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Adjusting to college demands patience Jennifer Carter and fllexdlann KRT CAMPUS Your professor hates you. Your roommate acts as if he just landed from another planet. And just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, the food sucks. Many students approaching their first semester of college are beginning to wonder how they’ll survive on a new campus. We asked a panel of experts, some of The Dallas Morning ; News’ own college interns, for their best advice: Dakarai Aarons, 22, a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Kate Goodloe, 23, a 2004 graduate of the University of Missouri Columbia; Philip Gray, 22, a senior at Wichita State University; Rori Harrington, 23, a 2005 graduate of Southern Methodist University; Ben Malcolmson, 20, a senior at the University of Southern California; and Lauren Smiley, 22, a 2005 graduate of the University of Iowa. DORM LIVING Q: You just met your roommate. How can you avoid the awkward silences? A: Aarons: I’d suggest talking about where you all are from, how many siblings you have and all that jazz. You have a whole year to get to know each other, but starting with the basics will help give you a foundation to keep communication going. Q: How do you balance partying and studying? A: Harrington: If you’re so tired in class that you can’t keep your eyes open, you are partying WAY too hard. If you are getting straight As and can count your friends on one hand, it’s probably time to give yourself a break. You should be able to have fun without dropping a letter grade. Q: What are alternatives to the party scene for meeting people? A: Goodloe: Hang out in your lounge during the day. Intramural sports can be a good way to meet people. Gossip in the back of a lecture hall. The teacher might get mad, but you can make good friends. Check out the bands at nearby all-ages clubs, see if your student commons has a bowling alley or hang out at the local IHOP. The more people that go along, the more fun. Q: How can you meet new people if a lot of high school friends go to the same college? A: Smiley: Don’t room with someone from high school: It will tie you to the past and strain that relationship as you both change during college. If you join a club on campus, you’ll have a group of non-high-school people to hang with. CLASSROOM SURVIVAL Q: What are some tips for adjusting to new professors and teaching styles? A: Malcolmson: It’s not that different. Don’t overthink everything, and don’t try to impress the professor with your English IV AP knowledge. Teachers and classmates 4pn’t care. Q: How do you decide which classes to take? A: Malcolmson: Find the best professors and take their classes. If the professor is good, it won’t matter what the subject material is. CAMPUS LIFE Q: What’s the best way to get to know your campus and new city? ; A: Smiley: Get out of your dorm room. Say yes to invitations. College is your time to meet new people and try new things, if for nothing more than the stories afterward. . Q: What are the best ways to earn money? A: Smiley: Get a campus job that allows you to study, like the checkout desk at the library or monitoring a computer lab. There’s nothing better than getting paid for studying. “ • Q: What should you do if you hate your dorm food? A: Goodloe: It took me almost two semesters to learn you can boil water in a microwave. That opened the doorto pasta, rice and real macaroni-and-cheese. (Make sure you use a glass container, not a metal one). Toasters can heat up bagels and warm sandwiches.- But check out what appliances your school allows in dorms. You don’t want your machinery confiscated. ...be HandPicked for back to school. Don't miss our first-time ever warehouse sale! August 26 & 27 in our old location on Harden St. behind The Firm Now hiring experienced fashion consultants. 1 2822 Devine St. in the Forum FHarbison Blvd. near Publix www.behandpicked.com Do You Recognize this Man? Probably not, because he did not rank at the top of the threat list for Western authorities. He was a religious teacher ■ who charged his own political and religious leaders with hy pocrisy and said almost noth ing about western imperialism. But for that, his leaders even tually conspired with western officials to have him executed. It was by all accounts an atrocity. The charges were trumped up, the trial, a mock ery. It was all done, of course, to maintain order and not up set the status quo. The west ern leaders involved washed their hands of his death, but they are as much to blame as | anyone else. Of course, if you haven’t guessed, this all happened about 2000 years ago to the man named Jesus. The picture above is obviously not Him, but it is probably closer in ap pearance than anything most of us have seen. Sadly, a close look at what he said and taught might give us a similar shock. Few who claim to "follow Jesus" today resemble him in ac tion or attitude. Lib eral theologians bear more in common with one sect of Jesus ene mies—the Sadducees. Conservative evan gelicals have much more in common with Pharisees with whom Jesus constantly butt heads. It would seem that most Chris tians have replaced Jesus as he was with the Jesus they imag ine. Few if any of us picture the Jewish peasant above who said strange things like "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in your selves,” and did weird stuff like putting mud made of sa liva in the eyes of a blind man to heal him. Such things make the whole "what would Jesus do" craze a little disquieting to our middle class western sen sibilities. We much prefer the Jesus we have made for our selves, a more comfortable white, middle class conserva tive (possibly even capitalist) Jesus, prone to laugh and hesi tant to offend. This year in Chi Alpha Chris tian Fellowship we will be ex ploring the question of who Jesus is. We'll ask the tough questions, and we won't accept pat answers. Our goal is to know Jesus as he is and to act like him. Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship @ USC www.scxa.com 803.665.2755 chialpha@gwm.sc.edu Chi Alpha is a cell group based ministry committed to a belief in Jesus Christ and the fact that God still works miracles. Please check the web for meeting times. Meet and Greet tonight outside Russell House 203, 7:30. //^803.798.4488\ f Sunday services @ 9AM, 11AM, & 1PM / www.christianlifecolumbia.comX [Christian Life Assembly] V "Transitions" Class J \Sundays @ 11AM/ \Age 17-21/ — V i Central Assembly ot God Service Times: Sundays: 10:45 AM & 6PM Singles group: 9:45 AM Sunday School ^ 721 ArrowwoodRd. Columbia 803.772.4628^ CHI ALPHA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP WWW.SCXA.COM $*, $__#/__t p .