Oh April Fools’ Day. What other day makes it acceptable to fake a pregnancy or tell your parents you dropped out of college without being considered completely psychotic? It’s the calendar’s way of telling you not to take life so seriously. April Fools’ has been around for ages. In fact, the origins hail from the Roman festival of Hilaria and the Medieval Feast of Fools. Probably the most solid origin of April Fools’ can be found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from 1392. According to Wikipedia, his “Nun’s Priest Tale” is “set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two. Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon. Thus the passage originally meant 32 days after April, i.e. May 2, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean “March 32″, i.e. April 1.”

Although April Fools’ isn’t really a national holiday (as in we would still have class if it were tomorrow), it’s widely celebrated throughout the world. In France and Italy, it’s common to stick a paper fish on someone’s back and yell “April fish!” The internet is known to get creative on April Fools’ Day so I’ve rounded up some of my favorite pranks from today, which Google totally owned by the way…

What are your favorite pranks from today? Did you prank anyone? If so, what did you do?

Caitlin is a senior at the University of Alabama who has an obsession with cupcakes, coffee, and Harry Potter. She always has random fun facts on reserve and aspires to be a professional blogger, social media bug, and/or James Franco’s assistant. Follow her fabulous life @caitlincorsetti. You’re welcome!

Do you drag your MacBook from class to class and need a new way to get through your two-hour lecture on Ancient Civilizations of the Byzantine Empire? Or do you nonchalantly sneak your iPhone out of your sweatshirt every four minutes to refresh your Facebook mini-feed? Looking for another way to follow us throughout your day? Okay, good, you’re in luck! We’re on Google+!

Well… before you reread Cindy Lou-Who’s most recent where she asks the age old question: Where are You Christmas? (How many times is she going to ask that, anyway?) Or before you press snooze on your professor as he starts rambling on about the correct linguistic spelling of Byzantine that has been argued by Greek, Roman and Russian linguists over the centuries… it’s about time CollegeCandy stepped in to smooth things over. After all, you’re paying for your education, might as well learn something, right?

Follow us here and be mystified by the most breaking in Hollywood, fashion, sex, love and Ryan Gosling news the web has to offer!

College made life so easy. Seriously. I was effortlessly plopped onto a large mass of land with tons of people my age who had the same goals (AKA make it to class and survive finals week sober). Then, college provided all of us with a giant room to eat (cafeteria), a giant room to nurse a hangover and take naps on tables (library) and a giant neighborhood to spend our weekends guzzling weird combinations of booze and Juicy Juice (off campus housing).

College was a large Biodome for easy mistakes, debauchery, learning and living. And now that I’ve been out of college for a while, a few things have become irresistibly harder to accomplish without this grand ol’ biodome of easy living. I’ve dealt with the following combo platter of difficulties in the real world, and in every situation I contemplated ripping my hair out. They get harder to cope with, people! And I’m going to make up this silly excuse that it’s because I’m growing up.

Here are a few things I’m having a tough time dealing with nowadays:

1. Hangovers

ARE SO HARD. My body is no longer programmed to handle them by hitting the gym and sweating out vodka collins on the tread. Instead, I plop down on the couch and with every pulse, feel the rotting of death inside of me. It’s that bad. In college, a simple Vitamin Water would ease the pain. Now, I have to go through a series of healing tactics (googling pictures of hot men, chugging coconut water, calling my mom and crying, eating tons of pizza, taking walks and constantly complaining).

2. Naps

NEVER WORK. In my head, they sound amazing — especially those first five minutes at work. I sit and imagine lying on one of those blue mats they have in preschools and get queasy thinking about sleep. But if I actually try to close my eyes, my mind is a battle field of thoughts and worries. No sleep for the weary. To top it off, when I wake up from a 30-minute snoozer, I feel like DEATH. Maybe my REM sleep has gotten more intense, mystery behold. Whatever it is, it’s painful.

3. ‘No Strings Attached’ Relationships

CAN’T EXIST. Probably because they don’t begin at a college dive bar and end on a futon. If you try to have one, it ends up feeling desperate and ridiculous. When someone tells me where I can go to snatch up a casual bedtime relationship aside from CraigsList (with a risk of not getting murdered), please hit me up!

4. Natural Oil Hair Treatments

AKA NEVER SHOWERING. Try going to work with greasy hair and a bitter scalp scent. It’s not going to work. And you’re not going to work either once you get fired. In college, I went days without showering. Gross? No, natural.

5. Finding My Inner Self on Google

IS NO LONGER THERAPEUTIC. I remember the days when I used to spend hours on google…image searching hot men, searching myself, getting dirt/hair styling information from celebrities. Now, I just get stressed out by all of the things I should be doing instead. Ugh, real world problems.

6. Vodka Shots

CAN’T BE DONE. I have no idea how I used to cheers my girlfriends and tip back anything that remotely tasted like nail polish remover. Now, I see a bottle of vodka and get that feeling in my chest. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to go live with no regrets. Or have a lot of them and just accept it.

Either way, I’m proud of my college days–and won’t forget all of those moments when I could handle vodka, spontaneous hook-ups, long pointless hours on the internet, being dirty, in depth naps and Thirsty Thursdays. Keep it hush, hush — but it all still leaks into the post grad years. Things just get a little more difficult to endure.

Famous singers who can act as well

According to Kim and Khloe, their makeup addiction is because of…their father?

Is a post-toothbrush oral session safe?

Could this actor be the next James Bond?

The best mean ladies from TV and movies

Google makes beer?!

Celebrate October with some Halloween macaroons

When “I’m sorry” just doesn’t cut it

Pairing a fur vest with a polka dot blouse

…Unless that someone is Google. In 2004 when Facebook was just starting to quietly kill a few Myspace accounts, Google offered to buy it, but was turned down. Their first social networking site, Google Wave, was basically a fail. Fast forward to 2007 when Google decided to try to convince Mark that selling out was the way to go. This rejection was the birth of Google +: the social networking site no one ever saw coming.

So what sets Google + apart from Facebook and Twitter? Well, just like any social networking site, you set up your profile with pictures and interests, but that’s just about the only thing Google + has in common with any other site.

First off, when you provide your interests and hobbies to your profile, Google automatically generates interesting stories and websites (called “Sparks”) completely relevant to what YOU want to see. No more annoying political posts from your conspiracy theorist friend or sports updates from that athlete you hooked up with once. What comes up in your feed is only what you want to see.

With Google +, you can go ahead and add your employer without worrying about your party pics or drunken status updates. The site allows you to create “Circles”- groups of contacts that vary in what content is visible. Therefore, you could put your boss or even potential employers into a “professional” circle, and people you know into your “BFF” circle. This feature eliminates the negative stigma when it comes to mixing social networking with business. Unlike Facebook, Google + actually encourages you to add your boss as a friend.

Once you’ve formed these circles, you can do so much more than just send them a message or post on their profile. “Hangouts” allow you to have massive video chats within a particular circle or between people who have all checked into the same location (kind of like some weird Foursquare crossover). If you’re not up for video chatting, you can also create text chat rooms perfect for when you’re trying to communicate with a bunch of people at the same time.

Aside from all these great features, Google + is clean cut and professional looking. Unlike Facebook, it’s not flooded with ads and the design is very simple. Right now Google + is by invitation only, but I bet you know someone who already has it. Ask around, get your invite, and hop on the next trend in social networking before it becomes “too mainstream.”

Oh, and if you’re willing to take it another few steps further, here are some of the latest tech-y devices you should be in the know about!

initiating the gallery...

I’ll be the first to say that yes, of course life outside of college “ain’t no crystal stair” (thanks Langston Hughes!), but I don’t think some blueprint manual needs to be force-fed down our once matriculated throats. Even though a lot of these sites claim to be “resources” instead of manuals … I don’t see the resources available. Unless these websites can get us jobs, give us new friends, find us apartments that aren’t infested with termites, and set us on the right path to repay student loans, then those resources … well, they mean nothing.

I guess what bothers me so much about all of these ”how to survive as a post-grad” websites is that it makes us post grads look so collectively lost and confused. And not only does it make us look like we don’t know what we’re doing, but it makes us appear like we aren’t making the right decisions. But what I really think is going on is that due to the lovely economy (please note the sarcasm), post-grads are in the media a lot more than before…so of course, self-help gurus want to turn their attention to each year’s most recent batch of needy meat.

In all honesty, if someone handed me a book on how to be a proper little post-grad girl, I’d be pissed. Even though I can get behind some self-help books, I just don’t feel like “self-help” necessarily applies to a group of people who are still figuring things out. Especially when there are a million different ways each of us could go. What ever happened to mapping our own ways? Learning from our mistakes? Figuring things out for ourselves? All this “What to do when you’re a post-grad” crap makes me feel stifled, like if I don’t follow these directions then I’ll ruin my whole after college existence and be doomed for the rest of my life.

I think we can all agree that this post-grad existence isn’t easy. Between the soul searching and coming to terms with the fact that we’re really on our own now, things can get confusing. And scary. And stressful. But that’s for us to figure out on our own. We made it through college (not to mention the 12 years of school before that) so I’m confident that we don’t need some old people at a publishing house to tell us how to make it now.

It’s not going to happen over night, and yeah, that kinda sucks, but there is no harm in going down your own path.

So, here’s to post-grad journeys that just go with the flow and don’t follow some self-help book’s 12 steps. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to navigating this time in our lives so don’t let those frauds make you believe there is. Whatever you’re doing, if it’s right for you, then it’s the right thing to do.

We live in a social media obsessed world. There’s Facebook, Myspace, (although I wonder if anyone actually still uses it), Twitter, and many blogging platforms such as Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogger. Although we upload our pictures to Flickr and Facebook all the time or write about our weekend experiences in personal blogs, there could be a possible downside to all of this internet exposure: According to the Wall Street Journal, 85% of hiring managers Google a candidate before or after an interview. This fact, which is becoming more and more well-known, brings up the question: To blog or not to blog?

While I’m not saying that anyone who publicly posts pictures of themselves puking into a fraternity bathroom shouldn’t be a cause for concern, I am posing the question of boundaries and what and when a company should base their decision on hiring someone because of what comes up when they use Google. For example, take all the CollegeCandy contributors. Should our future bosses decline an interview with us, even though our resumes may be well qualified, simply because we once wrote an article that mentions sex or highlights the importance of birth control?

Personally, I think keeping a blog of any kind is a worthwhile venture. As a writer, I like to post things I’m interested in, things that drive me crazy, and of course, continuously write about things that matter to me (this includes everything from literary theory criticisms to the correct usage of the Real Housewives of New Jersey’s infamous phrase “prostitution whore”). However, I often worry that if I post liberal-sided articles or a picture of me enjoying a glass of wine that someone may use those things against me and blow them out of proportion one day. Despite more and more social media outlets being introduced to society on a regular basis, it seems like the idea of censorship or hiding oneself (at least the internet brand of oneself) is becoming a constant battle.

But get this – the Wall Street Journal also reports that “Recruiters and employers…routinely do online background searches on their candidates to learn more about them, as well as to filter out candidates with little or negative information about them.” So basically, it seems like our generation is damned if we do, damned if we don’t.

Imagine if you have nothing come up when your future employer Googles you. Instead of them rewarding you for that (something more and more colleges and media-outlets tell us to strive for), they pass on you because you aren’t relevant or important enough. But then, if you have an author’s page or Twitter account, something could be taken out of context or perceived as negative. What about people that disagree with this article? Could my future employer one day decline to hire me because some random commenter disagreed with me – putting me in a negative position?

It sounds crazy, I know, but it’s something that constantly comes up in the world of online writing and social media. While I understand why businesses want to search their job candidates, I think some kind of line in the sand needs to be drawn before too many well-deserving candidates are overlooked simply because they blog about Christian Louboutin’s, OPI nail polish, and Rachel Zoe instead of Wall Street, international trade, and compounding interest.

The issue of ‘to blog or not’ seems to constantly rely on personal judgment. However, personal judgment works both ways. For example, if someone is irresponsible enough to post a picture of themselves humping (see – because I used the word humping in this post, I may possibly never get a real job) a stop sign, they acted in poor judgment. Although they may personally have found it funny and did not make the picture private, their actions overwhelmingly were not in the best of judgment.

But think of it this way – what if your potential employer’s personal judgment doesn’t like your Tweet about his/her favorite restaurant, and decides that you come across as too opinionated because you simply wrote “Will not be eating at Restaurant A again.” Their personal judgment could cost you a good opportunity. The bottom line is that not everyone uses the best personal judgment from time to time (including those in hiring positions), and what one person finds offensive may not be a big deal to someone else. Should our generation have to walk on eggshells so we don’t piss anyone off with our opinions and views on the internet? Is this what it’s coming down to?

Blogger Emily Rose, a recent college graduate wrote a ballsy open post to a potential future employer on her Tumblr, after accidentally sending her blog link in her e-mail signature. Instead of cowering in fear over whether or not her employer would show no interest in her because of her personal interests explored on her blog (such as hung-over day after snap shots and mojito cupcakes), Emily wrote: “You’ll probably learn more about me from this blog than you did from my CV, which is fine. You’ve probably figured out some stuff already: like that I love animals and Africa and my family. But also, you know, sometimes I drink. And I spend a lot of time online….the result of those factors is now what’s on your monitor, and I don’t feel compelled to apologize for any of it.”

While some people may be completely appalled that she would be so open about herself like that, I think Emily is onto something. If we can’t be our true selves or represent things about ourselves in a personal manner, even in a public way such as the internet, then what does that say about society today? In conclusion of her post, Emily hits the nail on the head by writing, “I think I’m a good hire. I think I’m a good person, too. And I don’t think typing bad words or posting a picture of myself with friends at a bar blowing off some steam should affect my chances just because I’m a young person, and the lives of young people are more public and accessible than those of our parents.”

All in all, interviews, resumes, recommendations, and qualifications should remain as the most important factors in getting hired or rejected. But instead of using personal media against this generation, maybe it should be looked at a different way. With our generation riding the first wave of this Google exposure (or shall we call it overexposure?) phenomenon, it will be interesting to see what pans out. Ultimately though, I hope for the sake of our generation – we’re not looked at like this forever. Employers, writers, job applicants, and social media users of all kinds should embrace the more public and accessible use of information today, or at least set some boundaries for the years and technological advancements to come.

This past weekend, Kelly and her girlfriends visited a downtown bar to spice up their usually predictable nighttime routine. As the drinks poured, their vision blurred. Eventually, a group of cute MBA students in the area approached the college seniors.

Kelly began chatting it up with John, a cute but slightly nerdy part of the pack. He had graduated from a prestigious Ivy League university, was absolutely adorable, and seemed perfect in most senses of the term. One thing led to another and three vodka sodas later, Kelly was standing outside the bar making out with John.

The next day, Kelly and her roommate woke up with headaches. These were partially due to the over-sugared cocktails they consumed all night, but also because they had no idea who these MBA-men were. What were their names? What was their deal? Who on earth had Kelly made out with and why did he have the most generic name ever?

Several years ago, these questions would have remained unanswered. And the only way to discover the identities of said men would be to invest in some ski masks and physically stalk them, which is not only creepy but borderline illegal. In 2010, though, stalking is now more socially acceptable and easy. Thanks to the invention of several social media and search engine sites, the girls simply picked up their laptops and got to work.

Facebook
When you don’t know someone’s full name, but you know their networks (college info, job info, etc.), you can easily find someone online. But in the case of generic names, such as John, this search can be too difficult.

But don’t give up. Good stalkers never quit! Think hard. Do you remember any of his friends’ names? You do? Good! Simply type in their info, click on their friends and search John. Bingo, you think you found him. But, you’re not positive. Also, it may be crossing a line to friend him. So, what do you do?

Google
Pop his name in the search box and click “Go!” (And don’t forget to do an image search for verification…or to show your friends how “hot the guy I made out with is!”) Sometimes you’ll get awesome results, citing his college athletic career, role on the school newspaper, or some published study he recently conducted. Other times, you’ll just get simple links to various social networking accounts, like the girls did in the case of John.

LinkedIn
If public, your stalkee’s profile is a goldmine of information to create a general picture of his character. Simply by searching his name, the girls found out that John was a pretty smart guy. He had attended undergrad, graduate school, and was now getting his MBA. (He also happened to be 32 years old. Yikes.)

Change Up The Order
If you know your target’s full name and can’t find them on Facebook, start on LinkedIn. Oftentimes, they will use their full name on LinkedIn but not necessarily on Facebook. Once you find them here, grab their email address and paste that bad boy into Facebook. Boom. Target located. If you’re lucky, his profile won’t be private.

Even better, try putting that same email address into Twitter. An online stalker’s dream, if your target uses Twitter, you can see what he’s up to in real (AKA creeper) time without ever even following him.

—–

These four sites are about all you need to properly and secretly internet stalk someone. So, practice up and hone your skills!

Just remember: a good internet stalker never reveals her discoveries. That’s for the amateurs.

It’s the start of a new school year and to honor that, we at CollegeCandy are bringing back a fan-favorite series, “We’ve All Been There.”  (We tried to get another national holiday/long weekend for you guys but it’s way harder than we thought so this will have to do.) Every week, Lauren – University of Michigan will comment on the common experiences all college women share – like the first day of classes or trying to figure out if that boy is crushin’ too. Read, relate, cringe and enjoy.

The boy you love just broke your heart, so your girlfriends decide that drinking is in order. Because nothing numbs the pain quite like a few shots of SoCo. Together with your roommates, you pick out a super hot outfit (consisting of some combination of low cut top/push up bra), take a few pre-gaming shots and head out the door to either “show him what he’s missing,” or “forget about that jerk.”

The night is perfect: you dance, you drink (a lot), and you even find a cute boy to flirt with in the corner.

Then, obvi, the relentless craving for breadsticks and marinara takes over and you and the girls head home for the Late Night Special from your favorite pizza place.

You make your way to your room to change before the food arrives and are suddenly reminded of just how depressed you are. Why doesn’t he love me? you ask yourself. What is wrong with me? Maybe if I just send him an email and tell him how I feel he will change his mind and want to be with me.

You sit down at your desk.

You turn on John Hiatt’s, “Have a Little Faith in Me,” or the “love songs” channel on Pandora.

You open your email, hoping deep down inside that he has already sent you one, that he realizes he made a big mistake, that he too is sitting at home crying to the soothing sounds of The Fray. That he still loves you.

He hasn’t.
Your heart sinks.

As the mascara stained tears streak your face and form a puddle on your desk, you start writing your own:

hi. i got drinks and i lovre you. i dont know why you hate meeeee. i lobve yoiu. i want to eat breadsticlks but im too sad czu i love you.

At this point the pizza has arrived and your roommates storm into your room, pizza box in hand, to find you weeping silently over your laptop as you type away. Snot is dripping from your nose and you wipe it with your bare arm just before it hits your upper lip. You don’t care. You just keep typing and crying and really connecting with the sad lyrics blaring out of your laptop speakers.

If you are lucky, your roommates get to you before you hit the send button. If you are not quite as lucky (or a really fast typer), it is only a matter of time until the email is opened and any shred of post break-up dignity is lost. But until then, there is pizza. And breadsticks. And unyielding drunken hope that he’s thinking the same things you just wrote, he was just too distraught to put them in an email yet.

A hope which inevitably dies the minute you wake up in the morning and realize what you’ve done.

Yeah, you’re not alone; we’ve all been there before. Many times.
Just be grateful at least you didn’t wake up with a full slice of pizza smashed between your keys and your screen.

Going to college is so much more than hauling your butt out of bed before noon on a Friday to sit in the back of a lecture hall and attempt the daily Sudoku. In order to even be considered for a job in this economy, students are expected to pull great grades, take on multiple leadership roles on campus and still manage to avoid going completely broke (not to mention swing awesome summer internships).

Whew. Just thinking about it makes me sweat.
And then thinking of all those craptastic jobs out there makes me ill. I don’t want to waste my precious free time flipping burgers or folding clothes at The Gap.

If you’re looking to inch ahead of your classmates and line your pockets with a little beer money, we’ve got your back. Below is our guide to the best on-campus jobs. Whether they pay big bucks, offer flexible hours that don’t conflict with your social life, or give you plenty of free time to do your homework, these are the gigs worth fighting (and giving up your afternoons) for.

Res Life Security / Mail Desk Clerk:
These are great jobs for any budding social butterfly. Your friends can stop by to say hello, keep you company as you sign guests in an out of the dorms and even bring you a delicious cheesy calzone from downtown (these are the best kinds of friends, in my opinion). Even better, if you work the mail desk, you know exactly who is receiving the best care packages from Mom or Grandma… and you know where they live. Both are great jobs because you are constantly interacting with new people… and scoping out the adorable male specimens living in your dorm!

Tutoring: English major? Consider editing papers for a few bucks. Or helping someone reword cover letters and resumes. Are you a closeted calculus connoisseur? Pimp your skills out on the bulletin boards in your dorm hallways. You can make your own schedule, set your own prices and improve your own grades. (It’s proven that teaching someone class material increases your own knowledge of the subject. Sweet!)

Desk Job at the Library, Campus Museum, or in the Computer Labs: What do all of these jobs have in common? Incredible amounts of down-time. If you can snag one of these jobs, you will be envied by ALL of your friends. Basically you are getting paid to do your homework. Bring your textbook and your laptop (if allowed, obviously) and get cracking on your studies!

Bartender/Cocktail Waitress: You may have to sacrifice a few nights out with your friends, but you will make TONS of money. And, let’s be honest, most of your friends will opt to spend their evenings at your “office” in hopes of scoring some free shots. You will be the gatekeeper of the Long Island Ice Teas, the Redbull and Vodkas, the Dollar Pitchers. Talk about holding a lot of power. There are plenty of bars willing to train their own staff, but you can use any breaks to get certified and perfect your craft. (And with two or three weeks left of summer, you’ve got plenty of time to sign up for a bartending class!)

Concert Venue / Sports Staff: Didn’t get football tickets this season? Blasphemy, I know. You don’t have to completely miss out on kick-off, half-time and the atmosphere of a college football Saturday. Work the concessions stand during a game or sign up to be an usher. You may miss tailgating and the pay probably isn’t great, but you won’t develop a severe case of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). And on the same note, if you can’t afford to pay to see whatever band is swinging into your college town this fall, work during the concert. The amount of work you have to do is a bare minimum and you get to see the show for free. Cha-ching!