going to college

An Open Letter to Overprotective Mommies: I’m In College, Not Kindergarten
Let me start this by saying you’re the best mother around. Seriously. Going to college helped our relationship immensely. Distance made our hearts grow fonder us stop arguing about nit picky text messages, my apparent attitude problem, and a seriously unfair curfew.
Tuffy Luv Answers a Complicated Question
Dear Tuffy Luv, I have a dilemma. Currently I’m (only) 17 and a junior in high school, though I would like to think that I seem ‘beyond my years.’ At 5’11″, it is not uncommon for adults to think I am older, which can be fun when I’m out on the town with my girls and older guys spark up convos…

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 Post-Grad Journey: ‘Tis the Season of Student Loans
Even though Christmas is on Saturday, I honestly couldn’t care less this year. With everyone around me so happy and festive, I feel like the odd-woman-out. However, I think I have a decent excuse. Instead of “Jingle Bell Rock” in my head and busy days spent shopping at the mall, I’m singing the Student Loan Blues while staring at my empty bank account.
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.
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.
College Won’t Get You a Job, But It’s Still Worth It
Recently, there have been several stories questioning the worth of a college education. Are we paying too much for a future that consists of scanning the classifieds for low-skilled work in flannel jammies while spooning Ben and Jerry’s into our higher-educated bodies?
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.