I can’t even begin to remember the amount of times I’ve asked myself, “What’s the point of this?” all throughout college. I’ve asked that question periodically growing up, but it didn’t occur to me until my sophomore year just how often I was thinking this way.

All young adults ask this question, some more often than others, but everyone has had those moments when they wonder what the true value is in what they’re doing. Whether it’s a boring required class or a dead-end job, it’s sometimes difficult to see the long-term purpose in our day-to-day activities.

People always talk fondly of college and reminisce about the days when they seemingly had no responsibilities. We’re told growing up that college is the best four years of your life, but my experience, and that of many other students, isn’t quite so carefree. We’re held to a high degree of accountability for our own futures and we have to constantly be on top of our game making the right decisions.

When the going gets rough, I always wonder if the stress and anxiety are ultimately worth what I’m supposed to be getting at the end. When I started college, my indecisiveness about my major and uncertain career path didn’t help give me a good foundation for staying motivated. The conflicting advice I got every time I turned to a friend didn’t help either.

But I could never blame anyone else for what’s going through my mind because in the end, it’s all on me to keep going. I have to talk myself out of giving up every time I’m convinced that I hate what I’m doing. More often than not, I’ll eventually finish what I’m doing and soon wonder why I was so broken up about it. Still, that’s not to undermine the constant internal battle I endure leading up to that moment.

For anyone else who shares the same sentiment, the best thing you can do for yourself is to see it through, whatever it is that you’re second-guessing. Think about why you wanted to do it in the first place. If it’s something big like school or work, ask yourself what you’re hoping to get out of it in the end. Even if it sucks (and it often will), you have to keep reminding yourself that there’s a bigger picture in the background, it’s just not readily apparent.

The easy option will always be to give up, especially when you’re on the verge of going insane for something that isn’t immediately beneficial. Your instincts will tell you that it’s not worth it, but they’re wrong. You will always be happier with yourself for finishing what you started. Think of it as your chance to prove all of the naysayers wrong; if the odds are stacked against you and you feel like giving up, the most surprising thing you can do is come back tenfold and persevere until the end.

An easy way to get back to level heading when you’re overwhelmed is to do exactly the opposite of what you should be doing. It sounds stupid and counterproductive, but literally remove yourself from everything. When I’m stressed out of my mind and feel like giving up, I’ll go somewhere for a few hours and just forget about whatever it is that has me going crazy. It helps to free my mind and provide some clarity for what I’m doing. But maybe that’s just me.

There’s something about completely removing yourself from a situation that lets you step back and see it in a different light. Once you see it from the outside, you don’t feel victimized by it and you can gain control over what you need to do. It’s just a matter of taking a moment to recall the end result that gets forgotten amidst the stress of how long it takes to get there.

Whatever your strategy is for staying motivated, don’t hesitate to use it, and use it often. Remember that there’s always a purpose for what you’re doing, though you may not realize it for days, months, or even years. Eventually, you’ll look back with the satisfaction of knowing that you believed in yourself enough to not quit early.

After all, ten weeks down the road you might be laughing and think to yourself, “Why did I ever believe I couldn’t do this?”

Follow Grant Susman on Twitter @ImGrantSusman 

As college students, we have the incredible ability to put up with living conditions that are less than desirable, to put it nicely. Between the trash that piles up, the beds that are never made and the bathrooms that haven’t been cleaned since our lease was signed, it’s a wonder how we can tolerate such an environment for months at a time.

However, the college living situation only seems revolting when compared to the middle-class homes that many of us came from. We might not realize it while we’re here, but we have a lot to learn when it comes to taking care of ourselves.

When we venture home for winter break, there will inevitably be some huge differences that we’re grateful for right off the bat. But there’s also a collection of smaller things that aren’t immediately obvious. Here are the ten little things (in no particular order) you’ll be grateful for after going back to your parents’ house.

1. The food: This one seems obvious, but you actually don’t fully appreciate the gift of a refrigerator full of food until you come back to find yours stocked with little more than a couple tortillas and some milk that’s definitely expired. Your parents’ fridge is like a gold mine that never ends.

2. Paper products: I’m talking about toilet tissue that’s actually soft, paper towels that are more than two-ply and actual Kleenex so you don’t have to keep wasting your TP on the inevitable fall term runny nose.

3. Television: I’ll be honest, my apartment came with a giant plasma TV that lives its life comfortably as a decoration for my living room. I don’t have cable, so its usability is severely hampered for my roommate and I. Going home means that when I turn the TV on, I’ll see more than the one looping channel telling me how to order Xfinity.

4. The temperature: It doesn’t seem to matter how new your building is, it’s never a match for the outside coming in. At home, you’ll experience the bliss of windows that aren’t ridiculously drafty and a heater that you can turn up without your roommate yelling about the increased utility bill.

5. General quality: Almost everything in your parents’ house is nicer than what you have. It’s just a fact of life. Whether it’s pots and pans that aren’t from the early 50s or an oven that doesn’t take half the evening to preheat, it’s safe to say our parents’ stuff is light years ahead of ours in terms of quality.

6. The car: I’m the only one of my friends who has a car in Eugene, but I can tell just from that how liberating it must be to have the ability to go places further than walking distance for the first time in months. At home, you can go anywhere and do anything, and you probably don’t have to worry about where you park it either.

7. Family: We all love our families, but we often forget about the small things they do that really solidify that. I will never shake my head again at having people around who will cook for me, clean up after me, and just be there to keep me company sometimes.

8. The cleanliness: Though it’s more immediately apparent, the reality of having a house that’s spotless 95 percent of the time is almost breathtaking after living in a college apartment. The floors are smooth, the fixtures are shiny and everything just smells nice.

9. The boredom: We complain all the time about how bored we are over break, but we never stop to appreciate how pleasant it is actually not having anything to do for once. No impending projects, no cramming for finals, just pure relaxation. Take some time over break to unwind before the craze of another quarter sets in.

10. The silence: I always thought it was actually a little creepy how silent my parents’ neighborhood is, but I’ve learned to never take that for granted. Go home and enjoy three weeks of sleeping soundly without drunk people screaming at 2 a.m., crisis assistance vans backing out and ambulances blaring sirens at all hours of the day.

Follow Grant Susman on Twitter @ImGrantSusman

Around this time each year, I come to the realization that I’ve been functioning on false energy for about four months. The late-night cravings and lack of sleep have finally gotten to the point where I’m legitimately concerned with what I’m doing to my body.

But then I forget about it and grab another cup of coffee because I’m still dead to the world. So what if it’s noon on a Saturday? I still need that pick-me-up.

The vicious cycle continues for weeks and weeks before it ever occurs to me that the only reason I’m still awake is due to the perpetual caffeine IV that’s hardwired to my veins.

I know it’s not good for me. I don’t want to have to do this. I really don’t. I would love to get a full night’s sleep on a regular basis. But we all know that isn’t really possible while in college. The coffee is a necessary evil.

That’s why I have grown to dislike coffee shops and everything they stand for.

I want to spend less time at them, but you would never guess it based on how frequently I break that rule. I’d love to give it up, but there isn’t a sliver of a chance that I could stay awake.

Once you start patronizing a coffee shop religiously, it slowly starts to consume other aspects of your life. You get to know the people who work there, you find a favorite place to sit and you know the autumn workday playlist better than your own friends’ birthdays.

Then you start going in even when you don’t need coffee, and it’s all downhill from there. Now you’re not only budgeting a disproportionate amount of money for your regular visits, but you’re also spending your free time in an environment you never intended to frequent to begin with.

I never understood why so many students were devoted to studying in coffee shops because, in theory, there’s really no worse place to get work done. It’s the most distracting environment ever.

Between the constant flow of people in and out of the store and the lingering soundtrack of Santana and whining espresso machines, it’s a wonder anything ever gets accomplished.

Not to mention the fact that there is almost never space to move around, save for the one chair in the dark corner where they seem to have eternally forgotten to replace the light bulb. Oh wait, that’s just a part of the café’s “mystique” and “ambiance.” How could I forget?

Only coffee shops could get away with calling a dark, musty half-finished crawlspace an acceptable place to purchase caffeinated beverages for about nine times they’re worth.

I’m not sure who decided dark and ominous was the new rage, but I’m already over it. I need to at least be able to see what I’m inevitably going to burn my tongue on.

Nevertheless, I can’t fault the zombie-esque patrons of coffee shops because I understand them now. They aren’t there because they want to be.

They know full well how unproductive the next two hours are going to be for the minute they sit down and open up their MacBooks. They’re just so used to the environment now that they couldn’t possibly see themselves going anywhere else. It’s an addiction that goes quietly unacknowledged.

Unfortunately, our oblivious devotion to a life of caffeine is unavoidable at some level. We’re not going to stop being busy anytime soon, and we’re certainly not going to be able to get ourselves to bed any earlier than the usual 2-3 a.m.

College culture and coffee culture go hand in hand, and our erratic schedules are always calling for something to keep us awake. As much as I don’t want to have to gulp down coffee just to stay coherent, it’s practically a ritual nowadays.

Maybe someday I’ll bring it on myself to quit the caffeine addiction. But that day is far and away from the day I leave this university, at the very least. No, I don’t need room for cream.

Follow Grant Susman on Twitter @ImGrantSusman

With fall term quickly coming to an end, we’re all running around frantically, trying to pick up the pieces of everything we’ve learned throughout the quarter.

While some of us save our stress for two distinct periods known as midterms and finals, others find it to be more of a constant stream, spreading itself out over the course of the entire quarter.

In many ways, the latter seems inherently worse than the first. After all, who would choose to be stressed for all 10 weeks instead of just a few here and there? Even if it’s less severe, the constant pressure of always having something that needs to be done is taxing.

The age-old debate of midterms and finals versus group projects has never had a definitive answer, more often than not because each individual case is so different and must be considered in its own distinct way. Group work and project requirements are so subjective that no two situations are alike, even if there are still some common denominators here and there.

Until college, my experience told me that group projects were infinitely easier than big exams. There was no studying or cramming involved, and you had other people to share the weight of the duties with.

That quickly changed once I got into college and experienced the reality of trusting other people with your entire course grade.

As much as you’re committed to making things work, the other members of your group are never going to be as concerned about your grade as you. Senior general social science major Valerie Sherwood commented on the difficulty of group work.

“Sometimes group work is really easy, and sometimes it’s really difficult. I’m actually about to go meet a group in 15 minutes and it’s been really hard to find time to meet each other,” she said. “We have conflicting ideas about what we should do or how we should do it. Both are hard, but when it’s an exam it’s all on you. When it’s a group project, you have to keep in mind like five other people.”

Sherwood’s comment illustrates what is quite possibly the most difficult part of working with other people.

There’s a degree of trust that must be maintained between the group’s members and everyone must be held responsible for doing his or her part. When you choose a group of people to share in the work, you’re assuming that everyone will take it seriously and complete what they’re obligated to do.

That assumption is where it’s easy to go wrong. Any good student could tell you that group projects rarely go smoothly. There’s always something else to consider and something else that needs to be done.

With all of the extra hassle involved in working with other people, it’s often questionable just how much you end up learning when it’s all said and done.

“Some students would rather have an exam instead of a project because they can get it done and over with in an hour,” said marketing instructor Frank Veltri. “Some projects can take upwards of six or so weeks of meeting and prep work. It’s a longer process, but because of that there’s sometimes more learning involved.”

On one hand, you’ve spent 10 weeks diving deep into one subject, but you’ve also spent that time feverishly trying to coordinate who’s holding up their end of the bargain.

But there’s no doubt that long-term group projects are more effective in making you learn more than a single exam.

Whether it’s knowledge of the actual subject or a better understanding of how to cooperate with others, you always walk away from a long-term project having gained something significant.

“Personally, I enjoy quarter-long projects because they’re more hands-on rather than trying to cram what you’ve learned all quarter into an hour-long test. I feel like you learn more overall with projects,” sophomore architecture major Davis Carlisle said.

Though we may not have a definitive answer for whether tests or projects are fundamentally better, we can at least say that we learn much more within the long-term group dynamic.

Even if you spent 10 weeks stressing nonstop about who was doing their part on your project, you were still probably more involved in the entire ordeal than if you were doing it alone. Group projects may force us into situations that are uncomfortable, but in the end we still come out of them smarter than before.

Follow Grant Susman on Twitter @ImGrantSusman

I rarely look back into the past; it’s done and over with, and there’s nothing I can do to change what already happened. Consequently, I don’t let on a whole lot about my own history. I make every effort possible not to dwell on things that have run its course.

But, every now and then, I’ll end up in a situation that forces me to glance back in time and with it comes a tornado of play-by-play memories.

Ninety-five percent of the time, I end up here as the result of some little thing that tripped me to look in the rear-view mirror. Before I know it, I’m off in a time machine back to some random moment years ago.

More often than not, music is the instigator of these mental retreats back in time. We’re all familiar with small, seemingly insignificant things that will always be associated with distant memories. Sometimes it’s a song, smell or an entire geographic location.

For many, a simple song lyric or tune is all it takes to elicit a powerful connection to the past, even if it’s just for a second.

Music has this incredible power to take you back to places and times you had long forgotten and likely never cared to go back to. Whether it’s tied to an ex-lover, a traumatic event or just an embarrassing moment, there always seems to be a song that anchors us to that memory forever.

Our brains are hardwired to associate certain events with what our senses were telling us during that time. It’s the same reason we still remember those godforsaken Schoolhouse Rock! jingles from long ago.

And now, you probably wouldn’t have to think twice about the elements that make up a proper sentence. Thanks to those videos, it’s unlikely you’ll ever forget. That’s the power of our mind’s musical association.

The same is true of just about any other significant memory. As much as you try to forget about what happened and move on with your life, some stupid song plays on the radio that does nothing but put you right back where you were when it happened.

You may start to think that if you force yourself to listen to the song a disgusting amount of times, maybe you’ll be able to scrap the past and associate the tune with a new memory. Try as you might, it’s nearly impossible.

Our mind forces us to associate music with tangible life incidents because that’s how we keep the past so neatly filed away. If our passive listening never struck the chord of something noteworthy, we would never be able to discern between this, that and the other thing.

It is for this reason only that I am somewhat thankful for music tethering me to the past. It’s obnoxious most of time, but there are occasionally moments when I’m glad I can recall something so vividly, all because of a catchy melody.

However, the extent of my gratitude is limited. I can be appreciative for a minute, but I immediately flip the script as soon as a grating anthem from my past takes me back.

The worst offenders are any of the six looping Christmas anthems that played shamelessly at my first retail job. I had no choice in hearing those songs to begin with, so the fact that I was forced to hear each one of them about nine times a day did little to get me in the holiday spirit.

I’m pretty sure if I hear “Christmas Wrapping” again, the memories associated with it would be melancholy at best.

Without a doubt, music is one of the greatest conductors of emotion. We usually don’t think twice about the small things that happen, and certainly less about how they make us feel. Nevertheless, there will always be a song to transport us back, for better or for worse.

Life in college is fast. We’re in an environment that bombards us with a realm of possibilities not found in the real world. There’s always something going on or something else to do that’s little more than an arm’s reach from wherever we go.

The greatest thing about going to a school like the University of Oregon is the fact that we are able to experience so many different things in such a short amount of time. It’s the true “college experience” that we were promised growing up.

The university environment is thrilling, but it’s also unexpectedly blinding. We become so engrained in our atmosphere and the little day-to-day things in life that we often forget to give ourselves a reality check.

Truthfully, there’s a whole giant world beyond our four square-mile dome of familiarity. It bears little relevance to what we do on a daily basis here, and bears even less concern for the same.

The real world runs completely independently of the college environment, and it really doesn’t care about what goes on here. Many students are unaware of how easily you can become disconnected from the rest of the world during college.

Think about the last time you ran into someone around campus that you haven’t seen for a long time. How great was that reunion? Did it feel like you haven’t seen them in forever?

It’s probably been a couple weeks, or at most, a month since you saw them last. Really. There are over 26 thousand students at this university, but we all coexist within the same small geographic area for nine months of the year. There are only so many places students can go at any given time, and chances are you’re seeing familiar faces day in and day out.

The fact that you feel like it’s been ages since you last saw that person is a product of “college time.” It’s our distorted perception of reality that tells us 10 times more days have passed than actually have.

The illusion results from our environment constantly stimulating us. Whether it’s schoolwork, a job, internships, career preparation or socializing, we’re never at a lack for something to occupy our time.

The saying, “time flies when you’re having fun” has suddenly never been truer. We feel like a week lasts for a month because of all the things we can fit into a single day.

We wake up early, stay up late, live for the weekends and keep ourselves conscious with copious amounts of caffeine and sub-par food. No wonder we have no idea how long it’s been. If all that doesn’t alter your perception of time, I don’t know what will.

The easiest way to get a surefire reality check is to go home for a random weekend in the middle of the term. You’ll quickly start to see just how slowly the rest of the world seems to function after you’ve become attuned to the student lifestyle.

After spending two full days separated from your friends, you’ll feel like you must have missed out on a whirlwind of adventures that couldn’t possibly be replicated. The feeling of missing out sets in and you begin to reconsider your decision to return to the slow world for 48 hours.

In a sense, the experience of college almost feels like a dream. Once you step away and see it from an outsider’s perspective, it’s strange to think that all those crazy things actually happened. The rest of the world has been trudging by, and hardly anything there seems remarkably different from how it was months ago.

College has probably made you feel like a different person, but everyone at home everyone still thinks of you the same. Some things just never change.

It’s unnerving when you realize how blind you’ve been to the rest of the world after spending so much time in the college setting, but it’s also somewhat comforting. Next time you’re facing a problem that seems detrimental, consider that there’s a whole huge world out there that doesn’t care what happens here.

No matter how you end up, the world will keep turning, and the decisions you make in college won’t (generally) be that big of a deal. We weigh an incredible amount of importance on trivial things, but sometimes a little zooming out is all it takes to stay grounded in actuality.

Follow Grant Susman on Twitter @ImGrantSusman

You look outside. It’s gray. It’s wet. Your alarm clock pales in comparison to the leaf blower guy outside your window every Monday at 7:30 a.m. Every girl in a five-mile radius is clad in knee-high rain boots, yoga pants and a North Face jacket with her hair in a bun. It must be autumn.

My favorite time of year is one of vibrant colors and refreshing cool dampness. It’s a season that brings anticipation, adventure and a revamping of college life.

But I also hate it.

Autumn is one of those seasons that seem really cool and exciting in theory, but in actuality is watered down (quite literally) by the spontaneous downpours and lingering cloud coverage.

“But the rain’s not so bad, I kind of like it!”

That’s because it’s only November. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Let me know after Valentine’s Day how excited you still are to jump around in puddles and frolic in the blissful afternoon showers. I didn’t believe in the rumored “nine months of darkness” when I first moved here either, but it turns out that it really is no joke.

“But…football!”

Valid point. Fall term signals the return of Duck football. There’s nothing I love more during the first 10 weeks of school than going to the game with friends. The thrill, the excitement and the collective energy, it’s a true hallmark of the college experience.

That is if you get tickets. As it turns out, having 10 members of your extended family across the country logged in and ready to strike when the clock strikes 8 p.m., still isn’t enough. Did anyone else notice the lack of an email for Stanford distribution?

Well played, goducks.com. Fall just wouldn’t be complete without the additional raincloud of missing out on tickets.

And the leaves. How could I forget about the leaves? Everywhere. The spectrum of blue, orange, yellow and green that makes up Eugene in autumn is a sight to be seen.

However, the sight of beautiful foliage comes with a price, not the least of which is a willful sacrifice of any floor you touch upon stepping in from the great outdoors.

Every single time someone walks into your apartment they undoubtedly bring a lovely offering of every color tree that they passed on their way over. Their shoes touch the carpet and immediately turn it into a surface akin to the forest floor. Not to worry though, it’s not like I wanted my security deposit back anyway.

Fall is a time where perpetual wetness plagues the unprepared and tests their willpower and commitment to the things they love. Everyone has had that moment when they question just how badly they want to see their friend who lives on the opposite side of campus while it’s pouring rain eternally. There’s no greater indicator of a true friend than someone who will walk from 12th Avenue and High Street to 22nd Avenue and Emerald Street just to see you on a Friday night.

Alas, there is a flipside to the dark days of autumn. It’s not all a cloud-ridden shrouds of unhappiness. We joke about the weather during the fall, but we only do so to avoid the inevitable realization of what winter term will bring.

By the time January rolls around, people have grown accustomed to the gloominess and accepted the notion that they still won’t see the sun for another five months.

Relatively speaking, we should all be slaphappy about fall and our one allotted sunny day per week, because it’ll be gone sooner than we can say, “Is that blue sky?” Some day in the near future, we’ll long for this time, probably once we’re nearly unable to discern the days of the week, and much less what time of the day it is.

So, if nothing else, take comfort in knowing that fall is, at the very least, still better than winter. I don’t know many people who get ecstatic at the idea of it getting dark at 4:00 in the afternoon.

At the end of the day, we may complain, rant and bond over everything that autumn provides us with (for better or for worse), but there will always be something about it that keeps us coming back. Perhaps it’s the temperamental mode of the weather that aligns with the unpredictable nature of college students. Whatever the case, it’s a true love/hate relationship. Don’t forget your rain jacket.

Follow Grant Susman on Twitter @ImGrantSusman

Yik this, Yak that. There’s no doubt we’re all aware of the craze surrounding the new app targeted to college students. For those who don’t know, Yik Yak is an anonymous iPhone and Android app where users post short “Yaks” about anything and vote and comment on Yaks posted by others nearby.

While its intention is to be a fun, random message board written by anonymous people in a close vicinity, institutions and officials around the nation have recently been up in arms dealing with the repercussions.

Since it first released on the App Store in November of 2013, the app has spread to hundreds of campuses nationwide, captivating college students and their desire to say whatever, whenever.

But as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. The app has come under fire with conflicts of cyberbullying, violent threats, and generally offensive content. The concept of anonymity is empowering and liberating, often leading people to vocalize statements that are less than appropriate, and much less polite.

What’s happening here is nothing out of the ordinary. Social media has created a platform for this kind of anonymous content to be published—and this trend of communicating has spread like wildfire.

Cam Mullen, the Lead Community Developer at Yik Yak, shed some light on what exactly the purpose and direction of the app is supposed to be.

“Our mission is to provide an open forum and give voices to those who might otherwise not have one,” Mullen stated. “We want to foster conversations and discussions that might not have been necessarily had before. The content is very different from other social media sites. It provides a general happening to what’s going on around you.”

And foster conversations he did. Anybody who has used the app could tell you just how obscure the content is. While one person is Yakking about an enthralling speech, another person ten feet away is posting about how badly they have to take a dump.

“Half of it is funny, half of it is annoying,” Tate Watson, a freshman pre-business major said. “Some people make me laugh, but others are just plain weird.”

Almost all of the weirdness and controversy can be attributed to the anonymity factor. When people no longer have an identity, the also have no filter. Mullen responded with his take on how to combat the inevitable.

“Typically, anonymity can breed not the best stuff online, but we look out for that in a variety of ways. First, down votes allow a Yak to be deleted if it goes below -5. Users can report messages to be taken off and we also have moderators watching the feed for offensive content and cyberbullying,” he responded. “With any social app there’s going to be a small percentage that misuse it. We’re working to lower that as much as possible, but at some level it’s unavoidable.”

Staking a claim in the online world is risky business, but few realize there is a much bigger picture for this app than its current state. People are so caught up in the implications of a select few trying to ruin it for everybody that the true benefits of this service have yet to show through.

“Twitter started out silly, but ended up turning into one of the world’s best news sources. For us, new features are growing Yik Yak in the same way,” said Mullen. “For example, Peek Anywhere is our newest feature that lets you drop a pin anywhere in the world and see Yaks from that place.”

Features like this are what propel a service like Yik Yak from a local bulletin hub into a global information source.

“It helps give people a clear, unfiltered, unbiased opinion on what’s going on right then. In a sense, it’s a reporter’s dream.”

Students are already starting to see the positives of the app, in spite of the lingering dispute. Its local context lends a sense of community that isn’t always present with other sites.

“The greatest thing about the app is that on game day you can see the rivalry between schools and it’s kind of fun,” said Shawna Chrisman, a junior business and English major.

These kind of posts are just the beginning. Between the community-driven force locally and its growing global application, Yik Yak could potentially be the next big thing. We just have to remember that it’s our responsibility to exercise our voice wisely.

It’s finally time. You’ve settled in Eugene, your closest friends are by your side and you’re ready to pick out your first place in the big, scary off-campus world. You’re not afraid. The only thing going through your mind is the salvation of finally living in a completely parent and RA-free zone.

That’s likely what we all thought when we started looking for our own place. The taste of freedom and the thrill of having a home where we can do whatever we want often blinds us from the less desirable aspects of the daunting housing search.

Diving headfirst into the conquest for my first apartment opened my eyes to everything that goes overlooked. We begin with the obvious questions: How many bedrooms? Apartment or house? Seems simple enough, right?

Wrong. Little did I know that I had to factor in things like utilities, internet and pretty much anything else necessary to survive as a college student. I had minimal knowledge of everything it actually takes to live on my own and even less of how I was supposed to make it all work.

It took me months to find somewhere that met (nearly) all of the required criteria set by my roommate and me, and even longer to actually get the ball rolling on securing that place for ourselves in the fall. Finding a place of our own was matter of jumping through a surfeit of hoops set forth by leasing companies, landlords and more often than not, parents.

By the time the lease finally got signed (the last day of spring quarter), I would be putting it lightly if I said was fed up with all of the people and paperwork involved. Nailing down the logistics of leasing is a headache and a half, and it can be the first step in testing the relationship of our closest friends, aka our new roommates.

Fortunately, I was still lucky enough to have the opportunity and desire to live with one of my closest friends. For many, the search for housing entails finding roommates to begin the search with, a huge risk and responsibility to take on.

With the rise of all the new student-oriented apartment complexes opening up around campus, the process of getting roommates is easier than ever before.

Enter roommate matching: Something we all saw when signing up for the dorms. The idea is the same, but much more thorough, and aims to match students with roommates who are alike, making for an enjoyable and friction-free environment.

A primary student community that utilizes this system well is 13th and Olive, aiming to put those together who have the potential to live with up to three other strangers seamlessly.

“In terms of compatibility, the use of roommate matching is most effective in providing the best experience for renting with other people,” Pat Walsh, a representative for Eugene public relations company Vox, said.

However, the battle of finding roommates still only represents one of the hurdles. Perhaps the toughest of the criteria to meet is finding somewhere that has what you want with a price that you can afford. Elliott Fromm shared his experience with finding somewhere that met his requirements:

“The most important aspect to me was finding something affordable that had enough room for everything my roommates and I do,” Fromm said. “We love listening to music, so a basement was necessary,” he responded.

That is the issue faced by all of us in the search. Finding somewhere affordable, close to campus and sufficient for everyone’s needs is one thing, but at the end of the day, we still want to live somewhere that we actually like.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the logistics of the entire process that you forget the most important piece, which is finding something that’s right for you. Some factors look great on paper, but if it’s not what you want, then your entire living situation will never work out.

“My biggest challenge was finding somewhere that wasn’t overpriced and wasn’t built in five minutes,” said Kelsey Spellman. “I knew that I wanted a house and not an apartment.”

Before you go jumping for joy with the excitement of finding a place of your own, just keep in mind that there’s a degree of rationality that has to go along with it. Your first apartment or house is liberating, but the responsibility is no joke. Your best bet is to go into the search with an open mind and flexibility like no other.

When I see something crazy or remotely interesting during a normal day, I, along with almost everybody else, have one reaction that strikes first: I reach into my pocket, grab my iPhone and open up Snapchat, desperately hoping that it will finish loading before whatever was grabbing my attention fades away and the opportunity to document it is gone forever.

It’s a behavior that has become so habitual since I started using the app one year ago and I don’t even realize I’m doing it anymore. I could only assume that whatever caused me to perk up for even a brief second must be worth sharing with my entire social circle. But there’s just one problem.

We’ve really lost our grip on what’s important. This occurred to me during dinner with a friend last week, after I had been starving the entire day and couldn’t bear to wait any longer for some food. When the waiter finally came back with my order, I was dying to eat what was in front of me.

But I didn’t. I took my phone out, Snapchatted a picture of my food with some worthless contextual caption, put my phone back, and only then did I proceed to start eating; an occurrence we’re all too familiar with.

However, the only thing separating this time from the hundreds of other instances where I did the exact same thing was that I actually stopped and realized what I was doing. I was literally ignoring my fundamental needs for survival in favor of perpetuating the virtual “story” of my life. Instead of eating my food, I was showing it off to everyone I knew, as if it had more value as an instrumental bragging piece. I couldn’t help but think: What happened that pushed our priorities so seriously out of line?

Since then, I’ve made a conscious effort to stop myself whenever the urge hits to send Snapchats of mundane things. I do my best to ask things like “Is this really that cool?” or “Does anybody really care that this is happening right now?” Needless to say, I’ve found that the answer is ‘no’ in almost all situations. Your life isn’t that interesting and no, nobody really cares that you’re eating food right now. We all have to do it. It isn’t exactly an earth-shattering endeavor.

However, becoming self-aware when it comes to your own Snapchats is only half the battle. I might have been able to stop myself from posting some pretty useless crap, but all it did was make me spend more time on the app than before. Since I was no longer focused on posting, my time was now all devoted to watching every last second of everyone’s “My Story” whenever they updated. Turns out that I didn’t learn as much as I thought. I never “quit” the app; I just changed how I was using it. I was still glued to my phone all the time, just in a different way.

Our smartphones are incredible, make no mistake, but at some point we have to realize that enough is enough. Look at the people all around you. What are they doing? It doesn’t matter where you are, there’s always somebody panning for a video or snapping a selfie. We are on these things 24/7, whether it’s in the classroom, outside on the lawn or at home in the living room.

A smartphone is an integral part of life now, going a day without it leaves one feeling effects similar to withdrawal. We’re all addicts, even though few would admit it, and even fewer realize it.

That being said, the good news is that there are redeeming factors. This is by no means a guilt-trip for using your phone, because I can be blamed just as much for doing the same things that sometimes drive me up the wall. Snapchat is cool, and despite its freakishly addictive qualities, it’s still an amusing and lighthearted way to broadcast your daily adventures to a whole bunch of people.

The next time you snap a picture of your alarm clock, set it for eight seconds, and caption it “too early for this,” just remember that we’ve all done the same thing. Every day. Since the beginning of time. Try to spice it up a bit.