Depending on the day, having a meal plan can be good or bad. The dining hall is close, fast and has a wide selection of food. However, you always see the same people there, and the “wide selection” of food is the same every day. Here are some tips on how you can master the dining hall and make the most of your meal plan.

Take your Tupperware: If your dining hall is all-you-can-eat, then you should eat whatever you want when you go, but also stock up for later. Take cereal, cookies, fruit and vegetables.  There are going to be some mornings you don’t want to go to the dining hall because you’re just too hungover, and you’ll just want to eat cereal in bed. Or maybe you’ll be up all night cramming for an exam and need a few sweet, chocolate chip cookies to get you through the night.

Go Alone Some Days: If you go with friends, chances are you are going to sit and talk for an hour or so while you eat. That was okay for Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte, but they never went to an all-you-can-eat buffet. Sitting among all of that food for two hours can be dangerous. You may tend to keep nibbling on food not realizing how much you’re eating, and then ten slices of pizza later, you’ll be sick. If you go alone, you can limit yourself to one plate and leave whenever you want to.

Explore other Dining Halls on Campus: Your campus probably has at least one dining hall, and if your campus is big, it probably has more. I know it’s convenient to go to the one closest to your dorm when you’re walking home from class, but it’s good to check out the other ones. They may have different food options or hotter guys than your dining hall.

Keep an Eye Out for Events: Some dining halls will have certain “theme nights”, which would be a fun change of pace. Instead of choosing between pizza, burgers or chicken and rice, you may get to choose between tacos, quesadillas or burritos for “Mexican Fiesta Night.” You’ll almost feel like you’re off campus at a real restaurant.

Sit with Someone you Don’t Know: It may seem weird at first, but you’ll make friends. All of the freshmen at the dining hall are in the same boat as you: they have no friends, and they’ve eaten the same food for the past week. Being a freshman is all about meeting new people so use the dining hall to your advantage and make a few friends.

Now, as excited as I am to immerse myself in a completely new part of the country and whore my friendship out to anyone who seems halfway genuine, I’m also (understandably) somewhat apprehensive. While I embrace the fact that my classmates will be in the same awkward, n00bish and painfully freshman situation that I will be drowning in, to no degree does knowing this dull my nerves. It’s common knowledge that first impressions carry weight in relationships of any sort.

So here is my proposition to my fellow freshmen-to-be: take these last few months to become the younger version of the person you see yourself being as an adult. Let go, free your mind, go crazy (within reasonable, mostly-legal, bounds) and enjoy the summer. Immerse yourself in culture, as well; attending exhibits (recommended: Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty at the Met), securing an occupation in a new environment (jobs are hard to come by right now, but internships and volunteer positions are perfect for bulking up your resume! Don’t be afraid to work for free, for now), and going to music festivals are all great potential conversation topics. And personally, I know I’ll be needing a lot of those.

Summer is also the opportune time to switch things up looks-wise, so experiment freely with your hair/makeup/clothes. Unleash your inner beauty by tweaking your outer beauty, while keeping in mind that your aesthetic is one of the first things your new classmates will notice about you. Let it out, and come away with a unique, finished product by August. And don’t forget to take advantage of the broiling sun and awesome beach weather!

No longer a ______ , but not yet a _______. Fill in your own blanks this summer. Take some time, figure it out (or don’t) and make the most of this pre-college pause without labels.

Gossip and leaks from the Glee set!

This girl puts the “crazy” in “crazy super stalking Bieber fan.”

And the cutest couple at the Emmy’s was…..

The secrets to scoring tix to Fashion Week.

How to turn down a second date (without being rude).

The freshman advice you didn’t get at orientation.

What else is going on? You mean besides sweat-induced breakouts, funky tan burn lines, and 24/7 cravings for popsicles? Yeah, not much. Thank god all those ass-hats in Hollywood are keeping it real, otherwise I’d have nothing to do with myself while I spend my days huddled up on the air conditioning vent in my bedroom. Speaking of bedrooms, have you entered the CollegeCandy contest to win a total bedroom makeover?!

Perhaps reflecting on the week that was will cool things down a bit.

- Mel Gibson has officially gone off the deep end and taken on the title of Douchebag of the Century.

- Could you be one of these people? Here are six friends you’ll never see over summer break

- Kate and Jon didn’t work out, neither did Jake and Vienna. But what about Kate…and Jake? Maybe these new matchups will last in Hollywood.

- Wanna have sex? Forget about it. Let’s watch porn instead. Read about the new phenomenon about porn replacing sex.

- Short hair in, long hair out. Read about one CC writer’s obsession with short hair. (And rightfully so, look at Audrey Hepburn!)

- While you’re lounging poolside soaking up the sun, one post-grad is slaving away to prepare for the LSATs. Who do you think is having more fun? Hint: you.

- Emma Watson: smart, sucessful and the face of Burberry. Read why everyone here at CollegeCandy loves her style.

- Tired of working out every time you go out to eat? Eat these healthy foods and rock that hot summer bod.

- Guys are complicated. Wait, no they’re not.

We're gonna stay together forever...or until we get to college and grow apart/find better options.

Upon graduation, my high school sweetheart and I left for different universities in the same city, vowing to stay together, no matter what. “No high school couple lasts beyond their first semester freshman year,” someone told me, to which I replied with a scoff and an eye-roll. That kind of advice was meant for bicoastal couples separated by thousands of miles, and people who just weren’t committed enough to making it work. I resolved to survive the turkey drop.

But by the middle of second semester, I had unceremoniously ended a four-year relationship, citing midterms and the “different directions” in which our lives were headed. What was once was a comfortable refuge ultimately felt stifling, and the messy breakup regrettably tainted years of good memories for a long time after. But I had to do it and it was definitely worth it in the long run.

For those contemplating the High School Sweetheart Breakup (and those of you who are and just refuse to admit it), here’s why it might be better to shelve your boyfriend’s varsity jacket with the rest of your senior yearbook memories:

1. Long distance sucks.
You may have promised to stick together whether you were 30 or 3,000 miles apart, but the truth is, maintaining a long distance relationship is hard. Spending time together isn’t as simple as it used to be; now you have to drive across state lines or fly hundreds of miles every other weekend, cutting into the amount of time you have to catch up on homework, hang out with new friends, or simply explore your new settings. Plus, nobody wants to have to turn down potential weekend plans with, “Sorry, I’m driving to Ohio again to see my boyfriend.”

2. Your interests will change (and so will his).
The two of you shared a bunch of friends and dominated Wii doubles tennis together, so who’s to say you have nothing in common? Though not all high school relationships are affairs of convenience, many of them are, especially if your senior class was only 50 people big. College opens you up to a slew of experiences, and along with discovering you like volleyball and theater (who knew?), you’ll probably switch majors at least twice before you figure out what you really want. Ditto boyfriends. If your nightly marathon phone calls are dwindling down to awkward silences, maybe you guys have less in common than you thought.

3. You’ll be too busy for a serious relationship. No, really.
Between juggling 18 credit hours and trying out for the swim team and joining eight student organizations, free time is hard to come by for a college freshman. There will be many occasions down the road in which you will invariably use the excuse, “I just have too much going on right now to be in a relationship,” but this time, it might actually be true.

4. There are other fish in the sea, and other guys on the quad.
That said, you are going to want to date other guys. I repeat: you are going to want to date other guys. “No!” you protest, “I love my boyfriend, and we’ve gone through so much together.” That may be true, but there is something to be said for the appeal of (and conversely, the fear of) the unknown. Ask yourself frankly: Do you kinda maybe want to see what else is out there, but are afraid of being on your own after so long? Do you wish there were some sort of trial separation you could undertake without fully letting go of your boyfriend? Do you want your own crazy singleton stories? If the answer is yes, it may be time to jump ship (and go fishing).

5. He’s a boyfriend, not a security blanket.
Moving away from home and living on a campus with hundreds, if not thousands, of strangers is definitely daunting at first. That is, until you meet all the awesome people on the floor of your dorm, start exploring the local shops and restaurants, and figure out that the quickest way to get to your poli sci class is through the math building. Holding on to a hometown relationship can be the easiest way to seek stability amid the chaos of settling down in a new campus, but is that really a reason to stay in a relationship? Yes, there exists the rare person who marries his or her high school sweetheart and lives happily ever after, but if you’re only calling your “love” when you need a little comfort and consoling, you are not that person. Face it: it’s just cruel and selfish to stay with a guy only because he reminds you of home. If that turns out to be the case, in the immortal words of Liz Lemon, “shut it down.”

I’ll tell you: nothing.

Who should you turn to?
The guy working at Bed Bath and Beyond?
Some old dude who puts out a college survival guidebook?

Pshhhh. What do old people know?

How about us?
You’re already here, so you obviously love us (and how could you not?!). Now it’s time to trust us and the wisdom we can impart.

We know college, because we’re in it. Right now. We know what you need to pack (costumes! Trust us!), what you need to avoid (hooking up with a prof, fo realz) and what you need to do to survive that grueling first week of college classes.

You want to know what we know? Just visit our back-to-school guide. It’s chock full of all the information you will need to go from scared pre-frosh to sexy, confident and all-knowing Queen of your campus. Yeah, we got your back. Now get out there and show that new campus who’s boss!

It’s that time of year, when people start packing up their lives to fit into the ridiculously small storage closets they call dorm rooms.  For some of us, we will be heading back to familiar sights and sounds, having already navigated our way through a couple years of school.  For the rest of us, it will be the first time on campus and the start of a much-hyped period in your life: the college years.

There have been several books written to prepare incoming freshman for all the crazy shiz that will go down during their first year of school.  Their relatives, friends, guidance counselors and even complete strangers will also advise them on how to stay healthy in the cafeteria and how to sneak alcohol into their dorm room.

To really be prepared for your freshman year, however, you should get familiar with the people that will surround you on a daily basis.  Will your roommate be a Loner or a Homesick Child?  Will your lab partner be an Athlete/Ultimate Fan and therefore too busy checking on player stats and scores to write the chemistry report with you?  Only time will tell, so you might as well be prepared.

Here’s the 10 types of freshmen you’ll meet on campus:

The Party Boy/Girl

These kids came to college for one reason and one reason only: to partaaaaaaay!  They definitely spent too much time watching exaggerated college movies and are expecting nightly games of beer pong and hot, half-naked coeds everywhere.  They will be somewhat disappointed by the reality, but will make up for it by partying extra hard on the weekends.  Expect them to have converted their closet door into a makeshift beer pong table for their dorm room.  This kid is where the party is and always will be.

The Loner

If this kid didn’t go to class or appear in the dining hall once in a while, no one would know he even existed.  He/she is always on their computer with huge headphones on, completely oblivious to the rest of the world.  You’re not quite sure if you’ve ever heard them speak or seen them sleep, but they got into college somehow, so they must be somewhat intelligent.  In lecture halls, they are usually on a hand-held device or on their laptop, always in the corner or back.  Mad props if you hear this person speak or engage them in conversation or an activity of any kind.

The Homesick Child

They miss their mommies.  They also miss their bedroom, their dog, their siblings, all the home-cooked meals and a plethora of other things.  College is full of strange, unfamiliar things and they don’t like that.  The Homesick Child would rather stay in their dorm room and call/text their parents all day, complaining about everything from the cafeteria food to their roommate who “just doesn’t understand.”  On the plus side, they always seem to be getting care packages from home, so they’ll have cookies to share.

The Honors Geek

You’ll find this person in the library, hard at work finishing homework that’s due three weeks from now.  They’ve already accepted a research position for their favorite professor (whom they read about online before they even got to campus) and they are taking a healthy mix of honors and graduate-level courses.  Honors Geeks rarely have time to socialize outside of their labs or research offices, but they are pretty nice kids (once you get past the social anxiety that usually follows them around).  Maybe if you ask sweetly enough they’ll help you with your calculus homework (they’re guaranteed to have a bad ass calculator)…

The Good Kids Gone Bad

These kids were the ones in high school had had pretty good grades, some good friends, and a very normal life.  They then get to campus and are corrupted by the immediate availability of alcohol, sex, and whatnot.  Suddenly, that good kid you knew from high school is doing body shots off that sorority girl and skipping all his morning classes.  Most recover from their lapse of judgment, but some will continue to degenerate even further.

The Fraternity/Sorority Whore

Her mother was in Kappa Gamma Iota and his father was in Delta Chi Omega (both of those are completely made up, btw), so they will be rushing from the moment they step foot on campus.  They speak constantly about the sister/brotherhood, only wear clothes donning their precious letters, and go completely MIA for weeks due to rushing/pledging/whatever else they do in that giant house of theirs.

The Athlete/Ultimate Fan

This student came on either an athletic scholarship or on the love of your university’s football/basketball/hockey team.  They are the loudest at any sporting event and have been known to paint parts of their body in school colors.  Good luck getting them out of their dorm room on the weekends, because if they don’t have tickets to the game, then they’re gonna park it on their couch in their college colors rooting on the boys.

The Tortured Artist

You’ll be able to identify the Tortured Artists by the sketchbook/DSLR camera/guitar they tote around with them everywhere.  They hated all the droids of high school and the conformist society that surrounded them, so they’re already ingrained with a sense of community loathing.  This will make for awkward conversation in dorm hallways/lecture halls/cafeterias.  However, the Tortured Artist always has something interesting in their room (maybe a still life set up for photography class homework or a naked model for sketching) and they chain smoke like nobody’s business, so if you ever need a cigarette, go to them.

The Hippie Stoner

The Hippie Stoner doesn’t quite know how they got into college, but there’s a bunch of weed here so they’re not complaining.  This dude/chick never seems to leave their room and is always surrounded by a cloud of smoke. Whenever you come by to visit, they invite you in for some video games and invariably offer you some MJ.  Although the Hippie Stoner never attends class, he/she tends to major in Philosophy, Art History or something similarly useless.

The High School Wannabes

These are the people who graduated physically from high school, but haven’t left it mentally.  They still hang with all their high school friends, go home on weekends, and are probably dating someone who actually is in high school.  You’ll probably hear them in the cafeteria or on the phone reminiscing about the “good ‘ole days” back before they graduated.

When I moved to college, the first thing I did after unpacking my shower caddy and twin extra long sheets was buy a parking spot. I had to have my car. Had to. It gets cold in Colorado, obviously, so walking all over campus in the winter was not an option. Plus, I got so used to having a car for errands, Costco runs, etc., that I just couldn’t bear to be without one.

I am sure most students feel the same way, especially since I can never find anywhere to park on campus these days. Ugh. Why do I even have a car if I can’t use it to drive to class?!

But I digress.

All of this campus street congestion that is no doubt a problem on college campuses nationwide has led many schools to start a revolution…with bikes.

The University of New England is one of a few schools (that will soon be many) that is offering free bikes to any student who leaves their car at home. Other schools are setting up bike share programs, which entice students to pedal around campus instead of hopping in the car. These schools are hoping that by giving students a real alternative, they will not feel the need to bring their car to campus.

And it looks like it’s all working – for more than just the parking sitch:

“We did it as a means of reducing the need for parking, but as we looked at it from the standpoint of fitness, health and sustainability, we realized we have the opportunity to create a change.”

The whole idea is really quite smart. By opting for a bike instead of a car you could help the environment, save money on parking (and parking tickets…), get healthy, and free up some of those parking spots for the rest of us reduce the number of cars clogging your campus streets. And all for free!

This looks like a total win/win.

Sure, it was nice to be home. But I kept feeling like I had to go back to school, like this was more of a temporary sleepover than a homecoming. While the weekend kept me busy from noticing that my house was not exactly home, it also uncovered a new strangeness which college created—meeting up with high school friends.

Most of my high school friends, all of whom I have known for years, go to college within two hours of my hometown. So when a few of us come home for the weekend, we all come home for the weekend. And while I loved being around people who never need an explanation for my random songs or not-funny jokes, it was also startling to see how just a few months have changed us.

I left my friends for the entire summer, and I noticed little change when I came back. But now my friends are not just sitting around their houses or working at the local Dunkin’ Donuts; they’re making friends, testing their boundaries and (some of them) are becoming people who I never would have talked to in high school. When it’s just the few of us watching a movie or walking around town, I can’t entirely ignore the college sweatshirts, new belly-button rings and anecdotes starring new best friends. I can’t pretend that this is last June, when we all just graduated and were ready for something new.

We all desperately needed something different from our perfect little hometown. Well, we got what we wanted. And now, the constant of friends and home have been fogged. When I walked back into my dorm after Fall Break, arms filled with cleaned laundry and warmer coats, a friend leaned over the balcony and said hello. I realized then that while my house and my friends will never be exactly the same as they were, they will still be there for me when I need to escape from college.

But now I don’t need to escape so much. When I enter the dorm, I have people welcoming me home.

[Photo courtesy of danielbowen.com]

I am one of the many college girls that sees no problem in being young and enjoying a little (or a lot) sex every once in a while. But as thousands of college freshmen are planning on partaking in some type of sexual activity once arriving on campus, many of them will forget about the most important thing: being safe.

On a recent outing with some girlfriends, we encountered a group of men on a street corner belting out bible verses and holding large signs displaying all the things God supposedly hates (pre-marital sex, homosexuality, drunkeness and so on). As one of the men saw us walking by, he stopped mid-verse, turned to us and said “Did you know that 1 in 4 teen girls will catch in STD?” We all looked at him in disgust and walked away (the nerve!), but secretly I wanted to hang my head in shame, because I was the one girl he was referring to.

Before I left for college I never really thought much about hooking up in college. I had just broken up with my high school sweetheart and had no interest in seeing any other boys. I just laughed as my mother handed me a box of generic condoms, told me to be safe and kissed me goodbye.

Things started out pretty normal at school, until one night. I was in the middle of a pretty intense hookup with Derrick*, a laid back fellow freshman who was the complete polar opposite of my arrogant and popular ex. A friend of a friend, we constantly found ourselves at the same parties and happened to find ourselves alone one night. After some chatting and a couple of beers we decided to go back to his place. He was great in bed and had no problem with wearing a condom, except for oral sex.

So we continued to hook up on a regular basis. And everything was fine, until I visited my gyno during Winter Break only to find out that I had contracted HPV.

I was so hurt, ashamed and angry that I couldn’t bring myself to cry. When I called to Derrick to inform him, he told me that he was fine (many guys assume this since many of them don’t show symptoms) and that I was just another dirty slut. I felt depressed all the time and even thought about suicide; I felt that I didn’t deserve to live any more because I made such a stupid mistake and had became just another teen statistic, something I told myself would never happen.

After keeping my situation to myself for so long, I finally had to courage to tell my best friend what happened. Between comforting me and quieting my sobs, she told me that 1. My life wasn’t over and 2. If I just took care of myself I would be fine.

Today I’m doing somewhat better. I’ve been eating healthy and exercising to regulate my immune system, but I’m still coping with the fact I’ll have to live with the virus forever, unless someone miraculously finds a cure. Months after my diagnosis I find it very difficult to approach guys. I’m not sure how or if I will tell a guy about it, should we decide to have sex. I constantly find myself wondering how I could have gotten this, despite my efforts to be safe. I try to live my life like a normal teen, but every time I think about sex my HPV status stays in my head as a constant reminder.

So go ahead and call me every demoralizing name possible, but your harsh words are nothing compared to the numerous mental beatings I’ve put myself through. I hope that every fellow girl reading this will realize that you are not invincible, and that by not protecting yourself my story could easily be yours. So please , wear a condom every time you have sex (including oral and anal) and don’t be afraid to talk to you doctor about getting tested for STDs every couple of months. It’s important to truly consider who you want to have sex with, since HPV can be transmitted, even with the use a of condom.

(For more info on HPV/Genital Warts click here)