How to prepare for a job / admission interview

The time of the year is there to apply for summer internships, summer jobs, college programs and so on. Usually, interviews will be part of the admission procedure, regardless of what you apply for. This post will mainly be about preparing yourself for the contents of the interview and not so much about your appearance during the interview because although your appearance is important, the contents may be more important.

First thing to do is to find which person(s) within the organization is/are going to interview you. Knowing this is useful so that you can search for this/these person(s) on the Internet to get an idea of his/her/their interests and activities. Once you know this, you can tailor your interests to fit his/hers/theirs. It may also make you less nervous to know who sits opposite of you. 

The second thing to do is find out what you can add to (a department) the organization. For an employer or university, it is important to know what you can add to their organization so that they can see whether your needs match theirs. If they have a certain need and you happen to be able to bring them that need, there is a perfect match between their needs and yours. During the interview, knowing what you can add also gives fuel to a discussion about which person(s) within the organization can help you add your knowledge and skills to the organization.

And of course, the things mentioned above can be found on the  Internet.

Thirdly, you may want to print stuff. Your motivational letter and résumé you submitted are the documents they go by when preparing the interview with you, so you will look more prepared if you printed your own stuff compared to "excuse me, may I take a look at the letter you have there?" Your printed documents may also serve as a reminder during the interview.

Fourth, now that you have taken a look at the documents you have submitted, put yourself in the shoes of those who are going to interview you and consider what they might ask based upon those documents. Which things may require further explanation? Are there things unclear in your letter or résumé? Be prepared to answer this kind of questions, because they will be asked. 

Potentially other relevant documents for me.

Fifth, after printing the documents you have submitted, also take other possibly relevant documents with you.  Diplomas and certificates are evidence for what you have written down on your résumé or in your letter. They may also serve as another reminder of things they may ask about. It may, for example, be helpful to have a list of your study results with you in case questions arise about it during the interview. Seeing the course name and the grade your teacher gave you may also help you remind how you obtained that grade.

The last thing to do seems like a no-brainer, but take notes of everything you might be asked about as you are preparing yourself for the interview. Write down key-words that just must be used in your answers and also take notes of the questions that arise from your side as you are getting ready. One reason for doing this is that you will definitely forget some of the things you wanted to say/ask as you sit there. The nerves will grab you, empty your brain, and make you lose some of your memory. The other reason is, again, that you come across prepared. Coming across prepared is always a plus, because in your work and study, you will also have to be prepared for tasks. Being prepared also shows interest in the function/position and the organization. 

These are my tips for preparing for the contents of a job/application interview. Have you ever been so nervous during an interview that you forgot what you wanted to say/ask? Have you done some of the above for interviews or maybe you have never even had an interview yet in your life? Let me know! 

4 things not to do during study breaks

When I wrote my post about what to do during a study break, I felt tempted to write also about what not to do, so here is the follow-up with four advices addressing this issue. 

The first thing you should not do during your study breaks is going on the computer, unless you have iron discipline. Facebook, twitter, and all your other favourite websites provide more distraction than you are aware of, and before you know, your 10-minute break becomes a 40-minute break. Despite all this, computers and Internet may be necessary in order to study. In that case, download everything you need to your harddisk or an external memory and shut off the Internet for the time you plan to study.

The second thing is slightly related to the above. As much as you want to reward yourself with an episode of your favourite TV series halfway through the day, it is wiser to save these up for the evening. Your break is at best 10-15 minutes: long enough to empty your mind, but not so long that you get so distracted and your mind gets set to very different things. Episodes of TV series usually take 40-45 minutes to watch, which is far outside the 10-15 minutes range.

Next is staying in the same room as where you are studying. Being surrounded by your textbooks and lecture notes will not help you relax, so it is better to get away from them. If you really insist on staying inside  the room, then turn your back on your books. 

Last but not least, avoid stressful people during your study breaks. Avoid the people who always complain about things. All these complaints have a very demotivational effect on you that is likely to keep you from studying when your break is over. Also avoid stressful people because stress is contagious and another thing that inhibits good study behaviour. 

This was my post on what not to do during study breaks. What do you do when you take a break from studying? What do you avoid to do? Is there something else people should avoid during study breaks, according to you? 

Professionalize yourself online

Today, almost everyone spends time online and almost everyone has at least one personal niche on the web where they profile themselves. This is often a social network site, like Facebook or Twitter, but it is also common to have blogs on WordPress, Blogspot or even a website of your own.  It is therefore not unthinkable that people go look you up on the internet when you are going to apply for an internship or a job. I happen to know the lives of some people on my Twitter timeline from minute to minute, which can be amusing for the followers, but which also gives away very much about yourself. The people in companies and businesses who check the online profiles also try to analyse your personality based on what they find on your profiles. So, if you often complain loudly and with swear words about your jobs and lectures, they may consider you inapt for the labour market in general. Hence why I decided to give a few tips about professionalizing yourself online. 

It is best to start searching for yourself on the web first. Try different search entries, such as first name + last name + hometown, your e-mail address(es), and some other combinations of tags by which you are easily identifiable and findable. If you come across 'unwanted' profiles of yourself, delete them or, less rigorously,  (temporarily) deactivate them. I just found a LiveJournal profile of myself that hosted immature stuff from when I was a teenager, I immediately copy-pasted the posts into private documents and deleted the profile. My stories are safe, yet they are not openly readable to everyone. It is also important to browse yourself from time to time. When I googled myself a few months ago, my LiveJournal did not show up in the search result, but today it did. 

Now that you have searched yourself on the web and deleted unwanted information, it is time to take a look at the profiles that you wish you keep active and that you cannot live without. Facebook has an option that allows you to view your profile as it is shown to the public or to specific friends. Analyse all visible information: what do you want your future employers to know immediately about you and what not? Do you want them to see you lying on the beach in bikini? Do you want them to see you pole dancing on the bar the one night in your life you were drunk? Does it add something to you if your future employer knows how often you declare your love to Robert Pattinson on your wall? To all these questions, the answer is probably no. You either delete these things from your profile or you change your privacy settings so that only your friends can see these things. What you do want your future employers to see, however, is a curriculum vitae or résumé. I personally have my settings so that they can see my education and work experience. In the following picture you can see what my Facebook profile looks like to non-friends. No posts, no wall, just an overview of where I worked what I did there.  

On Twitter, you can protect your tweets, that is, your settings are such that only those you approved as followers will be able to read them. Of course, you might as well just think before you post. Once online is always online, after all. Keep in mind that you decide what others can see! Check your settings and deliberate who you want to see what of your online profiles. 

So, you have cleaned and cleared your social network profiles (at least, I hope you have, or maybe you were one of those wise people who never had everything visible to everyone). Now it is time to have a look at your e-mail addresses. angelofhell@hotmail.com or pinkpetals@gmail.com sound cute and might say something about who you are as a person, but in professional contexts, it is better to have a more professional address, based on your name(s), initials, and/or date/year of birth. My university gives every student a university e-mail address, based on initials and your surname. You may use this, but you have to be aware that there will be one day that your university mail address is no longer for you.

Now comes the real thing, the thing that shows the world that you are grown-up and mature, that you are ready for serious internships or the labour market. The most well-known website that hosts millions of résumés and CVs of people all over the world. LinkedIn. I was joking about the grown-up and mature thing, but it is a great place to show the world what you are capable of and what you have done in the past. It allows you to provide the world detailed descriptions of your education, (volunteer) work experience,  extra courses you have taken, internships, theses, publications, languages, skills and expertise, and projects you have participated in. LinkedIn is basically a website that shows an extended résumé of yourself and where you can connect with teachers, classmates, (former) co-workers, and other people who work in your field. Since it comes down to sharing strictly professional and educational experiences, it is perfectly safe to add all of your teachers and colleagues. I love LinkedIn because it lets me connect with teachers from university without having to show them my holiday pictures. 

What you see in the picture above is a short summary of my LinkedIn profile. But you still are not done. It is also important to check your settings your Google or Yahoo or whichever cloud services you use. Imagine you save your holiday photos in Picasa (using Google cloud services here because I use them most frequently), but you have them set to be visible to everyone. Unwanted situation, of course. The same goes for Google Docs. You just do not want your future employer to know about your Hunger Games fanfiction or your online diary about how much you hate how a course is taught in your university without giving any constructive criticism for improvement! The same goes for any blog, photo sharing, and whatever services  are provided online. Just check your settings and change them if they might yield undesired results. Congratulations! Now you can profile yourself online without concern.

Last but not least, it is important to know that it may occur that people from inside the companies try to befriend you so that they can check more of your profile. It is thus important to only add people if you have met them in real life and if you are sure that you are going to work for the company. You do not want to be refused in the end because some HR person you have never met shared your bar and beach pictures with your no-longer future boss? 

Do you have a LinkedIn profile already? What are your settings for Facebook and Twitter? Do you think twice before you put stuff online? Have you looked yourself up on the web already? How did that feel for you? Let me know! 

How to organize yourself and your college stuff

We all know that awkward moment when you stand in front of your door and you realized you forgot your key. We also know that moment that you were convinced that you had your books packed for class and that, once in class, it turned out you did not have them with you. This exactly why organization is important, but sometimes it is difficult to awake the discipline inside yourself and actually start getting organized. There are different tips and tricks and today I will share some of my own with you. In an earlier post, I gave tips for saving room. Some of these tips might complement the tips from that post. 

Files can hold very much paperwork and protect it at the same time. In Dutch, they are called ordners, and for a reason. Not only can you easily and chronologically order your stuff in the files, but with tabs, you can also make sections for the paper work of each course. No more searching for old lecture notes or papers that might be handy for a follow-up course. As long as you file everything, you will not loose anything! I always keep lecture notes with the printed powerpoint slides of that lecture and add the readings to them, so that I have everything ordered by class session.

In order to know which documents are in which files, you need to use labels. You can keep them very general, such as 'Bachelor, year 1' or 'Master', but if you need several files for one semester or year, it might be wise to label them by course. I have, in fact, gone as far as to label them in the same order as they are in my files: 

I also value mail partitions. Sometimes you get mail that you only have to store, other times you get mail that requires you to undertake some action, such as transferring money to another bank account. Or maybe you just want to have papers within reach of your arm, regardless of what it is and how often you really need it. Mail partitions are the solution, as long as you use one shelf for each type of mail or documents. This should also help you keep track of your private finances. 

It is also tempting to make a mess of the drawers inside your desk. I know all about it and the only solution is to keep your discipline, so that your drawers will keep looking like this: 

Note the divider between the front and the back of the drawer. This way you can also keep things and items for different purposes separate from each other. 

I also like to keep my books together. When you read a series such as Twilight, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or Gossip Girl, this is fairly easy, but with college textbooks, you might need to rethink your methods. While you can order by colour, I prefer to order them by general, overarching topics, so I keep methodology and statistics books together, I have a section for psychology books, a section for interpersonal and conversational skills, and so on. 

Last but not least, we often forget stuff because we start packing at the very last moment. It is therefore wise to keep a look on the clock and pack your bag the night before your 9 am class next morning. It is an advice my 7th grade tutor gave me, when my class was fresh in junior high school and still afraid to forget books because forgetting something could result in expulsion and detention. In college, no teacher will remove you from class when you forget something, but for yourself it is handier to be prepared. So, pack your stuff in time so that you can remain organized outdoors, after the aforementioned indoor organization advices. 

What do you do to stay organized? Or is your (part of your dorm) room an 'organized chaos'? Do you have other tips to become and remain organized? We probably all have our own ways, so everyone gets wiser by the exchange of information ;) 

6 things to do when you take a break from studying

Studying, just like anything else you do, tires you and your brain after a while. While it is important to know when you function best for study purposes (some work better in the morning, others work better in the evening), it is also important to know that it won't help you to study 5 hours in a row without a break. Your brain will get tired and eventually, you will just be staring at whatever you do and function on automatic pilot, which is not the way to go if you really want to remember something. It is therefore wise to take a 5-15 minute break after 45-50 minutes of studying/working. Here are a few things you should do during those breaks: 

• Go outside for fresh air. Fresh air will really refresh your brain. If you really insist on staying inside (some weather circumstances demand staying inside), open your window for the time you take a break. Fresh air in your study room is just as important as fresh air in your brain. If the weather is on the better side of the spectrum, keep your window opened while you are working. 

• Exercise. I do not mean that you should go to the gym for several hours, but just a few short, little exercises improve your circulation to your brain and thereby improve your focus. Dancing to your favourite music also counts, so you might as well turn on your mp3-player and shake that booty! 
• Take a healthy in-between. I keep emphasizing healthy food because it is crucial to your entire physical and mental functioning. Bite an apple, get a whole-corn bun, or enjoy some non-salted nuts for new energy. 

• Relax. You might listen to your favourite music or anything else that makes you feel calm and at ease. Yoga / meditation exercises, a short walk in your neighbourhood, or a magazine are some great distractions that do not need to cost much time. 
• Power nap. A twenty minute power nap can get your brain back in business when you have had a long evening the night before or when you have just exhausted your brain with hours of studying. 
• Use your break to relocate yourself and your stuff. As I mentioned before, changing locations can help you memorize things better because you brain tends to link processed information to the physical environment and context.

So, these were the tips for things to do during a short study-break. What are you doing when you take a few minutes off from studying? What do you eat and drink throughout a typical study day? Let me know! 

How to choose a major / minor / master

The deadlines for (early) admissions to college programmes are drawing nearer each day now, so this is the time to tell you how to decide on a major, minor or master's programme. It usually is a difficult choice, because it may have major consequences for where you will work later and in which function. Another reason that makes the choice difficult is that your choice will influence how you are going to spend your time the next few years or months. It is therefore wise to spend some time considering the following issues: 

1. Are there special entry requirements?
   Some programmes only want to the most talented and most motivated students to enroll; others require you to have followed and successfully finished some courses. If you, for example, aim to enter a programme for which a minimum grade point average of 7.5 is required and your average grade is 6.0, it is a waste of time trying to get in. Also, if the requirements state 'a basic background of Statistics in which following topics were covered: z-scores, t-tests, ANOVA, and multiple and logistic regression', and you have no clue what they are talking about, you might investigate other interesting programmes. You can check this in the course guide of the programme.
2. To what degree does this programme deal with topics I am interested in?
   I started as a law student, because I thought that was the way to become a lawyer who is specialized in online copyright laws, feared by all online pirates, such as The Pirate Bay. Unfortunately, I soon found out that I would first have to go through 3 years of criminal law, constitutional law, international law, tax law, civil law, and all other types of law that failed to catch my interest, before there was a chance that I would learn some basics about the online copyright law. So, I figured that a broader legal interest than I had would be handy if I wanted to become a lawyer in a very small specialized area. Since I had a far broader interest in educational issues, I switched to educational sciences. This is also something you can check the programme's course guide. 
3. What are my future prospects with this programme? 
   As much as you may like your studies, you might as well consider the type of jobs you can get with your degree. An office job as a safety policy maker while you are more the kind of person to work as a bodyguard or security staff member will probably not make you happy. If you become a mathematician to become a researcher of mathematics, a job as a teacher in high school may not satisfy you. Nevertheless, it is possible that you get a job you have never considered, but that you actually like that job! You can answer this question in various ways: talk with the academic advisor of the programme, talk with people who already work in the field, talk with teachers who may have stayed in touch with alumni, thoroughly read the website of the programme and that of similar programmes in other universities, and ask at employment agencies which jobs they offer to people with a certain degree.
4. Do I think I can handle it? 
   This is partly a combination of question 1 and 2, partly a combination of other factors. Of course, studying a topic that catches your interest facilitates learning, so does meeting the special entry requirements, as these are mostly a foundation from which you build more knowledge about a topic. The other factors coming with being able to handle it are very much factors that are part of your personality. If you are good with numbers, a study in mathematics will be easy for you. If you are interested in medical issues and you do not faint at the sight of blood, medicine is perfectly doable. If you are a linguist ... okay, you get it. Discover your talents and in which areas your talents lie. During this step it is also crucial to find out whether you agree with the way they work in your programme (mainly small groups, individual studying, or mass lectures; assignments, projects or exams), how much presence is demanded (if you have a big job beside your studies, a course with little demanded presence is more ideal for you), and your own unique talents (you must not want to go into sales when you are a very shy person who always diminishes the self). 

I hope these questions make you (re)consider you choice, or that they help you make the decision. For a minor, which in The Netherlands is one semester, these questions obviously do not have to be answered as thoroughly as for a major or master's programme, because a minor will pass sooner, although you might take  into consideration your future prospects. A minor in which you learnt how to start your own business is more useful when you actually intend to start your own business and a minor with a focus on research courses is very useful when you aim for a career in research and statistics. 

What do you think? Have you given much thought to your study choices or have you always known what to study since you were a little kid? Do you think this article is useful? How did you choose your studies? 

4 ways to survive exam weeks

As the more experienced college students know, courses are tested and graded in different ways. Some teachers prefer just one exam at the end of the course, others hand out a final assignment. There's also a group that splits the exam in two parts, having one part halfway through the course and the other by the end, just as there are teachers who base the final grades for their course on several assignments. Last but not least, there are teachers who like to combine some of the above. No matter, however, how your course is tested and graded; it brings stress. Assignments mean deadlines and exams mean putting hours into learning all of the course material. How to survive this stress?

1. Remember that everybody in your class is stressed, too. It is perfectly normal to feel nervous for your exams and assignments. If you were not nervous, you would probably either be someone who is such a genius who passes all courses no matter what, or you would be apathetic about your studies. Talk about this stress with each other and try to help each other get over it by discussing course materials together and explaining issues to each other. 
2. Make a time schedule for yourself. Be it on paper, in your head, on your smartphone, or on your computer, it is important that you have some idea of what you want to do when (and maybe even where and how). This way you make concrete what has to be done and how much time you have for it. It also shows you where you might have some gaps for other activities than studying.
3. Take some me-time. I know it is tempting to pull all-nighters for studying and writing your papers, but this really won't do you any good. Allow yourself to sleep and to calm down before you are going to sleep. So, keep doing your yoga exercises, read an easy-going and fun book in the evenings, listen to your favourite music, watch a movie, or whatever calms you down and gets you ready for a good night.
4. Look forward and don't panic. While you may always feel you did not study as much as you should have, once you are taking the exam, you usually know more than you think. In multiple-choice exams, many of your correct answers come down to recognition, rather than to recall. If you are not sure about your answer, make an educated guess. If you really forgot the exact formulation, just blindly guess and go with your first intuition. In open-ended question exams, it is best to just start writing. As you write, most of the time you come to remember other related things. Neither question type is reason for concern. And remember, everything will pass, even this exam week.

Note: although it is normal - and even healthy - to be somewhat nervous and stressed, some symptoms may indicate severe exam fear, such as procrastinating studying, sleepless nights, hyperventilation and not being able to focus on the course material because of the stress. In this case, it is wise to consult with an academic advisor or tutor (or some other staff member you trust) to ask what you can do about it. Most universities will have student psychologists or student coaches who are there to help students overcoming the problems that are most common in the student population. Inform there for private consults, coaching sessions, or groups that offer techniques to cope better with your exam fear. 

If you have more tips and advices to share, leave a comment and maybe I will incorporate your advice with your (nick)name in the next exam-related post. Also, if you would like some more specific advice, let me know. I am happy to share my experience and knowledge with you!

Teachers and how to deal with them

There are some we love and there are some we hate. You are likely to meet both categories of teachers during your years in college. While it is peanuts to deal with the teachers we love, it is more difficult to deal with those we do not love as much. However, it is important to at least remain polite to all of your teachers, because they can turn out to be more influential in your life than you initially think. So, how to remain polite if you dislike the teacher, dislike the course, and dislike everything about it?

In my university, most of my Bachelor subjects are mandatory, and I think every program in the world has at least one or two mandatory courses. If this happens to be the course with the teacher you dislike, there is no way to escape, other than to change studies. It is, however, the question whether it's worth changing studies for only one or two teachers. Every department has one or two teachers who are didactically or socially weak, making them unpopular among students, so changing studies and departments is not really an option.

The only rule is: remain polite!

Here are a few applications of this rule. Always start and end your e-mails to the teacher in a formal way unless your teacher announced you can use less formal ways. Always greet the teacher whenever you see him / her. Always pretend to pay attention in class. These are simple, basic rules that become more difficult as you come to dislike someone more, but it is important to stick to them.

A second rule is to weigh and reconsider your words whenever you disagree with your teacher. You can say "you *******, ya totally wrong, ya know, *****?" You can also say "But sir / madam, if you look at it from this point of view, then you may get a completely different outcome". I think it is needless to tell you which strategy works better. Some teachers may indeed make you want to hit your head against a wall five times during a class period, but weigh your words! Otherwise you may say things you regret later on. Also, if you have a low grade, inform kindly why your grade is as it is and ask for constructive feedback. This will get you further than "I want a better grade!!!" This is not just to keep your relationship with your teacher in good spirits, it will also be far more helpful for you.

These two applications of the politeness rule do, of course, not mean that you have to become best friends with your teacher. It is also wise to keep in mind that you usually have a teacher for one semester or a part of a semester. Sometimes, courses are even arranged so that there is another lecturer for each class session. It is, however, more common that you have one teacher for (the majority of) the whole period or semester. In this case, the only thing you can do is make the best of it. Complain to students of whom you know they also dislike the teacher, remain polite, weigh the words you may need to exchange with your teacher, and remember that there are worse things in the world and that this course will pass.

Do you have teachers you explicitly hate (not asking for names here!)? What are your experiences with less favourite teachers? How did you deal with them?

Eating healthy

I must confess, I am a health nut. I believe I mentioned health in almost every post I wrote here. Today, it is time for a post about healthy food, because we all need to eat and student food is not known to be the healthiest.

The first question might be: what is healthy food? It might sound stupid to ask this, as everybody knows that they must eat two pieces of fruit every day, two portions of vegetables, that skipping meat a few times per week does not hurt you when you replace it by soy products or fish, and that you need to drink 1.5 litres each day. There is, however, more to eating healthy. As a matter of fact, one can eat healthy and one can eat healthy. The first healthy is where you, for example, get your vegetables from microwave meals, which might indeed contain enough vitamins and minerals in the veggies, but that also contain a lot of salt and probably artificial additives. The second healthy is where you make everything by yourself with fresh and pure ingredients. Of course, it would be best to make all food by yourself from scratch, to the point where you plant your own vegetables and fruit trees in your garden and raise your own cattle, but most of us won't have the time for that.

The second question to be answered is: how do you recognize fresh and pure ingredients? Fresh ingredients are fairly easy: look for the expiration date and use your common sense if something looks or smells funny. Pure ingredients are more difficult, but after a few years of reading various articles, books, watching documentaries and TV shows, and trying things out, I have gathered some knowledge about what pure food means.

An easy way to find out how healthy your food is, is to look at the length of the ingredient list of the products you buy. Don't look for 'healthy choice' labels! These are often misleading, already put on a product as soon as there is less sugar or fat in it than the equivalent of another brand. A general, very rough rule of thumb without any nuance to it is that the longer the list of ingredients, the more likely it is that there is something bad, processed, or artificial in it. As stated above, it is a general and rough rule without any nuance: some pure products list 10 ingredients while some 'artificial' products contain only 3 or 4 ingredients.

In the European Union (EU), some 'artificial' products are easily recognizable. The EU has a list of approved artificial and natural additives that are added to food to make it look better, tastier, more smelly, or simply to be able to preserve it longer without it rotting away. These additives have gotten numerical codes, all starting with an E, also called E-numbers. Although the EU has approved these, some additives from the 'European' list are forbidden in some individual EU-countries or in the USA, so just because a supranational institution has approved of it, doesn't necessarily make it good!

Also, producers of food replace the E-number codes by the names of the additives today, resulting in packages almost as easily readable as the table of elements we had to learn in Chemistry during high school. In order to read and understand these lists, you really need to be into chemistry. Again, as a very general rule of thumb: the harder an ingredient is to pronounce, the more likely it is that it is unhealthy. This again a very general rule of thumb, because ascorbic acid sounds quite scary, but actually it just vitamin C.

Another reason to be wary of packages is that they sometimes scream 'no preservatives!' or 'does not contain colorants!' Some additives serve several functions and they usually are added for their primary function. The second function is just a side effect, and therefore, the producers tend to derive the claim of 'no whatever type of additives' from the primary and initial reason why the stuff was added to the product.

So, what should you avoid at all costs?

First, diet / light products, and products that claim to contain no sugar / no fat. The sugar that ought to be in the product is most often replaced by sweeteners, such as sucrose, aspartame (E951), sucralose (E955), and acesulfame-K (E950). While your teeth might be happy and shiny with the sugar being replaced by these sweeteners, the rest of your body may disagree with your teeth. And after all, your teeth prefer water and milk above everything.

Second, microwave meals / ready-to-eat salads with dressing and basically ALL ready-to-use dressings / sauces / whatever. I have come across a few microwave meals that contain no additives, but make up for this by using excessive amounts of salt. Most of these ready-to-eat meals / salads / dressings / sauces contain preservatives, flavour modifiers, emulsifiers and other things that make me personally feel sick and loose all appetite. Especially the flavour modifier monosodium glutamate (E621) is a well-known one and even referred to as 'Chinese restaurant syndrome', because Chinese restaurants often use it in their food. If you are allergic to this flavour modifier, you can actually feel very unwell after consuming it. It is present in most ready-to-use sauces, dressings, bouillon preparations, but also in potato chips with additional flavours and many other well-seasoned food products. I would also categorize cakes, cookies, pop tarts and almost anything sweet you can get at the supermarket.

Third, meat and meat products, especially when they are flavoured with spices and marinades. It is not secret that many cattle farmers feed their animals with growth hormones (which may lead to hormonal disturbances in your body) and antibiotics (which has already resulted in the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria), but once in the meat factory, additives are added for taste and preservation on top of the hormones and antibiotics.

Fourth, so-called healthy and / or tasty dairy variations, such as chocolate milk from cans (emulsifiers) and strawberry yoghurt drink without sugar (sweeteners). Yes, I know these are tasty, but it really is better to drink a cup of milk and eat the strawberries separately and it also really is better to mix some pure and dark cocoa powder with milk (and maybe some sugar).

As a last word of advice, ingredients differ per brand, per company, and per shop. The examples of products containing (artificial) additives are generalizations and there are also many more products containing these additives. This article provides you with some guidelines that help you choose when you are busy and do not have so much time for grocery shopping. I will, however, recommend you to really take the time once and look at the ingredient lists on all products you wish to buy / eat. I also want to recommend you, if this topic has your interest, to just look up things on the internet. Wikipedia has a list of sub-categories and pages on which you can find plenty of information about additives. While Wikipedia may not be the most academic or scientific source, it is always a good starting point for extending your web search.

Last but not least: why the heck would you bother? Simple: because it has significant health benefits. Today, people are becoming more conscious of the additives, but they still are not knowledgeable enough to really make a decision on what is healthy and what is not. That makes perfect sense, as it took me years to find out what really is good for me, after extensive searches on the internet and in other sources. It is, however, a fact that some kids who were diagnosed with ADHD got rid of their disorder by following a diet based on avoiding unhealthy food as defined above. These kids never needed Ritalin / Concerta / Adderall, just a simple and healthy diet. Some additives have also been related to increased risk of getting cancer and other unpleasant diseases, but there is still much research going on and the results sometimes contradict each other. Some diets for people with severe and headstrong fungal infections strongly suggest eating pure food, without additives. My own experiences are: I'm feeling mentally and physically stronger, I've overcome the chronic winter colds that I had back during adolescence, I can focus better, and I have more energy than ever. While my life was pretty good before leaving the (in most cases) unnecessary additives aside, it is now so much better.

What are your thoughts? Did you already try to eat healthy or are you going to change your eating pattern after reading this? Do you think that the food industry should be legally forced to reduce their additives to an absolute minimum or do you think it is unstoppable no matter what? Do you think it is worthwhile spending hours on the internet looking up more specific information and preparing all your food by yourself? Maybe you happen to be a formerly ADHD kid who was cured by a diet? Let me know!

Socializing

People say that your years in college are the years when you make friends for life and that these years must be thoroughly enjoyed. But how do you choose the right people to hang out with if there are so many of them? If you enter your lecture room, and there are 600-700 other students just like you, how do you choose your friends?

Some people are lucky to take the same major at the same university as some of their old classmates. Especially during the first few weeks, these old classmates can serve as a beacon in the sea of students. However, if it is your intention to make a fresh start and leave high school behind you, it is wise to ignore these old classmates. 

So, let's assume you're lost in the building - you cannot find your lecture room. You may ask some staff member, but it's much more fun to ask someone who seems to be a student as well. This doesn't necessarily have to be a student from your year or major (remember, you don't know anyone yet!), but asking another student might be the first step to a friendship. 

Now, let's assume you have finally found your lecture room. This is where different scenarios come in, and I'll try to mention them all. 

1. You're early and you're one of the first students to show up. As a matter of fact, you beat the teacher in classroom arrival. In this case, you might try to find a strategic place in the room. Strategic means: there where there is a chance someone will join you sooner or later. Strategic places are: close to the door(s), because there is always somebody who needs to get out the moment the teacher says lecture is over; right in front of the teacher, since there are always some who are too proud to wear glasses, even if they need them; somewhere in the middle, as nobody likes to come across as overly nerdy by sitting in front of the teacher or overly uninterested by sitting all the way in the back of the room. 
2. You're late and there already are some, or many, other students. This is a nice scenario, because it offers you options. You can look around the room and see if there is someone who seems friendly or - in case you are into more or less extreme clothing/music styles - who seems similar to you. Of course, it will always be a wild guess to sit next to someone, but this is really the way to make friends soon! Don't forget to join different kinds of persons, though. Just one friend may not be enough to last for 4 years. 
3. There are many people in your class. Great, you have much choice, but it also makes it hard to decide  whom you will like for longer than just a few days. Try to get acknowledged with as many people as possible and then decide for yourself which ones you like best. However, keep friendly to those whom you don't like as much as those you've chosen. You never know what they are good for! This process will usually occur naturally, so don't focus your thoughts on it too much. 
4. There are only a few people in your class. In this case, you are bound to deal with the people who chose the same class. At least during lectures and practical classes. Be nice to all of them - make sure there are a few you can rely on in case you have a study-related question. This process should also occur naturally, without giving too much thought to it. 

Outside the lecture rooms, there are many places to meet new people. At work, in your student union, at the gym facilities of your university, at the general library, and many more. Long story short: try to get enrolled in some extracurricular activities (see my last post) to meet new people and maybe make some new friends! 

Another way of socializing is to find out which people in your class commute from their house to the university. As this is common practice in some countries, it can be worthwhile to find out who in your class are travelling every day. You could discuss lectures or just talk about less serious things and thereby make new friends.

I guess I have given enough tips on socializing in college. If you have anything to add, let me know, or share your thoughts on how you made friends in college. These tips are needed for freshmen and those who switched majors, so feel free to contribute! 

Extracurricular activities ...

... and how to choose them.

Today, we live in a society where a degree certificate alone doesn't do any more when applying for your job. Everyone will tell you to take a few jobs, join boards and committees, and find internships and other stuff that makes your curriculum vitae look nicer. Another reason why I post this today is because the new year in college just started and the ambitious people might want some guidance in choosing their extracurricular activities.

Personally, I don't think anything is wrong with some activities besides the studies because they can enrich your social life and they can help you develop aspects of your character. If you happen to hate doing oral presentations in front of groups, it will actually help you if you have to do it in order to show the (financial/whatever) state of your student club to its members. If you get sick at the mere thought of having to talk to people (don't take this too literally), it might actually help if you find a place where you do get in touch with many people without getting too close too soon.

So, what are a few things to keep in mind when choosing an extracurricular activity?

• How much time is it going to cost? Can you still study enough to pass the majority of your exams and write your papers without coming across as THE lazy ass on whatever activity you choose?  If it does cost very much time, can you handle working more and sleeping less? (this is actually a health-related consideration, but still important!)
• How does this activity make you stand out from all other students who are obviously also involved with extracurricular activities? Many students have jobs and/or are on boards and committees for various organisations, so your future employer will see many resumes similar to yours. Unless you have done something more or less exclusive.
• Is it an activity you can enjoy? Most activities require you to be present or available for X amount of time and all the time you invest in your activity can't be spent on other things. With the average schedule of college students, it's better to do something you like, so that your activity gives your positive energy that you can use for further studying or something else. 
• How does this activity add something to my CV? In our department of Pedagogy and Educational Sciences, we have some people who gather interesting activities for their students to do, which are related to our field and help us to get some field-related experience that is like whipped cream on top of your hot chocolate. 

I took all of the above in consideration. I weighed, deliberated, talked about it and thought some more. I didn't want to do anything that could possibly interfere with my lecture schedule (time); I was not the type for having to party and drink on a frequent base (enjoyableness); I wanted to do something that not many people say they do (exclusiveness), and I wanted my activities to be broad yet also related to my major (add to CV). In the end I came across two activities that I am still involved with and still enjoy. I actually made promotion in one of them. 

If you - for whatever reason - don't manage to find something DURING the year, it might be worthwhile searching for summer activities, such as jobs or internships. I did a summer school past summer, which was a course I wanted to do throughout the college year, but it always would interfere with lectures, which made me postpone it. 

Most important is that you choose something that suits you and where your 'colleagues' suit you. I also quit some activities after a while because it just didn't work with me and the others. So, do you agree with this list? Do you think I should add some more? Leave a comment! 

The last day of summer

Tomorrow will be my last day of the summer! Monday morning, my alarm will beep and wake me up. I am probably not the only one. You can sit down and be melancholic and reflect on your summer, but you can also try to make the most of that last day of freedom and I can tell you how to do it. 

Of course, it depends on what type of person you are, but the most important thing is that you enjoy this last day. 

So, for the sporty people: maybe your sports club or team has a match to play on a kind of summer tournament. Make it fun by not just playing the match and say 'goodbye, see ya at the next training' , but propose to your team to go out after the match and make some fun! If you have no matches to play (or if you are involved with individual sports), you might as well work out a bit on your own. I personally love to go hike in a nearby forest or ride my bike around my town and its surroundings. Running is another good thing to do, although not so much my cup of tea. 

For the creative people: you might be enrolled in a more or less creative college course like Photography or Conservatory. In this case, there is no reason to worry about lack of assignments through which you can let your creativity speak, but if you are creative and enrolled in a non-creative college course, this last day should definitely be used to make something out of it! Go paint, draw, take pictures, sing, write, whatever your creative mind tells you to do and have fun with it! 

For the fashionistas: you do not want to look like everyone else in class, so you need to fix some outfits for the new year in college. Go experiment with whatever you have in your wardrobe, and - even though it might still be hot where you live - try out some outfits for colder days as well, as autumn is knocking on your door and maybe even peeking around the corner already. If you feel your wardrobe is not satisfactory, go out for some shopping. 

For those who just want to relax: if the weather is nice, just go outside wherever you want to and with whomever you want to. Sitting down in a park with a book and some nice snacks and drinks can be very relaxing, but your backyard might do too. Maybe this is also a day to invite one or more of your friends for girls'/guys' afternoon of catching up with each other's lives. Just do whatever makes you feel calm, ready and steady for the new year in college. I am a fan of reading; what do you like to do? 

For those who have to work: whether it is volunteer work, a job, or an internship - work is work. Since it is unlikely that you will have to work from 7 AM through 10 PM, look at your timetable and plan some nice things around your work schedule (see tips above). You can also use the last day of summer as an excuse to go out with colleagues, if they are nice, or just have some extra fun at work by bringing cupcakes or something. 

I am one of the people who has to work, although it is technically not a job, but I am just going to make the most of it. I'll head to the city early, have a nice lunch there, go to work and then have a nice dinner afterwards (my mother is a very good companion for such things as she really likes going to shop!)

So, what type of person are you? What type of activity suits you? Or are you one of the lucky ducks who has one or two more weeks of holidays ahead? Let me know! 

When autumn is coming closer ...

While today and tomorrow are good days in terms of weather where I live, we are all aware that autumn is approaching slowly. Past night and the night before gave rather low temperatures, which were close to freezing point. In fact, the summer in the Netherlands has not been much of a summer, although there were a few good days. As the clock keeps ticking and autumn draws nearer, it is becoming more of a challenge to dress nicely without looking like a mummy.

The start of autumn also means the start of a new year in college, meaning that notebooks and textbooks have to be taken out again for some serious studying every now and then. As the days gradually grow shorter, it seems very tempting to stay in bed longer in the mornings, but there just is no time for it if you want to finish your studying during the daytime!

People who longer live with their parents, move (back) into their dorm rooms or rooms elsewhere in town and they probably face the challenge of arranging their rooms and getting on with their room mates. I wish you all the best! Students who stay with their parents face the challenge of getting up early every day; catching their trains, and getting on with their parents.

All in all, autumn always sets a few challenges, each and every year, and every time it feels to me like I forgot how I managed the year before. However, if you follow some of the tips from earlier posts - or if you are a creative nut yourself - you should be able to work your way around most of the issues. I wish all of you a pleasant autumn and good luck if you consider aforementioned issues a challenge!

Saving space if you have only one room for all your stuff

College students - whether they live at home with their parents or on their own on campus or elsewhere in town - in general do not have very much room for keeping their stuff. Now, later in life your space is likely to be limited too - unless you marry a billionaire - but for college students, space is more limited because they usually have only one room for keeping all their stuff. Again, unless your parents are billionaires, which is unlikely for 99% of us. Do not worry, I am to the rescue. Since I hate throwing away stuff that could be useful in the future or just because I like to keep some for the sake of nostalgia, you would say my room is a mess of things piled up all over the place. Well ... not exactly. If you use the space you have wisely, there are enough square meters left for a desk, a bed and a closet. 

It is not the monster under your bed ... Indeed, with some boxes and wooden chests under your bed, there is no room for monsters and you can save a lot of room. Reckon with the height of your bed though, before buying boxes and chests. 

Boxes on top of your closet and bookcases are a great idea if your closet does not reach the ceiling. The taller you are, the more boxes you can pile on top of your closets and cases! I must confess that it looks somewhat messy with all the different colours, but if you keep the rest of your room in simple, basic colours (I personally like white and blue), this is rather a means of adding some colour than an annoying disturbance. However, if you like to go all the way with colours, feel free to do so! 

As you can see, I do not have four straight-up walls in my room, which forces me to be creative sometimes. The little bookcase next to the big one was ideal for the angle of the wall, yet it still keeps much of what I wanted to be stored. If I wished, I could put a little box on top, but since I don't, I leave this for some accessories. 

I have always been fond of these magazine boxes. They may take up a lot of your precious space if not used, but if they are, - just look at the next photo -

you can cram in so much paperwork! Notebooks, readers, prints of the powerpoint presentations shown during lectures, and even smaller binders! The binder in this picture is more of a 'show-album' sized binder, though. 

Then ... if you have many CDs/DVDs/smaller books, there is a solution for that, too. No need to spend many bucks on bookcases, if you arrange the shelves with these CDs/DVDs/smaller books like this: 

It comes down to two rows of CDs on a shelf. This requires the shelves to be at least 35 cm/13.8 inches deep, though, but since college textbooks are big as well, you need deeper shelves anyway. 

These. So much of these. I think they are available in many sizes, so you can adjust them to wherever you want to put them, and they are so practical. I use the drawers for magazines, beauty stuff and cables and manuals for my modern technologies, but you could basically story anything in it. 

It is obvious I have too much room after all having applied all of the above advices to my own room, but if you have not, you could try to find a box that fits under the drawers of your desk. It also looks more tidy to put the waste bin under your desk and it saves another little corner in your room. 

So, this was the blog about saving space in your room. Comments or questions are welcome, as always. 

Fashion on campus

I like to try to look nice, no matter what I'm doing. I am a girl and I am proud to be. I like wearing nice clothes that fit nicely; it makes me feel better and happier. So, that is why I will now share an outfit with you that I could wear to lectures and exams without looking like too lazy to care about looks. Mind you, these photos were taken in a forest near my house (so not on my university), during a short walk. I think the style is mainly casual, but with a neat touch.

What I wear on these photos: skinny jeans that fit comfortable; cognac brown boots with a 5 cm/ 2 inch heel; dark grey longsleeve; black blazer jacket, and a red bag. I also wore a belt in the same colour as my boots with a simple silver buckle, but the jacket falls over it, unfortunately. The longsleeve has buttons from the top through about halfway down. 

This look is comfortable and suitable for moderately sunny weather, when the temperature is about 16/17 C or 60-63 F with little to no wind. 

I might post some more outfits in the future when I think it's something other people my age could or should wear. Obviously, since I am a girl, similar posts are probably more interesting for girls than for guys! 

How to rock your studies academically

The new college year has recently started or it is about to start for most of us. Whether you are a freshman looking for advice on how to succeed in college or an older student who has set goals and resolutions for this year in college, I am here to offer some advices for success. However, if you have severe problems with studying, it might be more helpful for you to see a counsellor or any other advising person at your department.  


First of all, it is important that you do something you like. If you like the topics covered in your courses, or at least the majority of them, you will become intrinsically motivated, which means you are learning for the sake of learning, rather than that you are learning to have a good grade on your final (= extrinsically motivated). However, if you have chosen a course you happen to strongly dislike for the bigger part of it, I would recommend to orient on switching majors or courses. 


Academic rock is a new music genre that will be popular this fall. It includes the contents of textbooks as lyrics being put on the music of the hottest artists and bands. This way, studying your statistical formulas, anatomy, economical models or international treaties becomes much more fun. Okay, I initially meant this to be a joke with the title of today's post, but it has been said that singing the boring stuff to the melodies of your favourite songs actually helps you remember the stuff better.


And that was only the beginning of studying tips you may or may not have expected. Another one is to change locations while studying. According to experts, your brain matches the incoming information with the context and physical surroundings. The necessary variation can be created by switching between studying on your own and studying with friends; studying inside and outside; studying with or without background noises, and even by changing seats during lectures and other classes. So, do not take the same seat in the same wing in the same building every day.


As I told you before, I always have text markers in my pencil case. If you have them, why not use them? Marking the important lines in a text makes you read with more attention, so that you can mark the important sentences afterwards. Using a different colour for each subject will help you remember everything better. 


Pretend you are the teacher and read your textbooks aloud. Also try to explain your subject matters in your own words. Many of my teachers have actually recommended this method, although I feel my throat getting strained when reading aloud too much. However, I do try to explain stuff in my own words if I am not sure I understood the paragraph and it makes the not-so-well-understood stuff simpler for me. 


As with skin care, I can also recommend it here: living healthy! Call me a health-nut, but I really function much better if I sleep at least 8 hours per night; get enough vitamins and minerals, aka eat and drink healthy;  do at least 30 minutes of moderate exercising (including moving to and from the lecture room), and go outside for the same amount of time. I also have the window of my room opened all day long if the weather allows it and since my desk is next to it, I catch a nice deal of fresh air, keeping my mind fresh. Feeling physically and mentally well is almost a condition that must be met before you can start studying well.


One of the more well-known advices is that you should not cram all studying for an exam into the one night before the exams. It is better to spread your studying sessions for an exam over a week (if possible) and to do one subject in the morning and another in the afternoon. In order to make this possible, it is important that you keep up with reading for your lectures and practical classes. Stick with the schedule your teacher hands out or make your own schedule; either way, it is necessary to make sure you do not have to read all stuff the night before your 9 AM final. 


I think I have now mentioned the funniest and best tips. Feel free to comment if you have additional advices and tips, or if you have a funny experience with any of these tips. If you have actually written your statistical formulas or whatever on lyrics to a certain song, I love to read these! I am always fond of song parodies! 

Why we'll never have so-called perfect skin and skin care rules - also for guys!

I think we have all had moments when we wished we could have flawless and smooth skins like the main characters in TV-series or the models in beauty advertisements. Forget it. You will never get that, and I will explain you why. However, there are a few rules that can help you get your skin naturally smooth and healthy. They will be given after the reasons why our skins just cannot look like those on TV and fashion/beauty adverts. 


Firstly, the people on TV and fashion/beauty ads have likely had a facial before the cameras were turned on. They have also been in the make-up seats for at least 60 minutes and the average college student does not have so much time when lectures start at 9.00 AM. On top of that, this make-up and the hairdos have been done by professionals and, while I believe some college students can do amazing things with make-up or hair, we are no professional make-up artists or hairdressers. And this is only the beginning.


There is something else that makes the skins of celebrities stand out from ours: perfect lighting and angles. If a top model has a few pimples on the right half of her face while the left half looks fine, the camera will not zoom in on this right half or the light technician will make the light fall on the model's face so that the pimples are hardly visible. However, we cannot always control how others see us and we cannot always control the lighting in the lecture rooms. If this nice guy or girl decides to sit beside us on the side which has the most pimples, we can hardly tell him/her to take a seat on the other side of us, especially if that seat is already taken. So, face it: we will not always be seen in the best possible lighting and from the best possible angles.


Last, but not least (and I am convinced we all know it although we hope it is not true): airbrush and Photoshop. These technologies can remove pimples, freckles, unwanted fat, and anything that is not desired on a certain photo or in a certain scene. They may also add a close to unnatural shimmer to the model's/actor's face and hair. I personally could not believe that modern technologies were used for such purposes until I saw this. These photos showed me how modern technologies are used in order to make people look better on pictures. Check the 'before'-shots and you will find out that your skin might not be so bad after all.


So, now you know why you will never reach the perfection created during photo sessions and film recordings, it is time to find out what you can do to keep your skin in a healthy condition. The guidelines are simple, in my opinion, and they do not demand the use of make-up at all, although they may require some discipline.


Rule number 1 is that you should wash your face twice a day. This is more than just splashing some water in your face when you wake up; you better get a face cleanser that actually kills bacteria, too. Especially if you like to wear make-up, water alone is not likely to wash away everything you put on your face. The leftovers of make-up may clog your pores and so cause pimples (this also goes for other types of 'dirt', but make-up is a good pore-clogger, too). In addition, I like to scrub my face once or twice in a week. A scrub peeling cleans your skin a bit more thoroughly and gives a fresh gloss as it removes many dead skin cells.


Rule number 2 is easy, as well. Now you have washed your face with more than just a splash of water or you have just come out of the shower and the skin on your face may feel a bit strained. Time to bring out a nice cream or oil! It will depend on your skin type which cream or oil works best for you. Those with a more sensitive skin might benefit from buying organic and natural skin care products, but it really depends on what ingredient your skin is most sensitive to. A good cream or oil hydrates or nourishes your skin so that you don't get lines in your face from dehydration, nor do they cause a pimple outburst from being too fat for your skin. Some brands have creams that go for both day and night; others have separate creams for day and night. As soon as you notice lines under your eyes, a cream for your eyes might be needed. When you are in your twenties, the lines you may spot in your face are not wrinkles, but lines caused by your skin not being nourished/hydrated enough. They do, however, give you an idea of where to expect wrinkles by the time you are old enough to have and how they look on you. If you are unsure about your skin type, do not hesitate to ask the lady at the shop where you like to buy your skin care products.


Rule number 3 is another easy one. It is probably a predictable and lame one, as well, but I want to mention it anyway, since skin care does not only rely on what you do on the outside: live healthy! I define living healthy as getting enough sleep; eating many fruits and vegetables and leave the meat alone every now and then; drinking water and maybe fruit juices; going out in the fresh air for at least 30 minutes on a daily base, and work out. This work out is not necessarily a boot camp or fitness session at the gym; it may also involve hiking in the forests nearby your town or going out for shopping. Living healthy also includes catching sunlight with moderation. Too little sunshine will keep your face pale and pimples will never disappear (trust me: they hate sunlight like vampires!); too much sunshine will make you look like sunbathing is your #1 occupation, it speeds up the ageing-process, and it increases your chances to get skin cancer.


So, these are the basics of skin care for students. I follow all of these myself and since I know how much Photoshop and airbrush can do - even to a skin - I am actually much more content with the state of my skin.