Top Ten Ways College Has Changed in 10 Years

I started my undergrad years over 10 years ago (oh, gawd) and in that time quite a bit has changed for a college student. Since I am a college student again now, I have been thinking about these changes and since I am a blogger, a post has been swirling around in my head...

Oh, c'mon, I'm not the only blogger that does this. I am constantly writing possible blog posts in my head. Aren't you?

Anyway, I digress.

When I think about these changes in life for a college student, I don't know how I got through my undergrad years (ok, not really serious here. But, it is weird to think about).

Here are the top 10 things that have changed in the past decade for a college student:

10. We had to walk 3 miles each way to class uphill in the snow. Just kidding. Just making sure I have your attention!

9. No Wikipedia. At least I didn't know about it if it did exist.

8. No Blackboard. ISU had something sort of similar, but nobody used it. At least they didn't b/w 2000-2004. If we wanted to know our grade, we emailed the prof... or... get this... we asked!

7. Flip phones were the coolest thing ever - remember Razrs?? Everyone wanted a pink Razr. (Well, girls did.) But, really any flip phone was all the rage.

6. Hardly anyone had laptops that they carried around. If someone used any kind of device to take notes in class, they were "weird." Oh, and the colored Macs? Super popular at this time. My roommate had an orange one.

5. No iPods or any other mp3 device. I don't remember what we used... maybe a discman? I guess that must be what we used if we wanted to listen to music on the walk to class.

4. No texting. It's true. I didn't start texting until about 2004, around the time I graduated.

3. We may not have texted, but we had a nifty little messenger system called... AIM. As in AOL Instant Messenger. AIM = todays texting (but, yes, you had to be in your dorm room/apartment to get the IM)

2. DVR was nowhere near existence. My friends and I scheduled our classes around the soap opera Passions. No, I'm not kidding. The soap Passions. It was all the rage and it was on everyday at 2pm...and we would not take a class at that time. Our priorities were totally in check...

1. Facebook was not around when I was in college. MySpace was just getting to be big the year I graduated in 2004.

Did I miss anything???


And, just because I can't go without posting a picture...

Here's us about ten years ago. Nope, I wasn't always blonde! ;)

And our shirts - are fake. There's no such thing as Gamma Gamma Gamma. We rebelled on the Greek system and made our own sorority. No joke.

Taking class to the professor's home...

Yesterday was a long, but rather enjoyable day! Much different from the day before, which was long and unenjoyable!

(Is unenjoyable a word? I don't think it is).

Anyway.

Yesterday morning was such a blessing because I got to sleep in. Although I didn't sleep very well (not sure why) I didn't get out of bed until almost 8am. Once I did officially wake up, I was able to take my time getting ready, drinking coffee and reading blogs. This is my idea of a perfect morning. :)

At 10:15 I was scheduled to do a read aloud at an elementary school near my apartment. This was for my children's lit class (seriously, this class is dominating my life!) and I was really looking forward to it because the kids were 5th graders (perfect grade) and I was planning on reading A Wrinkle in Time or When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. I was a little bummed when I got there because the kids were taking ITBS (Iowa's standardized tests) and they were running behind. I only got about 15 minutes to read to them, and will have to come back next week to finish up.

After that I had my afternoon class... at my professors HOME. This prof lives in a very prestigious area of town and I was really looking forward to seeing her house! It did not disappoint. If you follow me on Twitter, you know what I am talking about.

This house was beyond gorgeous! When we all got there she went into the story of how she built the house and planned every nook and cranny. She admitted that she wanted to show it off and said, what's the point of building a beautiful house if you're not going to entertain in it?! I agree with her. At first it seemed a little show off-ish, but by the time I left I felt completely different. She has a point about wanting to share it with others, it makes sense.

What was also *awesome* was she basically said, go snoop, I'm not going to tour you around the house, just go look around.

So... look around we did. I fell in love with her closet and her master bath. So.freaking.gorgeous.

If I ever become a professor I will most definitely do this, I will never forget that experience.

After "class" was over, I had to work with my regular client. This week is kicking my ass and my patience is wearing extremely thin, so work was a little rough. I couldn't stop looking at the clock.

After I was scheduled to be done working with her I was meeting up with an old high school friend for sushi. We have regular sushi dates, but for some reason we hadn't been able to get together for months. I was so excited to catch up with her!

After all that I didn't get home until after 9pm. So, it was a really fun day, just long. Story of my life, huh?

How do you like to start your day? Do you begin your day the same way each day? (read newspaper, check blogs, walk dog... etc)