first year of college

The Starting Line: Semester Two, Let’s Go
Considering that my last post looked back and cleared the slate for me to realize that my life has finally moved on past high school, it’s time to look ahead. And there’s no time like the present (with NYE looming ever so closely) to take everything I’ve learned this year and use it to change myself for the better.
The Starting Line: Taking Myself Seriously
I’ve decided recently, while lying naked in my bed after a shower (try it—it might just be the greatest thing about being home) that this break is 5% nostalgia, 25% catching some Z’s, 20% eating and 50% flat out weird.

The Starting Line: A College Education
Candy canes, hot chocolate and crowded libraries, they’re all synonymous with one thing–finals season is in the air (or for some at least, it’s already done with and they’re busy tanning their backsides in Barbados). Between writing papers (ew) and eating so much junk food that Cheetos dust is running through my bloodstream, I’ve had some time to reflect over semester one of my college experience.
Major Decisions: Taking the “Un” Out of Undecided
When you first arrive on your university’s campus at the ripe age of 18, the world is your oyster. You have yet to begin your four years of college education, which have a heavy hand in shaping your future. To quote Remember Me, you are most likely undecided… about everything.
We’ve All Been There: Poopin’ in Public
Your boxes are unpacked, your bed is made, and your parents have left the building. You are officially a college student. Woohoo! No more living under their rules. You are a free adult livin’ the dorm life. It takes a few days of getting used to, but you’re finally feeling settled. You’ve even sorta mastered the cafeteria slop. This whole college thing isn’t so hard after all.
A Freshman’s Guide to Halloween
Halloween in college is a big deal. Major, really. You may have thought you hit your trick-or-treating peak in the 3^rd grade when you wrapped yourself in tinfoil and went out as leftovers, but think again.
The Starting Line: My Very First Midterm Season
So I’m new at this whole midterms thing. The idea that I’ve been more or less lounging around for the past 6 weeks and then – wham! – I’m hit with a test that’s worth 40% of my grade…that’s kind of crazy.

The Starting Line: Looking for Alone Time
Okay, so I am completely not a hippie. Let me just get that out there. Incense makes me sneeze, middle-of-the-forehead headbands make me look like an awkward boy and I own nothing made of hemp.
The Starting Line: Label-less Me
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…
Starting Line: Coming to Terms With Tofu Ravioli
Entering the dining hall at my college was like entering the land of some kind of lotus-eating, vegetarian haven, or, in my case, a carnivore’s personal version of hell. It’s not that they don’t serve meat; they do. But they also serve various other reinterpretations of meat: tofu ravioli, lentil hamburgers, vegan minestrone soup.
The 7 People Who Will Drive You Crazy Freshman Year
Freshman year is an incredible experience. For many, it’s the first taste of Keystone freedom, the first foray into frat parties out into the world. You‘ll drink with meet people from all walks of life. You’ll quickly wonder how you ever survived without your newfound friends. But be warned: for every awesome new friend that you make, you’ll find yourself face to face with an enemy.
Starting Line: Shots, Shots, Shots… or Not?
In the past year, I passed through the rookie stage of drinking. You know, getting over the fact that drinking isn’t such a big deal after all (I know some may beg to differ, which I totally respect, but step off for a sec, darlings) and then advancing into classic teen movie, drink up mode. It was like I was Cady Heron (a la Mean Girls) being de-innocentized, except minus The Plastics.
The Starting Line: My New BFFs?
Okay, so you know how when you watch a new reality show, the first few episodes are always crazy because all these people with huge personalities are thrown together and it is just like a huge firecracker of insanity? Things happen that happen seem totally normal, but looking back you just don’t even understand how any of it was possible.
The Starting Line: My First Week of College
So here I sit in my dorm room listening to Shakira’s Waka Waka playing on repeat and sweating from shaking it like a She Wolf. Needless to say, the first days of college have been treating me well.
We’ve All Been There: Move-in Day
After a long drive and an even longer wait to get a prime spot by the curb, you get out of the car (where you were pressed between the door and a chest of plastic drawers for the past three hours) and start unloading your life onto the sidewalk.
Candy Dish: Who’s Excited for Fall TV??
• 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
• The freshman advice you didn’t get at orientation.