My Friends = My College-Time Guardian Angels

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It was the month of December, time for our first end-semester examination. Like all the other people in the hostel during exams, my roommates and I were crashing our brains, reading the presentations, pdfs, notes, and any study material we could. We were nervous. It was around 11 in the night when I started feeling a bit dull and tired. We thought it was because of the stress and tension, so my roommates told me to sleep for an hour, and then they’ll wake me up to study. My roommate woke me up after an hour, only to find out that I had a high fever. While I was panicking terribly, both my roommates decided to help me.

Everything they did next won my heart. While one of them gave me medicine, and put a wet cloth on my forehead, the other roommate read the presentations aloud and helped me study. Just like this, the night passed away. Two hours before the exam, my roommates got me dressed and left the hostel to meet our teacher regarding my health. With the help of our professor, they somehow managed to arrange a writer to write my exam, permission for me to lie down in the dispensary while dictating the paper, and extra time for me to complete my exam.Who could have thought this is possible? But my roommates made it happen. This is my college story!

A Birthday Spent At Home Away From Home

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“It’s my birthday, it’s my birthday!
I’m gonna spend no money!”

This sound plays on repeat in my mind on my special day. Birthdays hold a special place in our hearts, right? As much as we like to get pampered on our very own day, it becomes all the more interesting when your college friends do something that you remember for the rest of your lives. Something similar happened to me in the year 2019.

It was a crisp winter evening in December, just a day before my 19th birthday, the first-ever birthday away from home- my parents, my siblings, and my dear school friends. I never thought that one day I would not be celebrating my birthday with my family. I felt so sad and homesick as I thought no one remembered my birthday. I dozed off in one of my friend’s room. Apurva, my roommate, woke me when the clock was about to strike midnight by saying, let’s get back to our room and sleep. As I entered the room, I was astonished to see the smiling faces around me. My friends withdrew me from the gloomy state. I was so stunned to see how beautifully all my friends decked my room with balloons, fairy lights, sparkle, and streamers. Everyone gathered there for me to feel special and to brighten up my day. They had also organized a little party where they prepared my favorite dishes. I had a lovely time with my new friends, who became my family that day.! And that wasn’t it!

The next morning, I saw a cute little birthday card on my desk, and with that card, there was a little note with a mention of my favorite cafe and time on it. Of Course, I had to go there! As I reached, I saw my high school best friend and my boyfriend. They traveled from Mumbai and Bangalore to Dehradun to surprise me. My college friends planned it all. I felt so content and couldn’t stop my rolling tears because my friends went out of their way to make me feel so loved and important.

Dear Friend, Thank You For Being My Biggest Support In College

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Let’s start with an embarrassing confession. I got a back paper in my second last semester and hadn’t fared well overall. People say that once you fail, it is complicated to pass in the supplementary, and well, obviously, I was scared. Who wouldn’t be? My parents had given up hope, and their taunts became a daily occurrence. The pressure of scoring well in the final semester and clearing the final paper, had caused tremendous stress. I was on the verge of breaking down when one day my best friend, Swapna saw me. When I told her my plight, she gave me an instant reality check. She said, “Get your act together; everyone fails. Will you keep crying or do something about the issue at your hand?” Frankly, those words hurt but gave me a reason to show her that I wasn’t a quitter. When I thought about it, I also saw an opportunity to prove my parents wrong.

What happened next was no less than what happens in the movies. I worked day and night – burning the midnight oil, revising all the classes. Finally, when the exams started, Swapna came to me and hugged me. When I asked what this was about, she told me to know that I had given my hundred per cent. No matter what the result, I had come a long way.
I have since forever been grateful to her for having shaken me up and being the comfort that I needed, during my difficult times. I know that parents are the biggest support, but friends stand by you when your parents also turn away. Sometimes, all we need is a push from our friends.

How A Cafe Solved All My College Problems

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A few of my college life’s most memorable moments are the ones I and my friends created at the ‘adda’ — our favorite food joint that we used to visit almost every day…

I am talking about this small hut cafe called Yuvraaj, which is right next to our college. Each time we visited the place, it was loaded with students of our college. Thanks to the diverse paratha and Maggi menu, it was always a task to place the order. Other than these famous regulars, the cafe was mostly stocked with one special dish for the day. It could be pasta, pav bhaji, chole bhatura, cold coffee, kukure chat, or chole kulche. You name it, and Yuvraaj had it! I often visited the place with four of my other friends, and therefore, we had a delicious variety of food on our table, which none of us could resist. The prices too were so pocket friendly that they never failed to make us happy!

And guess what? Whether we were going through a breakup or having trouble writing the assignment, a meal at Yuvraaj used to solve most of our problems. After all, having discussions over paneer paratha is much more fun than cribbing about it in the room

Fun, Friendship & Failure: Peek into A Roller-Coaster College Ride!

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How many of you have risen from failure in life? It is normal to feel unaccomplished, but the key here is to learn and strive along. I have a story for you, straight out of the pages of my college life, a story about how my friends acted like a rock, each time I hit rock bottom and never let me give up. It all started two days before my national basketball match. One small infection in my right arm came out to be an inborne disease that can reoccur in any limb at any point in time. The incident left me completely flabbergasted. There was not even a single second when I could take my mind off from that disturbing thought, I kept on dwelling about my arm, how it will be treated and will I ever be able to play again. All these thoughts kept me awake at night slowly, and steadily it led to depression. I couldn’t assimilate the idea of not being able to play Nationals. I felt like a complete loser, felt like nothing will work out. I felt incapacitated. That is when my friends showed up. As soon as they heard about my condition, all of them decided to stay back with me to help me cope. They tried all sorts of things to infuse positivity in my college life. From cooking me our midnight Maggi with juice to encouraging me to dress up for random picture sessions, they did it all. My friends made me realize how important it is to cherish all the little things in our life. No incident is worth giving up on yourself and your self-confidence and on the other hand, it is these little failures that help us to explore and teach resilience.

What message does my college story convey? The most important key to live a positive and successful life is to understand the origin of the failure and how to surmount it. Failure, no matter how much it hurts, is a part of our lives. As said by Zig Ziglar “Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street”. People usually correlate failure with defeat, but they don’t understand that failure is an exceptional stepping stone towards the pathway to success. Failing does not mean it is the end of the world but at the same time, it opens the door to discover other great opportunities.

The Inevitable Last Moment Hustle For Assignment Submission

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Ever had a sudden twitch realization that the actual deadline of the assignment you earlier thought was supposed to be submitted after ten days is tomorrow? Aren’t we all too familiar with this? Because even when the assignments were assigned to us months ago in college, we somehow for some reason or the other put them off for the last moment. And, when the situation becomes dire, we hustle

We’ve all been there!

This is a story of about two years ago when something very similar happened to me. Thanks, but no thanks to my friend for reminding me about the due assignment, just four hours before the submission. And guess what was the icing on the cake? I was a bright student of the class and hence, had no option but to live up to my teachers’ high expectations. But the same friend who had reminded me, also assisted me. We decided to divide the assignment into parts. My friends started helping me by getting the books from the library, one after the otherThey both even missed their classes for me. Dosti hoh toh aisi! I was running out of time and reaching the class with an incomplete assignment made me feel terrible. While sir was calling out our roll numbers, I was becoming jittery and suddenly succumbed.

All of a sudden, came a splash of water on my face. Opening my eyes, I heard a recognizable voice like my roommate. Coming to my full senses, I realized that it was just a nightmare, I was snoozing and I did have seven days to finish my IR internal assignment. My roommate, who saw me uneasy, decided to wake me up by throwing a cup of water on my face. Well, a part of college life is the assignment phobia, and my story does prove so!

College Stories Are All About Making Those Last Minute Plans

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Rain brings back so many memories from college.

The weather in Dehradun is exceptionally unpredictable. It can be bright and sunny in the morning and then be stormy in another instant. This is precisely what filled my college life with adventure and lovely last-minute plans that my friends and I will forever remember. Clouds of different colours converging in the sky made the landscape look picturesque at most instances. The alluring blend of colors and then to the ultimate pitch-black sky explained it all. I don’t know, but the rain in college was way different from the rain back home.

The story which I’m going to share is very close to my heart from my college book!

One fine Saturday morning, I woke to the sound of heavy rain and raging thunderstorm, I went near my room’s window to look out, and I saw it was raining cats and dogs. After I saw the gloomy weather, the first thought that struck my mind was how it would feel in Mussoorie right now? I immediately dialed Siddhanth and Saket and asked them to meet me near the library. As they reached there, I started convincing them to go to Mussoorie. After hours of convincing, they finally agreed, but the only problem we had was how we would manage our weekly budget with these transportation charges. We asked a few of our other friends so that the transportation charges could be shared among us. Nobody but Pulkit was only ready to travel in such stormy weather. We rented two scooters, got all dressed in our warm clothes, and carried a thick jacket with us. It was so much fun riding the scooter in the rain. Rain is a bit sketchy without roadside pakoras, Maggi, and coffee. So, while on our way to Mussoorie, we took a stop at our favorite roadside stall ‘Lucky Di Maggi’ for some snacks as we were saving our appetite for the most famous cheesy fries of Anil’s café in Char Dukan. We were all drenched to the skin, and our clothes were dripping water. Resuming our journey, we headed straight to Lal Tibba because who wants to miss the mesmerizing view from Lal Tibba!? After we had our number 1 cheesy fries and ginger lemon tea at Anil’s café, we left for Lal Tibba. The view was so serene and mesmerizing, it was worth all the hassle.

Our sudden plan and journey were so fun and pleasant, from singing songs and cracking lame jokes to saving ourselves from the rain. The trip on a rainy day was so refreshing. I, personally, like the rainy season a lot. It makes me feel enthusiastic and energetic. It reinvigorates us all internally and often leaves us with a memory.

How a Dance Performance Changed My Experience of College

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No label can stop you from living life on your terms. This is precisely what my college story suggests. Throughout school life, I was labelled as an arrogant and snooty girl. My school-mates certainly did not understand the difference between who’s an introvert and who’s arrogant. While these labels did hurt, I wasn’t at all interested in explaining myself to them or anyone.

Thankfully, the first day of college was a day away. I entered college with the motto of doing new things and improving, as an individual, in the process. Was it easy? Well, I was extremely pumped for the first day of orientation. It was followed by an event of talent hunt for us freshers- an informal, open to all gathering. Alright, now one thing about me, I know that I can dance, but I never participated because I didn’t want the attention. However, with the exclusive adrenaline that very day, I upped and performed without a care in the world.

What happened after that was something surprisingly unbelievable. I became famous as “the one who danced to taki-taki”. I also happened to catch the eye of fellow dancers. As a result, I was taken in as one of the lead members of the college’s dancing crew. My journey began and the crew became the support I needed, always encouraging me to perform and participate in all extra-curricular events. Why am I thankful to the dancing team? Had it not been for them, I wouldn’t have been crowned as Miss Freshers. Yes, that’s right. The first day I had met the dance crew, their encouragement bagged me tremendous limelight, something that I was devoid of, throughout my school life.

Guess what? There has been no stopping ever since. Now, I am someone who can perform, dance and enchant without any hesitation. Moral of the story: Don’t overthink, just go for it.

From Co-Ed To An All Girls College: Say Hello To An Evolved Version Of Me!

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This is a story about my journey from being a co-ed student to later being a part of an all-girls’ college. This is a story of how the transition helped me evolve as an individual. Trust me, a lot of us have been there.

I can say that I have seen life with its colours and its darkness. Being from an Army background, I have seen this country and its people from a closeness that people dream of. I always thought that I had seen it all and savoured life to its last drop. But alas! I was wrong.

I had seen schools and an environment where being with boys and experiencing the competition of brotherhood was common. Life was open and free to experience all the differences, starting from gender to likes and dislikes. I had friends who were boys and was sure this is the freedom that can never be taken away from me. I never realised that I was in a bubble of my own and had yet to face a world I never imagined was made for me.

Being a tomboy, the “girly” with those frills and beauty was not quite me. I preferred to stay away from girls and their mastery for games that played with minds. So imagine the surprise and shock when I went into an all-girls college. But guess what? The unexpected happened and I started enjoying and celebrating my college life. You must be wondering why? Because there were no judgements, no sly comments. There was no one to say “don’t sit like that”, or whisper and ask ” do you have a pad?”

I’m in my final year of college and I can proudly say that I am now an evolved version of myself– more empathetic, stronger, more confident and responsible.

Moral of the story:

Never fear changes that college life brings along, embrace them and cherish every moment that comes along.

What is GRE Test and How to Prepare?

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Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), A nationally recognized test is used to determine whether candidates are prepared for graduate-level courses. GRE, is computer-based, is given at testing facilities all around the world.
Students can use a range of materials, such as study aids, practice tests, and online courses, to get ready for the GRE exam. It’s crucial to allot enough time for studying and to create a strategy that works for you. You can apply & test your skills here.
In general, taking the GRE is a crucial step for individuals who want to pursue graduate-level education. Students can score well on the exam and accomplish their academic goals with rigorous preparation and a well-thought-out study strategy.
This exam provides students various benefits which will help them in building their future like Your chances of being admitted into the program you’re opting for, can be improved with a strong GRE score. Students who score well on the GRE exam are eligible for scholarships and financial aid from many graduate schools. You may be more qualified for these chances with a strong GRE score. Through this exam you can improve your chances of getting admitted into a prestigious graduate program and develop your career. It is difficult to predict how a student will see themselves 10 years after taking the GRE exam, but what is sure that the skills and the advancement he learned through it ill surely help him in future.
Not only getting ready for advance universities or being limited to graduation, GRE helps in developing important skills such as time management, critical thinking, and problem-solving. These skills can serve them well in their personal and professional lives.
By taking the GRE exam, students can open up opportunities for international study and travel, which can broaden their horizons and lead to new experiences and perspectives.
It also provides personal satisfaction for some students as the act of preparing for and taking the GRE exam can be a significant achievement in and of itself. Even if a student does not pursue graduate study or a related career path, they may feel proud of themselves for undertaking a difficult challenge and succeeding. Some students who take the GRE exam may go on to start their own businesses or pursue other entrepreneurial ventures. The skills and knowledge gained through graduate study can be valuable assets in these pursuits. Even if a student does not pursue graduate study immediately after taking the GRE exam, the experience of preparing for the test and exploring graduate programs can inspire a lifelong love of learning and intellectual curiosity. This can lead to ongoing personal and professional growth throughout their lives.