When you went off to college, chances are you didn’t live a block away from Mom and Dad. Even in cases where the trip home was do-able on weekends, rarely did family fun time rank higher than a Sigma Chi mixer. Sure, you made sporadic phone calls to the people who gave you life, and they were always your family, but it didn’t take long to realize you needed a family on campus, too. Roommates, hallmates, your pledge class, a study group (see: Community)…these became the people who held your hair back when you puked in the street, who crawled in your bed to watch tv marathons, who knew your favorite pregame songs and would always let you borrow their notes when you slept through class.

Graduation threw you all into a whirlwind of separation anxiety, with promises to call and visit and text and Skype and… Yeah, that didn’t really happen as planned.

Living on your own in the real world (“real world”), you won’t find pledge classes or study groups. Your roommate will be someone you found on Craigslist. Your hallmates will be invisible, except for the 87 year-old woman who owns six cats and listens to Wheel of Fortune on blast. At 5 am. Family, of the non-blood variety, is hard to come by. Nights eating mediocre take out alone on Ikea furniture while Netlfix plays in the background becomes the new norm. (Sorry to go all graphic, Bridget Jones-style on you there.) Just when you think you can’t possibly take it anymore, a funny thing happens. Read More »

One of the best things about being in college is the plethora of single men at your disposal. I went to a small private school before I stepped foot on my college campus, so the idea that there were thousands of guys that I hadn’t known since birth roaming around made me very, very happy. Finally! People who didn’t know everything about me/everyone I knew/what I looked like during my 8 year awkward phase!

I loved the idea of anonymity and the fact that I could meet a random guy and never have to see him again. It was a sense of freedom I had never quite experienced and one I decided to take full advantage of.

Then I learned one very important lesson: random hook ups in college do not exist.

One particular weekend I went home with a very nice lookin’ boy. He was in a fraternity that none of my friends were in/associated with, which was extremely appealing. We bunked up at his place, had a grand ole time and ended things the next morning with the obligatory phone number exchange (which I immediately removed upon arriving home… I didn’t plan on seeing him again, so why tempt myself during an inevitable drunk dialing situation?). Read More »