11 productive things that you can do to spend your time at a hostel

So you are a hosteler and you have plenty of stuff to do like completing your homework or assignment. As always, you find that to be uninteresting and plan to do it the next day. You roam about thinking of stuff that is interesting and worth your time. This search is an exercise in futility.  You end up in a room of friends, chatting or doing other stuff that you do every day. Why not do something different today? We have compiled a list of some interesting things that may be worth your time.

  1.     Learn origami

Origami sounds Japanese and in fact originated in Japan. However, in modern terms it is used to refer to all folding practices irrespective of the culture they are associated with or their origin. The reason it is listed here is because we are always short of things of daily utility in the hostel like pens, leave alone other things like scissors and glue. You can use the small number of basic origami folds to create things of intricate design. You can learn the basics here and I can say that once you warm up to the process, it will be fun. You can surprise your roommate with interesting stuff like this:

or impress your crush/bf/gf with stuff like this:

  2.     Learn to solve the Rubik’s cube.

Actually it is not that tough. You just have to learn the algorithm and rest is practice. You can find good tutorials here. But then, you’ll have to promise to watch the second part too. Just tell people that you can solve a Rubik's cube in under 30 seconds and you'll have an awesome conversation starter. My friend Vivek Anand can do it well under 30 seconds. He lives at 4C-226, KP-6 and will be more than happy to help you.

  3.     Learn to Cook

What? Really? Just read through before these questions get a hold of you. We all hate mess food. Don’t we? So, it is actually nice to learn to cook with the limited resources that are available. Most of us have access to an electric kettle or a water heater. With Maggie out of the question now, you can use your kettle to cook these. The fortunate of us have access to induction cook tops which you can use to cook an even greater variety of stuff.  You can make salads like this if you were frowning upon not having any of the above appliances.  Now, being able to cook for one self gives the kind of confidence that nothing else can. You also get the added advantage of not running to mommy every time you feel hungry at home.

  4.     Play hide and seek.

This activity can provide you with a break from the above serious activities. You may also discover secret corridors in your hostel or come across the chamber of secrets.

  5.     Write a blog

Ideas grow when you put them down. There is some stuff that catches each one of us’ interest. It can be your hobby or favourite past time and you have plenty of information to talk about it. Writing a blog about it will connect you with people who have similar interests. Putting your thoughts into words and arranging them in a logical order will also go a long way in improving your communication skills.

  6.     Do crazy 3 idiots kind of stuff.

The hosteler community is thankful to 3 idiots for showing that a hostel is not all boring stuff. You come to meet different people with different background and it enriches your experience. Apart from bollywood songs, a hostel is the only place where a large number of people can go crazy at the same time. Remember one thing; you cannot do such crazy stuff once you go out into the real world. According to some law, craziness is infectious and this law holds stronger than anywhere in a hostel.

  7.     Make a mobile app

So you’ve tried being crazy and want some seriousness in your life. Learning and then making an app will give you the satisfaction of having done something important. We are all equipped with at least a mobile phone and a laptop and these are all that are required. You don’t necessarily have to be from a CS/IT background to be able to make an app. There are free tools like the App Inventor from Google that makes it as simple as making a jigsaw puzzle. Apart from Android, you can also make apps for Windows phone through Microsoft’s tools like visual studio. We use multiple apps on our mobile phones daily but creating what we use will be a good confidence booster. There is a plethora of resources related to mobile app development that is available on the internet like this. If you accumulate enough skills then you'd be eligible for multiple vacancies for mobile app development that exist in the market.

  

  8.     Practice puzzles

The brain is like a machine. You have to keep servicing it to keep it running at an optimum level. Solving logical and mathematical puzzles is a nice way to keep yourself busy and develop your analytical and problem solving skills at the same time. It would be a good practice for your placement exams too as they test you on your aptitude and logical ability. Some good sites and mobile apps are:

1. Brain Jiggle - It’s an Android app containing 50 puzzles spread across 10 levels of varying complexity. 
2. CSE Blog - Quant, Math and Computer Science Puzzles for Interview Preparation and Brain Teasing : A must-read blog for anyone preparing for interviews. 
3. The Ultimate Puzzle Site - Contains an exhaustive list of puzzles categorized into sections .  Basic Puzzles, Logical Puzzles, Math Problems - this site has it all!

  9.     Read

Just as a machine needs servicing, it needs fuel too. By fuel, I mean something that the brain can burn (process) to produce output. Reading autobiographies is a nice idea because you can put yourself in the shoes of successful people and then see what they did and what they avoided to become successful. We all have our teachers and parents but good books can be a good guide too. Not only books and novels, you can spend your time going through newspapers and journals as well that have information that is relevant to you.

  10. Learn video editing.

That was cool, ain't it? Now, all of us have been fascinated by those amazing special effects that we see in the movies. You'll be surprised to know that you can create your own. Knowing how to create a movie out of pictures and adding sounds and effects to make it better can come in handy at multiple occasions. You can start your video editing journey with Windows Movie Maker which is easy to learn and you can start making movies right away. Check out this tutorial. If you feel that you've had enough practice with Movie Maker then you can advance yourself to the Adobe Premier Pro. It is an amazing tool for movie editing and offers nice sound editing tools. You can access Premier Pro tutorials here. For even advanced editing, you can try Adobe After Effects. It offers various 3D effects too. This software is used by professionals and can be used to create a full length animated movie. You can access the tutorials here. My friend Manish Sakariya has been doing this stuff for quite some time now and you can see his creations here. He lives at 3A-67 in KP-6 and enjoys talking .Feel free to have a chat with him and he may offer you some fafdas and singh danas too!    

  11.  Volunteer

For a day, when you are free you can volunteer to work in the mess or any such work that you are comfortable with. This will strengthen your relations with the people who keep your hostel running and in the process; you’ll realize what it takes to feed so many people at the same time. 

If this post made you restless, then I've got one thing to say to you: