Sad story of my life: I never went to camp as a child. It felt like all my friends did – they would leave for four to six weeks during the summer and come back with ridiculous stories about cabins and counselors and all the fun they had. And I had been at home watching Bug Juice and Totally Circus (which also made me want to join the circus) on the Disney Channel.

Right before I started my freshman year of college, an older friend said something very interesting to me. He said: “Living in dorms is basically like an extended version of summer camp. But with more drinking and less laundry.” I explained to him that this metaphor was lost to me since I’d never actually been to summer camp. After he briefly mourned the fact that I had missed out on an epic childhood experience, he said, “Well, summer camp is basically being dirty all the time and vaguely annoyed by everyone around you, but you’re too busy to notice because you’re simultaneously having fun and trying to keep your head above water.”

Too true, sir.

After three years of living in dorms, I can tell you this: college is exactly like (how I imagine) summer camp. And so, I have some advice for all the college kids out there who never went to camp.

You will never feel clean. From fishbowl showers that never work right to sub par laundry facilities (and your inexperience with buying laundry supplies), you will legitimately never feel 100% clean. Just like camp? Camp showers might actually be better than most dorm showers.

Everything is completely overwhelming. Between classes, new friends, dorm rules, parties, learning Greek life and all the other groups of campus, sorting all of your belongings to fit in a minuscule space and adjusting to a new routine, it’s easy to feel like you’re trying to decide between horseback riding, water-skiing, volleyball, archery, rock climbing… You’ll wish that an awesome camp counselor had outlined your days for you. [Editor's Note: Oh wait, so that's why they make us sit with those guidance people before each semester? Oopsie! Guess those schedules weren't just a suggestion...]

At first, you will love every single person you meet. Every new person is a potential new friend. Especially if you are going to school a long way from home, you will be super excited to meet anyone who is nice to you. This will happen before you realize that your next-door neighbor is a complete creep and that girl down the hall? She will sing obnoxiously in the shower every morning at 5am.

School cafeterias = camp mess halls. My freshman year, my entire class went to an orientation in a sleep away camp set in the Idaho mountains. It was my first experience eating camp food and let me tell you, it was nothing to write home about. However, the minute I got back to campus and ate at the cafeteria, I realized something: it’s all food you can cook over a fire and burn to taste “better.”

Your RAs, professors, and advisers are like counselors. Your RA will talk you down when you want to strangle your roommate. Your professor will cross their arms and refuse to give you an extension on that paper you forgot to write during the weekend of Toga. And your adviser will gently pat you on the back when you try to talk yourself into taking your first 400-level class. Regardless of how silly they might think you are, they will all still love you.

Even if you never got to go to camp, college life will show you exactly what you missed out on: constant over-stimulation, massive amounts of people your age converging on a small tract of land, ridiculously bad showers and facilities, uncomfortable mattresses, adults you look up to while also hating a little bit…

College is like summer camp for kids over 18. Except with more drinking, slightly less supervision and much better electronics.

The president of Catholic University was in the news today announcing that the school would begin to phase out coed dorms and resort to the “old fashioned” way of living: single sex dormitories. The school has decided to take these measures as a means to battling “binge drinking and casual hook-ups.”

Hmm, this reminds me of that moment when I was younger and my mom said “don’t touch the stove” and of course, if you tell a toddler not to do something, they’re instantly on a mission to do the complete opposite — just to see what will happen.

But back to the topic at hand: segregating the guys from the girls won’t necessarily stop the casual hook-ups and binge drinking. That’s partially what college is all about! (Well that and your education of course!)

So it won’t matter if you have to go across the hall or across the campus; students are going to continue to drink & hook up as they please.

But I digress. I suppose there are a few pros and cons to having coed dorms.

Pros:
- gender neutral dorms promote a more LGBT-friendly campus.
- couples have the option of co-habitating
- coed dorms promote a more communal feel to campus living (uh, not sure of anyone’s noticed but the single sex homes aren’t doing too well in the real estate market. That was a joke by the way.)

Cons:

- More hooking up (yeah right)
- Binge drinking (um, have you ever been to a frat party? Those guys can drink until they can’t feel their toes: no girls necessary!)
- Safety: perhaps school admins are fearful of “domestic” violence issues increasing with guys & girls living together
- Enforcement: having single sex dorms would obviously require extra security/ or RAs. Some one would need to monitor the dorms at all times to make sure that people aren’t sneaking in.

So here’s my biggest issue: You can’t request to live in a single sex neighborhood, or to work with only girls or only guys when looking for a job, so why make dorms that way?

If colleges are supposed to prepare us for the “real world,” why are some of these institutions so against the norms of the real world? If you ask me, transitioning from coed dorms to single sex dorms is backwards, and anti-progressive. What do you think?

Just another day heading to class...

While every college girl shares many of the same college experiences (Procrastinating, Blue Book exams ), 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 be an online student? To get married?! To play an NCAA sport? Well wonder no more. Our one-of-a-kind CollegeCandy writers (and readers!) are sharing their unique experiences and opening our eyes to different college worlds.

I am a commuter student.

It’s a statement I’ve had to reiterate more times than I can count during the last four years. It’s a concept some people just can’t seem to understand. It’s something that professors don’t think about when they schedule their classes. It’s something club organizers don’t care about when they schedule their meetings. It’s something you hardly ever hear on my campus, one that’s over 70% residential. It’s a foreign concept to most college students, but not to me.

Let’s rewind a few years, back to when I was first applying to college. I made a list of what I wanted in a college, and where I wanted to go. And when it came down to it, the colleges right here in NYC, in the place I am lucky enough to live, had everything that I wanted. I applied to colleges out of state as well, but I wasn’t going to choose a college just because attending that college would or wouldn’t allow me to dorm.

So I sent out my applications and checked off that little box that indicated I was undecided about my residential status. When it came time to make my decision, I chose a college that was 20 minutes away, and while I still could have dormed, it just didn’t seem unnecessary. Was I really going to pay another $10,000 a year just to live on campus? It wasn’t like I hated living at home, and I had a car, so I wouldn’t be relying on public transportation. And 20 minutes is less time than it takes some students to walk across their campus. I simply couldn’t justify it to myself.

So I decided to give commuting a chance.

My biggest concern about living off campus was that I wouldn’t be able to be as involved on campus as I wanted to, and at first, it seemed like that was the case. Club meetings were all held late at night, and my classes usually ended by four, at the latest. I often had large gaps of time in between my classes, not enough time to head home, but just enough time to rationalize my way out of starting my reading and into Facebook stalking in the back of the library. Meeting people was more difficult as well; while everyone else was bonding with their new roommates, I did not have the same built-in social network to start with.

It was hard, but I still wanted to stick it out for a year. So instead of getting on the wait list for a dorm room, I got a job on campus. It was a job as an office assistant, a job that let me make use of those gaps in between my classes. Then, I joined the paper, despite the trip back to campus that it required. I made an effort. And as the semester went on, and I became more and more involved in the campus events that interested me, I met more and more people that shared my interests. I made friends that commuted, and friends that dormed (aka: friends that didn’t mind me crashing on their pull out couch after a late night).

Four years later, I’m on the editing staff at my school’s paper, I still work as an office assistant on campus. I’ve spent more time in my college’s library than I care to admit, and the coffee barista knows my name and my drink order on sight. The college dorm room is not a foreign concept to me and neither is the college party. But I never became a resident student and I’ve never really wanted to.

Because, honestly, although there are plenty of cons to not living on campus (Not being able to roll out of bed five minutes before class starts. Driving in a snow storm. Or a rainstorm. The price of gas. The parentals.), there are also some major perks, as well. I get home cooked meals and help with the laundry. I don’t have to share a bathroom with ten other girls, and I don’t have to share my bedroom with anyone. And there’s no dorm room drama, but there is always an excuse for being late to class (Traffic! Sorry!). There’s unlimited space on my DVR and the ability to blast my music as loud as I want. Sure, sometimes it gets annoying, (Like right now, as I sit here at a library, killing time before a club meeting that won’t start for another two hours), but I can imagine that dorm life can get annoying too.

People have told me I’m crazy. People have told me I haven’t received the “full college experience.” People have told me that I’ll regret it, that I need to live on campus in college to really “go to college.” But I disagree; I don’t think there is any one way to experience college. This was my college experience, and I wouldn’t change it.

THIS CONTEST IS OVER. Tear.

As we speak (type? read?), freshmen across the country are moving into dorms for the very first time. Woooo! (Don’t forget your flip flops!) We wanted to help them out by providing some basic rules to dorm life (that won’t be covered in the first floor meeting). In order to reach as many freshmen possible, we not only posted this very blog, but we also sent our writers out on foot to flier dorms from coast to coast and help spread the word. That is, assuming they didn’t get caught and assaulted by an R.A. first….

So what are the 5 unofficial rules to dorm living?

We’ve got 4 right here and we’re looking at you (yeah, you!) to tell us #5. Why would you do that? Well, besides just being a generally nice person and doing something out of the goodness of your heart, how about doing it for $200 worth of textbooks at CampusBookRentals.com?

Yeah, we’re pretty nice, right?. So read (and adhere to) our 4 rules and then add your own. We’ll randomly select a winner September 10, 2010 and announce the results on Twitter and Facebook.

1. Make BFF with the R.A
Just because you’re hundreds of miles away from your parents doesn’t mean there are no rules (yeah…the movies kinda lied).  Be nice to your R.A and she’ll be much more likely to look the other way when you roll a keg down the hallway wearing nothing but a sexy dinosaur costume. Ignore her and she’s likely to knock on your door at 3 A.M when you’re hooking up with a stranger claiming that there are “noise complaints” from your neighbor.

2. Give Poopers Privacy
It doesn’t matter how badly you need to shower or how much you want to check out your post walk-of-shame look under the unforgiving fluorescent lights. If you walk into the bathroom and smell/hear something coming from the corner stall, be polite, take your caddy, and leave. You’ll be thankful for this rule on the one day you take a risk and try the dining hall’s lamb tacos.

3. Prepare for Sexiling
There will come a time when you’re out playing flip-cup-turned-beer-pong-turned-binge-drinking when you’ll get a text from your roommate telling you to please, please find somewhere else to sleep that night. Prepare for this night in advance by making sure that you find a friend who doesn’t mind sharing her single bed and/or has a futon. Because there’s truly nothing worse than falling asleep to groaning, moaning, and “that feels so good…what’s your name again?”

4. Avoid Dormcest
Forget the fact that it’s convenient and forget the fact that it involves a limited walk of shame. The relationship will not last and you’ll be stuck awkwardly waiting for elevators together for the rest of the semester. Trust us. The last thing you want is to bump into him on the way to the shower and have to make an awkward “lol, we should shower together, jk, jk, so over you, not really, lol.”

5. Your Rule
We’re looking at you for rule #5. Submit your own rule and enter to win a $200 gift card from CampusBookRentals.com. (Yeah, that’s free money and free books. We got your back, girls.)

UPDATE: Congrats to our winner Alison who submitted this awesome rule: Another one I can think is to watch what your drinking.  Before you take that next shot or do that next beer bong, ask yourself if it’s a good idea.  If you think you’re already quite drunk, try to refrain from drinking more.  Because if you don’t, then the people in your dorm hall including your roommates will be the ones stuck carrying your drunk ass home and cleaning your puke off of the floor. She’s won TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS from CampusBookRentals.com!

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You know, I realized shortly after I wrote about the top five small-space animals that, well, not everyone can have animals. Now, I know that there are certain people who sneak by their ordinances and ignore the rules of the college/landlord/whatever and keep their critters regardless of what is and isn’t allowed. But for people who do want to follow the rules or having a pet right now just isn’t feasible, how about brightening up your room with a little green?

Plants do a lot more good than people give them credit for. As we all know from third grade science, they take in the gross carbon dioxide we breath and give us back lung-friendly oxygen. They also do an amazing job of cleaning the air. They can also filter pollutants in our air – stuff that come from everyday house products like plain old bug spray, spray starch, and even glue. And studies have proved that in work places that had plants had up to a 40% reduction in headaches, sour throats, and coughs. There was also an 84% increase in well-being. If you don’t like numbers, though, let me put this in laymen’s terms: plants + your dorm = happier, healthier place.

So, how do you know what plants to get that’ll help the most? That’s why I’m here. No worries. Since I don’t have to lay things out the way I had to with the critters a few articles ago, I’ll give you nine – because I just couldn’t find a good number ten – of what I think are the best dorm-plants, once again in order of care. (If you’ve never really taken care of a plant before, check this site out first. Plants need more than just water and sunlight if you want them to be really awesome!)

Jade: I recently almost entirely killed one of these – because I didn’t water it for almost two months. It’s coming back now. That’s how hardy these things are. They like the average room temperature. They prefer bright light or full sun, but they can tolerate all the way up to partial shade. Allow the soil to dry a bit (stick your finger in the pot; if the soil is dry for the first inch, it’s time for a drink) between waterings. Jade is a pretty slow grower, so repot them every two or three years. (Aloe Vera are pretty much identical to Jade in care, so you can opt for either.)

Mother-In-Law’s Tongue (Snake Plant): These guys’ name always made me laugh, but despite the implied harshness, they’re pretty easy to take care of. They too like bright light or full sun. They can handle just about any temperature. Let the soil dry a little between watering on these guys, too. They’re a pretty slow grower, so repot them every two years or so.

Spider Plant: Don’t be creeped out by the name; these guys get their title because of the little baby plants they produce. (Share the abundance with a friend!). These guys can stand up to a lot of abuse. They like average temperatures and thrive in well-lit but indirect light. During spring and summer, keep the soil moist, but not sopping wet. During fall and winter, though, let the soil dry a little between watering. You can even mist them if you’d like, since they love humidity. Only repot them if you can see the roots coming out of the bottom of your pot.

African Violet: Another flowering plant, these guys will give you the cutest little flowers totally at random throughout the year. They’re another fan of bright light, but they don’t like full on sun a whole lot. Allow the top soil – about half an inch – to dry between waterings. DO NOT get the leaves wet! They’ll get brown and shrivel up. You really don’t have to repot these guys at all, because they really like being root bound.

Pothos (Devil’s Ivy): If you’re into vine-like plants, Pothos is your plant. They like bright light and enjoy partial sun. They’re okay in average room temperature, but they thrive in warmer areas (70 – 90 Fahrenheit). Let the water dry as much as you would for African Violets. They like misting too. Repot these guys during the growing season (spring/summer) only if they’re showing their roots.

Chinese Evergreen: These guys have HUGE leaves – and they get pretty big, too. Really, if you have one, you don’t need any other plants. They love shade and are great for rooms without much sunlight. They’re fine in average temperature, but keep their soil fairly moist (again, don’t drown the poor things). Repot them when they’re getting really rootbound.

Christmas Cactus: These guys have gorgeous flowers when they bloom (and incase you haven’t figured out when that is, it’s around Christmas). They love bright light/full sun, as well as warmer temperatures. Water them with the same frequency you would a Jade or a Snake Plant. Getting to flower can be a little tricky; check out this site for more care info.

Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily): You’ve seen them before, all lined up in malls and probably at Easter services. Their flowers are huge and gorgeous. They’re another one that like indirect light and average temperatures. Their soil should stay fairly moist, too. Take good care of them and they’ll always have a flower up for you.

These plants are all pretty popular, so it’ll be easy to find them at your local nursery (and sometimes you’ll even see plants like African Violets and Spider Plants in big grocery stores). And even though I put them in order of care, they’re all outrageously easy to take care of, so don’t worry if you’ve got a withered brown thumb – these guys can make any plant-killer look like a regular horticulturalist.

Ahh, to be a freshman again…

Long after the fact, I can safely say that there is no experience that can quite match being 18, fully on your own for the first time in your life, and living in a dorm surrounded by the hundreds of the horniest creatures on this green earth.

As a kid who had a pretty awful high school experience when it came to members of the opposite sex, I went into my freshman year with the attitude that I’d pretty much take on all comers. I turned down girls like a 15 year old boy would turn down an offer to look through Penthouse magazine.

Needless to say, it was a very fruitful year.

Of course, hooking up as a freshman invariably requires a decent amount of compromise with your roommate. Some roommates sexcile each other, putting socks or other markers on the doors to let each other know that someone’s gettin’ lucky.

My roommate and I employed a slightly different method. We just did our thing regardless of whether or not we were both home. Weird? Perhaps, especially considering we roomed together blind. But neither of us cared, so we found a way to make it work.

For example, one weeknight, my roommate decided to have his girl du jour sleep over. They were out, I was in bed, and when they got home, it wasn’t like they were going to kick me out or anything. Instead, they put on some Ben Harper (my roommate was quite the smoothie) and tried their damnedest to be quiet.

Yes, the gesture was appreciated, as the music did manage to nullify some of the groans, grunts and moans. Unfortunately, to this day, I can’t hear a note of Ben Harper without seeing incredibly vivid images of my roommate going at it missionary style dance through my head. What can I say… some sacrifices simply have to be made.

And let’s be honest here. When it came to hooking up in the room, I was far more risque than my roommate. One night, he awoke to see me standing next to my lofted bed, with some random girl’s legs wrapped about my head like a Burmese Python. Apparently, she was making a little too much noise for his tastes, but pursuant to our agreement, he kept his mouth shut. I know he enjoyed the show, even if he never did explicitly say so.

Yes, freshman roommates are apt to share some gloriously intimate experiences. That’s part and parcel of having a roommate for the first time. But lest you start to fret, I assure you that you’ll have plenty of solo experiences in your dorm as well.

One night freshman year, I was out at a frat party and so drunk that I was passing out on my feet, when I ran into (more like she ran into my sleeping self) a girl that I’d briefly hooked up with a couple weeks earlier. I liked this girl a lot and she was seriously attractive, but she was a ridiculous loud-talker, which bothered me so much that I had to end it. Anyway, she saw my inebriated state and told me that she was taking me home.

Upon returning to my dorm room, I immediately put my head down on my bed and began to pass out. Upon discovering that my roommate wasn’t home, this girl turned off the lights, locked the door behind us, and pulled me back to my feet. She gave me a passionate kiss, and then in one swift motion, dropped to her knees while simultaneously yanking off my pants and then went to town. When all was said and done, she stood up, gave me a kiss on the cheek and said, “you are REALLY drunk… you should go to bed.” And without another word, she was out the door.

Ahh, to be a freshman again…

My roommate and I call our apartment the Bermuda Triangle of Loud. We call it that because both sets of neighbors are completely and totally oblivious to the fact that they’re living in a place where the walls are as thin as cardboard.

On one side we’ve got the couple who scream obscenities at each other at midnight, throw things, and watch horror movies into the wee hours of the morning, forcing my roommate to close her eyes to the sound of people getting their heads ripped off. On the other side we’ve got a posse of flipped-collared college boys who can’t be any older than 22, throwing ginormous parties every day of the week (and who pee off their balcony when drunk).

Now, I’m a big believer in letting people live their life how they see fit, but when it starts to interrupt my daily activities (and my roommate’s dreams), I get pissed. How does one not understand the basic rules of living in an apartment? How is one so rude that they just don’t care? And most importantly, how should I go about telling them off?

If you’ve got noisy neighbors (and those of you moving into college for the first time next year most likely will), there’s a few ways to go about it.

At first, give it some time. Not everyone is used to close quarters living, and some people may not even know they’re being as obnoxious as they are. Let them settle in, get the hang of the place, before deciding you live next to idiots.

If you’ve given it time and they’re still being obnoxious, consider leaving a note in the lobby or main hallway. Not everyone is into confrontation, and chances are, if YOU think your neighbors loud, other people do too. Writing a polite message that asks “everyone” to be respectful of other occupants in the apartment or dorm allows you to side-step direct contact and allows the screamers to side-step the embarrassment of someone telling them to quiet down. Of course, there’s always a chance the perpetrators will completely ignore the message, or someone will just rip it down.

In that case, direct confrontation may be needed. It’s okay to be nervous, but if people are truly bothering you, asking them to quiet down is your only option—next to calling the cops. And once you get the cops involved…it’s hard to turn back

And what about me? What am I going to do to alleviate the Bermuda Triangle of loud? I think I’ll take the direct confrontation route. At least to the guys who throw ragers. The scary couple that chucks furniture at each other?

…I may just let that one go. For fear of my life.