All Students

10 Ways to Spend a Night In

A big part of uni life is spent going out. Away from the dorm is the norm.

But that’s not strictly true. When you’re not studying, doing a part-time job, partying, or doing one of a billion different activities, there are bound to be times when you’re chilling out on the inside.

Then there’s the summer break and other holidays when you’re either back at home or making do with a more limited range of activities on campus.

For all the fun, I’m sure you still spend a lot of time in your digs. And even if you don’t, there’s always the odd night when you’d just rather stay in your room and lay low. However, this doesn’t mean you need to have a dull time, or stop being productive. There are many ways to have a great night resting in your dorm if you’re not in the mood to go out. Here are 10 specific ideas to consider:

dorm (photo by ainlondon)

1. Have a Cheap Meal Night

Chances are you have a tight budget, so clubbing together with mates for some posh but cheap grub is a great treat. Perhaps none of you are ready to make an elaborate meal from scratch, but it’s still cheaper to buy some big meals from the supermarket. Whether it’s pizzas on BOGOF or several family-size ready meals, these quick meals will often prove cheaper than ringing for a takeaway.

2. Learn Something New

Okay, so you weren’t ready to make that meal with your own ingredients. All you need is an open mind and a bit of time exploring. Time to learn something new!

It’s nice to focus on something that’s educational, but not necessarily part of your degree. And it doesn’t have to be about food, of course. Whether you have interest in history, science, a particular language, or a specific software program or business, take some time out to teach yourself something new.

3. Listen To An Old Album

University means growing up, and that gets a lot of people feeling nostalgic. For that reason, one fun activity to practice on a solo night in the dorm is to break out some old music to listen to. Just tune everything else out and listen straight through an old favourite – you might notice something new, or enjoy it more than you have in years. I did this the other night with some old Gomez tracks and it was lush!

4. Watch A Film Or Two

You may not have packed a DVD collection for uni, but now you can usually find a fun film or two to enjoy on various online streaming sites. Log into Picturebox Films for some nice selections, and take some time to just watch, whether you’re alone or with friends.

5. Catch Up On Assignments

This isn’t the most entertaining option, but you might be glad to take the opportunity to catch up, or get ahead, on study. Read that next chapter in the textbook, get a jump on your next big paper, etc. Productivity in a university environment is never a bad thing.

6. Catch Up With People From Home

If you’re closing yourself off in a dorm room for the night, why not take the time to catch up with people from home? Email, write letters, call, or Skype your old friends from home, and family members who will be thrilled to hear from you. This is a surprisingly rewarding way to spend a few hours on a night in.

7. Organise Your Computer

There’s plenty to organise and “clean up” on the average computer – from deleting old documents, to clearing out an email inbox, and even doing work on your social and professional profiles. Gizmo’s Freeware is a good place to find the best free software that’s usually on par or better than commercial offerings. Often, once you get going with this kind of project, you’ll be at it for hours. So don’t use it as an excuse to procrastinate!

8. Meditate

Meditation isn’t for everybody, but for those who enjoy it or practice it regularly, a weekend night in is the perfect opportunity. You can meditate for all sorts of reasons: to help clear your mind; to alleviate stress; to increase productivity – all very positive things for a busy student.

9. Read For Pleasure

Many university students miss the freedom to read for pleasure! Often, curriculum reading and work occupies so much time that it’s just too tough to delve into a novel for entertainment purposes. A night in by yourself, however, gives you just the chance you need to read something you enjoy.

10. Organise Your Room

Finally, you can also take the time to set up your room. From hanging new posters, to cleaning up clutter, to simply rearranging things, this can be a great way to make yourself feel productive, and to get more comfortable in your surroundings.

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What do you like to do when you have a night in?

Press Save

Many moons ago, I sat down to reply to an email. A really long email.

I poured my heart out. Not literally, of course. That would have been weird.

But it was a masterpiece of personal writing. I was confident that the recipient would have a life-changing moment as soon as they saw my delightful prose upon their screen.

The end was in sight as I started the final paragraph, wrapping up the loose ends and signing off with a “Broom Broom for now”. Don’t ask.

As I sat there, half typing, half grinning smugly at my genius, something rather annoying happened.

A power cut.

photo by Jacob Haas

NOOOOOOOO! (photo by Jacob Haas – CC BY-ND 2.0)

I lost everything. Over an hour of writing gone. Around two-thousand words never to be seen again. Yes, this was an era before auto-saving drafts were the norm. That type of thing was reserved for Microsoft Word. Ah, the memories!

Let’s say I was unhappy and leave it at that. In the end, my re-written reply was two short paragraphs and a mumbled annoyance that lamented the lack of a witty and wonderful response after the power went out. It probably made no sense to the person at the other end of the message. No matter; I didn’t care any more.

I write this as a warning to you when you’re tapping away in a state of flow. You’re in the zone and on top of the world. Piffling stuff like saving the document doesn’t occur to you when everything’s going so well.

And despite the auto-saving beauty of so much we do these days, I’m sure the one time you encounter disaster will be the one time that automatic life-saver isn’t there to help you.

For me, it was just an email. That hurt enough.

Imagine the horror if it was, say, one of your essays.

On an allnighter the day before it’s due in.

And you’ve already had an extension.

Please. Press save. Back it up. Do it now.

And breathe.

When Limits Give You More

Get breakfast right and the rest of the day will go right with it.

Forget choice. Over the last five years, I’ve eaten porridge in the morning. It lets me focus on other things, rather than having to work out what to eat once I’ve woken up.

As for lunch, I’ve started eating soup each time (unless I’m out and about). The only meal I actively consider is dinner.

I want to set aside all the stuff that doesn’t truly need weighing up in my mind. You’ve seen the supermarket aisles. Hundreds of breakfast choices all competing for your attention. And that’s not even accounting for cooked breakfasts and breakfast bars and breakfast milkshakes! You’re given too much choice. You have to invest in making those decisions each time. It’s tiring and tiresome.

gnome (photo by Rob Swatski)

Aarrrgghh! The range of choice was just too much for the poor gnome (Rob Swatski CC BY-NC 2.0)

Wasting time and mental effort on breakfast doesn’t hold you in stead for such a good day. Save it for the more important stuff.

When I see David Cain and Robert Pozen talking about limiting choices, it comes as no surprise. The more important the situation, the more effort you should exert. For a university student, breakfast isn’t one of those things.

Don’t get me wrong, what you eat *is* important. When you limit your choice of breakfast and lunch, that doesn’t mean you pick any old food to commit to. Focus on a food you will enjoy regularly and that suits your dietary requirements for optimum health benefits. Time spent working on this is time you don’t need to spend afterwards, and it’ll save you time each meal thereafter too.

Practice this beyond food. Everything you do works on different levels of importance. The problem is that it’s hard to explicitly see those levels working. Everything needs your time and input, so your choices seem to blend in. Effort on small decisions may seem minimal, but it adds up and distracts you from more important actions.

When faced with a decision that you have to make regularly, stop for a moment and ask yourself if you can improve your circumstances. Food, clothes, belongings, venues, colour schemes, music…If you spend too much time figuring out what you’d like each and every day, spend some time figuring out how to stop that cycle.

“You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.” – Barack Obama

Habits, Emotions & Locations

Not all habits are equal. The harder the task, the longer it’s going to take to form into a habit.

A simple act, such as drinking a glass of water, doesn’t take long to turn into a habit. It doesn’t take long for emotion to drain away from the action. But exercise and anything that requires a bit more effort and preparation will likely bring more emotional issues with them too. No wonder, then, it takes longer to form some habits than others.

Every teardrop is a waterfall (photo by dollen - CC BY-ND 2.0)

Make yoga a habit? Not as easy as drinking a glass of water each morning! (dollen – CC BY-ND 2.0)

Jeremy Dean sums it up nicely in his book “Making Habits, Breaking Habits“:

“…the act of performing a habit is curiously emotionless.” – p.9

This also explains why too much of a good thing can become boring. The more it becomes a habit, the less you attach any sentiment to it.

I was fascinated by another thing Dean had to say:

“…new surroundings don’t have all the familiar cues to our old habits.” – p.12

This could help reignite a drive for old habits in different places, as well as bringing new habits into play.

I have long believed that you shouldn’t limit yourself to a single place of study. Use all sorts of places. Your room, the library (changing seats and rooms too), the canteen, a campus bar, parks and uni seating areas, coffee shops, a quiet public space, a loud public space…

Moving around means you’re not in any ‘usual’ grounds. Your focus is on study and your mind is open to new things. Simply by altering your situation on a regular basis, you can gain mentally.

There’s more! As a bonus, your recall may develop as you build memories with each different setting in place. When you try to remember something, your first recollection may be sitting in the middle of a field when you covered the precise thing you need right now. Because you weren’t fixed to a single place of study, the concepts have another opportunity to come to the forefront of your mind.

While performing a habit dulls the emotions, a choice of different locations could help give a new lease of life to learning methods you thought had gone stale.