Celebrities are always wearing hats. And looking very chic and sophisicated when they do so. When it comes to the common girl, though, most of us get a little insecure when it comes to donning some headwear. When you wear a hat you usually give off one of two vibes: 1) The “I’m so fashionable and trendy that I wear hats” vibe, or, 2) The “OMG that girl looks ridiculous in that hat” vibe. If you love headwear but you’re nervous that you might be vibin’ with number 2 if you even try on a cute hat in the store, follow these tips. If you know where to buy em and how to wear em, pulling off the hat trend will be a cinch.

Fedora – This menswear inspired felt hat makes a bold statement by itself so make sure the rest of your outfit is relatively low key. Wear it with you’re hair down and use it to dress up a simple classic outfit like Hillary Duff’s. If you’re feeling extra ambitious, try tilting it to one side. Tres chic!

Splurge: Tarnish Fedora With Bow available at Nordstroms – $158.00

Bargain: Stripe Trim Fedora at Forever 21 – $10.80

Cossack – Take a cue from the Russians with a faux fur Cossack hat this fall/winter. These hats will definitely keep your head warm when it’s cold out. The look to aim for with a Cossack hat is luxurious and bundled up. Wear with a nice winter coat (when it starts to get cold out, obviously), a scarf, and boots for the ultimate winter-y look. Shiny lip gloss and pink blush will make you look especially polished and put together. Make sure you take the hat off when you get inside, however, to avoid severe head sweating.

Buy a Russian-Style Faux Fur Cossack Hat at FabulousFurs.com – $49.00

Cloche – These bell shaped French hats are extremely stylish this season and super and easy to wear. A cloche pairs well with any simple, understated outfit. I recommend a sweater, tight jeans, and high heeled leather boots.

Purchase an UGG Australia Classic Back Snap cloche at Zappos.com – $107.10

Or if you’re on a budget try this black felt cloche from Forever 21 – $12.80.

Beret – These are by far my favorite hats. I love the way they look super low-key – like you just threw it on as you ran out the door. This hat is perfect for every season and occassion. Just like the cloche, the knit beret looks great with any outfit, but to avoid lookin’ like you’re trying too hard, it’s a good idea to keep the outfit basic.

Splurge: Marc by Marc Jacobs brown dotted wool pleated beret available at Bluefly.com for $159.00.

Bargain: Basic wool black beret at SolidColorHats.com for $7.50

Then, THE WAIT. And running to the mail box every day. Staring at your application status page – pressing F5 over and over (refresh, refresh, refresh!). Until, one day that magical word appears: admitted.

Fast forward to September.

The move-in is over (your mom only broke down once, thank goodness). The awkward, “Hi, I’m going to be living in close quarters!” moment is over with your roomie(s) and classes have begun.

And an unsettling feeling set in. This place isn’t what you thought it would be. You try to love it – really you do – but it isn’t the right fit and you can’t seem to get into a groove. You know you could transfer but *argh!* you thought you were set! That the application insanity was done for good! What do you do?

This was my story.

I, an LA girl, decided I wanted to experience life outside of tinsel town and get down to my German/ Norwegian roots. Yes. I moved to Wisconsin!

UW-Madison was far too expensive, so I applied to a small private college nearby. It seemed perfect— a cute little campus, single dorms available to freshmen girls (walk-in closets!) and they were offering me a 50% scholarship on academic merits. Plus they had a consortium with UW-Madison. I was totally psyched—the best of both worlds!

Then it was September and suddenly my perfect little plan began to have some SERIOUS flaws:

1. Everyone was from a small town in WI, which was cool, but as a Californian I was a minor celebrity, which got stale super fast. I just couldn’t fit in.

2. I couldn’t have a car on campus and a trip via bus to the nearest shopping area took nearly an hour in transit time—and that’s once I made the bus. It came every 30 min or so. As it got chilly this became a major issue.

3. Similarly, the bad bus situation made taking courses at UW-Madison totally ridiculous. (Bye-bye consortium)

4. There was one prof for my major. ONE. Silly me, I assumed that if you were going to offer a major you’d actually have profs on hand. One prof doesn’t a major make (especially because he was HORRIBLE!!!).

The list goes on and on and on.

Suffice it to say that by the end of September I had decided to move on. I think that if it had only been the social thing I might have stuck it out. But the academic flaws tipped the scale. (Did I mention my French professor mainly spoke in English and would accuse me of “throwing a flying saucer into her lecture” if I dared ask a question?)

I knew that I wanted to go to a good grad school and I began to realize that staying at this school would be the best way to drastically decrease my chances.

I’m not going to lie—the transfer process was incredibly stressful. Getting letters of rec sucks when you’ve only been at the school for a few months. “Hi professor, ummm your school sucks so I’m trying to transfer to a better one.” Or even better: “Hi former high school teacher, I made a horrible choice in colleges and I need you to write ANOTHER letter of rec for me.” Even more, I knew that to transfer into a competitive program from my dinky college I’d need great grades.

Oh, and remember THE WAIT? Well it’s longer for transfer students—I didn’t hear definitively from my top choice until the middle of May.

But it was SO worth it. I transferred to GW in Washington D.C. and I looooove it. I actually had to study at GW (Ok, yes I’m a total nerd but this made me really happy) and my fellow students were similarly motivated. And, best of all there were lots and lots of profs for my department!

Transferring is not for the weak of heart. But if you know you can do better, whether it be academically, athletically, socially, etc. then you owe it to yourself to give it a shot.

Incidentally, I’m writing this during my insane apartment hunting in NYC—because I’m going to grad school at NYU. There’s a very slim chance I would be here had I not taken the plunge.

Let’s just hope you never have to know how to say this one. Although, from our experiences with guys abroad, this convo is a given.

[Photo courtesy of failblog.org]

“Sure!” (Insert a little drooling)

And then the worrying begins.

I know, I know, grabbing coffee is totally innocent. Yada yada. But, years of motherly concern, “What time are you going to be back?”, “Be careful when you drink”, have been totally ingrained into my thinking. I mean, I’ve been on the streets at two at night. Alone. In some of the roughest parts of London (yes, I’m a Brit), but those worries don’t stop flying around my head. No matter what.

Okay, so being alone at 2 AM, not exactly the wisest decision, but hey, it had to happen at some point. In big cities like London, being street smart is a must. And I, blessed with other things (none of which I can think of right now) was not given street smarts. Luckily, the guy I met for coffee didn’t turn out to be an axe murderer. Or a serial rapist. Or even a weirdo (believe me; I know a lot of them). He was actually a really nice guy. A nice, hot, French guy. Yum (No, I didn’t get his number, and yes, I am still kicking myself).

So I didn’t meet my demise that night. BUT, and here’s the big question…was my initial paranoia valid? With all the news reports of muggings, attacks and knife crimes etc. on the rise, can you ever be too careful?

Probably not. Hot guys can be murderers too, you know (actually, it helps if they’re hot…What?! It’s true!). So, here’s a tip, right off the streets of Bangalore (possibly the least safe city for woman in the world, according to The Times of India) pepper spray. And a big bag.

So, tell me what you think. When does worrying become an unfounded paranoia? And what are your tips for staying safe?