First of all I would like to say congratulations to you all because you managed to get in this college and most important you survived last semester. I understand freshmen all have heavy class schedule; however, you also are the people who have plenty of time in your college years. Therefore, as being a senior student I would like to share some experiences with you and hope you all have a clue about how to use your time; however, the experiences I am ready share are not just related to study but in many different angles.
Using the library as frequently as possible! I do not ask you to go the library study all day, instead I mean you can go to the library to use the Nonprint Materials service such as watching some DVDs and VCDs. By watching some popular sitcoms or TV series such as Orange County and Friends you can practice your English listening and try to understand English-speaking world culture. Of course you can also watch some famous and classical movies- the kind of movie you will never want to spend your limited allowance to watch. I believe Nonprint Material must have plenty of it so if you want to watch movies for free this is the right place to go. Another thing about the library is that I do really encourage you to borrow some books from the library. Books such as detective fictions, essays or even some romantic stories will do. As for the books should be in English or Chinese this question, I will suggest you to read in Chinese because I know you have to read a lot in English since you have courses like Introduction to Literature and Western Literature. Therefore, reading in Chinese becomes faster and more relaxing; most vital of all is to find something you really interested in and it can have nothing to do with your major; this can be even better!
Try to have a part-time job will be another advice I would like to give you. In my point of view, jobs that offer you the opportunity to meet new people and learn how to deal with all the problems are the most useful experiences and treasures in your life because there are so many things you can not learn from the books and there are no rules to help you. You can be an outstanding and excellent student in the school but when you are out of the school you become an immature person; this is not what you want I believe. By cooperating with other people you will improve some basic skills such as communicate with others and express yourself effectively; of course you will learn to take responsibility. All the things I mentioned above are the conditions you must have in order to help yourself become a qualified university student.
I hope this is not too serious for you after all you are just freshmen; however, I still want to say that try not to skip too many classes (I didn’t mean “never” skip classes) and have fun at the same time. Finally I wish you all have your own way to make the best use of your college year.
Tracy