4 College Hacks Every Midwestern Black Girl Should Know

I learned real quick when moving from Minneapolis to Fargo that "being cute" wasn't the priority-- not even half the time.

I wish someone told me these things:

1. Pick one hair-do and keep it pushing

A plus about being a black girl I must admit, and that I love is the endless amount of hairstyles we can do. Braids, straight, curly, long, short, every two weeks back home this was a normal lifestyle for me.

Luckily, Youtube has been my friend for forever, and I learned how to braid, sew-in, and anything else hair related since early high school. I had to get used to sticking to one style even if the new growth got a little frizzy.

To save on time and maintenance, I chose kinky twists. Every two weeks I usually re-do the whole style to keep my parts looking fresh.

#TimeToDoHomeworkAndTimeForYourHairDontMix

2. Playlist

Spotify is my go to music streaming app. With the Spotify Premium plan, I get a discount because I'm a student and I only pay $5 a month and it includes Hulu.

Here's the link if you don't already know,

https://www.spotify.com/us/student/?utm_source=us-en_brand_contextual_text&utm_medium=paidsearch&utm_campaign=alwayson_ucanz_us_performancemarketing_student_brand+contextual+text+exact+us-en+google&gclid=CjwKCAiA_ZTfBRBjEiwAN6YG4aYWwlw9mVi8CMdN2AsFcDxaeWKcHkSuDIabgKFTbPIR7DH2qZv89xoChBMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

My playlist, "Erianna's Mood Music" consists of all my favorite genres, rap, r&b, old school, pop. A playlist in college is a must have! It keeps me sane. Every day on my way to class, I listen to music. I use it to motivate myself to get through the day.

#Playlist-anna

3. Get-chu A Whiteboard

A way I stay organized and add some character to my room is through my white board.

I've never been a planner person because I would literally write stuff in it and never open it again. A white board is the best visual reminder, there's no way your going to forget with something on your wall.

I plan to add more assignments to it this weekend but in the upper-left hand corner, I put some type of quote there every month. It's a way I motivate myself or inspire myself.

This month the quote is, "The hardest step she took was to blindly trust in who she was." -Atticus. I usually find these quotes from Instagram.

In the middle I circled, "Going Home!!!" Lol that was probably the first thing I wrote when I started over this month. I found that even if life isn't that exciting right now, you must put things on the board that with excite you, get you going, and get you to the next goal. Everyday seeing "Going Home!!!" excites me and helps me see exactly how much longer it will be to get there. My advice would be to write something that will get you excited. (If you look closer, you can even see, I write "New B!" every Friday because then I have something to look forward to regardless, every week)

In the lower right corner, I have a dollar, it symbolizes earnest money (T&D inside joke). It represents a mental contract I have with school-- to stick to it and no matter how broke I get, never spend the dollar! It works on my self control.

Lastly, this is probably the most cliche, Mary Jane Paul from Being Mary Jane, journalist thing to do but I have QUOTES on sticky notes from people I know to help motivate me.

Corny, right?

LOL I thought so! Like I said, it triggers my motivation spirit and--- it's a nice detail to the room.

Nevertheless here's the last college hack you should know about...

4. Keep something dope laying around

I'm mad weird for this one but I have Gucci Mane's autobiography on my bookstand (Gucci Mane is a rapper from Atlanta, starting back in 2009). To me, it's cool to have unique things around. Things that you see at the store that speak to your blackness and you never buy. No matter who comes in my room, they'll instantly get a sense of who I am, and my tastes. If it's just you going into your room, it should remind you of all the qualities about yourself. I'm a fan of his and rap, so why not have some of his kind of like... art work, around?

Gauranteed, it will add to your aesthetic you're creating for yourself.

But creating and investing in your positive personal space in college,

is the biggest hack of them all.

Thanks for reading my blog today!

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Have a snow-full weekend,

E