New Year’s Resolutions: Making the most of our time at Rice
Some might find the emphasis on calendar year changeovers cheesy and arbitrary. They’re probably right, but we also think the new year is a great opportunity for goal-setting, reflection and growth — actions that are valuable year-round. Here are some of our simple and attainable resolutions that can help you make the most of your time on campus in 2019!
1. Take an unconventional class: While it’s terribly tempting to fill schedule planner with 25 classes as you attempt to triple major with two minors, venturing out of your comfort zone into unfamiliar course codes can be extremely rewarding. You can also get credit for collaging (ARTS 326), making a podcast (ENGL 309), or creating a film by hand (FILM 444). For those who can’t afford the time commitment of a three-hour class, there’s always student-taught courses. This semester, students are teaching about microbreweries (COLL 142), disabilities and disorders (COLL 177) and chess (COLL 135), to name a few. Learn about something this year that’s totally, 100 percent for you.
2. Go to Fondy for fun: We all go to Fondy way too often for way too long, but there’s no reason it has to be a place of suffering! This year, take a few hours to wander through the stacks, read new books or look through the Woodson Research Center Special Collections and Archives. Some of the older books in Fondy are annotated by Rice students from way back when.
3. Use your Metro card to go somewhere in Houston: With an infinitely refillable Metro card, there’s no reason not to explore the city around us. Try different restaurants like Bombay Pizza or Natachee’s, head to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to take in an exhibit or take a walk downtown.
4. Support your fellow Owls: Rice students are pretty talented, and this is basically the only time in our lives we’ll be able to go to a ton of cultural events for free — take advantage of it. Go to an athletic event (we recommend a women’s basketball game), see a college play or head to an a cappella concert.
5. Go to a building you’ve never been to: If you’re like me and you didn’t go to anywhere outside the academic quad or the South colleges for three months, it’s worth exploring other buildings on campus. Go see the angry dolphin door handles at Herzstein, have a picnic on top of 180 degrees or stand under Skyspace when it changes color.
6. Pick up a hobby that’s just for you: If you’ve always wanted to learn to cross stitch or take up the banjo, take this year to start learning. Having a creative outlet where you’re accountable to no one — not a professor, not a club president, no one! — will help keep you sane over the next year.
7. Change up your workout routine — or start a new one from scratch: How many hours have you spent staring at the screen on an elliptical at the Rec? If you’re us, it’s many. Doing the same thing at the gym can be exhausting, so use the new year as an excuse to change it up. The Rec offers free classes like zumba and kickboxing where you can pick up a new skill while working out. There’s no limit on how many LPAPs you can take, so you can incorporate activities like ultimate frisbee, capoeira and foxtrotting into your schedule. You can also try abandoning the Rec entirely and venture into Hermann Park for a run or a walk.
Resolutions around campus:
Anchith Kota, Sid Richardson College sophomore: I want to choreograph my own piece for BASYK’s first ever showcase so that Rice students can see how diverse and talented our crew is!
Christina Stoner, Martel College sophomore: One of my most important resolutions is to get off campus more often during the semester. I think it's good for our mental health to get off campus more often, being in the real world and realizing that although school is important, there is more to life.
Gabriela Acosta, Will Rice College senior: One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to stick to the schedules I make. So when I make a plan to study at a certain time or work on a project, I will do it unless something drastic happens where I need to do rearrangements. Basically, I am going to try to hold myself more accountable.
Ike Arjmand, Sid Richardson College senior: My New Year's resolution is to go into things with more thought given to how to make the most of them — new experiences are scarce, so I want to make the best of what I'm lucky enough to experience!
Madison Grimes, Hanszen College junior: Mine would be to start actually waking up when my alarm goes off instead of hitting snooze until I'm late for class.
Justin Tang, Martel College junior: I'm trying to definitely go to the Rec more consistently because I stopped last semester and also try to relax more about school things — just less stress in general if possible.
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