Living in an Apartment: A Survival Guide

While living in a apartment may sound pretty glamorous to those who are living in residence halls, I urge you to have some perspective before signing your life away to a lease (and I do truly mean signing your life away!).

When living in an apartment, whether it is a studio (if you can be so lucky in this area!), a 1 bedroom, or even a 2 or 3 bedroom that you share with two or more other people, you would be wise to learn a few tricks and tips along the way to ensure you're not only getting the best for your money, but you're also kicking butt at this whole "adulting" nonsense.

Finding a place:

1. Start your apartment (or house) search right: Know your budget- and I don't mean your "Well, I could swing it if I only ate ramen noodle budget" - I mean your "I would still have $300-$400 left over if the car broke down, or got sick, budget." Knowing this number will not only leave you enough dough to pay your utilities, parking fees, and pet fees (more on this later), but also give you money to spend on groceries because a girl's gotta eat.
2. Learn about the areas you want to live in. Some neighborhoods are MUCH more expensive than others - two or three times more! Living in North Arlington is nothing like living in Alexandria, Vienna, or Fairfax. While your budget may not be worthy of one, for twenty extra minutes in the morning, you could be close (enough).
3. With that being said, know your commute times. Will you be walking or driving to school or work? Do you need to factor in money to ride the metro or what you will do in bad weather if you're deciding to bike? Is being further away from your job or work more feasible than paying $200-$300 more in rent? These are things that we (as "adults") have to consider.
4. Read YELP. I cannot tell you how important this point is. Apartment showrooms are often different than their real apartments and they're staged to feel homey, bigger, better, etc. If the property gets 1 star on YELP because the water never works and the maintenance team doesn't help, chances are you don't want to live there. 
5. Don't be fooled by pretty fixtures. Updated apartments are nice, but if the reviews suck, they're not worth it. Don't get roped in and think your experience will be different.
6. Want a pet? Have a pet? Know that apartments can charge pet rent: usually $30-$100 per month!! Not to mention a $300-$600 deposit for them alone, a mandatory cleaning fee when you move out ($100-$500), and most properties have restrictions on the breeds they allow, your animal's weight, and how many you're allowed to have. I'm not saying to re-home your pet (please don't!), but be an informed consumer before selecting a new home for the both of you. Make sure you can afford your pet in your budget before purchasing and know that you may need to include more money in your budget for rent. 
7. Do not be fooled into thinking your rent is all that you will owe at signing.  Move in fees ($100-$500), deposit (can be as much as your first month's rent), first month's rent, an application fee ($20-$100 per person on the lease!), your background check fee ($10-$30), and your pet fees may all apply. Talk to your leasing office and know what fees apply to you. 
8. Ask what their maintenance policies are. How long do you have to wait to get some help in an emergency? Are they on-call 24/7 (even holidays)? Will things be replaced if broken? Who will pay for those repairs? What about in a non-emergency- how long do they have to respond? What will they do if you are unhappy with the repairs? Will they compensate your rent for lasting problems? These are all important things to know.
9. When you ask for a tour, ask to see the space YOU would move into - not the showroom. (See point 4). Knowing what your apartment looks like is not only important because you want to know the condition it's in, but also because you don't want to be swindled into thinking you're getting a better place than you are.
10. Ask if you're "locked in" to your rent or if they can adjust it for ANY reason. If they struggle with this, run! Do not fall for this ploy. 
11. Find out the costs if you need to end your lease. Renters can charge anywhere from 1 month to 6 months of your rent - just to cancel your lease! Be aware that while you probably won't have to do this, it's always better to know what you're looking at. Also find out what type of exceptions there are. 
12. Pay attention to the floor that you are on. Hate climbing stairs? Probably not a good idea to move to a community that doesn't have elevators. Hate first floor apartments? Let your leasing agent know. They're there to help find the right place for you (usually).
13. Save money. Renting apartments is great for college students, but one day, you're going to be a college graduate and you're going to need some leftover income for student loans, a house, a baby, etc. Try to be frugal.

Once you've found a place:

1. Get renter's insurance. It's usually required, but it basically protects you and your stuff from damages.
2. Get the apartment emergency numbers for maintenance and learn where the hospitals are. You might not use them, but they're lifesavers.
3. Go through your apartment before moving all of your stuff in. Take pictures and lots of them. Keep them on your computer so that when you move out, you can show that you haven't done any prior damage or are responsible for the stains on the floors or walls.
4. Report any immediate concerns to the leasing office. For instance, if your window doesn't open, water isn't working, or AC has decided to shut down, you need to call them.
5. Learn where you can find the 5 G's: Groceries, gas, grub, gym, and garbage. You need to be able to find a place to buy groceries, find gas to fill up your car, eat a quick meal, work off said meal, and deposit your move in garbage within the first week. So, ask around. 
6. Find out how long it will take you to get to work (or school) in rush hour traffic - before it matters. Nothing is worse than being late and trust me, commuting in this area sucks. Do your homework to find out what you're looking at and if you need to, do a test run.

So, as a college student who is living with her best friend and her fiancé, these are my tips. Trust me, I'm still learning myself and I've definitely fallen for a few of these, myself. Just try to keep your head up and prioritize what is most important to you. 

Xoxo,

Katie Blair

The Myth of College Life

When I was a freshman in high school, I told myself that college would be the best time in my life and I would constantly be having fun. Because of this, I strived all four years to make it to college, with the understanding that high school was the time to work and college would be the time to have fun.

My perceptions of what college would be like didn't come from my family or even from my teachers in high school, but rather from the media. 

The media likes to show college as the time that you waste away drinking and partying, or the time that you gain 20 pounds from eating all of the food in the dining hall. Those are the two "extremes" we see - people who are popular and partying - or people that are "un-cool" and gaining weight from endless cheeseburgers. 

More recently though, a new "version" of college life is developing. If you haven't fallen hopelessly in love, married the person of my dreams, and lived happily ever after by the time you're 22, something's wrong (or at least that's what movies tell us). 

(However, because I have been lucky enough to find the person that I plan to marry in 2017, I urge you to realize that my case is the exception - not the rule).

Anyways, back to the point! 

When I first got to college, way back at orientation, I asked some of my new friends what they thought our first year was going to be like... Turns out, I wasn't alone in believing the myths of college life.

Sitting in the grass at 2am on our first night of "freedom," we came up with a short list of expectations that can only be explained by the GIF's below:

We thought we would attend ALL of the parties.  

We thought we would eat ALL of the (junk) food. 

And lastly, we thought we would ALL find the (wo)men of our dreams.

However, this isn't what we found in college. Instead, we found difficult assignments, great professors that made 3 hour classes feel like 10 minutes, and ultimately, a small group of friends that we would travel the world for and an even smaller group of friends that helped us pick up the pieces when that "love of our life" left, or that "wild night" got too wild.

So here is my advice to you:

Whatever you do and wherever you go, go into college knowing that college is a time to grow (up) and a time to recognize that it's not American Pie or (insert college-themed movie here), but rather a once in a lifetime experience that only a select portion of the world is so lucky to have.

When I first started college, I was barely 18. I had no idea that in three years, I would (with Marymount's help!) grow up to be able to present at conferences, be part of leadership teams like Marymount University Student Ambassadors and Student Government Association, or even that I would be able to travel the world with my university. Three years ago, I wasn't ready (emotionally, mentally, or educationally) to do ANY of that, but because of the professional and stimulating environment of college, I certainly am now. Thanks to all of that, now I'm more secure in my ability to get a job afterward graduation AND I can firmly believe in myself as a true "adult" (rather than a small town girl playing dress up in business casual). 

It's really easy to party and eat your way through college, but it's harder to make everything count and to truly learn something. You may be "entertained" by those parties and by eating contests with friends, but are you really getting something out of it? Chances are, your answer to that question is "No."

Trust me, your college becomes your new home - one that is a lot easier to navigate when you're confident, when you make real friends and when you avoid making a fool out of yourself at an "on fleek" party.

Now, that doesn't mean that you have to be a hermit either. Go to big events on campus, try new things, join clubs and organizations. But, like everything you do in college, be smart about it. 

If you know you desperately want to intern at the White House, pick clubs that can get you there. If you're like me and you know you want to go to graduate school, join Academic and Honors societies that highlight your dedication to your studies. 

You've probably heard this before, but trust me, college is truly what you make it. College only happens once and trust me, everything you learn will in some way help you after graduation, whether you learn it in the classroom or "out in the real world."

Traveling

Traveling in college is A LOT of fun. You have friends from practically all over the world and depending on your income and comfort level, you might be able to go home with them over the weekends, or even find a new place to go out of the blue!

My school is near D.C., so a lot of our students tend to stay pretty local over breaks, but my friends and I find every excuse we can to find somewhere new! (:

So, regardless of where you are in the world, here are my college-traveling survival tips:

1. Know what you need to bring to get to where you're going.
• It's probably not necessary to bring your passport to go 30 minutes down the road, but if you're boarding an international flight, it's a completely different answer. 
2. Always prepare for an emergency.
• You're bound to get lost, lose your keys, forget your wallet, etc. at least once in your college career. So, bring extra cash, keep pictures of your I.D./passport/VISA on your smart phone in a password protected App., and make a copy of your keys to keep with a trust-worthy friend. 
3. Ask the locals for the best places to be.
• Find yourself in a new area? Ask a local for the best places to eat, hang out, or things to do in that area. Not only may you find something pretty cool, but you'll also get a pretty good understanding of the area, itself.
4. (With that being said), make your own journey.
• Don't feel like you have to go to the most tourist-y attraction in a new place, feel free to go hiking, walk along a water-way, or even check out historical landmarks. 
5. Lastly, remember that you can ALWAYS Google it.
• Want to go apple picking, cliff jumping, sky diving, etc? Google can help you to find the best/safest places, while also giving you direct-routes of getting there, prices if applicable, and even hints/reviews from people who work there or go there frequently.

So, with all of that being said, have fun getting out there! (: 

My Shower Survival Guide

As someone that grew up sharing a bathroom with a sister, I am no stranger to having to live with other girls. However, being a Junior in college now, I wish that I would have known exactly what to bring to college for this very area of space known as...

The Communal Bathroommmmmmmmm (room, room, room.)

(All jokes aside, communal bathrooms aren't really all that bad, as long as you know what to bring and what you'll actually end up using.)

So, as someone with infinite amounts of wisdom (sarcasm), I now bestow upon you my Shower Survival Guide:

Bring "shower shoes"

• Flip-flops, crocs, anything that can get wet will do, but these are really important because you really don't want your feet to be touching the floor in communal showers for hygienic reasons.

Bring the things you actually use at home

• But not necessarily the copious amounts of goo that you think you use but actually haven't used since bell-bottoms were in style.

Bring a shower caddie

• Trust me, nothing is worse than going to the shower and holding all of your goos while also holding your clothes, a towel, a comb, and well, whatever else you'll end up carrying.

Bring a cheap, netted laundry bag 

• While this may sound strange, it's actually really useful to put your dirty clothes in if you feel uncomfortable walking to your bathroom in a towel, but it's also really useful to put your clean clothes in, if you feel more comfortable getting dressed in the bathroom than your room. It also helps that you can hang it up by the drawstring, so your stuff will stay dry while you shower, instead of being on the floor or the soon-to-be-soaked changing seat.

Bring water-safe Bluetooth speakers

• If you're like me and like to jam out in the shower at home, usually with an Iphone being placed on the counter, college will be a time where you will inevitably kill your device if you don't listen to this point. Communal showers are REALLY steamy because of the amount of people taking hot showers at once. Don't let your phone be the next one to die, invest in speakers so you can leave your phone in your room, but keep your speakers in the shower. 

Bring your own personal cleaning supplies

• If you're not the biggest fan of germs, other girls' hair, and all things uncleanly, and prefer to shower at night, you may want to invest in a pair of rubber gloves and some Scrubbing Bubbles. Most of the time, communal showers are cleaned in the morning (before most of us are even awake), and left unclean on Sunday's. So, if you're the type to shower at night, take five minutes to scrub it yourself and you can guarantee that your shower will be clean!

So, that's all for now. Think I missed something? Leave me a comment! 

Campus Jobs

Just like any other time during one's life, you're left with choices that can dictate everything from where you live, to what you end up doing for the rest of your life... (No pressure, right?)

Well, college is one of those times where you can put on many sorting hats, until you find the one that fits you, however many tries that may take.

For those of you who are like me and prefer decisions, not options, this could be a very taxing and well, annoying for lack of better words, process.

But, with my infinite amount of wisdom, I tell you not to fear! A great way of deciding what works for you (and maybe even what you never want to do again!) is by working on campus...

Now, again, for those of you who are maybe overwhelmed by options, a typical University will have too many to ponder. But, for those of you who LOVE your options, it's more of a blessing, than a curse...

So, my words of wisdom to you are these:

• Try what you think you'll be good at
• This may sound obvious, but sometimes, people confuse what they're good at with what they like... FOR INSTANCE, I like math... but I could NEVER take a job involving calculus because I do not have the training to do so.
• Try what you want to do in the future (or something close to it!)
• Think you want a job on the Hill? Join Student Government.
• Think you want a job as a researcher? Be a lab technician at your school.
• Try something you've been too scared to try before...
• This one's tricky, but I will use my personal example. Public speaking, at least for me, was a terrifying monster when I was in High School... But now, I do it for one of my jobs on campus, as a Student Ambassador. To me, that's something that I was too scared to do, but now I'm really good at it!(:
• Try something DIFFERENT
• Have a ton of experience in "x"? Gain new experience in "y"! This will make your resume POP and it will also make you see the world a bit differently!

So, those are just a few of the tips I have for you, but at the end of the day, you're in charge of your own life and it's up to you to see where that takes you!(:

Have a good one!

Water

Something that I've developed a taste for over the past few years is plain water.

Now, that might seem strange, but I used to be the girl who always had a Diet Coke in her hand, a Sprite at dinner, and other sugary water-replacers that did absolutely nothing for me.

Then college happened.

Now, you may ask why a change in scenery made me give up my lovely soda addiction. Well, here is your answer.

1. Soda is WAY too expensive (and who wants to throw away THAT much money?)

(Besides this cute baby, that is.)

2. Water with lemons is delicious

3. Being vegan has complicated my soda intake because they're not all vegan-friendly

So, now that I understand the value and "thrill" of water, (and if you're interested in that, just Google it) I drink it constantly.

But, for those of you who are like me, water takes some... getting used to.

So, here are my tips for drinking enough H20:

• Add some fruit that you like to your water (seriously, sounds obvious but you're be more likely to drink it if you actually like it... shocker.)
• Keep away from "triggers" (You can't drink soda if it's not there...)
• Don't quit cold-turkey because you'll have caffeine headaches and you'll hate yourself 
• TREAT YO SELF 
• Notice that you haven't had a soda in (remarkable amount of time for you)? Let yourself enjoy one
• If you do buy soda, buy smaller cans
• This serves two purposes, one to make sure you don't drink absentmindedly and two to make sure you know how much you've had instead of "half of a two liter"

SO NOW, let's salute water.

Being Busy

Being busy doesn't have to mean that you leave your dorm looking like a mess...

Or that you don't brush your hair/teeth...

OR even that you have to skip meals.

At the end of the day, your busiest days are the best days to: 

Now, that doesn't mean that you have to scarf down your food...

Or show up to everything you have that day like this:

It really just means that you have to find 20-30 minutes on your busiest days to eat your favorite food, listen to your best "pump it up" song, or whatever you need to do to get through the day and make it your own. 

College is the time to overwhelm yourself, to explore new things, and to decide at the end of the day what you don't want to do tomorrow. 

Don't be afraid to say "no," but also don't let something you might be interested in pass you by. It's all part of the experience.

So, take a minute now, and relax. You'll be fine.