College is full of trial and error. And sadly we find ourselves running into a lot more error than we desire. Being stood up by that guy who we thought was really into us rings a bell. As does spending an entire night and next morning (okay and maybe the afternoon too) puking our guts out.

Eventually, we get a hang of things, but it would’ve been really nice to have some basic knowledge under our belts before we started. And since we are so caring, and so pissed off that no one did it for us, we’ve decided to let the next generation of college girls in on some scared knowledge that will save them a lot of trouble, and in some cases embarrassment, come freshman year and beyond. Read More »

Freshman year of college, from what I’ve learned so far, is a series of firsts. Some of them are great – first 11:00 a.m. class (yay sleep!), first weekend away at school – while others simply aren’t – like your first midterm exam. But regardless of whether or not these firsts are awesome in themselves, just experiencing them is exhilarating. At what other time in your life can you call Mom and prattle on excitedly about your first time studying at the library until its 2 a.m. closing time?

Oh, wait, that just might be me.

So, my college firsts? Some of them I remember vividly, and others, not so much (but not for that reason – really, Mom, I swear!). Maybe a trip down my four-week-old college memory lane will help joggle my sleep-deprived brain.

First meal

I don’t remember what or with whom I ate, but I do recall being totally daunted by the dining hall. My school’s main dining hall has fifty billion different lines criss-crossing all over the room; while I understand the system now, on the first day, I was clueless. I’m sure wasn’t the only one stricken with trepidation, but who would openly admit feeling totally lost to a bunch of unfamiliar people? Well, now I admit it. I was paralyzed with fear by a freaking dining hall. Laugh if you must.

First reading assignment

The first assignment I read was a “short story” (i.e. a rather long piece masquerading as a short story) for my English class. Heeding my professor’s advice, I annotated the sh*t out of it, but when I was through I had absolutely no idea what I had read. A second read revealed to me that it had been some bizarre satirical story, but for a good half-hour, I was reconsidering whether or not I was ready for college. Read More »

Whew! It’s been three weeks since I first set foot on campus, and what a crazy three weeks it’s been! It might still be too early to tell (psh, yeah right), but I’ve come to the conclusion that college is totally awesome, and for a number of reasons.

I can also safely say that I’ve learned quite a bit about college life from my experiences so far – or at least enough to help me survive the remainder of the semester. So take out your laptops and notebooks, because there’s going to be a quiz on this stuff next week:

1. I love freedom!
For the first time…ever, really, I have the power to make my own schedule, write my own rules, and run my life the way I want to. This new-found freedom was a little overwhelming at first, since there was so much to explore on campus and only so many hours in a day, but I’ve found a comfortable rhythm that allows for flexibility when necessary. For example, I usually hit the books after dinner, but if there’s an Apples to Apples game going on in the lounge at the same time, I’m so there.

2. College dining usually sucks, but the soft serve machines rule.
Even if the food isn’t always wonderful, you can always count on the soft serve machine (and sugar cones!) to cheer you up at the end of a disappointing meal. Seriously. I want one for my room.

3. The best discussions are to be had outside the classroom.
I’ve been involved in many deeply intellectual class discussions, but nothing beats spontaneous jam sessions with my hallmates or lounging on the lawn talking about the cultural implications of Disney movies. Staying up until 3 a.m. discussing the intricacies of the universe with my friends is far more rewarding than reading the confessions of St. Augustine. (No offense, Augustine.) Read More »

I do not miss the anti-fun police.

I’m heading back to my old college this weekend to reunite with friends. And by friends I mean 9am kegstands and a drunken stumble to the football stadium. And as I pack my suitcase full of college t-shirts, flip flops and my cell-phone flask, I’m really starting to miss my college life.

Wait. Who am I kidding? I always miss college life. Every. single. day.

It’s just that knowing I’ll be traipsing through my old stomping ground tomorrow has me extra nostalgic. I’ve spent the past 3 days looking at old photo albums (those are those books that existed before Facebook allowed you to create albums online), drinking to increase my tolerance to college proportions, and crying myself to sleep at 10pm since I have to wake up at 6am to go to work.

After drowning my sorrows in 3 shots of tequila last night, my friends yelled at me to snap out of it. “You’re out of college, woman. GET OVER IT.” But how? How am I supposed to move on from the best 4.5 years of my life (of which, I an only really remember 2.25)? By focusing on all the downsides, of course!

College was the bomb.com, but it wasn’t perfect. There were plenty of things wrong with it, so this week I asked the CollegeCandy writers to remind me share their biggest college pet peeves. Note: I still wanna go back.

Ricki – Univerisity of Michigan: When frat guys pour cheap vodka in Grey Goose bottles and try to pass it off as the real thing.  Boys, we can tell. We’re not that drunk!

Laura – St. John’s : While living down the hall/just across campus from all your friends can be a blast, it definitely sucks when you’re trying to avoid someone (i.e. the BFF you’re fighting with or that guy you hooked up with while you were drunk).  You have nowhere to hide!

Sara C – Fordham: ResLife. Ever notice how the on-campus housing staff want to make it seem like you live in a jail cell, not a home-away-from-home? Thankfully, I live off-campus now, but condescending RAs are THE most annoying thing about college.

Thu – USC: How people have been accepted to a good university and yet still insist on stealing bikes and other property. I don’t get it. Some people just have no integrity. Read More »

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12 tips for relationship bliss.

Anne Heche gets bitter on Letterman.

Your boxes are unpacked, your bed is made, and your parents have left the building. You are officially a college student.

Woohoo! No more living under their rules. You are a free adult livin’ the dorm life.

It takes a few days of getting used to, but you’re finally feeling settled. You’ve even sorta mastered the cafeteria slop. This whole college thing isn’t so hard after all.

That is, until you need to do a little #2 in the public bathroom down the hall. The one every other girl on the hall also frequents to shower, wash up, dry her hair, and do her business. Girls you don’t know. Girls you want to befriend. Feeling the stage fright, you’ve been unable to go for days and, between the cafeteria salad bar (roughage!) and the frat party jungle juice, it’s been rather difficult.

But now it’s time and you have no choice but to suck it up, drop the pants, and take care of business. Read More »

If there’s one thing we all know (but often try to deny), it’s that college is basically it’s own little universe. It’s that beer-drinking, bar-hopping, Cliff Notes-reading, coffee-chugging “safe haven” between the comfort of your parent’s home and that place everybody calls “the real world.” And unfortunately, we all know that “real world” is much less exciting than MTV moguls would lead us to believe.

As a senior, I’ve finally realized one very important thing: College is awesome. And there’s quite a lot of sh*t you can get away with here that just isn’t gonna fly once you graduate. For example:

1. Mid day naps. Unless you decide to hightail your pretty bum down to Mexico or start your own company or something, midday siestas are generally not in the typical workin’ girl schedule. Oh, how I love the five hour breaks in between my classes.

2. Threesomes. Unless you want to end up like Charlotte in SATC, watching your dude getting’ frisky and feelin’ up some rando-girl while you stand awkwardly on the sidelines, I think threesomes are definitely better explored pre-graduation. I think almost everybody has at least one wild hookup story (that may or may not involve multiple partners) by the time they leave college. And that’s where those kind of explorations should probably stay. In college.

3. All nighters and Adderall binges. I’m pretty sure it’s not “adultlike” to stay up all night, downing cups of coffee and caffeine pills (or whatever your all-nighter drug of choice may be) to finish whatever crazy task your boss asks of you. Purple bruise-like bags under your eyes will never be sexy. Especially for an early morning meeting. Read More »

[Life isn’t black and white. As much as we wish we simply loved or hated things, there is often that whole annoying gray area in the middle. Like, we hate how Walmart treats its employees…but we love the low prices! Or, we love how that boy makes us laugh….but we hate that he has no motivation in life. Damn you, gray area; you make decision-making that much more complicated!

There are so many difficult choices in life (do we love or hate high heels??), so we thought we’d sort through ‘em right here. Every week we will discuss another issue we are torn up about. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section!]

Whether you call it the caf, the d-hall or the sh*t hole, you definitely have one. The dining hall is a place to meet with friends, grab a bite to eat or flirt with the sandwich guy. As college students, we spend endless amounts of time there, whether by choice or because our schools force us to pay for meal plans. And, just like every other serious relationship in our lives, this one has a lot of highs and a lot of lows. Read More »

All of my life, finding food has never been a problem. My mom buys it, my college cafeteria supplies it, and there are always easy-to-make snacks in my fridge. So imagine the huge reality check I get when I move into an apartment style dorm for part of the summer. The cafeteria isn’t open until fall and I am off to fend for myself in the food department. While I am armed with a kitchen full of essentials (microwave, refrigerator, stove, etc.) there is one tiny problem; I have never cooked for myself.

Now when I say I have never cooked for myself I mean that I have never bought groceries for myself and the only thing I have used an oven for is baking brownies. If I want scrambled eggs for breakfast, I make them in the microwave. Mashed potatoes? Screw the stove; I use the microwave. Basically I am skilled with the microwave and nothing else. But since a summer full of microwavable foods did not sound that enticing, I have found a few tips for all those who are cooking in a small kitchen.

Establish food ownership: This is only needed if you are sharing kitchen space with other people. I know many roommates who have fought over ownership of a jar of salsa or accused their friends of eating their whole bag of pretzels. These situations could have easily been avoided had everyone sharing a fridge talked over how they wanted to share the kitchen. Read More »