How to be a College Otaku

So I just finished up my first year of college and I thought this would be a nice time to talk about how my anime life is different now that I have A LOT less time on my hands. I thought this would be a nice little heads up to those of you that may be headed out of high school and are afraid this might mean the end of all things anime for you.

Things that changed

Like I mentioned I had a lot less time on my hands so I didn't have time to watch anime as frequently. But honestly, that went for a lot of things like watching T.V., playing video games...sleeping...Most of my free time was dedicated to studying. However, I'm still working on time management. By the end of the year, I think I was able to fit more time in for anime because I just learned how to make better use of my time in general. And that's the key for any hobby you want to maintain; make time for it, and there will be time for it.

But before I got myself together in that regard, I mostly marathoned the shows I missed out on during big breaks. It was hard though going on tumblr and twitter and seeing people flip out over shows I hadn't been able to even start watching. And what's worse is that by the time I got around to watching what everyone was flipping out over, it had already been talked to death and everyone had moved on. I eventually got over it though.

The biggest thing that changed for me was my convention experience. A lot of cons are 3 days, and because I had Friday classes, I wouldn't be able to go for the full con. Missing a day of high school wasn't a big deal because, unless you had a test or presentation, you basically had a gist of what you would do that day, and could probably make up your missing work later. College is a different ball game. Some of my classes were 2 hours long, which means that it would be really difficult to make them up. Not to mention, a lot of professors try to discourage you from skipping class by putting in things like "class only" notes and lecture information. But above all else, I didn't want to skip something I pay so much for. That being said, I only go to about 3 cons during the school year, and I only missed one of them this year, so it wasn't that drastic of a change.

As for cosplay, I really didn't do much of it. I wouldn't consider myself an avid cosplayer to begin with, but I like to work on thing every now and then. This year was mostly spent gathering items together for different cosplay I hope to premiere at this year's Otakon.

So I guess the most important thing is to try your best to make time for your hobby. When you first start adjusting to college life, it will be hard but eventually you'll get used to it.