10 Things I Learned in College

Last week my cousin, Meredith, graduated from college – her Instagram and Snapchat photos were adorable and she crushed it by graduating in three and a half years. After looking at the photos I realized that all five of the cousins on my mother’s side (including my brother and I) are now college graduates. Yay for us and a big congratulations to our parents.

College was an absolutely terrific time in my life and I would go back and do it again in a heartbeat. In those four years I learned a tremendous amount, both in and out of the classroom. While I might not remember all of the aspects of a tort from Business Law or the details of the most of the things I learned in my 38 classes there are certain life lessons I have clung to. Whether cemented in my mind from a memorable night with friends or something I picked up during the first four years of living on my own here are 10 things I learned in college:

1. Burnett’s is awful. Even when flavored – yes, the normal flavors; lime, raspberry  or peach and the odd balls; pink lemonade, sweet tea, and whipped cream, they are all awful.  Honestly, any vodka that you can buy for $14 per handle is a BAD idea. 
2.  Wear a cross body bag . When you head to the bars, you have less chance of loosing it or things falling out. And it is very hard to replace a driver’s license when you are out of state.  
3. Student discounts are the best.  Go ahead, shamelessly ask if the store, restaurant, or mode of transportation offers one – who doesn’t like saving money?  
4. Take public transportation.  If you were anything like my friends and I, you were not rolling in it (see number three).  When venturing off campus it was always a good idea to leave an extra 20 minutes to take the bus or the metro and for a night out, to take public transportation there and then cab back,  this is something I still do. 
5. Go to odd events.  And step outside your comfort zone.  Freshman year I only went to events I was directly a part of – swim team parties as I was on the swim team or tour guide parties as I was part of the Blue & Gray tour guide society.  It was not until my sophomore year a friend invited me to to go Rangila, a South Asian song and dance festival which I ended up loving it, that I learned to say yes to events I would previously not thought of attending.  And case and point, I went to every Rangila performance for the rest of my time at Georgetown.
6. When in doubt, don’t text him.  I am still working on this one.
7. Network. I went to a school with a ton of school pride and I knew there was a loyal alumni base when I was in school but my participation of it has only magnified since I graduated. People loved going to Georgetown, love talking about Georgetown, and love helping other Hoyas. From what I have heard from my friends, this is true at most schools. Utilize the alumni network, there are really no negatives to it!   Now if only I could only get fellow alumus Bradley Cooper to network with me! 
8. Leggings are most definitively pants. This is the point on the list which is definitely going to get the most slack for, but for me, it was true in college. My friends and I created a rule that as long as your shirt / tunic covered the important bits in the front and the back you were good to go.  And this is something I had to unlearn as soon as I graduated 
9. Tonic has calories, club soda does not.  When I was first introduced to tonic water it was mixed with gin and I swore them both off. It turns out, I actually like tonic water, but hate gin.  Imagine my shock when I realized a can of tonic has 120 calories where soda water / club soda / seltzer has zero.  Since then my hard liquor drink of choice has been vodka soda. And if you find vodka soda too bitter, vodka soda with a splash of cranberry is always a better idea than a vodka cranberry.  On that note it is a generally a good idea, when drinking, to choose mixers without calories. 
10. Four years sounds like a long time; but it isn’t, cherish it.