This is part 2 of a series on time management. Part 1 can be read here.

This entry is exclusively devoted to one of my favorite inventions of all time. It has changed my life. It rocks my world. It makes toast. It doesn't actually make toast, but it let's me know when I have time to make toast! This is, of course, the one and only Google Calendar, aka a college student's best friend.

Why Google Calendar is amazing especially for college students:

(1) In college, your schedule is not the same every day.
In high school, I was in school from 7:15am to 2:15am every day. I had the same classes every quarter. I had band practice at consistent times every week and outside of band and school and the occasional odd meeting, I usually only did homework. I rarely ate out.

But in college, my schedule is different every day--sometimes I can't even remember what classes I have when, especially when a quarter is just starting. At OSU, you can take individualized instruction foreign languages, which means you meet with teachers on your own time and your own schedule--but that's a lot of meetings to keep track of! Google Calendar organizes them for you and can even send you reminders on your cell phone if you want.

(2) In college, your friends' schedules are not the same every day.
That is, except for the friends you make who are in the same major, or who live next door, if you really want to hang out with people--grab a bite to eat or go work out or whatever, it can be a royal pain just trying to find a time you're both free. But if both you and your friend have Google Calendar, this problem is instantly solved. Below is a picture of my calendar and my friend Amy's from April of this past year--as you can see, we're both very busy people and it would have taken a while to find a time to just hang out together...and it might not even have been the most ideal time. But with the Share feature on Google Calendar, shared free time is easy to find!

(3) Google calendar is accessible from any computer and even from your phone.
There are computers all over campus. Can't remember when a meeting is, or where? Not sure when a given assignment is do? Or horror--forgot your old school paper planner? No worries--just hop on any computer and go to the Calendar website and you can view all the details about your events. You can even put events in so that they repeat--like classes, for example--so that every week the only things you have to change are the pesky once-in-a-while events or the time you want to spend with friends. You can make all these changes from any computer, and if you have a data plan on your phone or an iPod touch, you can do these things remotely too.

(4) GC is easy to use and free!
Because both brain space and finances can be scarce as a college student. So what are you waiting for? Play around with it. Here's a YouTube video (albeit a somewhat cheesy one) to help you get started: