Every fall, freshmen head off to begin their college careers. This is an exciting time for everyone, but freshmen bear the burden of adjusting to life away from home, familiar friends, and surroundings they are comfortable with. There are lots of ways to make this transition more comfortable for everyone. It will ensure that pleasant memories are made even if a little bit of stress is felt. It is normal to be anxious, but you do not want to feel miserable and ready to head home at the end of the first semester. The first thing parents should help their children with is making sure the vehicle the freshman will take with them is in good repair. A brake repair Orlando shop or car repair Orlando service can help. However, if parents will be driving and dropping off their kids at school because vehicles are not allowed for freshman, it is still a good idea to have things checked out before the journey begins.

Next, understand your dorm room is going to be dark, dingy, and boring. There is no reason to live this way though, so shop for brightly colored room décor that will help you feel at home. This is a chance to create a space that is totally yours and if you have a roommate, the two of you can put your heads together and create a stylish, fabulous room. Consider purchasing colorful bedding and curtains, rugs to cover the cold, dingy flooring, and desk supplies that will leave you feeling prepared to study.

When decorating your room, do your best to bring a feeling of home to the space. Photos of family and high school friends will go a long way in preventing homesickness. However, you will want to make sure you are not avoiding your new life by focusing too much on the old one. It may be tough to be social and assertive, but it will be worth it. Relax and make yourself open to new experiences.

Parents should provide an emergency fund in case there is a problem. While you may not want to open a credit card account and give your kid free reign, there should be an emergency plan. If you are concerned you can put some money on a prepaid card they can use in an emergency. Online payment services also give you the ability to transfer money to your kid.

Remember it is easy for freshman to lose track of what they are eating when their schedules change so drastically. Students may shy away from the campus cafeteria and it is easy to order a pizza with friends during an all night study sessions. Keep your dorm room stocked with healthy snacks to avoid the dreaded “freshman fifteen” weight gain.

Starting college can be a stressful time in a person’s life, especially if they will be enrolled far from home. While you may be moving on and leaving your old life behind, your new life is going to be exciting and fun. If you want to ensure the process of moving from your hometown and attending college goes as smoothly as possible, it is important for you to take some time to plan ahead, anticipate potential challenges, and be open minded about the experience. This way if something does go wrong, you will be prepared and it will be easier to laugh it off as a part of the entire experience. One of the worst experiences a serious student can have is a computer breaking. You will need your computer to complete school projects so if you are stuck away from home without the means of getting it fixed, it can create a world of drama. Consider finding a local macbook repair store or macbook screen repair store you can trust. This way you are prepared should the unthinkable happen.

Another nightmare to prepare for is living with someone you do not like. It is important to give everyone a chance, but sometimes there is just no getting around being incompatible with people. Do your best to scope out your roommate in advance so you can get to know them, but if this is not possible, you can speak to someone about a reassignment.

Many people gain weight during their first few months in college. This is because you have unlimited access to the school’s cafeteria and late night study sessions may leave you prone to snacking. You may also be tempted to grab quick options like unhealthy fast food if you are busy with school work and social activities. Do your best to focus on eating healthy as often as possible.

Some students feel homesick during their first few months at school. It is healthy to miss your friends and family once in awhile, but if you feel you are missing out on new experiences, you may need help. If this sounds familiar, there area a few tricks you can try. Create a safe zone in your dorm room with pictures of friends and family. Schedule time each week visiting or talking with friends and family. Most importantly, take the opportunity to be socially active in your new environment. The best cure for missing old friends is making new ones.

Finally, new college students may find it touch to be self-disciplined, leaving them struggling to keep up with schoolwork. When your time is not as structured as it was in high school, you may have a tendency to goof off and procrastinate. To avoid this, make yourself a schedule and plan to have some fun times so you are not tempted to blow off schoolwork when the opportunity arises.

WEB/TECH: Roommates Tip Led Cops to Iphone Finder
Police closed in on the man who found and sold a prototype 4G iPhone after his roommate called an Apple security official and turned him in, according to a newly unsealed document in the ongoing police investigation. The tip sent police racing to the home of 21-year-old Brian Hogan, and began a strange scavenger hunt for evidence that a friend of Hogans had scattered around this Silicon Valley …

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Click on the picture for the rest of the photos from Derrick's 404 trip. Thanks, buddy!

(Credit:

Derrick Chen/The 404)

If you didn’t see Shaun White destroying the competition at the Men’s Olympic Halfpipe Finals in Vancouver last night, check out the video and prepare for a face melt, and don’t forget to watch our interview with the man himself! And there’s even more good news: it’s Thursday, which means Natali Del Conte is on today’s show! We start off the show with a quick news recap from the Olympic games, then NDC tells us about last night’s interview with Justin Timberlake.

The first story of the day is about PleaseRobMe.com, a new Web site that uses geolocation check-ins from Gowalla, Brightkite, or Foursquare to exploit folks broadcasting their unprotected abodes. The vulnerability assumes that you don’t have a roommate, and, of course, it doesn’t say where your houses actually is, but it certainly highlights the continued lack of privacy surrounding this latest batch of social networks.

The Barbie poll results are in. Over a half million votes were cast, and the public chose her next career: Computer Engineer! The new doll will hit shelves this fall and will feature a binary code patterned shirt, a pink laptop, a teched-out watch, and a Bluetooth headset. We all agree that Barbie isn’t the best toy for young girls, but we can still appreciate the cultural relevance, even if everything she owns is blasted in bright pink. Besides, it could be worse: auto-tune Barbie with talk-box accessory, anyone?

EPISODE 521

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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

By Evan Ackerman

There are two places where bomb-proof wallpaper would come in really, really handy: war zones, and college. I guess college is less deadly most of the time, but you also don’t have the US Government offering to step in and pay for replacement drywall after your roommate decides that it would be fun to try and kick his way through to the adjoining room by swinging from your bunk bed. Thanks, Logan.

X-Flex wallpaper is made from a “Kevlar-like material” (Kevlar itself being a trademark of DuPont, in case you were wondering) sandwiched between an elastic polymer wrap. It’s lightweight, portable, and a cinch to install relative to the protection it offers: you just peel off the back, stick it to the wall, and bolt it to the ceiling and floor and you’re done. You can even wallpaper or paint over it if you don’t like the color. Popular Science put X-Flex to the test with a wrecking ball as you’ll see in the video below, but to forestall any objections, you can also see X-Flex withstanding an actual bomb blast on their website.

For those of you who are especially paranoid, it’s certainly worth mentioning that X-Flex is not actually intended to protect against ballistics, like bullets or shrapnel, just blasts and blunt impacts like bombs and drunken roommates. A commercial version of the military grade wallpaper is due out next year.

[ X-Flex ] and [ PopSci ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Living with a roommate can be an interesting experience. Splitting the rent and having someone to hang out with all the time can be fun, but fighting over food in the fridge isn’t. Nothing is worse than going into the kitchen, only to find that they’ve taken your last slice of leftover pizza or swiped the last beer. Sure, you’ll talk to them about it, and they’ll claim not to do it again (or that they never did in the first place) but some people never learn. That’s why someone created the Fridge Locker.

The Fridge Locker is a small cage that you use for storing your own private food. The metal combination lock keeps your food safe from “Refrig-A Raiders” (poor joke courtesy of the manufacturer). It measures 7.5” wide, 7.5” tall and 11” deep. At $20, it could easily pay for itself with all of the food it keeps safe. Granted, your roommate will not take kindly to seeing this. Purchase and install at your own risk.

[ Perpetual Kid ] VIA [ RGS ]