A lesson in College 101

Before you get to college, there is an important skill you must learn-- how to do laundry! I know, it may be scary to think that you won't have mom or dad there to wash your clothes, but learning how to get the job done now is better tan waiting until you run out of clean underwear!

So, some basic laundry tips:

Things You’ll Need:

• Washing machine (Provided by your lovely residence hall)
  
• Stain removers
• Anti-static sheet
• Liquid fabric softeners
• Liquid bleach
• Laundry detergents
• Clothes dryer ( also can be found in your Res Hall)
  
• Laundry baskets

Step1

To do laundry, first sort your dirty clothes, making separate piles for whites, bright colors and darks. If you mix whites with colors in the wash, the colors may bleed onto and ruin your whites. Also separate clothes that tend to produce lint (towels, sweatshirts, chenille and flannel) from clothes that tend to attract lint (corduroy, velvets and permanent-press clothes).

Step2

As you sort, close zippers to prevent snagging, and empty pockets (you don't want soggy shreds of facial tissue all over your clothes!).

Step3

Pre-treat heavy stains with laundry detergent or stain remover, heeding instructions on the product label.

Step4

Use the measuring cap of the detergent bottle or the cup found in detergent boxes to measure out the right amount of laundry soap according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Step5

Pour the soap into your washer or its detergent dispenser. Add liquid fabric softener, if desired, according to the product instructions.

Step6

Choose the water temperature for the wash cycle:hot, warm or cold; save on energy and opt for a cold rinse cycle for any load. Consult the labels on your clothes, your washing machine's instruction manual or the detergent container for recommendations on washing temperature. In general, use cold water to protect colors and darks from bleeding or fading, and to avoid shrinkage. Use warm or hot water for durable fabrics like cotton (make sure they're preshrunk), and to ensure that your whites stay white.

Step7

Start the washer before adding clothes, if you have time, to allow the detergent to dissolve in the water. The regular cycle suffices for most laundry, but use the gentle cycle for sheer or delicate fabrics. Adjust the water level to the size of your load.

Step8

If you need to add bleach, allow the machine to run for a few minutes to mix the detergent and water, then add about a cup of bleach to the washer or the bleach dispenser.

Step9

Add your clothes, close the lid and let the machine do its dirty work. Washing takes approximately 45 minutes.

Step10

Put the clothes (and an anti-static sheet, if desired) in the dryer after the wash is complete. Hang delicates (such as bras and certain sweaters) to air dry on a clothing rack or hanger. Check tags if in doubt.

Step11

Remove lint from the dryer's lint tray.

Step12

Select the correct drying temperature for your laundry load: low for delicates, medium for most fabrics and high for cotton. When in doubt, low or medium is the safest bet.

Step13

Close and turn on the dryer. Expect the drying cycle to take an hour or more for a full load.

Step14

Once the clothes are completely dry, remove them from the dryer or drying rack and fold your clean laundry.

Remember:

• Do not put anything in the dryer that you feel may shrink. Let it air-dry, to be safe.
• If you don't fold clothes right away, they tend to become wrinkled.
• If you have an extremely large wash load, make sure you set the washer to its heaviest setting.
• Establish a weekly plan so that you don't have a huge load of laundry & maintain the amount of clothes you wash at one time:
  • Choose the clothes you will wear during the week.
  • Make sure that they can all go together. For example, don't wear tie-dye one day then a white shirt another day because when you wash them together, the white shirt may get ruined.
  • On Saturday, do the load of laundry, put it away, and be done with it.
  • Do whites first

If you're more of a visual person, check out this how-to video

http://www.howcast.com/videos/176-How-To-Do-Laundry

ICE CREAM SOCIALS!!!

New Buildings Coming to Campus!

Fourth of July Festivities

So tomorrow is the fourth of July and I couldn't be more excited. This year, instead of doing the typical backyard BBQ and fireworks, I'm working at the parade in Philly. This year, a major sponsor of the parade is Southwest Airlines. My job parade day is to be their assistant and take them anywhere in the city they want to go. That's right-- if they want to go to Wawa, my little golf cart will be shuttling them there.

As fun as it's going to be to drive around the high profiles of the day, it's also great experience and a resume builder. You'll find a lot of opportunities such as this in Philly-- one of the great perks of living in a metropolitan area. It's also an opportunity to make connections-- how many people can say they've met the top executives of a major company?

Hopefully I'll have time to relax a bit though and check out the fireworks. This will be my first 4th of July in Philly experiencing the festivities. If the fireworks are anything like the ones I saw on New Years, the show tomorrow night is sure to be phenomenal!

Check out all of the festivities here: http://www.americasbirthday.com/

Summer '08!

The summer officially began and that means a new term of classes! Because I am an upperclassmen and on the Fall/Winter coop cycle, I am in classes during the summer. As much as I'd like to be at the beach right now, I enjoyed my 6 month "vacation" from classes while I was on co-op.

This term I have a very busy schedule-- I have 6 classes. Despite being so busy, I am very excited to be in the classes I'm in. I'm taking everything from Spanish II to Entrepreneurial Finance. If I had had any free space in my schedule I would have taken an organic cooking class with one of my friends. Oh well-- there's always next term for the fun electives!

With a busy weekday schedule, the weekends are going to be my haven. This Friday I'm heading up to NYC and CT to visit some friends. I love being so close to New York; it makes a great weekend getaway! It's also very cheap to get there. Did you know that you can take the Bolt Bus to NYC or Washington, D.C. for just $1? It's fast, cheap, and very student friendly-- they even have wireless you can use for free the whole trip.

But, for now, I'm just going to focus on getting through week 1 of classes!

Football season!

So I live in a small town in the middle of nowhere Virginia (aka Blacksburg). However, football season is the one time a year this town actually looks like more than farmland. Blacksburg is home to the Virginia Tech Hokies, so the town basically consists of college students during the school year. But for some reason, the entire town is OBSESSED with VT football. I mean, we have 70 year old alumni holding season tickets. You'd think at some point they'd realize they graduated 50 years ago and move on with their lives, but no. This town goes insane every weekend there's a game. I work at Ben and Jerry's in downtown Blacksburg, and today (the day BEFORE the game) every other customer was already decked out in their Hokie gear. Not to mention, when I got off work I tried to go to Kroger, which happens to be in the same parking lot as our ABC store (aka the liquor store for those of you who don't live in states that have sate regulated alcohol sales), and there was not a SINGLE open spot. How crazy is that? This is definitely a drinking town with a football problem. Traffic tomorrow will be tons of fun : )

Housing assignments!

Check them out by logging on to drexelone then clicking on "myhousing"

I hope you all are satisfied with where you've been placed; if not, remember the first two weeks of every term you can apply to switch rooms.

If any of you are in Race on the 9th floor, let me know!