By Jackson Cooper, Staff Writer

Published in print Jan 14, 2015.

First off, welcome back to school. While you may have slept through winter break (it’s okay, the Macy’s Parade was not that great this year) or binge watched “Gilmore Girls” every day of December, it’s now the dreaded back-to-school time.

To aid this pain, The Carolinian has a list of things you should’ve done over break that can still be done in the first week of school.

4. Buy a planner

$20 is a lot of money for us. It equals to roughly 3 burrito bowls at Chipotle (not including the guacamole) or four trips to Starbucks or even a whole parking ticket presented to you via the beloved UNCG Parking Operations staff, but $20 will get you a long way for this coming year.

Barnes and Noble carries a leather bound weekly academic planner that could aid your OCD needs.

On the left side of the page are days of the week, where you organize your life, and on the right side is a notes page to write “Burn Lists” and “Grocery Needs.”

It’s perfect for planning ahead for study sessions or Tinder dates. Let this semester be the “get your crap together” semester you’ve been putting off all these years.

3. Exchange your textbooks at Ed McKay’s

Sell them, sell them, sell them. The EdMckays on Battleground offers cash and store credit options for textbooks that you probably will never read again in your life.

Simply bring your books to the selling counter, present a valid ID and in thirty minutes you’ll know how much cash you’re getting.

It would also be a good idea to use the money or store credit to shop for your spring textbooks there too. The textbook selection is massive, and they will more than likely carry any textbook you need for a UNCG class. Not to mention, it saves you money on selling them at the bookstore.

2. Delete any dating-apps and forgive your ex

This is probably my most sentimental entry on this list. It’s the start of a new year; there’s a new moon in the sky and a new you as well.

Delete the dating apps once and for all and spend this semester going out and meeting new people. Ask the cute barista for their number. Take that shy girl in your lecture class out to coffee, and if you haven’t already, forgive your ex. Even if you don’t tell them to their face, simply step back and say, “I’m Sorry, I Forgive You.”

It’s the stuff of Hallmark cards but it works. Ask anyone who’s in a relationship. You can’t love someone until you love yourself. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch “Friends” on Netflix by myself with a pint of ice cream.

1.Watch ‘Friends’

Surprise! I bet you were expecting Number One to be “Take Time for Yourself”, “Meditate” or “Start a Hobby”, when actually you should take 11 days out of your life to watch all 10 seasons of “Friends” on Netflix (I did the math). My roommate summed it up perfectly.

“I never thought I’d be one of those people who’ve seen every episode of ‘Friends’ but I’m becoming that person,” he confessed. “Watching ‘Friends’ is a meditative experience.

It is a perfect blend of comedy and heart that produces that warm, fuzzy feeling in you after every episode. Though you may take up running or veganism, watching Friends will all in all make you a better person, much in the way doing a crossword or feeding starving pigs on a farm does.

Television doesn’t get any better, or more involving than this.”