No Phone…
This past weekend, my phone finally gave in and broke. This is a chronic problem at colleges across the nation- some of my friends have gone through five or more phones in one semester! Nevertheless, this was my third phone since eighth grade, and I had had it for a year and a half, so I did not really shed tears over it breaking.
However…it was a huge inconvenience. I talk to my mom every day-we are constantly emailing, texting, calling…you name it. So when I had no phone, I called her from my friend’s phone and joked that if she needed to get a hold of me, we’d have to email. This became the running joke of all of my friends- they would email me about walking to class together, about getting dinner, or if they had interesting things to tell me. It got to the point where I would almost walk around campus carrying my laptop……………just kidding.
–> Emailing is the best…………………..
I iChatted with my family every day (photo below is a Halloween iChat photo), for the 4 days I was phoneless, so they got to see me, hear my voice, and know that I was just fine. In our culture today, we are constantly in contact with others, and when our means disappear, then we have to resort to other methods. I cannot stress how important email is in college. We have VUGmail, which is Gmail for Vanderbilt. Duh. But this is so much better than a normal email account because we have access to Google Docs, G-chat (my friends and I always G-chat), calendars, access on your mobile phone (so I can respond to emails from Kappa or my professors while on the go…email is my life), and so much more. Plus, I have an email address that is professional, which is a lot different than my AOL email that I have had since I was about ten. I didn’t really want my professors to receive emails from “mofish307@aol.com”.
Once I got my new phone (my dad sent me my mom’s [we had the same phone before] and she got an upgrade, which worked out perfectly), which is a Blackberry (I am a firm believer that in college it is important to have a phone with data capabilities- I didn’t lie before when I said emailing has become my life) I went to ITS (Vanderbilt Information Technology Services) to have them help me set up my email on my phone. They were so helpful-I was in and out within 10 minutes, with my email all ready to go. They are located on Peabody Campus (aka the Commons), right next to the Commons Center. So easy to locate, and time efficient…I’ll be heading back there if I have problems with my computer or phone. Fun fact: ITS has a Twitter account! I think I’ll follow them to get the latest updates from the Vanderbilt tech world…
^ ITS Control Room…I got to go in!
So the point of this post: when considering what you need for college, a computer with a camera is a plus. A phone with data capability, and a nice protective cover for it as well, and most of my friends have insurance on their phones. You might think you are the most responsible person, but unfortunate things happen to even the best of us. I talk to my family a lot, but some of my friends go days without talking to theirs. It all depends on your family dynamic, and also the amount of free time that you have.
Honestly, staying in touch is made so easy when all you have to do is write a quick email with updates, rather than a two hour long phone call every single day (not enough time for that!) Now to get my grandparents online and emailing………