It’s the start of a new school year and to honor that, we at CollegeCandy are bringing back a fan-favorite series, “We’ve All Been There.”  (We tried to get another national holiday/long weekend for you guys but it’s way harder than we thought so this will have to do.) Every week, Lauren – University of Michigan will comment on the common experiences all college women share – like the first day of classes or trying to figure out if that boy is crushin’ too. Read, relate, cringe and enjoy.

The boy you love just broke your heart, so your girlfriends decide that drinking is in order. Because nothing numbs the pain quite like a few shots of SoCo. Together with your roommates, you pick out a super hot outfit (consisting of some combination of low cut top/push up bra), take a few pre-gaming shots and head out the door to either “show him what he’s missing,” or “forget about that jerk.”

The night is perfect: you dance, you drink (a lot), and you even find a cute boy to flirt with in the corner.

Then, obvi, the relentless craving for breadsticks and marinara takes over and you and the girls head home for the Late Night Special from your favorite pizza place.

You make your way to your room to change before the food arrives and are suddenly reminded of just how depressed you are. Why doesn’t he love me? you ask yourself. What is wrong with me? Maybe if I just send him an email and tell him how I feel he will change his mind and want to be with me.

You sit down at your desk.

You turn on John Hiatt’s, “Have a Little Faith in Me,” or the “love songs” channel on Pandora.

You open your email, hoping deep down inside that he has already sent you one, that he realizes he made a big mistake, that he too is sitting at home crying to the soothing sounds of The Fray. That he still loves you.

He hasn’t.
Your heart sinks.

As the mascara stained tears streak your face and form a puddle on your desk, you start writing your own:

hi. i got drinks and i lovre you. i dont know why you hate meeeee. i lobve yoiu. i want to eat breadsticlks but im too sad czu i love you.

At this point the pizza has arrived and your roommates storm into your room, pizza box in hand, to find you weeping silently over your laptop as you type away. Snot is dripping from your nose and you wipe it with your bare arm just before it hits your upper lip. You don’t care. You just keep typing and crying and really connecting with the sad lyrics blaring out of your laptop speakers.

If you are lucky, your roommates get to you before you hit the send button. If you are not quite as lucky (or a really fast typer), it is only a matter of time until the email is opened and any shred of post break-up dignity is lost. But until then, there is pizza. And breadsticks. And unyielding drunken hope that he’s thinking the same things you just wrote, he was just too distraught to put them in an email yet.

A hope which inevitably dies the minute you wake up in the morning and realize what you’ve done.

Yeah, you’re not alone; we’ve all been there before. Many times.
Just be grateful at least you didn’t wake up with a full slice of pizza smashed between your keys and your screen.

So I’ve compiled a list of eight things every college student should know how to do now that they aren’t living with their parents. Prepare yourselves, people. If you don’t know how to do these things, either learn now or make friends who do and are willing to do it for you to teach you.

1. Laundry – Obviously you are going to have to do this some time or another. No matter how big your closet is, how many pairs of underwear you stock up on, or how many times you spray Febreeze on your jeans, eventually you are going to need to come face to face with the industrial washing machine. And when you do, you better believe you’ll want to be prepared so you don’t end up with teeny, tiny jeans and Jungle-Juice stained halter tops.

2. How to iron – For those job fairs, semi-formals, and when you didn’t feel like putting your clean laundry back in the drawers and left them sitting in your laundry basket for weeks on end.

3. Safe sex – Duh. Put a raincoat on, and pop that pill. Also, get tested. Because like they say in The Hangover, “that sh*t will come back with you.”

4. Your alcohol limit – You’re going to be around a lot of alcohol in college, so be careful. I can’t tell you how many girls I see stumbling around the clubs, or being carried up the stairs to their dorm. I even saw a freshman passed out in the middle of our dorm hallway. Have fun, but start slowly and know your limits. No shots are worth a night in the hospital.

5. Fixing computer problems – Either know the basics (control + alt + delete) or make friends who do. When your printer won’t print and your paper is due in an hour, if you already know how to fix it, you won’t freak out nearly as much.

6. Basic cooking – Like boiling water, making grilled cheese, or cooking the perfect oatmeal in your microwave when you sleep through breakfast and have a long day of class ahead of you.

7. Getting your ass out of bed – You pay tons of money each year for these classes, so getting out the door and to class is a necessity. In high school when I wasn’t up, one of my parents (or my brother) would bust through my bedroom door and tell me I had five minutes to get to class. You won’t have that in college, so get used to waking yourself up. And don’t think you can depend on the roomie to rouse you; usually she won’t have the same exact schedule as you, so you’re on your own, girlfriend.

8. How to study – It goes without saying that college courses are way different than those fluff classes you took in high school. That means that the study requirements will change as well. Don’t think you can roam onto campus and get by without cracking a book. Take some time to evaluate your ideal study environment (at a desk or on a bed? Total silence or with some background noise?) and schedule. It’s up to you to make things work in college, so figure out what works for you early so you don’t suffer later.

Learn them. Know them. Live them.
It will make your freshman year so much easier.

[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, Zappos…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (like Party School Texts, Daily Burn and Musicovery) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

Life can be pretty overwhelming sometimes: balancing classes, a job, and social life can sometimes be too much for one person. I know it gets hard for me to remember all that I have to do—especially schoolwork.  I have a regular planner that I carry around in my purse to help keep me organized, but I don’t always remember to look at it every day when I get home, which means sometimes I forget about a reading assignment or worse, a test… which doesn’t really help my G.P.A.  I know I need a better way to organize my schoolwork, but I haven’t found a way that works for me yet.

A few years ago, Andrew Schaper was a high school student with the same organization problems I have.  In order to solve these problems, he created Soshiku, a website that helps you manage and keep track of all your school assignments.

It couldn’t be any simpler to start getting organized.  First, register for a free account on the site.  Once you do that, you can log in, set up all the courses you’re currently taking and add assignments for each.  Every time you log in, you’ll be directed to your personalized homepage that displays all the assignments you have due that day, the next day, and in the coming week, as well as a calendar highlighting the days you have projects due.  You can add notes or upload files to each assignment as well, which helps you stay organized by keeping all your work in one place.

Soshiku’s most useful feature, however, is the option to set up e-mail or text message reminders of the projects you have due at the particular intervals you set (such as the day it’s due or a few days before).  How awesome is that? I mean, you may not check your planner every day, but I can guarantee you’ll check your phone.

You can also upload projects to your account via text message or e-mail so you can add them as soon as your professors assign them, which means less chance of forgetting about them.  There’s also an option to share an assignment with other users and assign tasks, which makes organizing group projects a breeze.

Thanks to Soshiku, it’s now practically impossible to forget you have a test or project due (unless for some reason you decide to ignore your texts and e-mails).  Using Soshiku will help even the most organizationally challenged change their ways!

OK, so maybe this isn’t weird. Maybe I’m the weird one whose nipples don’t get really cold when I’m poring over a paper or un-tagging myself in Facebook pictures. Maybe a USB powered breast warmer is actually the smartest invention since the Perfect Brownie Pan and worthy of some sort of Nobel Prize.

Maybe?

Or maybe this is just really effing weird.
Especially if you bust it out at Starbucks.

True Life: I’m completely dependent on my computer. It’s my life source, as sad as that sounds. But honestly, it can do EVERYTHING. And when I say everything, I mean it. I bet you didn’t know the extent of your computer’s power. With one simple USB port, the world is your oyster.

Heated gloves:  It’s 3:30 a.m. in the basement of the library, you’re studying for your last exam before winter break and there’s a draft blowing past you. You’ve already donned your collegiate Snuggie, but that isn’t enough.  As you ferociously type away on your computer, your hands are frozen to the point of no return. What can you do? Plug in a pair of handy-dandy heated gloves to your USB port. Your computer heats the gloves and you can finish the rest of your English 101 term paper in peace.

Lava Lamp/Disco Ball: Sometimes when the mood is right and you’re feeling frisky, you get that urge to plug in your lava lamp or disco ball and start an impromptu dance party in your dorm room. But of course, all of the outlets in your room are already occupied; anymore and the R.A. is going to fine you for a fire hazard. No worries, a USB disco ball has solved your problems and you are once again the Lord of the Dance.

Coffee Maker: With a USB-powered coffee pot you’ll save yourself the $1.3 million you spend yearly at Starbucks. It’s a time-saver and really just convenient. And if you need extra beer money for the weekend, bring it to the library with you and start selling cups of brain juice from your cubicle. A win/win!

Eye Massager: Say what?? What the eff is an eye massager? A medieval torture device most likely. But, if you think about it, there may be something here. Long hours of staring at a blank Word document can make ones’ eyes grow weary, especially for contact-wearers. The glow of your computer screen can put a strain on your eyes. And if I can plug in a USB-powered eye massager, why not? Just be sure not to use this device under the influence. I do not predict good things.

Missile Launcher: Because everyone gets a little stir-crazy from time to time. Plus, I think a small-scale rocket launch attack on the hottie sitting next to you could be a great ice-breaker. Who doesn’t love a flirtatious missile to the head? Great story to tell the grand-kids.

Vibrators: Now you can charge up the ol’ Rabbit on the go. Whether you’re in class, the library, the local Starbucks, you can be sure your vibrator will be ready for you. I’m actually not really sure what a USB-powered vibrator is good for, but it sure is comical. “Sorry, Professor. Don’t mind me. Just charging up for later!”

This guy is the least of your germ problems.

Despite the fact that I ran around for weeks downing Airbourne and bathing myself in hand sanitizer, I couldn’t outrun the flu and it currently has me severely down and out (don’t worry I’m not about to sprout a curly tail over here, it’s just our regular old seasonal pal).

As I spent the weekend lying in bed, underneath a pile of tissues and cough drop wrappers, I attempted to retrace my steps. Where did I go wrong? The first thing that popped into my head was a toilet. I mean, aren’t public restrooms pretty much the dirtiest places we visit? But I am positive that I had maintained sturdy squats never losing balance and always flushing with my shoe…

So where could I have picked up this infections, atrocious and nastalicious flu?

Apparently, the possibilities are endless. Well, not totally endless. It turns out the toilet is the least likely culprit. The porcelain god may be dirty, but it is cleaner than a lot of things we encounter every day. The worst part? We don’t even realize the things that are swimming in bacteria. Gross bacteria. The kind that definitely caused whatever has taken over my poor little body.

Here’s a list of some of the culprits to watch out for. Be careful out there, people, or you may be joining me in my germ infested death bed come next weekend.

Purses. Researchers found hundreds of thousands of germs present on a woman’s purse, which included fecal bacteria, cold viruses and viruses that cause diarrhea. Pretty freakin’ gross. But I know none of us are going to throw out our gorgeous patent leather Kooba (or should I say Poo-ba) hobo, so if your bag has touched the ground (and who’s hasn’t) leave it there. Keep that beauty away from tables, desks or your bed so the germs stay as far away from you as possible.

Computer Keyboards. The gross truth is that you’d collect fewer bacteria if you rubbed your hands over a toilet seat than if you sat down and typed out an essay (one study found that the keyboard had 60 times more germs per square inch then a toilet in a public restroom). Bottom line: clean your keyboard! You can mix some dishwashing liquid on a damp towel and wipe the keyboard and screen down; you’d be amazed at how many of those little suckers you’d be killing off.

Towels. Since the majority of us live in dorms this couldn’t be more important. First off, NEVER put your towel down anywhere in a communal bathroom or let it sit in a heap on your bedroom floor. Regular old flu viruses are the least of your worries at this point; students have gotten staph infections that result in permanent scars and even death from having their wet towels laying around in a pile, or touching someone else’s and then reusing them. (Also, oils from your skin build up on towels creating bacteria that cause acne, so washing towels once a week is a must to keep our skin zit-free!)

Cell Phones. You know that device you have glued to your ear the entire day? It’s filthy (and I’m not talking about those naughty photos you’ve been sending around…). Bacteria that cause nasty annoyances like pimples and boils and life threatening illnesses like pneumonia and meningitis have all been found lurking on your Blackberry. Never lay your phone down on desks in class or tables in the caf, and disinfect it on a daily basis because our skin creates the most harmful bacteria. That’s right dropping our cells into a toilet would probably clean them off a little.

Lindsay Lohan. Or any other skanky starlet for that matter. Steer clear; you don’t need whatever they’re carrying lurking in your air space. This also applies to skanky starlet wannabe’s running around your campus swapping spit and bodily fluids with god knows who.

Grossed out? Me too. I’m going to go douse my entire life in Pine-Sol now.
I suggest you do the same.

Ha! I got you, bitch!

Poor Mike! He should have known better than to leave his Facebook profile open on someone else’s computer. Usually, I’m pretty unimpressed with jokes that hinge on dudes acting like there’s something inherently hilarious about homosexuality—unless they’re Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd—but this prank is pretty genius. (Side note: How on earth are there that many groups about loving cock??)

Changing around someone’s Facebook profile is the ultimate prank. We all spend way too much time worrying about presenting ourselves in the best light possible on Facebook: listing the right favorite movies and music, displaying a flattering profile pic, writing something funny and pithy in our “About Me” sections. When someone messes with your profile, then, they’re poking fun at your image-consciousness in an extremely public way—and they’re also making sure that an audience of hundreds can immediately see that you just got played.

So, since witnessing a Facebook prank at its finest, I’ve been thinking about other ways to subtly mess with my friends’ Facebook profiles, given the chance. And considering they stored their passwords and leave their bedroom doors unlocked, that chance is most definitely given.

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

-       Change her language setting to Icelandic.
-       Re-tag all of the heinous pictures from last week that she immediately un-tagged the second they were posted.
-       Better yet, make one of them her new profile picture.
-       Change her listed AIM screenname to whatever embarrassing SN she had in middle school: MrsJTT, anyone?
-       Reply affirmatively to every single request that’s accumulated on her page since she last denied all of them. That weird kid from down the hall wants to challenge her to a ZombieNinjaPirate duel? It’s on.
-       Change her major to “Arts and Crafts,” or maybe “Gym.”
-       Become a fan of Heidi Montag and express her love in her status message.
-       Have her “like” every depressing, melodramatic status message on her newsfeed.
-       Change her relationship status from “In a Relationship” to “Single.”
-       Create an event for her “First Annual Swingers” party and invite all of her friends. Including her parents.
-       If her parents aren’t already her friends, submit the request. Then invite them to said party above.
-       If she’s a hipster, change her favorite music to the Dave Matthews Band and her favorite books to Twilight and “anything by Dan Brown.” Oh, and I can’t forget to make her quotation lyrics from a Toby Keith song.

Got any other ideas?
Re-thinking leaving that password saved?

Today is Friday, October 2nd. That means you only have 4 days to enter CollegeCandy’s totally awesome laptop contest. And with a full two days of weekend-ness ahead of you, it’s the perfect time to get workin’!

All you need to do is come up with an innovative way to tell people about CC, then document your publicity campaign by taking a few photos of it.

If you’re stumped, here are a few suggestions that might help get your creative juices flowing:

- Run through the library on Sunday night in a homemade CollegeCandy t-shirt, tossing actual candy at people studying.

- Hang a huge, glittery banner from your window that says “FOR A GOOD TIME, GO TO COLLEGECANDY.COM.”

- Set up a kissing booth on the quad, telling people that if they promise to visit CC later that day, you’ll plant one on them.

- Do a dramatic reading of your favorite posts at a local coffeehouse’s open mic night.

- Stand in a high-traffic spot on campus and secretly stick flyers on the backs of everyone who passes by you.

- Have a bake sale. Everyone loves bake sales.

We can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Maybe you’re not on speaking terms with your laptop and it’s new best friend, the blue screen of death. Maybe you simply love CollegeCandy and want to share its wisdom and insight with the rest of the world. But whatever your reason is, there is only one week left to enter CollegeCandy’s Laptop Giveaway!

If you want to be the coolest kid in class sporting an HP DV2 mini notebook, simply come up with and execute the most creative publicity idea for CollegeCandy.com and document your efforts in photos.

Photos must be submitted by 5 p.m. EST on October 6^th in an email to gimmethatlaptop@collegecandy.com.

Read the full set of contest details here and get to work! If your current laptop is on it’s last legs and it took you 23 minutes just to load your favorite posts on CollegeCandy.com, this contest is screaming your name.

Do you want a sweet, shiny new laptop?
Do you love CollegeCandy with all your heart and soul?
Do you want to express that love and get a laptop in return?

Read on, girlfriend. Read on.

If you were one of the many people that didn’t get to take home a laptop in our last giveaway, now’s your chance. CollegeCandy got our hands on one last HP DV2 mini notebook and we’re ready to hand it out to one creative, hard working and worthy CollegeCandy reader.

What do you have to do?

Just tell everyone you know about CollegeCandy!

Here are the deets:

Good ideas? Flyers, chalking, hot guys in t-shirts.
Bad Ideas: tattoos, anything written in blood, and anything that will get you arrested.

-       You must document your PR efforts in photos. Those photos must include at least one picture of you with/performing the effort. So, if you’re covering every single door in the science building with homemade CollegeCandy flyers, be sure to snap a photo of the doors and of you hanging those things.

-       You must submit those photos to us by 5pm EST on October 6^th in an email to gimmethatlaptop@collegecandy.com and include a summary of what you did.

-       We will pick out four submissions and put them on CollegeCandy.com on October 9^th where readers can vote on their favorite. They will have a full week to vote, so you’ll want to tell your friends and family to stop by every day and cast their vote!

-      Voting will be closed on October 15th, 2009 at 5pm EST. The person with the most votes at that time will be announced at 9am EST on October 16^th.

Then we’ll put that DV2 in the mail and the winner can live happily ever after.

You want a chance to win? Put on your thinking cap (not to be confused with your drinking cap) and start brainstorming ways to tell your world about CollegeCandy.com.

Good luck!

*Available to U.S. citizens only.