I’m not very productive when I try to get work done in my room. But there are so many times when, even though I know I should go out to the library, all I want to do is stay in. And curl up on my bed to read, which is never a good idea. I think it might help a bit if I had a more organized, functional workspace in my room. Since I live in a dorm, I’m a bit limited, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dream.

Turns out there’s no shortage of workspace inspiration on the internet. Click through the gallery to see what I found!

[lead image via paperblog.com]

Zac Efron recently sat down for an interview with Women’s Health magazine. (Why he did that, the world may never know). But in the interview, he was asked about his biggest regret. So what did the triple threat say? His biggest regret is not going to college. Aww.

Apparently, Zac had been accepted to both USC and UCLA the same year that he was offered the part in High School Musical. Not too shabby, Zac. Ultimately, he deferred his enrollment to USC and went ahead with HSM. But seeing as he’s starred in a string of other movies since then, he hasn’t really had time to go to college.

Don’t worry, buddy. You can go back to college anytime you want! But don’t forget that college isn’t all fun and games. Yes, it’s important to enrich your mind and further your education. And the parties aren’t too bad, either. But there are plenty of aspects of college life that you’re not missing out on. Check out the gallery to see what I mean.

initiating the gallery...

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

[Lead image via starsareblind.com]

It’s a Friday morning. Your alarm goes off for the tenth time. You look at the clock and realize you’ve hit the snooze button well into the first five minutes of your ever dreaded Friday morning class, which you’re only taking because it was the only thing open when you were finally able to register. You grab your shoes and your books, spend ten minutes in line for coffee — because, yeah, it’s necessary — and finally sneak into a seat at the back of the class just in time to hear your professor ask that you send your assignments forward.

Assignments?  What assignments? You think, you think, you flip threw your notes, and then finally, in the bottom corner of the page next to your sunflower doodle is your homework assignment. The one you totally didn’t do. Now what? Well, now you need a way to get out of handing it in today. Now you need an extension.  Now you need a really good excuse.

So be sure not to use one of these…

1. The dog ate it. The oldest excuse in the book. Teachers can see this one coming from a mile away. But it’s particularly difficult to pull off in college because more likely than not, you’re not allowed to have pets in the dorm rooms. So even if your professor does, on the slimmest of chances, believe you then you’ll be dealing with some much bigger issues.

2. My printer stopped working. Back in my high school days, I’ve actually seen this one work a few times. It’s plausible, direct, and clearly implies that the homework is done, but you just couldn’t get that paper printed in time. But that was all before the entire world went online. Now, not only would you have been able to send it to a friend to print, but you could also send it directly to the teacher. And they will ask you to — believe me, they will ask you to.

3. I know I had it in here…where could it have gone? Feigning ignorance as to where your homework has disappeared to never really works with professors. It’s like the academic version of telling your parents you’re “holding those cigarettes for someone else!” They just raise their eyebrows at you and give you that look like, “really, your assignment just up and vanished into thin air? How odd.” Look as shocked and confused as you want to, but chances are your professors will know what’s what.

4. My insert-obscure-family-member-here died. Not only is this just plain horrible (and really terrible karma), but you can actually get caught on this. And then you’d be the person who didn’t just not turn in their homework, but the one who killed off a family member in the process. How would you get caught, you ask? Well, your professor might ask to see a death certificate or something else to prove that said family member, whose name you totally made up on the spot, actually died. True story: My professor actually asked to see a death certificate when a girl skipped a few classes after losing a family member. Now, she was telling the truth, but you aren’t. And won’t that be uncomfortable….

5. I’m in love with you. I’m not going to lie, I was watching reruns of Friends, the later years, and it was the episode when Ross’s student pretends to be in love with him to get out of a failing grade on his midterm. He claimed he was so preoccupied with his love for his professor that he just couldn’t concentrate on taking his test. As first I thought that was brilliant. “Next time I need an extension on an assignment I’ll just pretend that  I’m in love with the  guy, tell him I spend all my time thinking about him, and that’s why I never get anything done on time!” But as the episode went on, I realized 1) that it’s a TV show and 2) that this one can get very bad very quickly…

6.  It’s against my religion to do homework on weekends. Granted, for some people, in some situations, sometimes, this is a completely legitimate excuse. But not for a student who doesn’t want to do their reading or turn in their latest paper. I mean, what religion is anti-homework? If such a thing actually exists please let me know. I’d be all over it.

7. I didn’t know we had homework. When was that assigned? Everyone’s favorite excuse. Simply pretend like you were never given the assignment to begin with, like you had no idea you were actually supposed to do this. (And you actually might not even remember.) Was this even mentioned in class, you’ll say? (It was.) When were we given this assignment? (Two weeks ago.) Shouldn’t you have made sure we were all aware of these due dates? Now here’s why this excuse will never work. You professor will look at you, smile, and say “It’s right there on your syllabus with all of your other assignments and due dates.” Oh…right.

Don’t you miss the days when assignments were given one at a time and teachers didn’t realize the powers of the internet? It made things so much easier.

Remember when you were a little kid, and you’d actually wake up on time for school… just so you could huddle next to the radio and listen for your school to be called on the list of snow days? With winter’s doom impending and temperatures dropping faster than The Situation’s pants, we can’t help but cross our fingers and pray.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Are snow days something you never grow out of? Or, in college, do they prove that miracles really can happen? Here’s how our anticipation of snow days has evolved since grammar school.

Then: A snow day meant a day off from times tables.
Now: We don’t have to finish copying someone else’s MiniTabs before Stats lab.

Then: We would make a beeline to the street and get all the neighborhood kids together for a snowball fight.
Now: We don’t have to brave arctic winds to walk to class and sit through lecture with snotsicles hanging from our frostbitten faces.

Then: Since we were already up at the crack of dawn, we could take advantage of the snow day and start building a snow man as soon as we got “the word.”
Now: We can go back to sleep for about six hours, and wake up just in time for happy hour.

Then: Snow days meant putting on snow pants and trekking to the biggest hill in town for a full day of sledding.
Now: Snow days mean putting on our beer coat and trekking to the bar for a full day of boozing.

(Note: I love how college students use a blizzard as an excuse to go to the bar, yet even when school isn’t canceled, we deem it too treacherous to walk to class.)

Then: For some unfortunate children, snow days meant driveway-shoveling duty before the parents got home.
Now: After the storm passes, we have to shovel our cars out from behind the snow banks the university plows have inevitably created throughout the parking lot.

Then: We could spend a whole extra day working on our vocabulary exercises!
Now: We could start that research paper that was due three days ago… but who are we kidding? Those episodes of Law and Order SVU aren’t going to watch themselves!

Then: We had an excuse to drink hot chocolate for breakfast.
Now: We have an excuse to drink a thirty-pack for breakfast.

I think it’s clear that snow days are one of mankind’s greatest inventions. Honestly, snow delays and cancellations are one of the top reasons to attend a university in a colder climate. I feel bad for those of you who are earning degrees in Hawaii, Florida, California, or any other season-less state. You will never experience the joys of the world’s most beautiful Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card: the beloved snow day!

Want mas? Don’t worry, there are plenty more faves where this came from.]

Anybody else out there already having to read volumes upon volumes for their classes? WTF? It’s only the second week back, professors! Can’t a girl catch a little post-break break?

Le sigh.

Good thing there’s music to save the day. I figured I’d help everyone out there get back into the swing of things and offer up an album that’s great to do homework to when you want some background noise but the How I Met Your Mother marathons are too distracting. It also just so happens to be one of the Oscar nominees for best original score: The Social Network Soundrack.

About the Artist:
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame teamed up with Atticus Ross to score the film The Social Network. Reznor originally turned down the gig, but eventually came around. Smart move, buddy. Reznor is from Pennsylvania and dropped out of college after a year to pursue his musical career. Ross is an English composer who moved to the United States in 2000 and has also worked on Book of Eli.

Top 3 Tracks:

In Motion

In the Hall of the Mountain King

Magnetic

Why You Should Listen To It:
If you thought the movie was good, just wait until you hear the soundtrack; it’s impossible not to love it. Especially when you’re tackling that mountain of reading you’ve got to do for class. It’s good music that passes the time and blocks out the people whispering around you in the library, without being too distracting. It’s new, refreshing, dark, mysterious, and energetic all at the same time.

The entire album is awesome, but whenever you hit the studying wall and need to get pumped up, put it over to In the Hall of the Mountain King. It’s like 5 Hour Energy in MP3 form.

Want more awesome iPod suggestions? You got it!

[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, Zappos…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (like Party School Texts, Daily Burn and Musicovery) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

Life can be pretty overwhelming sometimes: balancing classes, a job, and social life can sometimes be too much for one person. I know it gets hard for me to remember all that I have to do—especially schoolwork.  I have a regular planner that I carry around in my purse to help keep me organized, but I don’t always remember to look at it every day when I get home, which means sometimes I forget about a reading assignment or worse, a test… which doesn’t really help my G.P.A.  I know I need a better way to organize my schoolwork, but I haven’t found a way that works for me yet.

A few years ago, Andrew Schaper was a high school student with the same organization problems I have.  In order to solve these problems, he created Soshiku, a website that helps you manage and keep track of all your school assignments.

It couldn’t be any simpler to start getting organized.  First, register for a free account on the site.  Once you do that, you can log in, set up all the courses you’re currently taking and add assignments for each.  Every time you log in, you’ll be directed to your personalized homepage that displays all the assignments you have due that day, the next day, and in the coming week, as well as a calendar highlighting the days you have projects due.  You can add notes or upload files to each assignment as well, which helps you stay organized by keeping all your work in one place.

Soshiku’s most useful feature, however, is the option to set up e-mail or text message reminders of the projects you have due at the particular intervals you set (such as the day it’s due or a few days before).  How awesome is that? I mean, you may not check your planner every day, but I can guarantee you’ll check your phone.

You can also upload projects to your account via text message or e-mail so you can add them as soon as your professors assign them, which means less chance of forgetting about them.  There’s also an option to share an assignment with other users and assign tasks, which makes organizing group projects a breeze.

Thanks to Soshiku, it’s now practically impossible to forget you have a test or project due (unless for some reason you decide to ignore your texts and e-mails).  Using Soshiku will help even the most organizationally challenged change their ways!

This blows.

Ah, Spring Break. A time to relax, to de-stress, and to recharge for classes after midterms have drained us of our livelihood. Some people go on vacation to cut loose, some go home for a little R&R, and some even enroll in a short course to catch up on credits or work on a project with their favorite professor. Whatever your plans, Spring Break is you time.

Or so you thought. Then your professor assigns a paper. And another gives extra problem sets. A third wants you to read an entire book, and a fourth wants you to make an exact replica of Michelangelo’s David at a .22 scale. Suddenly, your days of rejuvenation are long gone, and you’re stuck trying to figure out how to fit that brick of an organic chemistry textbook into your suitcase without going over the weight limit and having to pay more.

Worst of all, your workload ruins everyone else’s break too. You might go to the beach with your friends, but how much fun is it going to be when you bring your textbook as a beach read? And that certainly isn’t going to attract the cute guys playing volleyball nearby- or fit into your adorable clutch when you go to the bar at night.

If you go home, especially if you live far away from school, your family gets it even worse. My friend’s mother flat-out asked her one “break” why she was paying so much money to fly her home so she could sit in the corner with her textbooks. And truthfully, she has a point; no one is enjoying watching you sit and study all week. They’re lucky if they get to catch up with you at all before you fly back to school and go another eight weeks not speaking to them because you’re too busy with school and such to call home before they go to bed at ten. So much for family time.

The problem is that professors seem to think that “Spring Break” means you have all this free time to do extra work for them. I even know of professors who schedule tests for the day after break, or add on extra homework because students “have plenty of time to work on it.”

Okay, so maybe we DO have some time- for once. But is piling on the work during the time we’re supposed to be recharging actually going to accomplish anything (besides reducing your students into a withering puddle of stress less than a week back)? By insisting on requiring more work, professors are actually offsetting the purpose of having a break at all. Just because we have a few minutes to breathe isn’t a reason to add more to our workloads.

College students, for all the stereotypes about partying and lazing around before entering “the real world,” work hard. Really hard. We take full course loads that require not only an average of fifteen hours of classes a week, but also extra time for labs, group projects, reading, papers, practice problems, studying for exams, and much, much more. So take the class time, and assume that outside work pretty much doubles it. Then add on activities (I’m slightly insane and actively involved in about six groups and have passing affiliations with about another ten or so, but most students, even if they’re not to my extreme, do something extracurricular) and the part-time jobs held by many students.

Yup, that’s a lot.

The reason we supposedly party so much is because we need a break, a rest, something to keep us from going utterly insane, or, worse, dropping the ball and losing everything we’ve been working for. The point of having spring break is to give us some sort of rest so we can do everything we need to do; by adding more work (and, let’s face it, we all have some work to do over spring break anyway- thesis, applications, papers or projects for later in the semester, a part-time job back home, family obligations, something), the only possible scenarios are as follows:

1. The student shuts down entirely. S/he hits the breaking point, and simply becomes incapable of doing any further work. Cue the GPA fall and a possible fetal-position-style breakdown.

2. The student spends his/her break working on the extra assignments and comes back completely frazzled, stressed, and sleep-deprived, possibly with the addition of problems with his/her family/friends/significant other, who are annoyed that s/he didn’t spend any time with them. This scenario also has a high likelihood of fetal-position breakdown.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t see either of these as an acceptable option, do you, Professor “Since you’ll have time, read The Communist Manifesto and The Wealth of Nations, then write a ten-page paper comparing the ideas, oh, by the way, your midterm is the Wednesday we get back, but send all questions to your TAs because I’m taking my family to Disney World for the break”?

Yeah, I didn’t think so.

Except, I do imagine it. I catch myself worrying about non-existent assignments and responsibilities that won’t resume until September. But even more, I constantly find myself spacing out at work, reminiscing about all the good stuff that comes along with college. Mostly the whole not-bored-at-work-9-to-5 thing.

And I miss it!

Meal Plans: While I’m lucky enough not to be taking classes this summer, I do have to work — which means I’m stuck in a college town all summer long without the benefit of visiting home, and therefore the benefit of home cookin’. My freshman year, I ate dining hall food. My sophomore year, my sorority dues included a meal plan. This summer, with my sorority house closed and the dining halls freshmen-infested, I’m armed only with my apartment’s kitchen and whatever the hell I find when I Google “easy, cheap, healthy recipes” and pudding. Do I enjoy learning to cook? Absolutely. Would I prefer a cook to prepare my meals? Uh, hell yes. Plus, there’s no clean up if you’re not the one using all the dishes…

The Gym: As any lady knows, summer is either the best time to flaunt your hard earned bikini-bod, or to berate yourself for spending more of Spring watching The Office than a yoga instructor. So naturally, gym time is a necessary evil (unless you enjoy working out, which I sadly do not). Imagine my disappointment when I arrived at my campus gym early for kickboxing, only to have my student I.D. DENIED at the turnstile. It was almost as embarrassing as having a credit card declined, weirdly enough. Apparently, if you don’t take summer classes at FSU, you can’t use the gym (I guess the tuition I pay during fall and spring doesn’t cut it). Every day as I run outside (instead of on a treadmill with AC and Daisy of Love repeats) I count the days until I’ll be back at the student gym.

The Bar Scene: Never in my life did I think I’d find myself wishing for the bar to be more crowded. There are no lines for the bathroom, the bartenders are almost overly attentive, and I have enough room to extend my arms. All of these are seemingly good things, but when there are no people to watch, no strangers to mingle with, and no one standing between me and unlimited mojitos, things at the bar just don’t end well. When it takes me 20 minutes to fight my way through the crowd to the bar in Fall, I will look back at this time lovingly, but for now, the bar scene just seems kinda boring.

“Academic Expenses”: As I mentioned before, I’m a working woman. But when my parents offer to help out with any school related costs, I definitely don’t turn it down. The beauty of this is that there is always some way to explain a purchase as necessary to my academic career. “Supplies” at Walmart, “Business attire” for those in-class presentations, and my personal favorite “Whatever they sell at the bookstore” because Mom’s credit card is on file there. A random charge on her statement is easily explained during the semester, but trying to convince her that I need money for “road trip supplies” doesn’t go as smoothly.

Overall, I’m not complaining about a long, hot and relaxing summer—but there are definitely a few things I miss about Fall and Spring. What about you guys?

I’m happy to share – after all, that is what this column is all about – so check them out!

1. Make a schedule for yourself.

This is really the most basic time-management tool. I use a daily planner and I write a new to-do list for each day. Then I cross things out as I finish them. For longer-term projects, I write down the due date and then I write down what I need to accomplish on the project on a daily or weekly basis. You can do whatever works for you—color-code your schedule, write it on a white board, use an electronic calendar, etc.

2. Consolidate activities.

I used to go to the bank every time I got a new check, which sometimes meant I’d be going several times per week. I wasn’t using that money immediately after depositing it, so there was no reason for me to go so often. Now, I only go to the bank once every two weeks. It saves me tons of time, and I just keep all my checks together until I go on my biweekly trip.

Think about the things you do often—run errands, cook, do homework—and then think about whether you can consolidate any of them. Maybe it would help you to cook several huge batches of food on weekends and then freeze them in meal-sized portions to use throughout the week. Can you do a quick math assignment while you’re riding the subway or waiting on the phone for a customer-service rep? If so, you’ll have more free time later.

3. Eliminate activities.

There are probably a few hobbies you have that you really enjoy doing, and a few things you do that you may consider a slight waste of time. I spend way too much time surfing the Internet, so if I’m going to write a big article or work on a portion of my book, I’ll disable my wireless connection. If you feel like you watch too much TV, you might want to drop a couple of shows from your repertoire and catch up on episodes online later (but only if you have extra time). Consider your biggest time-wasters (Bromance, anyone?), and get rid of them! You’ll be amazed at how your week opens up if you downgrade this way.

I know many of you guys are multitasking mavens, so please feel free to share more tips in the comments!

[Image courtesy of blogs.theage.com.]

However, there are several things I should consider pledging as the ball drops. Whether you’re stuck on your own resolution, or just need a fresh start with the new year, the following are some resolutions that many of us should consider.

1. I will go to the gym regularly.

When 2008 struck, I was on a regular gym regime, and resolved to keep at it and lose ten more pounds. I did. Then summer hit, and I found that poolside cocktails and outdoor keg parties were taking their toll on my thighs. The fact that this semester has been excruciating contributes to my lack of gym time, and isn’t helping my quest to tone up. Losing weight and getting in shape is one of the most common New Years resolutions, but it’s also one of the hardest to keep. Still, if you have taken to wearing sweats to class every day because you can’t zip up the skinny jeans you bought in August, you may want to give the gym a go next year.

2. I will quit drunk dialing/drunk texting/ drunk Facebooking.

Waking up in the morning and being surprised by your call log is not a good thing. And being drunk on Facebook means that you can send messages, write inappropriate things on peoples’ walls, create ridiculous drunken status messages, and now even drunk FB-Chat someone. Yikes! If you have consistently getting texts on Sunday mornings from random people saying, “WTF?” you may want to leave the phone at home and turn off your computer before you go to the bar.

3. I will do my homework in advance.

Most college students deserve a minor (or a double major) in procrastination. We blow off our assignments until the last minute, then freak out, plow through a paper, and turn it in while it’s still warm from the printer. The problems with this practice are that A) stressing ourselves out is unhealthy; B) we often let the window of remaining time shrink with each assignment, until we are trying to pound through six chapters of Philosophy on the walk to a midterm; C) procrastination doesn’t leave room for revision; and D) when we leave things until the last minute, a printer problem can be detrimental. Trying to put school assignments before bar nights is a good way to make the grade this spring.

4. I will not let my boss light shots of Sambuca on fire in my mouth at the bar.

What? Is that just me?

5. I will wash my sheets more than once a month.

If you’re in a dorm with bunkbeds or lofted beds, changing your sheets is a pain in the ass. Besides, between balancing a class schedule, an active social life, and a part-time job, who has time to take off the pillowcases and lug your comforter to the laundry room? Hey, if you knew what lurks between dirty sheets, you will make time.

6. I will only choose one “main course” at the dining hall.

Not piling chicken parm pizza, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes on your plate can take a lot more will-power than you’d think, especially after five back-to-back classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays (gotta love block scheduling and four-day-weekends). Still… just because the dining hall is free, doesn’t mean you need to load up every day.

7. I will remain composed when my basketball team plays our rivals, even when the other team is up two points with fifteen seconds to go in the game and the ref isn’t calling any of their fouls.

Perhaps if you are making this resolution, you will also want to promise yourself not to get into altercations with a fan after the game. I’m from UConn, and there were many heated moments at Syracuse games that stain my past. I still get tingles of rage when someone mentions the name “Gerry McNamara.” But hey, I’m working on it.

8. I will only have sex sober in 2009.

That’s a good one if you’ve been letting Captain Morgan influence your libido lately. The guy at the bar putting all of your drinks on his tab might not be too happy about it, but this one will save you from the walk of shame when March comes in like a lion.

9. I won’t swear and say I hate my school the next time I can’t get the required courses for my major, or I fail a class because my TA doesn’t speak English, or financial aid decides to rape me in the arse.

Because, come on. Even though every semester, something is bound to come up to “ruin your life” for the time being, at the end of the day, when you’re with your bestests at happy hour, reminiscing about “the time when….” you know that you really love your school. Otherwise, you would have transferred months ago.

10. I will be a moral, upstanding citizen.

Yeah, if anyone can give me some tips on that one, I’d really appreciate it. Although I did give some beggars on the New York subway a few quarters the other day, so maybe there’s hope after all.