not an easy process and there are many factors to consider, so before you go ahead with the move, here are a few dos and don’ts to consider:

DO:

• Ensure that you are choosing to transfer for the right reasons and based on extenuating circumstances – there’s no harm in moving to be closer to your significant other or in wanting to move back home and enroll at a local university; however, you need to be sure that this is what you really want and that you will not regret your decision anytime in the future.
• Think if you will happier in the same college if you can change majors; there are times when this move could boost your satisfaction and prevent the need for a transfer.
• Check if your new college will accept the credits you’ve earned here – you don’t want to spend more time, money and effort in taking the courses you’ve already completed.
• Research the new school you wish to transfer to before you make your decision.
• Wait patiently to hear from the schools you have applied to; don’t jump the gun and spread the word about your transfer before you’ve been accepted.
• Try to adjust to your new college instead of finding fault with it too and wanting to transfer again – there are pros and cons to every college, so make the best of all that is available and shift your focus to your grades and lessons.

DON’T:

• Quit college before you’ve secured admission at another school. If you do this, you’re likely to lose a semester or even a whole year in the process.
• Spend too much money in effecting the transfer – it’s easier to grin and bear your current situation and hope that things change for the better rather than borrowing more money to transfer to another school and hoping your circumstances change.
• Change colleges for someone else’s reasons – you may think that this is what you want too, but people change as the days go by and their circumstances change, and if you don’t focus on yourself, you’re never going to achieve satisfaction or happiness.
• Stay back just because someone close to you asks you to – if you know you will be happy with the change, then do it for yourself. Your friend/significant other will be hurt and upset no doubt, but when your future is at stake, you must think of yourself first.

Changing colleges is not a decision to be taken lightly or in the span of a few days; think long and hard about it, and choose to do so only if the move is really justified and necessary.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Abby Nelson, she writes on the topic of Masters degree in Counseling . She welcomes your comments at her email id: abby.85nelson<@>gmail<.>com.

Photo by mangee.

Kill Jill is on a tight schedule!

Between working part-time, doing homework and having classes, I literally have to pencil friends in for a week in advance. I’m not even joking. I tell ya, it makes it hard to have spontaneous fun with the pals.

Reply to this post with your best idea for time management for college students and you could win a $25 gift card from BJ’s Wholesale Club. (This contest is open to US residents or anyone with a BJ’s membership.) Make sure to leave your name and email address so I know how to contact you in case you win!

This contest will close in 2 weeks, on October 9th, late in the evening. I’ll likely choose a winner that night and email the winner. The winner will have to provide their mailing address so I can personally send you a little note, along with the $25 gift card.

But it’s tough- going to school, keeping up with school work, working 20 hours a week and trying to have some sort of a life. I go down to 16 hours per week the week after next, so hopefully things will get a little easier.

My class is very, very small. We’re down to 7. And I like it that way. And I can honestly say I like everyone in it. (We had a guy quit. He was less than pleasant. But everyone else is just dandy.)

Here’s my new schedule:

• Monday: Visual Design
• Tuesday: Project Management/Multimedia Presentation
• Wednesday: Web Design
• Thursday: Audio/Video Production
• Friday: Flash Design

That’s right, kids. I’m the artsy fartsy student I’ve always wanted to be, not-so-secretly. So, things are pretty chill so far. And my instructor is a very cool chicky who really knows her stuff. I’ll be interested to see where I’m at in a few months.

I’ve been working on a list of goals as of late. The following goals are for this semester (unless stated otherwise).

1. I will drink more water (and less vodka).
2. I will keep my part-time job (or stop paying rent).
3. I will go to bed at a decent hour.
4. I will apply for at least 12 bursaries/scholarships.
5. I will leave for school before 8:50am and, therefore, not be late for class.
6. I will continue working on my novel, and not use lame excuses in order to put it off.
7. I will continue painting, and not use lame excuses in order to put it off.
8. I will save cash for Christmas gifts.
9. I will save enough cash to purchase a 15-inch display Macbook Pro and some design software at the end of the school year.
10. I will not be impulsive with any purchases over $25.

Photo by Patty.B

Actual dorm environments are much harder than apartments, if only because they’re so much more cramped. Living in a dorm means giving up private space, and if you and your roommate’s schedules synchronize as beautifully as they just might, you may be left without much private time at all to spend with close friends or to simply decompress.

This means that you’re going to have to find ways to make compromises to make certain things (like loud music, food, boyfriends, girlfriends, cleaning, and the inevitable existential crises that come with all of these things) bearable.

You’re probably going to need to set some rules. For example, my first roommate had a tendency to:

• leave apple cores, decaying, on our shared dresser space, alongside long-finished cartons of milk, then wouldn’t throw them away until I repeatedly asked him to do so.
• didn’t like it when I played records heavy on dialogue and talking while he was reading or writing and I didn’t like his modern rock internet radio.
• I didn’t want to drive anyone to Jack in the Box at 4am when I was the only person with a car.
• At times he, a friend, and two girls would watch movies at four in the morning on his bed while I was sleeping, or trying to sleep, ten feet away.
• He would regularly lose his keys, necessitating that I either let him in or leave the door open, something I wasn’t too enthused about given the number of people who had had their computers stolen.

I found my general ability to stand most of these things evaporating quickly over the course of our first several months together.

If two things kept us from wanting to kill each other, they were sealed headphones (far more important than you’d ever expect, both for listening undisturbed and for drowning out your surroundings) and the fact that we didn’t have trouble communicating about the things that bothered us about what the other was doing.

When I didn’t want piles of rotting fruit in our room, I told him, and they were gone. When he didn’t want to listen to 60-minute recordings of ten notes played as slowly as humanly possible, I threw on my headphones. When, later in life, I had a housemate who simply didn’t do his dishes – ever – a simple explanation as to why this made things for me, an interested cook, unbearable helped change things. My tendency to play the piano or the accordion as loudly as possible when he had girls over likely didn’t win me too many points, either, and I was told to curb that for everyone’s general benefit.

Things can go wrong, though. Some people simply lose it when asked to change the very slightest thing about their behavior, and in the worst case scenario, you may be stuck, for a little while, living with someone who does not seem to care or understand about your concerns, if not treat them with outright contempt.

Keeping up a good dialogue with your roommates, however, is perhaps the most important thing you can do. It’s much cheaper and more legal than killing them, and your differences in perspective might actually someday turn into something like – gasp – agreement or friendship. Maybe.

Guest post by Andrew Hall.

Life is no longer as simple as it was when you were in high school or college – it involves much more than just agonizing over lessons, assignment and exams and mulling over the fight you had with your significant other. There could be many other things on your plate now – a job, a family, and other commitments that are not easy to push aside. This makes going back to school a more challenging task, so unless you’re prepared, you could fail in your endeavor to earn a degree.

There are two ways you could go back to school, and each comes with its own challenges:

• When you decide to do it full time: There are very few people who would choose this option because it would mean putting their jobs and practically their lives on hold. However, if it is the opportunity of a lifetime or if circumstances demand it, it’s not uncommon to decide to go back to school full time. If you belong to this category, you’ll need to ensure that your finances are in order and that you (and your family if you have one) won’t have to worry about money while you spend your time slogging it out. If you’re taking out a loan to finance your education, make sure it’s worth the effort – you don’t want to be burdened with a loan that you cannot repay. Also, a full-time college schedule can be very demanding and you’re going to have to keep pace with kids who are much younger and more ambitious than you. You’re going to have a lot more on your mind than you did the last time round, and concentrating on your lessons is going to take a significant amount of willpower and determination. So psyche yourself to be mentally prepared, and give it the best you’ve got.
• When you opt to study online: More than 90 percent of those who choose to go back to school take the online route. It’s very convenient because there’s not much change involved – you can continue to work at your job and go on with your life as usual; all you have to do is make some time for your lessons and exams. However, if you’re not disciplined and dedicated to the cause, you could end up lagging behind your classmates and taking much more time to complete your degree than necessary. Also, you must put in a significant amount of effort to balance all the balls you’ll be juggling – work, family, social life and studies – without dropping any of them. You will have to make sacrifices and compromises in order to do justice to your degree. So if you’re prepared and ready to accept the challenge, find a school of your choice and get started.

Going back to school is a worthwhile attempt to improve the quality of your work life, enhance your professional standing, and achieve a sense of accomplishment.

This guest post is contributed by Debbie Owen, she writes on the topic of online doctorate degree. She welcomes your comments at her email id: debbieowen83@gmail.com

BJ’s Wholesale Club is a thrifty, easy way of getting ready for school, whether you’re heading back to campus or you’re just starting out. Check out their school and college supplies options.

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Like something you saw in the video above? Here’s some items it featured:

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• Chalbria Galleria 53” x 79” Area Rug – Bold printed 100% nylon area rugs. $29.99
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• Toshiba® 10.1” Notebook Computer – 160GB hard drive, Intel Atom N455 processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, Windows® 7 Starter Edition, and 802.11n Wireless. 10.1” TruBrite®display. 8+hour battery life. Also on BJs.com $299.99
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• Haier® Write-On Refrigerator – 2.5 cubic foot fridge. Leave homework reminders or messages to friends on the front. $99.99
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