Getting ready to head back to college?

Here are my Top 5 tips for college students to have the best school year yet, save some $ along the way, and make a ton of life-long friends:

#1 - Get your list of school books from the college bookstore, along with their ISBNs, and then order them as used books from Amazon or Half.com. Click the banner below to get free shipping!

Better yet, at the end of the semester, sell your books right back to other students at your college bookstore during Buy-Back, or on Amazon or Half.com. You'll end up having paid close to nothing for your books. Way to go!

#2 - Look up the events happening around campus during the first week back. You'll probably be able to score free food every day of the week, plus meet really cool people who are involved on campus and get involved yourself! My first week on campus at GA Tech, I wrote on my calendar all of the free events I could find. My favorite from that week: I got a free BBQ dinner at BCM one night and made new friends on campus.

*How do I do this? Look up the events calendar on your school's homepage, keep an eye out for flyers and signs, and ask the kids in your classes if they are involved in campus organizations. Make sure to hit up the campus gym as well and see if they have events planned.

#3 - Sit at the front of the class. No, really, I mean it. It may seem so much easier to just slide in at the back, but I had the best experiences when I sat front and center. Your teachers get to know you and you definitely will pay more attention in class because they will notice the second you doze off. Plus, those teachers who now know your name and that you pay attention in class? They make great job references :)

#4 - Get involved in stuff outside of your major.

Quick sidebar: I read an article today about how many STEM (Science, technology, engineering math) majors don't actually end up in STEM careers. Is this a bad thing, like, did they waste all that education? No way! I firmly believe that you should get educated in STEM fields for the pure enjoyment of learning more about the world around you. Who cares what you end up doing? But, getting back on focus..

When you get involved in clubs, organizations, ministries, and activities that are totally un-related to your major, you give yourself a chance to broaden your interests and get specialty experience in other areas. Say that you are a chemistry student who loves going to the gym and training for races? Maybe down the road, you'll end up being able to interview for a company that makes products for runners, and you'll have that special interest that gives you an edge to get the position. You get my drift? Stuff like working at a restaurant, volunteering at the local school, becoming a regular at Zumba, and learning to play an instrument can all help you in whatever your future career ends up being (and it makes your life so much more fun along the way). 

#5 - Do a study abroad or an exchange program. Your time in another country will broaden your perspective on the world, life, relationships, and your future. Don't worry that it will set you back in your plan to graduate; there are so many programs that you will definitely be able to find one that allows you to take the classes you would normally be taking at your home institution for that semester. Money holding you back? Make sure to check with your International Education office to see what scholarships are available. At Georgia Tech when I did my exchange program, they had so few students apply for the study abroad scholarships the first time round, that they opened up the applications again after the deadline. I was blessed to unexpectedly get a scholarship that more than paid for my plane ticket and many of my expense (thanks GT Class of 1968!). Take the leap - you won't regret it!


After a hard day of work at school, ever want to just sit back and watch your favorite TV show? Get a free 30-day trial of Amazon Prime by clicking below!


Have any other tips for getting the most out of college? Comment below! Make sure to follow Faithful Nomad by email as well :)

You know you live in Savannah if...

#1 - You get stuck behind a horse-drawn carriage every time you try to drive into downtown.
#2 - One of the most popular destinations is the local cemetery, and people walk around every evening on twilight ghost tours.
#3 - You wake up to the sound of explosions and fanfare (thanks, Hunter Army Airfield...it's a pleasant enough sound at 6:30 in the morning...)
#4 - There are more indie coffee shops than Starbucks's...and there are a lot of Starbucks's, so that's saying a lot.
#5 - Everyone has tattoos...well, except for me, so maybe I should say almost everyone.
#6 - You have a love/hate relationship with free street parking.
#7 - Just saying "Foxy Loxy" evokes sighs of longing from every coffee-lover in site.

#8 - A walk in the park may involve running into drum circles, tropical birds, and college students dressed as genies.
#9 - Your long-distance friends mention having thunderstorms and you know that they ain't got nothin' on a Savannah monsoon.
#10 - If your brain correlates pink houses with delicious cuisine.
#11 - You have mistaken piles of Spanish moss on the road for small animals and have almost caused an accident...*raises hand*
#12 - Paula Deen is the local butter-bakin' celebrity.
#13 - The local baseball team is named after the very-annoying local pests...and the mascot has fangs!

Gnate the Sand Gnat!

#14 - Almost everything is named after the founder of Georgia, James Oglethorpe. There's an Oglethorpe Square, Oglethorpe Mall, Oglethorpe Road, and an Oglethorpe House, to name only a few.



Please leave comments below with your additions to the list! Remember to "Follow My Adventure" by putting your email in the box at the top right of my blog :D

5 Books that Every Girl Must Read!

Now, if you are a girl, stop right here, click this, and print.... Ok, now you can keep reading :)

I've been doing some thinking lately (I know, a dangerous pastime) about the books that have shaped my life. Some have been fiction that have filled my imagination with wonders and fueled my passion for adventure. Others have been stories of people who have walked the roads less travelled, learned lessons from experiences that I may never personally have, and written chronicles from which I have snatched bits and pieces of wisdom. I've loved them all, even when the lessons that I've learned have been eye-opening and soul-searching.

Now, back to that doc I had you print up. These are 5 books that have filled my life with joy and helped me keep my eyes on the purpose for life. I hope you will read them and enjoy them, and I hope that they will impact your life in the same way that they have impacted mine.  And I hope you will come back and tell me what you think about them :) Let me know if there are any more books that you would recommend adding to the list!

Now, here's the run-down.

#1 - The Bible
 I've heard people refer to it as the Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth. But I personally don't think there is anything basic about it. It is the greatest adventure story, love letter, thriller, and guidebook in the world. While we're on the topic, here is one of my favorite verses:

"God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." Acts 17:27 (NIV)

#2 - Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

Fiction

I went through a stage when I was younger where I read almost all of L.M. Alcott's books. She is one of my favorite authors because she wrote characters into being who "lived simply so that others may simply live" (yes, I just stole that quote from Elizabeth Seton). Although Little Women may be her most famous book, this one is my favorite. I just re-read it recently and was reminded of many things, one of which is that when I am having a bad day, I should make sure to do something to brighten someone else's. And Polly always reminds me that it is okay to have one good black silk dress (yeah, you may need to read it to figure out that one).

#3 - The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
Nonfiction
You may think you know the story, and you may have seen the movie, but you really need to read Corrie's own words in this book. Reading The Hiding Place has challenged me to look out for the interests of others over my own and totally trust God, even when the world is falling apart at the seams. Read it once, read it again, give it to a friend...you get the picture.

#4 - The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Fiction
Now, L.M. Montgomery is really famous for Anne of Green Gables and the Avonlea Chronicles, but whenever a friend of mine introduced me to this gem I was hooked. It is one of those feel-good stories that is really pure and lovely.And it will make you want to go have a cuddle with nature. 

#5 - Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis
Nonfiction
I started reading this book while at my favorite coffee shop in Savannah. I started tearing up before I had even finished the Foreword. God has really used this story of obedience to work in my life. More on that later, but in the meantime, you should really pick up a copy and read this beautiful chronicle of a girl who has given her all for God. It's really amazing.

Let me know in the Comments section what you think, if you have already read some of these books, and any suggestions that should be added to the list of books every girl should read. Feel free to share this list with friends, daughters, sisters, moms...all the books are appropriate for all ages!

 Happy reading!

A Morning Sketch of {Forsyth Park}

The peaceful sound of a trickling fountain gives the deafening command to stop and take a deep breath. To sit among so many trees and flowers in the midst of a bustling city is a much-welcomed homecoming from nature. The birds whistle their greetings, the wealth of fresh air rushes through me in healthful bounds, and I feel as though time really may have just stood still.



Not to say that there aren't enough people around to remind me that I am still in a metropolis. I've already heard at least a few unfamiliar languages being spoken by families to their babes as they take them on their morning strolls. Even now in the quiet corner that I have claimed, chattering passersby intervene and break up the silence. The squeaking sounds of swings come and go; children traveling to paradise and back in the length of a breath.



Walking through the market, I meet with a buzz of people with their children and pups, all crunchy with their Chaco's and beards and ink. The spice and warmth of basil coming from a nearby basket makes the open atmosphere feel as cozy and quaint as your best friend's kitchen. The farmers restock their tables: tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, cabbage. A hundred salads just waiting to reach their final destiny.




The outskirts of the commons are bordered by soaring columns, ornamental doors, vast windows of wavy glass. Houses that seem as though they should be waving the flags of some distant European nation instead of our red, white, and blue. Some stand seemingly empty, mostly forgotten. I wonder if they daydream of their past lives and hope for a new future, full of laughs and grand parties and quiet mornings steeped in coffee and crackling fires. Others still have a breath of life in them even now, strung with faery lights and colorful banners. Stray chairs sit around deserted, speaking of a recent gathering of kindred spirits.



The make-believe chattering of children can be heard on the wind. They run and skip, tossing little selfish quarrels and solving disputes in an innocent, democratic fashion. I wonder how many will remember these days, many years from now, and how many will let them slip into the cloudy, happy oblivion called childhood.



The purples, unearthly pinks, and reds of flowers send a rainbow over the green backdrop. A whisper from GOD, a poem from the Creator through HIS creation. A voice that commands a stillness, a pondering, a breath. A hope through the calm, a relief from the chaos, a song of future melodies.