23 is a young age for a lot of things.  It is a young age to be a mother, to be on your own, to lose a friend, or to have cancer.  Yet, all of these things and more happen to young people every day.

It was a cold day in November when I got the phone call from the dermatologist telling me my results were back and I needed to come into the office the same day.  As I put down the phone, I looked at my boyfriend and nervously laughed and said, “Well that can’t be good.”  Since I am a full time student, I had to go to class before I could even think about heading to a doctor.  I sat through the hour and fifteen minute class thinking that maybe I was being silly and everything was going to be fine.  Surely a girl who is 23 years old, outgoing, determined, and full of life could not have cancer.  It had to be something else.

The drive to the office took too long and I called my mom on the way to deter some thoughts.  She immediately went into full panic mode and I couldn’t understand why.  By the time I arrived at the doctor, she had called five times to find out what was wrong but they wouldn’t tell her because I am an adult.  I sat alone in the room and waited for the nurse practitioner.  She was the only that would see me that day because the doctor was too busy.  She sat down and said, “Katie, you have level four Melanoma and the next step is for you to go see a surgeon in St. Louis to have the tumor removed.”

It’s hard to explain what I was feeling at the moment I was processing everything she was saying.  I don’t really know if I was feeling anything but disbelief.  I’m not sure that I was even processing it.  I just shook my head like I was some kind of bobble head so she knew I was still listening.  The strangest thing, after looking back on it all, is the feeling that I just wanted to please her or that I couldn’t cry because I needed to be strong.  I asked her different questions about what the biopsy meant and she couldn’t tell me.  At this point the hardest thing was that she didn’t know the details or the main question everyone wanted to know:

Was I going to die?

As I waited for my mom in the room, I went numb.  I thought back to all the years I laid in tanning beds and knew it was bad but didn’t trust my instincts.  Most fake-bakers out there will know what feeling I’m talking about; that gnawing feeling that this is bad for you.  This is bad for you like any other bad habit, but you’re young and healthy and nothing could ever hurt you.  You’ve seen the little sign on the side of the tanning bed but you still step in with the certainty that those signs are just for legalities and don’t pertain to you.

I started to cry and was slightly embarrassed.  I was embarrassed because I didn’t even know what I was crying for.  I didn’t even know if this was serious or not.  I was just like any other person, and didn’t really know what Melanoma was or how deadly it can be.  But I had the “Big C” and so I cried.  I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be feeling.  I knew they had probably diagnosed a lot of people who had lived full lives with Melanoma, but I was different.  How is a 23 year old who just found she has cancer supposed to act?

Two weeks later, I had MOHS surgery to have the tumor removed and I had some lymph nodes removed as well.  When I woke up from the surgery, I was in a lot of pain and I needed a month’s worth of physical therapy to get my arm back to working right.  The next time I saw the surgeon, he was unsure whether they had found more cancer further up my arm.  It was all very confusing and I thought I would have to go on chemotherapy.  This is when it all became too real.  I started to wonder if I was going to be a statistic for Melanoma deaths rather than for Melanoma survivors.

After weeks of research, I found a Melanoma clinic in the area that examined my slides and they didn’t believe I still had Melanoma.  I wonder everyday who it is I should be listening to and how I can save myself.  After having all different kinds of scans, it is still unclear if I still have cancer and all I can really do is to check my skin and lymph nodes every three months with a specialist.  Since I am on a full-ride scholarship and can’t risk losing it by missing classes, I have left chemo out of the equation until someone can give me a definite answer.  Some people may think this is a risky choice but this has been a big financial burden for me, so the last thing I need to do is lose my scholarship and make it worse.

Melanoma is a very sneaky cancer because, like my mole, it does not always look like the typical Melanoma.  The only reason I was concerned about it was because it itched.  Melanoma diagnosis increase by 3.1 percent each year and it is being found more and more in young Caucasian females.  Melanoma is the most common form of skin cancer in young adults 25-29 years old, and the second most common form of cancer in adolescents and young adults 15-29 years old. The scariest facts on Melanoma are that 75 percent of skin cancer deaths are related to Melanoma and someone dies from Melanoma every 61 minutes.  This is obviously something that needs to be taken seriously because young adults are being diagnosed at an increasingly alarming rate.  Still, no one my age understands or believe that it could happen to them.  Young adults never believe they are invincible.  I am here to tell you, you are not. It can happen to you and it is completely preventable.

At this point, if you are a tanner, it is time to quit. Bronze skin is not worth it. Believe me, it took me a long time to get used to being pale, but now I love my natural, healthy color.

Right now, I’m just trying to live my life as normally as possible. I’m trying not to think about my disease or what it might mean for me down the road. I want to go to school and when summer comes, I want to spend it at the beach.  I don’t know which one but I am just going to hop in the car and start driving towards the coast.  After I get there and I lay out my towel, I’m going to slather on the sunscreen, open up a cold-one,  and be young again.

[A very special thanks to reader Kathleen for sharing her story with us. She and her friends are working tirelessly to fight against tanning beds and warn college students of the dangers associated with them. Honor her struggle and protect yourself.]

The following is a guest post by our (nerdy yet totally helpful) friends at Hack College. Check ‘em out for all your techy needs. They’re like the nerdy boyfriend you never had but always needed.

When the hell did November get here? That is what I want to know. Seriously, just yesterday I was telling y’all how to prepare your brains for August and get back into the school mode. And now it’s November. How did that happen and how can I make it stop?

Well, okay, so I can’t stop the furious, oncoming train that is November. I also can’t stop December, with all of its final papers and exams and projects, from hurtling right after it. You might be thinking, “Don’t be silly. December is an entire month away! I have a whole other month before I have to start worrying about things like that. I’m not gonna worry about that ’til after Thanksgiving.”

That is where you are wrong. Let me break this down for you. Including this week, there are two more weeks until Thanksgiving. Exams start a week and a half after Thanksgiving break. Can you study for all of your exams, write multiple 15-page papers, and put together various end-of-the-semester projects in a week in a half?

Answer: no.

The solution to this post-Thanksgiving crunch is to use these two weeks that we are given to start planning ahead for finals season. I know, it may seem excessive. But if you put off preparation for your end -of-the-year work until right before or even after Thanksgiving break, you will have wished you used that two week grace period to do some of that work. Trying to organize the next month of your academic life is daunting to say the least. But with a few tips, you should at least create yourself a nice cushion of accomplished work to allow you to not completely lose your mind in the post-Thanksgiving crunch.

Make Lists of Exams/Projects/Papers

I like lists. Okay, okay, I love lists. They are the best organization tool in the entire world. If you don’t already carry around a notepad or a digital version to keep track of to-do lists and the like, you really should start. It makes it less likely that you will forget to do a small (or big) assignment or task if you keep track of everything you must do throughout the day.

For November though, you should start by making a list of all of your major assignments that will be due in the time between now and the end of the semester. Make note of which tasks are going to take more time and which are simply minor assignments. Making a list like this will not only help you prioritize all of the things that you need to do but it will also help you get a realistic idea of how much you really have to do by the end of the semester.

Look through all of your classes’ syllabuses to make sure you have listed every assignment and to ensure that some unexpected assignment doesn’t sneak up on you. There is nothing worse than feeling you have a good handle on all of your work and then realizing that you forgot about a graded portion of the course that was only mentioned on the first day of class. Don’t panic if your list is massively bigger than you expected it to be. If you use efficient time management skills and schedule your next few weeks to accommodate your list (see the next item), you should be able to finish everything on your list.

Schedule Your Calendar

It’s reasonable to panic while looking at the massive list you’ve just created. You have to do all of this end-of-the-semester work plus the day to day work that is still piling on? Oh, yes. After you’ve made your list of assignments and exams, take out your calendar. I still prefer my Outlook Calendar but many people prefer Google Calendars or even physical, handwritten calendars. Like a notebook to keep track of to-do lists, if you don’t already have a calendar you use consistently, you should get into the habit immediately. Scheduling due dates and other tasks on a calendar helps you visually gauge and organize your life.

Take the items on your list and place them all on your calendar, if they aren’t already. That, unfortunately, is the easy part. Now that you can see when all of your assignments are due and exams are scheduled, you should start to set aside blocks of times to do prepare for these assignments. Because you still have to do your day-to-day work, you will have to play around with designating certain parts of days to certain projects while still leaving space for your daily work. It’s a tricky balancing act. I like to designate certain weekends or weeks to different projects and color code them accordingly. That way I know that next week I will have to work on my Greek religions paper while next weekend I will have to start on my project for my Communication class.

By sitting down with your calendar and list of assignments and specifically scheduling blocks of time to do major assignments, you have locked it into place in your life. You can know for certain when you will have time to do all of the things on your list instead of just trying to randomly find spare time to work on various projects. If you don’t schedule it in, it’s much easier for you to procrastinate and never get around to it. Scheduling things also gives you a deadline for when you should be done with your assignment. Deadlines will motivate you to get your work done in the period you have set aside for it. Additionally, self-set deadlines is an important skill to acquire before you venture out in to the real world.

Be the Early Bird

All of these steps may seem like taking very early steps in preparing for finals season, but I want to suggest that you take this idea a step further, especially with papers and projects. If you know that you have a paper due at the end of the semester, begin brainstorming for topics, ideas, and sources now, early in the month, so that when you actually sit down to write the paper, you have already saved yourself time.

Schedule meetings with your professors about paper and project topics early so that you already have the go-ahead. Additionally, if you ask for help from professors early in the month, you will have more time to track down the hints and helpful information that they may give you during your meeting with them. Your professors want you to make a good grade. Asking for help or a point in the right direction early will not only let them know that you’re on the ball but it will give you more time to use these suggestions in your final assignment.

Ultimately, starting projects and papers early will both help you stay organized and on top of your other things to do and will give you more time to produce a better final project or paper. And eat lots and lots of stuffing/sweet potatoes/everything else your mom makes.

Do you find any of these tips useful? What do you do during November to help you prepare for the end-of-the-year rush of finals? Let us know in the comments!

[Meet Margaret, a freshman at Yale. We've been checking in with her every week to see what she's doing, who she's meeting, and what new college surprises she's tackling (or freaking out about) as she embarks on the journey we call college. Or as I like to call it, the best thing since Trader Joe's Honey Greek Yogurt.]

In high school, I had a clear label. I was Ms. Student Government, Ms. Good Grades, Ms. Overachiever. And even though all of our years of primary schooling have told us that labels are totally, totally terrible and that we should define people by their true selves and inner lights, etcetera, Oprah wisdom, etcetera, Oprah wisdom, I’m just going to say this: I heart labels.

Because for some reason, rather than being stifled and held down by my defined structural cocoon of a label, I ultimately felt freer to be anyone I wanted to be. Completely ridiculous, right? Yeah.

By being known as the Smart Girl, I no longer had to prove that part of myself. It was like, I could be flexible. I could get a B on a paper, I could forget to do my homework, I could bomb an English test, but I would still be known as the Smart Girl. I mean, I guess it’s kinda like how Paris Hilton could potentially save puppies and ace an LSAT, but she always has that Party Girl image. Except, the opposite, you know?

It’s like, when you have a defined label, all you need to do is be like, “But wait, that label is not all that defines me.” And wham, you can do whatever you want and you surprise people because obviously Real You is so much more interesting than Labeled You.

So now, I’m in this totally awkward phase of being label-less. Now, according to Tyra and self-help books everywhere, I should be in a state of bliss. I mean, no one is judging me based on…anything, right? I should feel free to do whatever I want.

But I feel so trapped, you guys! Because now whatever step I take defines me—it’s like, I don’t have that fallback of Smart Girl anymore, because a) everyone here is smart, and b) I totally still have left over Senioritis from last year, and, let’s face it, I definitely got a C on my first Spanish assignment. So now I’m just like everyone else… or worse, Bad Spanish Girl. And that just doesn’t sit well with me.

I think I’ll eventually figure things out and get comfortable with being whoever I am; for now though, I’m recognizing how much I depended on labels throughout my formative years.

Goodbye Smart Girl, hello _______?

[Follow Margaret's freshman adventures right here.]

A few days ago, The Huffington Post provided its readers with a BLS pie chart that depicted the daily schedule of the average college student. Apparently, we are barely grooming, sleeping 8+ hours, and living “pretty awesome” lives.

I am definitely not challenging the awesome comment. I spent yesterday lounging on my front porch, catching some rays while doing my homework. In the words of a very drugged out 8-year-old: Is this real life?

At the same time, though, The Government’s statistics are far from true concerning the lives of my friends and I. The day I meet a student that sleeps 8.4 hours nightly, I will lock them in a room until they share all their snoozing secrets with me.

Inresponse to the pie chart, we at CollegeCandy have crafted our own breakdown of the typical weekday in the life of a college student. The statistics may be far from scientific, but being girls who are really good at college, we feel they shed a more accurate light on the average student’s day.

Breaking it Down

Sleeping – 6 hours
If I could get about six hours of sleep a night, I would be able to pat way less Benefit Boi-ing on top of the dark circles haunting my eyes. 8.4 hours would be like a dream… too bad I’m too busy not sleeping to be able to live it.

Facebook Creepin’ – 3 hours
Sad but true.

Hanging Out With Friends (AKA, Group Facebook Creepin’) – 2 hours
Sadder but truer.

Watching Bravo Marathons – 3 hours
I discovered the Real Housewives of Atlanta as a sophomore. Soon, Bravo acted as some sort of black hole, pulling me in and never letting me see the light of day/productivity again.

Considering Working Out – 1 hour
It takes a long time and a lot of internal debate to determine whether your afternoon free time would be better spent on a treadmill or on a couch with Facebook and The Real Housewives.

Working Out – 30 minutes
Because that’s all the time you have left after brooding about it for an hour.

Work (including commute time) – 3 hours
Typically, students with jobs work more than 3 hours a day. But, since they’re not working every day, this number is more of a weekly average. Procrastination/homework time can and do overlap here, especially if you’re blessed with one of those ideal campus jobs.

Class – 3 hours
Yes, you know.. That thing we’re all here for… an education. Class should take up a good portion of a student’s day. That is, if they actually go.

Studying/Reading – 2 hours
On a good day.

Complaining About How Tired You Are – 1 hours
“I am so tired, you don’t even understand!” [Chugs Diet Coke.]

Complaining About How Stressed You Are – 1 hours
“I am so stressed, you don’t even understand!” Of course, we’d all be less stressed if we spent last time whining about it.

Eating/Drinking – 2 hours
For some this means relaxing meals (and three trips to the fro yo machine) with friends in the cafeteria. And for others it’s pounding a few Hot Pockets before chugging beers to the beat of Ke$ha. Whatev.

How do you spend your day?

Got some college questions? Unsure of a decision? Tangled up in some guy/roommate dramz? Just wanna chat it up with some really awesome chics?

Question
Help! My best friend from home has just informed me that she’s transferring to my school in the fall. (I knew she applied and I’m so excited to have her there, but she was on the wait-list and just found out). Anyways, she doesn’t really know that many people at my school and doesn’t want to live with all the freshmen in the dorms, so she asked if there was any extra space in my house for next year.

There is. The problem is, I don’t want to live with her. I’ve lived with friends before and it always ended badly, so I don’t want to risk it with her. Plus, I’ve got my life already set up here and as much as I want to have her in it, I don’t want to have her THAT MUCH in it. At least not right away. I feel like a huge bitch, but I just don’t want to live with her. How do I tell her that? And should I just suck it up and invite her to live with me? Maybe it’s not such a bad thing?

Any advice you can give would be grand…and help me sleep better at night.

GPA Girl
Yikes. I can understand the way you feel, but unfortunately, there’s really no way to explain it to your friend in a way that doesn’t make you seem like a complete jerk. At least, I can’t think of any way – maybe the other ladies can help out. But dude, I have to ask: Would it really be so awful to live with your friend? It wouldn’t be like you’re sharing a room with her. The two of you will be in a house with other people. As soon as she starts making new friends of her own (which you can facilitate much more easily if you share a house with her . . .), it’s likely that you won’t even see her nearly as much as you think. In any case, I think you should open up the house to your friend BUT have a tactful and honest discussion with her ASAP about how you feel. Let her know that you need to maintain a certain degree of independence in order to preserve your friendship with her, and specify the boundaries of that degree if necessary. I think (and hope) she’ll understand. Good luck!

Party Girl
First of all, I totally understand where you’re coming from. I’ve lived with friends before, expecting the time of my life, but it always ended terribly. The only time that a friend-roommate situation worked out for me was the year that we both had full schedules and two jobs each (i.e. we never saw each other and therefore had no time to fight).
I also understand that you’re feeling super guilty about not giving your vacant room to your friend. Really, all you have to do is be honest with her. Grab a couple of margaritas and tell her that for the sake of your friendship, you absolutely cannot cohabitate with her. I’m sure she’ll see your point (and if she doesn’t, it’s nothing another pitcher won’t fix).

Busy Bee
I don’t think you should live with her. It would have been different if you guys had been planning to live together since you were 4 years old, but hearing your doubts BEFORE she moves in confirms that she should not. One of my good friends and I were supposed to get an apartment together for college, but it didn’t end up working out. I realized that I got really annoyed of the things she did when we weren’t living together, so I knew that it wouldn’t work out if we did live together. Roommates should be someone you are neutral with – if things go wrong in the house then it wouldn’t matter if you werent friends, and if things go right in the house then you could end up BFFs. Let things take their course, but don’t risk starting drama! I highly suggest not letting a friend move in.

You have two choices: be honest and tell her that you don’t want her to move in because your previous experiences have ended badly. Your other choice is to tell her that you’ve already found someone (and if you haven’t, then find one ASAP!). Don’t try “sucking up” and letting her live with you – I mean, you don’t want to come home every day after school dreading to be there. It should be a comfortable haven, not an uncomfortable situation.

While every college girl shares many of the same college experiences (selling books, sexiled, one shot too many), she also carves her own path and has her own unique adventure. Have you ever wondered what it’s like for other girls? What it’s like to go to an all-girls school? To go to fashion school? To go to a community college? Well wonder no more. Our one-of-a-kind CollegeCandy writers are sharing their unique experiences and opening our eyes to different college worlds. Are you doing something spectacular/different/interesting that you want to share? Send your ideas over and perhaps you could be telling your story right here.

Most college students struggle to complete one degree in four years, often taking an extra football season to finish or going on the five-year plan. Well, imagine trying to get two degrees in four years. And being in a sorority. And working. And having a boyfriend. And trying to maintain social skills. And watching Glee every Tuesday. Seems crazy right? Welcome to my life.

My friends think I’m nuts. Not because of my double major status, but rather the majors I’ve decided to take on. My primary is Telecommunications and Film with a concentration in Broadcast News, and my secondary is English. While both are pretty harmless separately, together it’s a deadly combination. Telecommunications requires a lot of outside work, plus you pretty much have to work at the TV station to get anywhere, which I’ve yet to do. English requires tons of reading and papers, plus I have to take four semesters of the same foreign language. I find that very strange for an English major, but this has given me the opportunity to take up Italian.

Thankfully, I’ve finished my core classes so I don’t have to waste my time with math (I.hate.numbers.) and can focus on classes that I enjoy. That’s probably the best thing about my double majoring: I love my classes. I love British Literature and History of Mass Communications. I don’t have to worry about Philosophy 101 anymore (worst class everrr) or other electives. That’s right, because I’m pursuing two degrees I don’t have to take electives. No Social Dance or 1-credit Running classes for me!

Another major double-major perk? My teachers know who I am! Alabama is a very large school, so most students don’t get the opportunity to really get to know their teachers. But because I practically live in two buildings on campus, my teachers see me all. the. time. On days when I only have an hour between class, I’ll go hang out in the next building and look productive. This gives me a chance to talk to my profs before class, which is great because when my classes are over I’m booking it to the next. This also gives me the chance to butter them up for those inevitable weeks when there is just too much on my plate and I need a little help in the ways of an extension. No, it doesn’t work all the time, but my track record is definitely better than others I know.

But, of course, there are some downsides to this decision. (Honestly, having one major is stressful enough; having two is pure insanity.) The College of Communication & Information Sciences and the College of Arts & Sciences have classes available around the same times, meaning that I have to work on my schedule for days to figure out how to take the right amount in order to graduate. Intro to Broadcasting and Chaucer occur at same time in the fall, so I have to settle for Shakespeare way later in the day (and there’s nothing worse than a 5 hour break and then having to go back out to class….). If that’s not annoying enough, a lot of the classes overlap and it’s a serious pain in the butt. Last semester I took three English classes in one semester (oh the papers!). It was a terrible nightmare, but also necessary if I want to graduate on time.

And then there’s the stress. When you take three English classes and two TCF classes at the same time, chances are you’ll have two tests on the same day or four in the same week. And a paper due. I’ve come to depend on my personal coffee maker to get me through the days (and all-nighters), and I don’t go anywhere without lots of snacks just in case I’m stuck in the library for hours trying to get everything done.  The worst part of it all: none of my single-major friends get it. They don’t understand the double amount of work or stress, and they can’t empathize with my mild meltdowns and irrational mood swings come midterms. And don’t even get me started on the guilt trips when I miss yet another Thursday Happy Hour outing.

But this is the life I’ve chosen.

I’m the kind of person who likes to be busy, so double majoring is good for me. Sometimes I have to stay in on Thursday and Friday nights to study. Sometimes I drink four cups of coffee before going to class because I had two papers to write and fifty pages to read. For me, it’s worth the stress, and despite it all, I still have time for other things. I still go out, watch TV with my roomie, and veg at the sorority house.

I’m excited to get two diplomas when I graduate and look forward to the feeling of accomplishment (and the bragging rights) when I look back and see what I finished in just four years.

Everyone in college can recall their “worst night” (the night they end up passed out in a pile of woodchips, or walking home at 8AM with a banana costume on), but unfortunately for us, all four of my roommates had ours on the same night.

It was a brisk fall evening, my roommates and I were fully stocked on booze, and there was a very lovely and crowded double kegger down the street. We didn’t even need to get a taxi to get there!  This night was looking good. Only, in reality, the night was a recipe for pure destruction: two of us were recently single, and the other two were well-seasoned single ladies who’d had a long week of studying.  Excited, we each pounded five drinks before even leaving the house.

Upon arriving, we already thought we were the best dancers in the universe and we were feeling pretty good about the previously (now about seven) consumed drinks.  The party was full of cute college boys and girls we knew, the music was loud and, 99% of the time, we were raising the roof and having the “epic night” we had planned for.  The drinking ensued.

Suddenly as quickly as you can say “pop, lock, and drop it” the epic night my roomies had been hoping to endure began to unravel. It began with the cops deciding to join the (mostly underage) party and ended with…. well, let me break the story down by roommate so it’s easier to follow.

Roommate #1 (We will call her “Kristine”)

The entire night, Kristine had been hoping to meet up with a nice young gentleman she had been talking to in class.  He was cute, friendly, and a perfect remedy for her recently ended long-term relationship.  She had tried sloppily talking to him when she arrived, but thanks to the gin and tonics, it was getting pretty difficult to communicate.  In a drunken haze, she had also noticed CuteBoy had been talking up a Freshman that frighteningly resembled  Britney Spears. That called for another shot, or two…. Near ten minutes later, as the cops made their grand entrance, Kristine was diving head first into the (very public) kitchen sink.  Turns out the shots of tequila didn’t agree with her. Between heaving sessions, she looked up at CuteBoy chatting up BritneySpearsGirl. Then, someone dressed up in a cop outfit stepped in front of her hazy view. It took her a moment. “Wait…. what? It’s not Halloween.” And then she ran.  Fast.

Roommate #2 (We will call her “Nicole”)

Nicole was having a great night. She was with a dude she had been dating for a few months, and things were going really well for them.  But, this night in particular (after getting sick in the bathroom, and running away from the cops), her guy took her back to her apartment to sleep. And she took it upon herself to bawl her eyes out and apologize for being so intoxicated. He said it was fine and not to worry, but she insisted it was not… and passed out mid-sentence.  He went home.

Roommate #3 (We will call her “Tiffany”)

When the cops arrived at the party, Tiffany was trapped in the basement.  She made awkward eye contact with a cop as she ran out of the house with red cup in hand. Luckily, her sober friend was there to pick her up.  But alcohol makes you stupid and she ignored the presence of her friend and ran home, alone. Luckily, the cops parked on the street by the house let her go. Fifteen minutes later, after drunk-dialing her crush approximately 80 times, she passed out on the steps of her apartment, 10 feet away from her room.  She later awoke in a puddle of her own drool, collected herself and resorted to the comfort of her own bed.

Roommate #4 (We will call her “Kate”)

This is the most unfortunate story, which is why I have saved it for last.  Kate had been holding hands and receiving free shots from the cutie that lived at the house. And come midnight, it was time to see what his bedroom had to offer. It was fun, for a while, until a cop stormed into the scene, Kate vomited all over the bed (which turned out to be another roommate’s) and she got a ride home from the nice gentleman dressed in the cop outfit. Oh wait, it wasn’t Halloween….

College. Sigh. It’s unlike any other time in your life. It has its own set of rules, its own unique circumstances. And it’s not always easy to navigate. Enter…me!

Every week I’ll be tackling your questions about college. From classes to keggers, I’ll do my best to respond and be your Pez dispenser of collegiate wisdom. Got questions? Hit me up in the comments or shoot me an email at melanie@collegecandy.com

I’m broke. Wah! What can I do?
Get. A. Job. Seriously, there’s no excuse for not working while you’re in classes. In fact, it looks great on a resume and will give you some extra cash in your pocket on the weekends. You don’t need a high power internship (although those are pretty nice), but do something to earn money. Babysitting is a great option if you want cold hard cash with none of those silly taxes. If you’re a shopaholic, work at your favorite clothing store to snag the discount. I did the J.Crew thing for a semester and got a fantastic discount and although most of my paycheck went to clothes it still alleviated some of my financial woes. Even if you just pick up five hours a week at a coffee house, it’s better than nothing. Make it rain!

My roomie snores. What should I do?
Buy earplugs. Or leave her a hint by picking some of those breathe-easy nose strips and putting them on her pillow.

I want to throw a rager, any tips for success?
If you’re going the theme party route, do something original. One of my favorite parties that me and my bestie/roomie of the moment threw was a Hollywood themed party. People came dressed as their favorite celebs and had a blast. Believe me, there’s nothing funnier than watching Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Mary Kate Olsen, Kurt Cobain and Heath Ledger all duking it out at the flip cup table. Hide your valuables, buy lots of Solo cups and cheap beer. The rest will be history, captured on Facebook.

Where are the drunk people?
Is this a serious question? If you’re on a campus and it’s past 9 PM on a Friday? Everywhere. Including right here. Right now. Yeah, I like to start early.

Who are the “campus characters” to avoid?
The Over Enthused College Sports Fanatic. The self-absorbed prof who signs their emails “Doctor So-and-So” (even though their doctorate is in something that has nothing to do with the medical profession) and requires that you buy the book they’ve authored as a text book. Johnny Fratboy who’s just soooo cute and just totally won’t return your phone calls after you drunkenly hook up. Just don’t bother. There are lots of campus characters to avoid, from the druggies to the fake bitches; just be smart and stick with the people you trust.

Best class ever?

We’re all well aware of the fact that we are the technology generation. We spend our entire day with our eyes glued to computer screens, sending more texts and BBMs a minute then our hearts beat, and accompanying our lives with a personal soundtrack courtesy of our iPods. After Twitter made it possible to tell the world what you’re doing every 2 seconds (and I found out how often some of my guy friends poop), I thought nothing could shock me.

That was until I heard that the University of Houston now has an entire class dedicated to the Wii. No joke.

The course is listed in the catalog as “online aerobics activities” and the description? A class for PE credit where students work out 20-30 minutes twice a week by playing the Wii Fit video game.

Why the heck can’t my college offer this course? I’d enroll in a nanosecond. Play video games the whole semester and knock going to the gym off my daily schedule twice a week? I’m sorry but that sounds like perhaps the most amazing thing ever.

Oh, but it gets better. A course built around a game console would no doubt attract a large interest among guys, but the chairman of the university said the course focuses more around fitness activities like Yoga. Hell freakin’, yea! Now you’re telling me I don’t even have to suffer through sports like Tennis and Bowling? I can drink my chai tea latte, show up for a 20-minute yoga sesh, bag my A and call it a day?

The only thing better than taking this class is being the luck jerk who gets to “teach” it.

I’m seriously considering transferring. What do you guys think?

That’s where College Candy comes in. We’re not going to debate whether or not the Theory of Relativity actually exists (a disappointment, I know, but I’m a communications major and stopped taking science classes after Baby Bio fresh year). However, we are here to thoroughly investigate the most widespread college knowledge (no, not rhyming)—the myth.

One of the most well known and deeply feared college myths are three little words: breaking the seal. As defined by the most elite source of definitions, Urban Dictionary, breaking the seal is “The point at which you first piss after you have been drinking your favorite alcoholic beverage and at this point you will be pissing every ten minutes.”

We’ve all been there. Enjoying a lively round (or 6) of flip cup when all of a sudden, your bladder reminds you that it has a maximum capacity. You try to discreetly excuse yourself to visit the ladies room, but your concerned besties remind you—very loudly—that you can’t break the seal!

So this seal we all desperately protect, does it actually exist? Or is it possible that it’s simply an alcohol-fueled figment of our imagination? I’ve enlisted a panel of urological experts (read: my boyfriend in med school and Google) to figure out if this phenomenon is real.

Apparently, the more jello shots, Natty Lite or vodka tonics you consume, the higher your Blood Alcohol Level (I know, who’d have thunk?) Anywho, all that warm and fuzzy ethanol flooding your system affects certain hormones that your brain produces, like the must “dance now” and “sexy-time” hormones, as well as a hormone called ADH (an anti-diuretic hormone), which helps your body retain water by controlling the amount of urine you make.

Alcohol inhibits ADH, so the more you drink, the more you’ll have to pee. Also, in case you never caught on, alcohol is usually a liquid, and the more liquid you intake, the more you will expel. Breaking the seal has nothing to do with the amount that you’re gonna pee afterward, nor how often nature will call. And if you don’t “break the seal” you will still feel a need to pee anyway, so it’s all sorta the same thing, right?

I know it’s heartbreaking to realize that there is no magical seal built by your first 5 beers, but on the bright side, you won’t feel a twinge of guilt if you decide not to risk a UTI by holding out.

So, the moral of the story is that if you gotta go, you gotta go! Don’t bother holding it, because the more you drink, the more urine your body will produce, and the more frequent your bathroom excursions will be. The best advice I can give you is to re-fill your cup before waiting in line for the bathroom. You won’t waste precious binge-drinking minutes and once you reach the bathroom you’ll kill two birds with one stone. Cheers!