The Secretsof Ben's Success

college. But I did, and now I'm passing my secret onto you.

But first you have to swear that you will keep this a secret. Ok, lean in real close to the paper ...rest. There it is. R-E-S-T. Relax and take a load off.

BEN LUNN

Uh, hi. For those of you who don't know me, my name is right up top, along with my picture. Ok, now we know each other.

Have any of you ever stared at a computer screen for so long that nothing makes any sense anymore? Have you ever stared at a blank piece of paper until you thought you could almost see through it? Well, if you have, you've probably learned something. Don't stress yourself out. It's a very easy bit of advice to give out, but extremely difficult to follow. It's also quite relevant to first year students.

Well, it's your first time in college and most of you have had a lot thrown at you in a short amount of time. You have at least one complete stranger living with you, you no longer have your own room at home, you have no friends here, and you are thrown into new classes. That's not even taking into account the food, rules and work that you have to do. Imagine what you will deal with tomorrow.

In almost every sense, you are a stranger in a strange land. Thrown into the mix and expected to adapt. With all this to deal with I'm sometimes surprised that anyone can make it through their first year at

Call it what you will, but that's how I made it through. No matter what happens realize that you will live through it, as long as you don't stress yourself out and burn out in the first couple of weeks. Now there are different ways of relaxing. Some of you may want to just hang out in your room and read Fine. Others may consider it relaxing to just sit and watch a movie. That's really fun too. I personally found one of the better things to do was to get involved. Yes, I know that the last thing you want is to take on even more than you are now. I even know that some of you feel that you can't take on more than you are.

But to those of you that are involved, congratulations. What you are doing in your spare time is actually meeting people with the same interests, developing interpersonal skills, and going above and beyond the call of duty for most college students.

I'm not recommending that you do more than you can do. That will do nothing but make your first year living hell. What I am recommending is that you find your limits, explore your talents and interests, and meet people. All of this will make your first year here worthwhile.

One of my biggest peeves about this school is the people who do nothing but sit in their room and complain. ''I hate it here. There's nothing to do. What's on 1V?"

If I only had a dollar for every person who never left his room and then complained that he hated it here because he was bored, I would be able to pay off my education (before taxes of course). If you do nothing but sit in your room, of course you will be bored. But don't say that there is nothing to do.

There is plenty to do, provided you are not lazy. You c-0uldwork on the paper, you could join the theatre, you could work on the radio station, you could play sports, you could swim at the Dixon Center, you could learn squash and you could even go for a walk, and for those daring enough to venture off campus, there are movie theatres within walking distance, there's a shuttle to the mall, and there are trains to Philly relatively inexpensive.

The point of all of this is just to do something to relax.. If you are stressed, ease up a little and make sure that you have some "me time." If you are bored, DO SOMETHING. Either way, don't do too much or too little. If you learned anything from my ramblings. I hope that that's it. Enjoy!

Ben Lunn is the editorin-chief of Loquitur. If you catch him complaining or being lazy, let us know at once.

This editorial represents the combined views of the Loquitur's student editorial board. It does not represent the opinion of any one individual writer or any member of the faculty, staff or administration.