College Life
5 Easy Ways To Survive College in Another Time Zone
Scheduling time and sleep from the other side of the world can be made easier with some helpful tips and tricks. Classes are online, assignments have doubled and international students have had to disperse across the globe. A sizable number of colleges and universities have an international student population.
Forced to move back to their local countries, or begin college from home, these students have been presented with two options. They must either take a break from education or continue their studies online from across the world. The ones that do, have had to deal with a number of logistical hurdles with the biggest one being: differing time zones.
About 34 percent of students who recently took a survey about living abroad during COVID-19, reported hesitancy in moving abroad for college. Their main reason for this was that they were waiting for the number of COVID-19 cases to drop first.
However, adapting to this unprecedented circumstance is not impossible. Here are five ways that may help overcome time zone differences in college creating a unique schedule. Don’t worry if the sun is not on your side, help is available in many different forms.
1. Register for schedule-friendly lectures.
Try and avoid an inverted week by registering for lectures that take place between 8 am and 10 pm in your local time. This will require you to do some calculation and come to a compromise for choosing the best time slot that won’t have you awake at odd hours. If this is not possible, reconsider your need for the course at this time – if it’s an elective that you can take in the following semesters, it might be worth it to postpone taking it until the Spring semester or next school year.
Many colleges are aware of time zone differences and may also have time slots reserved for international students that you can take advantage of. But, since this may not be the case for every student, there may not be a way around staying up late at night or getting up at the crack of dawn.
2. Sleep is your best ally – don’t sacrifice it.
Much like the five stages of grief, accepting the time zone differences between you and your college is important. One step that can get you closer to functionality is prioritizing sleep. Psychologists don’t lie when they say sleep is one of the key ingredients to a productive (and sane) day – absolutely do not sacrifice it.
Keeping track of how many hours of sleep you get in a week can be beneficial in deducing other areas that may be problematic in your schedule. Consider installing sleep tracking apps like Sleep Monitor to get a better idea of your sleep situation. It can be difficult to have complete control of your sleeping habits, and such apps take note of your sleeping schedule for your benefit. Additionally, it is best to maintain a schedule that does not involve screens an hour before going to sleep.
“Avoid blue light from computer and phone screens one hour before bed. Blue light suppresses the release of melatonin (the body’s signal to start the cascade of processes to fall asleep). If you stare at a screen before bed you will take longer to fall asleep, have worse quality sleep and feel sleepier the following day. People use apps that strip out the blue light. However, some people turn the screen brightness up and bright light has just as bad a negative effect on sleep as blue light,” said world-renowned sleep expert Dr. Neil Stanely.
Because following your natural circadian rhythm may not be possible with a unique schedule, it may be necessary to condition your body to fall asleep. This may require you to plan your social life around your sleep and let others know that you may not be available during the day. It is also important to keep your sleep and school environments separate, so as not to confuse your circadian rhythm by accidentally falling asleep at night.
3. Organize and track activities according to your secondary time zone.
With increased amounts of work to compensate for in-person discussions at lectures and the time zone differences in college, it can be difficult to stay on top of your work. Therefore, it is important that you’re not only aware of how many hours you’re ahead or behind, but also have a time reference. Consider getting a second clock that displays the time in your college city. You can add another digital clock on your desktop taskbar, hang a clock in your room, or place one on your desk. This will help you keep track of how much time you really have before that assignment or discussion post is due.
A time zone gap of ten hours or more may also mean that classes carry over to the next day. Evening lectures take place the next morning, and therefore a time zone adjusted timetable may be beneficial. Desktop apps like Notion not only allow you to customize your calendar, but also let you create to-do lists, keep a journal and reading list, and calculate grades.
Finally, don’t forget about daylight savings! Although a desktop watch may update your international time for you, knowing when a time change will take place is crucial to making sure you don’t misinterpret deadlines.
4. Let others know
Since international students are a relative minority even in ethnically diverse colleges, it is important to make your position known.
Classes may often conduct surveys at the beginning of the term to get an idea of how much of the class is connecting on Zoom internationally. Participate in these surveys, and if this is not possible, let your professor know beforehand. This will allow them to be more sympathetic to your situation and understand the reason behind you potentially missing a class. Don’t abuse this power, however, as professors and TAs may reach out to you with concerns if you overemphasize your troubles with the time difference.
If a class requires you to be in groups or participate in group projects, make sure fellow group members are in similar time zones. This will allow you to coordinate with them more easily and prevent large chunks of time between communication.
5. Use the time difference to your advantage.
If you’re in a country that is significantly ahead of your college city, use this to your advantage. Try conducting activities in the morning or night that you may not usually have time for, such as a long breakfast or lunch, or going for night-time runs. You can also use this time to be productive and catch up on readings so you don’t fall behind. If an assignment or midterm is on the horizon and you have details on it, don’t wait until it is assigned. Spread out its various components into several days to maximize productivity and keep your sleeping hours. While your classmates are sleeping, you can be working on the next assignment.
Lastly, being away from campus doesn’t mean you’re doomed to missing out on social events. Sign up for online seminars, talks and clubs – you may even make new friends.
Online learning especially in institutions like college can be difficult without the added challenge of adhering to another time zone. However, it is not impossible to survive a term or two in this condition. As long as you keep sleep, scheduling, and social activities in check, you will thrive.
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4 No-Fail Ways to Manage Your Mental Health in College
College students around the world have been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, both in their academic as well as social lives. Not only have many classes transferred to an online format, but the entire routine of going to class, eating with friends, and going out on the weekends has come to a halt.
College is already a time where young people tend to disregard their mental health, but the pandemic has raised this issue to a new height, by taking away the daily routines that students use to stay healthy and productive.
Despite the plethora of new found obstacles that college students have faced during this pandemic, the resiliency of young people cannot be underestimated. Even when so much has been taken away from the “best four years of their lives”, students continue to find ways to stay optimistic and happy during these trying times.
I interviewed three students at Wesleyan University in order to get a better understanding of how college students are taking care of their mental health and was met with many strategies current students are using to manage their mental health.
1. Self-Care
“Aside from attending therapy once every two weeks, one of the big ways that I manage my mental health in college is through self-care. Self-care looks different for many students, but to me, it’s about taking the time that I know I deserve to relax and turning on some music or spending time with friends,” said Darielis Rivas class of ‘23.
During a time where most people are concerned about catching, and or spreading COVID-19, self-care may seem like an afterthought, but keeping up with our own health outside of the pandemic is essential, and its importance cannot be overstated.
As Rivas states, self-care looks different from person to person, but what it comes down to is finding the activities that allow you to relax, bring you joy, or simply take your mind off what is going on in the outside world. Another student had a different approach towards keeping track of his mental health:
2. Be Active
“My mental health declines whenever I’m not active and just letting myself stew in boredom so I’ve found the best way to cope with that is just to be active and not get stuck in this cycle of boredom where I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything,” said Joseph Seen ‘23.
The boredom that Seen described has been drastically exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic for many students. Yet, feelings of boredom and loneliness have a few solutions. The challenge is to get up and do something––even if the motivation to do so can be difficult to find.
3. Break the Cycle of Routine
“When I feel like I’m being reclusive in my dorm or stuck in some kind of monotonous cycle, I’ll try to do something that breaks that cycle by just getting me out of my dorm or wherever I feel like I’ve been spending too much time like running or going to do something with friends,” said Seen.
In many ways, mental health is all about cycles and patterns that students tend to fall into. Some of these cycles are positive, and we need to motivate ourselves to continue them, and some are negative and we must try to break them, even if this is a daily struggle.
Maintaining positive cycles is most beneficial for some, whereas for others, breaking negative patterns help them the most. The variety of ways that young people are able to maintain their mental health is very broad. It is truly a personal journey that we must all take, to find the things most important to keep, as well as eliminate from our weekly routines.
4. Keep in Touch With Your Loved Ones
“I think being away from home is hard for me, but it isn’t really hard until you find that moment when you’re alone and have nothing to distract you. Keeping in contact with my family is what helps me. Texting and calling or even just seeing their face on video and photos really just helps me emotionally.” said Kelly Nano-Miranda class of ‘23 at Wesleyan University.
As Rivas found comfort in self care, and Seen did in breaking negative habits, Nano-Miranda sees family as the center point for her mental health, in the often lonely environment, that is a college campus during a pandemic.
Whether these responses resonate with you or not, they do prove one vital point, college students cope with their mental health in many different ways, and it’s okay to be unsure of your preferred method. While there is no rush to find a perfect solution, the first step to that solution is being honest with yourself about the state of your mental health.
Reflect on when you are most happy, comforted, content, as well as most sad or stressed, and start to categorize which routines, or lack thereof in your life, tends to make you feel these emotions.