Ah College Days...

It's hard to believe that Kevin and I are approaching our third anniversary, and yet at the same time college seems so far away. But graduating just three weeks before our wedding date makes it easy to remember both. Sometimes I still have to remind myself that I made it through college, the books and classes and long nights, and I am now a professional doing the work I always imagined I would do. I loved college but I was ready to be done with it come the end. side note: I love how much timehop reminds me of all the fun times of college though!

It's been sweet as I write our story to remember the college days. As much school work as I would have, it sure was a blast to be surrounded by best friends so much of the time. Some of my favorite memories are simply being with my girlfriends in our apartment living area, school projects, papers, books strewn about and laughter filling the room.

I did most of my studying here at this desk. Sometimes I'd just pile up all my binders and books here and leave it for days. Procrastination at it's finest... And at the end of the semesters it's definitely where you would have found all the books that I was done with and now had to decide whether to sell back to the library, keep or donate to a friend...oh the money lost one could just see looking at the pile.

Most of the time I was drawing though...either by hand or on the computer. Sometimes this required the big book of answers, or the silver bible as we sometimes referred to it. A giant textbook filled with all kinds of typicals in space planning and furniture design. As a freshman and sophomore I would stealborrow the upperclassmen's copy that they left in their classrooms but later on I had to get one myself. That book was not only a beast to carry around but it sure wasn't cheap either!

I wished renting textbooks has been an option then, or perhaps it was and I didn't know it! I've since learned that I could have saved 40-90% off bookstore prices, had free shipping, would be able to highlight (umm huge deal), and be giving back to children by renting books. What a concept!? Thank you Campus Book Rentals for creating such a novel idea. I'm betting the silver bible would have been a heck of a lot cheaper through you!

In the back of this picture below, you can find the drafting table. One of my roommates parents had scored this for us. Oh the number of times we sat there with the silver bible and a temporary computer set-up.

Our living room in the early days...one day they called us and told us they were taking away our living room furniture and replacing it...a hectic day for us designer types. Not to mention, we had to completely empty our bookshelf of textbooks (that had piled up because we couldn't decide whether to sell them or keep them, because both options didn't put much cash in our hands) in order to move everything for the apartment people...not fun.

Renting text books from Campus Book Rentals would have been pretty hassle free and left us with less books to have to move that day! They make it so easy to rent the textbooks that it could almost be fun, well ya know at least it would have saved from the nightmare of finding a parking spot on campus and hauling heavy books, or ordering from somewhere online and hoping it was a legit seller that would send the book in time.

Yes, we painted our college apartment. With two interior designers in the group, there was bound to be some love added to our typical cheap housing. We won't get into how we spilled red paint on the floor...

We took breaks from textbooks every now and then altogether and would go out on the town, which really meant just seeing a movie together or renting one and getting ice cream...either way textbooks were avoided and ice cream was included-always.

The end of a typical night, ice cream in our cups, talking on our sofa and most of us in comfy clothes...I loved being in this room with these girls. Someone bring back college for like a week, please! Especially with the ability to rent textbooks as opposed to buying them...imagine the number of ice cream visits I could have actually afforded...but really.


College was a blast, but I know I spent a good part of it counting pennies. Paying for housing and food, nights out and just school supplies can get expensive, let alone the costs of buying books, most of which you get maybe half of back when you "sell it back" to the bookstore. It sure would have been nice to have some extra cash in my wallet and less books to toss or try to give away.

My favorite part of Campus Book Rentals though is the way they partner with Operation Smile, an international children's medical charity ( you can learn more about them here). With every book that is rented they donate back to Operation Smile. A company that is giving back is always one that's going to have my business.

So what were some of your favorite parts of college? Least favorite parts? Did you rent textbooks? Or would you have if you had known? What was the most you spent on a textbook? Clearly, I'm really curious today!



*I was provided compensation for this post from Campus Book Rentals however all thoughts and opinions are my own. I write honestly about companies I work with and only choose companies I see value in.