Remember when the end of the summer meant a shopping trip with your mom and a first-day-of-school photo shoot to chronicle the beginning of first/second/third/fourth grade?

Then high school hit, and you took your own initiative to blow your money on the perfect ensemble to make a statement on day one. Freshman year meant something eye-catching enough to grab the attention of a studly senior, whereas by senior year, your wardrobe had to scream, “I’m a senior. I own this school. And I’m f***ing graduating, bitch!”

Now that college is just around the corner, is it time to retire the tradition of back-to-school clothes, or do you simply need to step it up a notch?

On the first day of college, the campus will be filled with tens of thousands of students, frantically trying to change their schedules, pay their financial aid, and find the right classroom in the right building. It was easy to get noticed in high school, when you were one fashionista among only a few hundred, but in college, the people you meet on the first day are most likely to be a nameless, faceless blur who were kind enough to give you irections to the registrar’s office.

If you are thinking about going all out for a first day of school ensemble, ask yourself what your motivation is. Do you want to look professional to impress the teacher? Give yourself a little extra self-confidence to make it through the day? Find a nice college boy to walk you from one class to another? The following are some broad categories of BTS-wear that I have encountered year after year. You might fall into one of these groups, or you may notice a few hundred students who do on the first day of college. Read More »

I have been told I’m a team leader. I have been told that I am a social butterfly and a friend maker. I have been told that my glass is always half full. So why, oh why, do I despise the overly enthusiastic so very much?

I’ve noticed this about myself since elementary school. I just can’t be THAT excited ALL of the time. But some people can be.

You know the type…

She shows up to class early on the first day and sits in the front row. She asks irrelevant questions and smiles as if she’s just won Miss America. She screeches when she sees a little dog on the street and most sentences are prefaced by the phrase:

“Ohhhhhhh Myyyyyyyyy Goddddddd!!”.

She’s chipper. And more or less, she’s a good person. I mean, these kinds of people have never really crossed me, per se. They don’t steal, they don’t hit old ladies, nor do they instigate drama. The only thing I suppose they do wrong is….well…drive me f*cking nuts.

I’m not an antisocial creep. I’m not an unhappy person. In fact, I’m pretty happy go lucky! So why do these overly enthusiastic people me make want to kick and scream?

And is anyone else out there with me?