@NickFlynn and @comfortablycurt mentioned towels sort of as a joke that Douglas Adams fans around the world wil appreciate, but seriously, having a washcloth or hand towel in your bag is really useful, especially if the college bathrooms have those paper towels that shred when you try to grab one, or those so called “hand dryers” that don’t dry anything. Also useful if you spill something, etc.
I find that a good bath towel is best. A hand towel or washcloth isn’t big enough for a lot of needs. A nice bath towel can serve as a lasso, a belt, a whip, and many other things in a pinch. A washcloth just doesn’t have this kind of utility. A beach towel may seem even better, but one must question whether the added bulk of the beach towel is worth the relatively limited additional utility that comes with it.
In all seriousness though, having a small towel may not be a bad idea. I’ve never carried one with me, although there are certainly times that it would have been useful. Some wetnaps or something like that could be useful too. Perhaps a pocket sized package of Kleenex.
Would anyone recommend carrying a laptop around everyday? Or can an ipad be sufficient?
(if I like taking notes on paper)
It just depends on what you’re doing. What would you use the laptop for? What would you use the iPad for? What can you not do on an iPad that you would need a laptop for?
Many students never carry their laptop around. Many students don’t even have an iPad. It’s just school–many students never use a laptop or iPad during class at all. If you’re taking notes on paper, then you probably won’t need to use a laptop or iPad during class at all. So it’s really just your time outside of class that you would be using one, and that’s really up to you.