As a Sophomore, I have learned a lot from my Freshman year and have figured out a great deal of the things that work for me alongside the things that don't. Some things just make college life so much easier, and sometimes it may take a while to really find the best of those things. So I'm sharing my favorite things which I couldn't imagine living without during my second year of college:
this tumbler. I know this may seem like an odd thing, but I am a huge believer in drinking a TON of water every day. I also am a huge believer in not wasting a disposable water bottle every day. Last year, I used a Camelbak water bottle with a filter as my everyday water bottle. It worked for last year, but I wanted something that felt more like drinking out of a cup rather than something you use to hydrate at the gym. Along came this beautiful, wonderful, glass tumbler from The Mason Bar Company. I splurged on the one with the glass straw and drinking out of it is basically just like drinking out of a glass cup when I'm sitting in my dorm room. And when it's time to go to class, I just grab and go. Easy enough.
these jeans. Okay, so this isn't really specific to college, but I have found the one golden pair of jeans that fit right, go with everything, AND are super comfy, and I need to talk about it. I firmly believe that a good pair of jeans is the key to true happiness. I was going to use this space to talk about the importance of a cute pair of lounge pants to wear in front of classmates in the dorms, but I already touched on that here. Basically the point here is, in college, it is an essential to both look good and be comfortable.
this laundry bag. Living in a dorm means dragging laundry down flights of stairs. Living in an apartment also sometimes means going to the laundromat...or to your parents' house. Laundry has to be able to be mobile in college, and it's important to have a laundry bag on hand. I bought a colorful, trendy, cheap one last year from Target for like 6 bucks and it tore up after wear and tear by the end of the year. So this year, I bought the one pictured above from West Elm, and I am in love with it. The quality is so perfect, it fits my current style way better, and the look is simply neutral and timeless.
this ID case. Not having to carry a purse to class and still having my money, Student ID, and keys all in one place is huge to me. I even throw my lip balm and a thumb drive in the case. I don't own anything else from Vera Bradley, but I'm impressed by the quality of this case. I bought it last summer, and it's still holding up pretty well.
these command photo hanging strips. I hung a large framed and signed Jack's Mannequin poster as well as a full-sized bulletin board with these. You can see both in my last post. So far, they have both been sticking up without any sort of issue. Having framed photos and boards on the walls makes my dorm room feel so much more home-y, and there's really no better product out there that will do the job without damage to the walls. I plan to do some kind of photo gallery wall and I am now seriously considering using framed prints and Command strips.
this space saver brita filter. Going back to my rant about drinking water and how I am no longer using my filtered Camelbak every day, I needed a way to keep filtered water in my room and this filter is perfect for my dorm. It's small enough to fit in the door of my mini fridge, yet it holds enough water for just me. I am so thankful I bought this filter this year too, because unlike having a water fountain right outside my door like last year, the only water fountain near my hall is in the lounge downstairs.
