Funny Stories of College Kids Last Minute Spending Money on Card

I noticed a lot of people have been packing up their things and shipping them back home. From my roommate to my friends who live down the hall, many people I know who live out of state have been getting ready to clear their rooms. I suppose that makes sense. My roommate is from Texas and she can't exactly carry bins and drawers on an airplane. Even my friend who is from California has been seen carrying huge empty boxes and filling them with things she doesn't need anymore.

I guess this means finals are coming sooner than I thought. But we all knew that.

If the rest of college is going to move as quickly as this year I don't know what I am going to do. People say to me all the time, "you're just a freshman you still have so much time, don't worry". Wrong, three more years seems like nothing. Plus that's not a lot of time if you're still exploring and not ready to go out into the real world. But maybe that's just me thinking negatively… Kind of like saying the glass is half empty instead of it being half full.

Don't get me wrong I don't mind time feeling like it's moving at a faster rate, but I do mind growing up too fast. Have you ever thought about what you're going to be like when you're older? Where you'll be in 5-10 years? What kind of career will we have or where will we be living? Better yet who will we be marrying even? Haha it's the future that's so scary. Everything is unknown and we can't see into the future to figure out if what we are doing is what we will be doing in the near or distant future.

Sometimes I wish I could see into the future just so I can look forward to something, but most of the time I'd rather not think about it because if I do I'll be missing out on all the time I have left at school and being a kid or I guess young adult as some people would say. But who am I kidding… I'm only a freshman after all. There is a lot of time and I'm in no rush even though it feels like it at times.

But in just a few short weeks I won't be able to say "I'm just a freshman"… I'll be saying "I'm just a sophomore" and before you know it I'll be declaring my major and having more things figured out. I guess freshman year was kind of more of a transition stage from high school to freedom. Not many people know what their future holds and not many people know what it's like to be in a new environment or away from their family.

After this year everyone will be wiser and more knowledgeable. We'll know what path is the best for us. Well we will know more than we know now.

So I'm wrapping up this last blog with an end to my first year as a college student. It's been a pretty good year and I'm ready for it to be over. Plus it's allergy season and I'd rather skip through this season as quickly as possible.

I think because of the warmer weather my mood has been lifted. I'm usually in a good mood, but with the sun starting to shine and the jackets starting to be put away… I find that everything seems a little bit better. Clearly this is just a psychological thought and my mind is playing tricks on me, but still… Everything seems more at ease.

With the past few weeks coming to a close I find myself to be ecstatic about school now. I'm sure this is how it's been for a lot of you, but these past 3 weeks have been filled with midterms, projects, papers, and on top of that loads of homework. It seemed like I couldn't escape the mass of reading and papers and books piling up on me, but now that that is over I feel much happier. I'm even happier that I get to go home this upcoming weekend, back to good ol' Maryland.

Everyone needs a break away from school sometimes. It is true that the excitement and the people at school can always take your mind away from the stress, but sometimes getting the opportunity to leave, even if it's just for the weekend, makes it so much more exciting. Although, I will admit that I'm slightly afraid of taking the bus all the way down to Baltimore. It's not my first time riding the bus, but my parents and I established a deal that I would take the bus to Harrisburg and my parents would meet me there. It's a fair deal because we are both traveling 2 hours to get to each other. Except this time it is different. I am attending a fancy schmancy charity event on Friday. I'm actually just a volunteer, but it's still pretty exciting. I also get to be reunited with my sister at this event because her internship is in charge of it. This is why I have to take the bus to Baltimore instead, not that that is important. What is important though is that my dad's birthday is coming up and I'm going home to see him before both him and my mom go off to California for a nice vacation. Well I guess not so nice since they'll be dragging my little brother along while he is on his spring break.

Anyway, this is my second time aside from thanksgiving, winter, and spring break, where I get to go home for a weekend. No matter what I'm doing I'm just excited to take my mind off of the school work, especially since finals week is right around the corner. Everyone needs a chance to go home for a little bit I think. It's important to see your family as often as you can and spend time with them. I honestly didn't realize how much I missed them until recently.

I'd say I'm not the type of person who's good at keeping in touch with those I know I will see again, such as my family. I occasionally will text my parents or give them a phone call or two, but really I'm okay being away from them. The independence is great, but I also have to remember that even if I'm fine at school they still miss me too and it is not fair to keep such a barrier between us. As a college student, the freedom is excellent. There is no one constantly breathing down my neck, but my family and I are very close and I always forget that I should keep in touch for their sake.

Never pass up an opportunity to go home, even if there are a bunch of fun events going on or you feel like you're going to miss out on something because like I said everyone needs a break and plus your family misses you just as much as you miss them… even if you don't realize you do.

It's finally April. That means just one more month and we are heading home finishing up our first year as college students…. as I've mentioned so many times before. As the days become warmer and summer comes closer, I find myself less stressed about school and back to my procrastinating self. It's getting harder and harder to find the motivation to study.

On the bright side I have taken an initiative. I decided it was time to speak to my adviser and decide what the next step was in my college career. As I've mentioned earlier, I was originally following a pre-med track, but I've realized that it's no longer a passion I possess and that it was something my parents wanted more for me than I wanted myself. I decided to explore and discovered IST was something I might consider trying out. I decided to make an appointment with an IST adviser and talk about changing from the College of Science to the College of IST. I'm pretty excited about the change, but also very nervous about the appointment itself. I don't know about you, but I always find myself nervous to talk to others about my future. Or maybe just nervous when it comes to asking others for help. Either way I'm ready to keep up my exploring and figure out whether IST is the fit for me.

Have you ever sat back and thought about what you really want to do? College overwhelms us with thoughts and thoughts about what society wants us to do and what is expected of us. There is so much pressure riding up on us to be successful and to stand out from the rest, but how are people expected to figure out what they want to do right off the bat? Or what happens if someone follows a major for all four years and doesn't like it what happens then? It makes you wonder how a person is expected to explore their options and graduate within four years.

The life of a college student is tough.

And get this we're only in the transition stage from childhood to adulthood. We already have so many worries and this is only the beginning. Imagine what it will be like when we are older. I can't even begin to fathom what that will be like.

Life as we know it won't just be fun and games. As negative as that sounds, it's somewhat true. We are living in a fast paced world where societal norms cause us to behave the way that we do. We are expected to graduate and continue with schooling or have a job right when we graduate. But all of that is easier said than done. What about the application process? And even getting into a school? What about the competitiveness of a job you are pursuing? What happens when you can't get the job you want because there are 50 other collegiate adults standing right behind you? It's a dog eat dog world and you realize that there isn't all the time in the world and that you are expected to do so much with so little time.

I try to not think that way, but I also try to be realistic about the way I do perceive things. I think that we live for the now. Also, something I've stated many times before in past blogs, but I say we figure out what we want to do and don't let anyone hold us back. If we are willing to do something because that's what we want then at the end of the day we are successful because we aren't just doing something because we have to. And sure the idea of getting into graduate school or finding a job will be stressful, but we know that if we work hard enough we will get there. Plus, we're only freshman. Don't stress just yet. We've got time.

I encountered a plethora of embarrassing moments recently. I'm quite the klutz I would say and usually things like this are normal.

I'd say texting is the "thing" for teenagers. Without it… How else will we communicate with our friends or family members? We are always just one text away from someone no matter how far.

Walking around campus is always nice because there's always a beautiful scenery… But walking alone makes me feel uncomfortable, maybe even awkward I'd say, but I mean I'd say I'm Awkward Ashley (my alliteration is excellent) and again it's normal to feel so.. awkward almost all the time. Haha!

Anyways, I find myself looking at my phone throughout the day, especially when walking around campus. I find that it's easier to get distracted by my phone as opposed to awkwardly making eye contact with people walking in the opposite direction as you or just staring at your feet until you reach your destination.

Today I ran into a pole.

Thanks to my awesome friend, my phone, and my awesome ability to watch where I'm going. I'd like to tell myself no one really saw or cared, but it was quite embarrassing. I definitely laughed the whole way back to my dorm and rocked a nice red face too. Times like these make me laugh at the moments that occur in my life and the situations I put myself through… Most of the time things like this make the little things even better because it definitely makes your day a lot more interesting. Not that I'm saying you should run into a pole, but being able to laugh at yourself makes life less stressful and much happier.

Don't ever take things in life too seriously.

I guess I can relate the ability to laugh at myself to falling up the stairs on the way to the commons… or tripping on my own feet when walking to the gym, but even those times are just the same.

What's the most embarrassing moment you've experienced? I honestly can't count how many times I'm embarrassed throughout the day….

Anyway the main point of my story this time is that technology has produced a new sense of living for our generation. We have lost the ability to live without it. Our cell phones are always with us, why? For emergencies? Nope. Because we need it for texting, social media, music, and the internet in general just to look something up. I can't imagine what life would be like without my cell phone. But why do we need it so much? To help us when we are put in awkward situations? So that we can always communicate with someone else? Or because we can stalk people whenever want? We rely on technology to help us throughout the day that we forget what it's like to not feel awkward while walking or to not feel the need to always have it.

Don't get me wrong, technology is a necessity, but maybe I wouldn't run into things or trip so much if I paid attention, but that might just be a me problem… but it still impacts the way others live. Especially teenagers. We can't live without it and we forget to notice the smaller things in life because of it.

How weird does it feel to be almost done with freshman year?  The number of weeks before finals are dwindling down. This semester is flying by, but I guess I'm not complaining. I'm ready for some warmer weather and care free days that occur during the sweet summertime.

So what has second semester brought me?

It's funny looking back at my reflections on my first semester and seeing how long it felt and how much I struggled. This semester I've felt more at ease. The schoolwork is still schoolwork… Tedious as ever and challenging as ever, but the load doesn't feel so bad. It's nice going to classes and having friends in them too, it actually makes them more enjoyable. I look forward to my schedule now. Last semester I went from 8 ams, 9 ams, and then a 5 hour break, to classes in the afternoon. I told myself I was never going to do that again because during the large break I wouldn't do anything productive.

Instead I start my day at 8 am everyday and have back to back classes ending at 1:10 on most days and 11 on the rest. It's nice being done early. My dad actually told me to follow a schedule during the day. He said that after my classes I should study and do my homework until 5 pm, with little breaks in between, whether it is for lunch or just to relax a little. He said to treat every week day like it was a job. That way when 5 o' clock rolls around, I'd be done for the day. I don't have to worry about homework at night and I can relax and enjoy the rest of the day with less stress.

As simple as that plan sounds, it's not always easy to follow. Most days I do follow that schedule and he's right, I can catch up on shows, hang out with friends, go to bed at a decent hour, and not have to worry about a single thing. Other days though, I find myself writing a paper later at night or reading for a class before bed because I was too lazy to do it earlier. But hey, it happens! Even though I don't always follow this schedule it's actually funny when I do. When my friends come barging into my room they see me doing nothing and always say how I never study or do any work, but that's just cause I already did earlier that day. It's funny getting to hear them complain about having so much work to do and how they have to stay up late to do it. That sound bad, but it's nice not having to stress about that anymore when I plan accordingly and don't procrastinate, which is also quite humorous to me because as I stated in earlier blogs… I said I was a big procrastinator, but like I said, you learn from your errors and change your ways in order to become successful. Another cheesy line, but we all know what we have to do, it's just about whether we do something about it or not.

Half of freshman year as a college student  is now completed. I feel pretty accomplished! I feel wiser in a way too.  As I have mentioned many times before I have learned a lot about this past semester and I can use this knowledge throughout the rest of my four years here at Penn State. Packing up again and heading home for three weeks was what I was most excited for. No more studying and no more stress, just my family, friends, and the comfort of my own home. It was time for winter break.

While being away from school I was able to clear my mind and to catch up with old friends and spend time with my family. It was nice being able to see my little brother again and going to all of his basketball games. I missed being able to watch him play or just hang out with him. It was a nice break. So I thought anyway…

I realized that during my family's annual New Years party, everyone was asking me about school and what my GPA was. This was expected, but i tried my best to avoid these conversations. I didn't want to talk about my major or my classes or what kind of GPA was expected for me to have. I just wanted to celebrate my grandfathers birthday and enjoy my time away from school.

I was never the kind of person who enjoyed talking about academics. I didn't mind sharing stories and experiences, but competing against my cousins and their majors was what I always hated most. Most of my cousins are premed or engineering majors and following in their footsteps was what I always thought I had to do, but being compared to them was always the worst. I would have to hear about how they are volunteering at a hospital or how they received so much money for their academic standings.

It's tough hearing things like that because of course I am proud of their achievements, but I am expected to be just as good or even better than them and no one likes hearing how some one else is better than you are. But I know that my cousins experience the same thing from their parents. No one can please everyone all the time.

I also realized that being a premed major was something my parents wanted me to do and what was expected for me, but I thought about it and I discovered that I wasn't really sure what I wanted. As I had mentioned prior to this blog, I have never explored much of anything else other than science based courses. After talking to my parents my major didn't change, but my classes did. I went from Chemistry to Computer Science and an Edesign class instead of Biology. It was weird having all of my core classes change, but it's better to explore than be miserable and take classes you didn't enjoy.

Coming back to school for second semester was exciting and I couldn't wait to have a new direction to follow. The only thing that still got to me was when people ask me what my major is and now I don't know how to respond. Most of the time, because I am still considered pre-med I still say that I am, but other times I just say I'm undecided and am following an Engineering and IST track. Hopefully my new classes won't be so bad.

Jumping around and stating the obvious, the reflection on my first semester has been a good one and I couldn't ask for a better school to attend.

I've been to many football games prior to my freshman year here due to my dad, but I've never been to a game sitting in the student section. Attending my first game as a student was pretty unforgettable. Of course it was like any other game I've attended before, but this time there was more. The spirit, the excitement, and the feeling of getting to say "I'm finally a student here".  Going with the friends I've made, made it even better. The cheering, yelling, laughing, and being picked up 17 times was definitely a memorable time.  But what made it even more memorable was the fact that I sneaked into the student section with my friends girlfriend from back home. We both were the only ones without season tickets and had to purchase random tickets on the street for cheap. We waited outside the student section until my friend Alex came out with 3  to get us inside. The 2 extra tickets he had were my other friends tickets who were seated inside. To make sneaking in even worse, the student section was packed, and clearly too many people were in the stands, that not everyone could fit. Luckily for me I am small so I was able to just squeeze in between everyone when they began to stand for the game, but it was still nerve wrecking to see a few people get upset for the lack of space.

The first game I think I went to was when we were playing UCF. Unfortunately we did lose that game, but even though we lost to a team we expected to beat, I had a fun time overall.

Another unforgettable experience was the free OneRepublic concert. Getting ready and heading down towards the BJC made me feel like a real college student, as dorky as this may sound, I was going to a concert on a Thursday night. Yup that's right I went to a concert on a school night. To this day it's a whole different story, I'm not too concerned about how late I stay up no matter what day it is, but it was still just the beginning of my college life and it was looking pretty good from what I could tell.  Before we walked through the doors, my friends and I were stopped by some people we recognized from the building we lived in. They were waiting on their friends to come, but didn't have enough floor tickets for everyone so they gave them to us instead. This was unbelievable. Free tickets and floor seats to OneRepublic? Best night ever. They were absolutely amazing live and even though it was free the lights and the whole experience in general was pretty unforgettable.

I've  had a lot of interesting adventures from first semester.  They're all unforgettable. I laugh about all of the fun things I've done here so far at Penn State. Every first major event that a freshman would want to be a part was my main goal and I accomplished all of them. I can't wait to see what second semester brings me.

Being at Penn State isn't about making your mark and having the whole school know about your accomplishments, it's about figuring out what you love to do and making the best of your experience while you still can. It's been a great first semester.

Meal points, LionCash, cash, change, and credit/debit cards. These are all forms of money that college students possess. With so many different forms of payment, it almost seems as though college students are loaded right? Wrong. I am a typical college student. Poor.

On my ID card, I have enough points to last me the semester that I could use on commons food all over campus, or really any food on campus and even  a little extra to spend on snacks or other items. I input money onto my card as LionCash for when I need to do laundry, so that is about $8 every two weeks. Along with this, I purchase rentals as textbooks adding up to about $150 and finally spend money riding the bus to and fro target or other places for leisurely activities, i.e the movies. Not to mention the important payment, my gym membership. Oh, and I guess extra curricular activities, such as clubs.

There's no denying the fact that there's not enough money to spend to satisfy college students. We need to eat, we need school supplies, and we need to have some sort of entertainment. I guess I never knew how quickly things added up. Coming to school I started with a good amount of money saved up from graduation, my birthday, and even a "part time job", I guess you could call it that, I babysat my neighbors once or twice a week getting paid by the hour just like any other job I suppose.

I knew when it came to textbooks to pay for rentals as opposed to purchasing from the bookstore due to the help of my sister, she told me about Chegg, which was a life savior when it came to my wallet. But other than that I didn't really think money would be much of a problem. I'm not the type of person to spend much, I always feel too guilty spending too much money, especially if its for myself, but coming here, I realized that money came and go and I wasn't sure why until I thought about all of the small things I purchased. After about 1 and a half months of being at school, I was low on toiletries and even my Nutrigrain bars and cereal and other essentials I wanted.  It was time to either go downtown or head over to target with my friends. There goes $3 already and sure that doesn't sound like much, but transportation is expensive over time. Not to mention the amount of money spent adds up and the amount of money saved decreases significantly. Not having the ability to balance both my classes and a job made working out of the question. I wasn't willing to try nor risk the chances of putting most of my time on a job as opposed to school.

Anyways, I'd say I went to the movies twice and Target twice first semester, along with football games, concerts, and even ice skating. I would also say I went downtown often to just shop, buy presents, buy football tickets (I unfortunately didn't have season tickets), and food. It was inevitable for me not to spend money, but I should have planned my spending more wisely, but in my opinion, I feel like there's no way of knowing. Almost as though most plans occur spontaneously.

Being at school I learned a lot of things everyday. In this case, I learned about spending money wisely. Of course everyone knows this, but does everyone actually follow this from the start, or do people have to experience first hand to know not to do the same thing in the future? For me, I had to experience it. It's not difficult not spending money, but I can't deny the fact that sometimes it's hard missing out on some good sales or a good concert, or even the Penn State football games, but at the end of the day, it was worth it when you know you still have a good sum of money left in your bank to use for more important things.

Taking a step back from academics, I sometimes forget that I'm an actual college student. That I am actually here…

I realized how quickly I adjusted to being at school. I didn't feel homesick once. Talking to one of my best friends back home, she asked me if I was missing home and to my surprise I told her I didn't miss it at all. She felt the same way too. The funny thing is is that we were the ones out of all of our friends who were the most nervous about heading off to school. We feared that we wouldn't make any friends right away and that we would miss everyone too much, but that wasn't the case, actually it was the exact opposite. I will admit, being away from my boyfriend, friends, and family was and still is very difficult, but being here didn't make me sad. I was actually excited to be away from home because I finally felt more independent and free. At home I was pretty restricted. As racist as this may seem, my parents are stereotypical Asian parents. It was hard to go and hang out with my friends whenever I wanted to and there was never a day where I wasn't forced to study, but being here has definitely been different. I don't ever have to ask my parents for their permission to hang out with my friends and leave my dorm. It's nice being away. Don't get me wrong I do miss home. I miss everything about it, from the people to my bedroom, and mainly my brother and sister, but the college life isn't something I would trade up.

What kind of new found freedom do I possess now? Where do I even begin? I can now get up late on the weekends without feeling as guilty because of my parents, even though I still prefer to be up early so I don't waste my day away… I can stay up as late as I want to too. There's just so much freedom. Although, I can most definitely understand why too much freedom can be bad. Let's talk about freshman 15 shall we? Home cooked meals made by my mom were always good and I didn't realize how much I would miss them until I was forced to eat commons food almost every single day. Also, being a poor college kid has caused me buy food that was cheap and easy to get… this meant junk food… which also meant fat Ashley. I didn't think I would gain any weight leaving home, but I can definitely see why freshman 15 exists.  Maybe it wasn't just the bad food, but also probably the late night eating too, but what does it matter? It still exists. Luckily I obtained a gym membership allowing me to keep the extra weight off, along with helping me get into better shape.

Being at school has been an amazing experience. Reflecting on movies I've watched where teenagers go to college for the first time or are just in college in general has always made going away much more exciting. I mean who doesn't want their life to be like a movie?  I always thought that college students were old, but I realize we are all still kids figuring out what we want to do with our lives. Today we want one thing, but tomorrow maybe we will want something else. Who knows?

How to do well in college 101.

1. Don't wait til the last minute to study for exams

2. Don't wait til midnight to do your work

3. Go to guided study sessions, TA office hours, or your professors office hours

4. Don't hope that all the answers are online

5. Don't let people interfere with your schoolwork

That's what everyone always says. They make things sound so easy. My parents were always so ready to warn me about the distractions up at State College and the fact that I was going to be on my own scared them, but to be honest I felt like I was prepared to be on my own. At least I thought I was.

All of those things seem pretty obvious to me. Everyone knows what they have to do to do well academically. It's just like anything else. People know not to stick their gum under the desks in lecture halls, but people still do it. Why? Because people are too lazy to get up and throw it away or people don't have anywhere else to put it.  This is just like studying for exams. It all seems so easy. But let's face it, college is all about distractions. For example, technology. I don't know about you, but trying not to use my phone while studying is one of the harder things in life for me. That may be extreme or even dramatic, but it is indeed a distraction. From Twitter to Instagram to Facebook and texting…. they're distractions that I am incapable of avoiding. Not only is my phone a distraction, but my friends are too. Getting to know so many different people has been a great experience in college, but balancing when to hang out with those friends or even study with those friends are a challenge too. Being new to the school and not knowing very many people made it difficult to balance between friends and study time.

I knew coming into school that I was a procrastinator, but I could never admit it until now… I am a big procrastinator. I always try to find something more fun to do until it becomes late at night and I realize I'm short on time.

Taking so many science based classes was something I thought I could handle, but it was hard to know how much time I should spending studying for each course. Even though the work load was overwhelming, the large lecture halls was something I enjoyed. Stepping into the large classrooms for the first time was what I expected, but it was better than I imagined. I liked the straight forward lectures, the atmosphere of so many students coming together into one room, and not having to worry about the teacher calling on me when I didn't know the answer or I wasn't paying attention. It was something new and different and I liked it. It fit right in with my new life at college.

But, no matter how much I enjoyed the big classes, the courses were definitely a wake up call. Going through the courses I learned what I enjoyed most and what I didn't enjoy. Chemistry and Math were my favorite classes. They are classes that allow me to do problem solving as opposed to memorizing a bunch of material at once, in other words Biology.

Already with the start of classes I knew I was in for a rude awakening. If I knew my classes were going to be difficult already… how was my first semester going to pan out? It was definitely a mystery me, but I wasn't going to sit around and do nothing about it. I was definitely overwhelmed to start off.

All I knew was that I needed to keep an open mind and not get too stressed from the beginning because I knew I was ready for whatever was going to hit me this semester.

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Source: https://sites.psu.edu/ashleypham/my-blogs/

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