Cool New Phone! How's it Work?

Not surprisingly, androids and iPhones were among the best selling items over the holiday season. For some students this will be the first semester with a phone capable of virtually anything, for others this is the next upgrade in a long line of technological disappointments. Regardless of your scenario, there are a few ways you can make the most out of your phone to try to make this semester even better than the last! Next I'll outline a few different apps that I have found to be a huge help staying on top of everything from day to day.

One of the best apps around if you're interested in taking notes digitally. Featuring cloud storage, superior organization, and an incredibly easy user interface, Evernote is every college student's best friend. Notes are easy to create and edit, but my favorite part is the notebooks to sort notes, pictures, and other files. Simple organization is a seemingly minuscule feature a lot of other note-taking apps I've used in the past lacked. Cloud storage allows for access to your files anywhere, so you're no longer stuck to one device!
Dropbox and Google Drive are a couple alternatives also worth mentioning!

Ever feel like you're on a social media Ferris wheel with all of the different sites you use? Buffer brings it all together in one app so you can spend more time catching up or staying current and waste less time switching between every account. Buffer will work with just about any other app and even has to option to schedule your tweet updates and posts so you can stay active without even being on your phone!

In my opinion, the biggest contender to Pandora for streaming music. Instead of listening to just a genre or station based off of certain artists, with Spotify you are able to create a library, playlists to share with others, access your music from multiple devices, and play specific songs you're looking for. My favorite part about Spotify is that streaming music from your mobile device is now free! A recent change that has kept my headphones rockin'. Whether from your phone or computer, Spotify is a great way to get in the zone with whatever music you desire.

If you're reading this first sentence to decide whether or not to keep reading or skip the boring finance part, do yourself a favor and keep reading. Even to an accounting and finance major like myself personal finance isn't exactly my idea of a fun time. However, it is an extremely important lesson that is better learned while we're young! Toshl Finance combines animation and practicality to start forming the right habits to ensure financial well-being later on in life!

The technology available is our ticket to an endless supply of resources to make our lives better. Instead of using your new phone as the fuel to your Candy Crush addiction (...not that I would know anything about that), try something new to help yourself out. Maybe you'll even be able to keep your new year's resolution!

Roomies

My room pre-Kayla

Does this picture look familiar?  That's because it's on our website on the Cambridge Commons page.  That was my room two years ago.  If you go through our blog archive, you can watch a video, see pictures, and witness my experience moving into the res halls.  But, there is something that I never mentioned to you all two years ago... my roommate.

It was June 2010 and I was eager to get my room assignment.  I checked myHousing again and again until it finally popped up:  CC341A!  At first, I was originally assigned to live with a girl named Mariah.  I did what every first-year student does and instantly Facebooked her.  Mariah and I chatted it up a bit, and it seemed like everything was great.  Then, I checked back on myHousing and she wasn't listed as my roommate!

My suitemates' and my first set of door decs

I immediately went to University Housing's Facebook page and requested an explanation.  I was told that my roommate probably cancelled her contract for one reason or another and that I should be expecting a new roommate before summer ended...  WHAT?!?  Mariah and I seemed to be the perfect match!  Housing was telling me that I just had to wait it out and hope for the best?!?  Ugh!  So, I did just that.   I waited for about a month, until a new name popped up:  Kayla.

Once again, I Facebooked my new roommate.  I wasn't nearly as pleased.  It looked like Kayla and I were nothing alike.  She had a ton of tattoos and piercings, and her posts seemed a little odd to me.  Kayla and I were definitely polar opposites.  But, I figured there was nothing I could do, except wait to see what would come of it.  

Kayla and I chatted a few times and I became a bit more confident about the situation.  Especially, because she said she was bringing a bigger TV than mine!  At that point, I was thinking this maybe could work.  I moved into Cambridge about two weeks prior to Kayla, as I was hired to work security. Then move-in day came, and I met Kayla.

Kayla's side of the room

Kayla and I immediately hit it off.  Our room in and of itself was pretty humorous... My side of the room was very bright and colorful.  Kayla's had a lot of black and zebra print.  It just didn't seem to match.  But, we found that in our differences, we were so much alike and had alot to learn from each other.  I haven't lived with Kayla in two years, but I will always remember our late night conversations and shananigans around the res halls.  Kayla moved to Arizona, so I don't get to see her frequently.  I love her and miss her dearly.  If you would have told me at the beginning of the summer, that Kayla would become one of my dearest friends, greatest confidant, and eye-opening peer, I probably wouldn't have believed you.  

In my time in University Housing, I've learned that there is so much more to a person than what we see.  Kayla was the first person to teach me that.  So, to all of you who are concerned about your new roommate, know that something great may happen.  Just give it a chance.