1. Losing my v-card was awesome. Oh really? So was the first time I broke my arm.

2. If I eat these cookies now, I’ll just skip lunch. But I’m hungry for lunch…so I’ll just skip dinner. Okay, I’ll only have one slice of pizza instead of two for dinner. Or…skip dessert?

3. Running is fun. Running is fun. Running is so, so terrible. Running is fun.

4. I totally study better after a few drinks. I mean, I’m way more enthusiastic about the subject after I hit up a few bars. Wait, when is the test again? What subject?

5. Firefly tastes like sweet tea. Just with a liiiittle kick. Only a little, though. I can definitely drink this straight…

6. Tattoos don’t hurt. Can’t speak from personal experience on this one, but I’ll go ahead and guess that any time a needle is repeatedly stuck into my skin for an extended period, it would not be very enjoyable. Or pain-free.

7. I’ll do it tomorrow. Directed toward anything. I know you’ve said it, don’t lie to yourself!

8. I need new clothes. Like, n-e-e-d NEED them. My closet is overflowing, but all of that stuff is ugly.

9. That’s the LAST time I black out on a Tuesday. Just not true, college kids.

10. Five second rule. No matter what, that food was still on the floor.

What are some lies you tell yourself to make it through the day?

Kimora Lee Simmons Wants You (contest!)

7 songs for working out hard

If Justin Bieber is famous, this guy should be too

No, he’s not trying to turn you gay

The best of Jon Hamm on SNL

Will birth control gel replace the pill

10 lies you’ll hear before going after your dream

Nature is kinda awesome…and scary

Katy Perry wedding details

Virgin cream actually exists

But before you unpack those Yaffa blocks and stock up on the highlighters, allow me to dispel a few of the myths your older, wiser and drunker friends have told you about your freshman year. Is freshman year awesome? Hell to the yes. But there are some things you just gotta prepare for.

“You’re going to become best friends with your floor.”
Maybe. Or maybe not. Yes, while the people on your floor are going to be the first people you meet and become friendly with, don’t feel pressured to become best friends with them. The only thing you may have in common with these people is that you live on the same floor in the same dorm at the same school. They’re great for trips to the dining hall, party wandering in the first week of school, and swapping hangover stories on Sunday mornings, but don’t feel bad if that’s it. You might find yourself laughing a month or two into school saying, “OMG, I can’t believe I used to go to breakfast with her” if your neighbor becomes “that girl” at parties on campus. Your real friends in college will be eclectic, and while many people find them on their floor, many do not. Friendships are rooted in a sharing of values, not a sharing of a hall. You’re lucky if you find both in the same place.

“Your classes aren’t that hard.”
Kind of a lie. Senior year you don’t do any work at all, and it’s really hard to turn your brain back on and retrain yourself to read and understand 60+ pages of reading a night. This lie depends on the school you go to and the classes you take, but the way I experienced it and the way most of my friends experienced it is that your classes are kind of hard. Especially when you’re trying to decide on a Tuesday night between $1 pitchers of beer and making notecards. You need to do a lot of the learning on your own and if you’re not careful, it’s very easy to fall behind. You might have floated through high school, but college is an entirely different ball game. You’re going to have to retrain your study muscles for those college classes!

“Being a freshman in college is nothing like being a freshman in high school.”
Such a lie. Everyone knows you are a freshman. Everyone. Between the maps you carry, the way you lug all your books to the first day of class, and the way you travel in huge gaggles down the streets of your college town trying to find parties, you’ve got freshman written all over you. But the thing to remember is that everyone has to experience that. Carrying the maps and traveling in the gaggles teaches you how to adjust to college life so that second semester, you don’t scream freshman. You definitely have to pay your dues a bit as a freshman, just like you did in high school, but don’t expect any mean seniors to shove you into lockers or try and sell you tickets to the pool. Unless someone’s having a pool party and they charge you for alcohol and you end up getting so plastered that you wake up in a locker.

“If you don’t go out every weekend, you totally miss out.”
Definitely not true. While partying is really fun at college and very different than at home, you do not miss out at all if you decide to skip a night out or go somewhere else for the weekend. If you feel like sitting in your bed in sweatpants and catching up on your shows, do it! There is always going to be a party, and there will always be an opportunity to go to the bar. Don’t burn out. If you need to study, study. You might miss out on making a few drunken memories, but you have four years to make more. Your report card, mental health, and physical health will thank you when you follow your instinct if you don’t feel like going out. Plus, your friends will be excited to tell their stories to you the next day and start planning the next time you’re all going to go out together.

“You’re going to love everything about school right from the get-go.”
Doubtful. You move into this tiny dorm room in the unbearable heat of your non-air conditioned dorm with a stranger. Your stuff is a mess and everywhere, and your parents kiss you goodbye and are on their way. And then you’re there. And you don’t know anyone. While yes, the first few nights of college are exciting, fun, and usually pretty drunk, they’re definitely uncomfortable. You need to be awkward (all the time) and put yourself out there to meet people more than you have ever tried in your life. Sometimes you just want your mommy to hug you at the end of the day, make you dinner, and ask you how your day was. But all you have is your roommate and the ice breaker games your RA facilitates. It’s rough at first, but the thing to remember is that everyone is in the same place as you. Everyone is feeling the same way, but most people won’t admit it.

Here’s the deal: The word “lie” is subjective, meaning a lie is found in the mind of the individual. What I view as a lie, you may not, so don’t put too much stock into what you read about freshman year. Just because I view these comments as lies doesn’t mean that you will feel the same way. Everyone has a different experience in college, and no matter what happens, you’re going to enjoy parts of freshman year and you’re going to learn a lot about yourself. So get ready, because you have a lot to look forward to.

"I can speak 6 languages and fold myself into a pretzel..."

I’m not a scientist, nor am I a statistics analyzer, but I’d be willing to bet the majority of lies embellishments you’ve told recently have been directed at the men in your life.  That’s just the way it goes.  You hit college and suddenly the dating field is a battleground.  It’s every girl for herself and if you’ve got to fib your way into the arms of Mr. Wonderful, then so be it.  You think you’re telling men what they want to hear, but think again.  Most guys know when you’re adding a little extra sparkle to your dating resume, especially when they come across these top five dating lies:

Knocking ten pounds off your weight.
So you’re signing up for those personal training sessions at the gym together and your guy is filling out the forms for you both.  More likely than not, it’ll play out like this:  “Hey babe, have you ever had any sports related injuries?” Not a one, you say.  “And how much do you weigh?”  Your thoughts screech to a halt.  You’re joining the gym to lose those few pounds you put on over the winter.  You were hoping they’d be gone before he had the chance to notice.  In a desperate moment, you shout out a number that is entirely false.  Apparently today you’re Nicole Richie.  A) He’s not a moron and probably knows double digits is a little low for your 5’7 height and b) he probably doesn’t care or hasn’t noticed the additional 3.8 pounds you’ve been stressing over.  Let it go

Telling him you can drink him under the table.
Ladies, just don’t.  Maybe you think it’s sexy to go shot-for-shot like you’re in some twisted version of Coyote Ugly.  Maybe you think he’ll respect you more if you can confidently walk out of the bar after six tequila shots and two beers.  More than likely you’ll end up looking like a hot mess and he’ll be holding your hair as you puke in the gutter.  Moral of the story: don’t tell lies you can’t back and don’t try to out-drink your date.  It’s not going to happen (nor should it) and, more importantly, he doesn’t want it to.

“I don’t usually do this…”
Uh, yeah you do.  The second those words leave your mouth, it’s a red flag to any guy that you’re no stranger to sex on the first date.  Now, I’m not giving you a lecture on how to conduct your personal life, that’s for you to figure out.  What I will tell you, though, is to own your choices.  He doesn’t want to hear about how you’re actually a really good girl; you were just having a rough weekend and got over served at the Applebee’s happy hour.  Be yourself and save the crap.

Pretending you’re not really into anniversaries and all those “sappy” holidays.
If it’s true, fine.  But more often than not, girls think guys want to hear that they don’t care about Valentines Day, birthdays, and anniversaries because it will make them more appealing.  Go ahead and tell him you’re the jeans and a t-shirt kind of girl, not the flowers and candy and where the hell is my eighteen-week anniversary card type of freak he usually dates.  Just don’t get upset when he takes you on your word and doesn’t deliver on the big days.  Men don’t do double talk – they like the truth, plain and simple.  It’s not a crime to want a teddy bear holding a heart; it is, however, to beat him over the head with the one your roommate got from her boyfriend.

Acting like you always look fabulous in the morning.
It’s the first time he’s sleeping over and you set your alarm so you can wake up and do your hair and makeup before he wakes up.  Of course, you’ll be in bed when he rolls over and smiles.  He’ll just assume your hair is always sporting those silky waves and your cheeks are genetically destined to be rosy pink…won’t he?  Nope.  Bed head happens to everyone, as do morning breath and pillow crease imprints.  The facts of life state that everyone looks like hell in the AM.  He won’t buy your Sleeping Beauty routine, nor should you feel obligated to put on an elaborate show.  Wanna wow him?  Brush your teeth, spritz a little body spray, bring him a cup of coffee, then get right back in that bed for round two.

"Marijuana is a gateway drug, honey. It will kill you."

It wasn’t until 3 years ago, at the age of 23, that I realized that a red ring won’t show up around you if you pee in my parents’ pool. I had been living in that house and swimming in that pool since the ripe age of 6, running into the freezing cold basement and struggling to pull a wet one-piece up over my ass whenever I had to pee, and it took me 17 years to learn that my parents had been lying to me all along.

Yes, I could have been peeing in that pool for years!

After spending most of my life living a lie (one that protected everyone else swimming with me, I suppose) I started to think back on other things my parents may have been lying about. Like when they told me and my brothers that they didn’t have a favorite child, when clearly that child is me. Or when they told me they’d never done drugs. Bullsh*t, parents!

And I know I’m not the only one who’s been lied to! Apparently it’s a parent’s job to seriously mislead their children. Our friends over at Lemondrop have been lied to, and the CollegeCandy writers have been living some lies, too.

John – UConn: My parents told me that any Nickelodeon show with live actors would corrupt my morals.

Elise – Stanford: My parents told me that they had Santa Claus’ phone number and would actually stage phone calls to him saying I hadn’t cleaned my room.  They even wrote it down in their address book.

Nina – Michigan State University: We’re a traditional, old world kind of family. My parents told me (half jokingly) that boys won’t like me if I don’t keep my room clean. I’ve proven it false several times throughout my life. But at the moment, considering that I don’t have a boyfriend and I have yet to see my bedroom floor, I think they could be onto something…

Brianna – Fordham University: My dad left me under the impression that I had been drinking iced coffee every morning until the age of 13, when it was actually chocolate milk on ice. I’m getting my revenge now by using his credit card to indulge my Starbucks addiction.

Lexi C – Brown: They told me that Santa Claus wasn’t real and that I was made through vaginal penetration at the age of 4. Yeah, they didn’t tell me lies.

Lauren H – The New School: I was a terrible nail biter when I was a kid (didn’t stop until I got braces and couldn’t get my fingers in there) but my mother once told me that fingernails don’t dissolve in your stomach and can get stuck and fill up your intestine. I carried that image for far too many years

Caitlin – University of Alabama: They told me we had hidden cameras in the basement so they could see what I was doing.

Brithny – Duke: That the Tooth Fairy only gave money to children whose tooth was white and sparkly. Thus began my 3-minute teeth-brushing OCD tendencies.

Rosie – Duke: My parents always told me I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up, as long as I believed in it hard enough.  When I told them I wanted to be an elephant at age 4, my dad encouraged the idea and acted like it was totally possible if it was truly my dream. So until first grade, whenever people asked, I told them I wanted to be an elephant, and when they laughed, I thought they just didn’t understand the power of believing in yourself.

Desiree – Columbia University: My parents didn’t lie to me much. In fact, there were times when they were all too honest. Like when my mom told me I smelled like a man after volleyball practice.

Laura – St. John’s: When I was really young, my dad would tell me that eating bread crusts would make my hair curly, and since I craved long wavy hair, I did as I was told.  It didn’t take me that long to figure that one out… and I still don’t eat the crusts off my sandwiches.

Kim – University of Delaware: If I didn’t dry the pots and pans completely and put them away, centipedes would grow in the kitchen cabinets.

Kelly – Simmons College: My parents made up some crazy story about a fat man in a red suit who broke into our house by climbing down the chimney and left me presents, which he was always too lazy to wrap.

Kiki – University of Missouri: My parents allowed me to pronounce “nostalgia” as “nosta-gala” for 14 years of my life, under the pretense that it was too cute to correct. Sometimes I still slip up, and at 20 years old, it’s a little less adorable.

Samantha – UC Santa Barbara: My parents were always pretty straight-up with me, but it was my grandma who told me that if I pouted a little birdie would come and poop on my lip and if I crossed my eyes they would get stuck like that. I’m 20, and still need my looks for a few years, so I’m not taking any chances!

Cristina – Michigan State: My dad would always tell me he had a mini-TV and was watching me all day in case I did anything bad.  I think I still believe it.

Sarabeth – University of Texas: Now that I think of it, my parents didn’t really lie to me because I was the smart-aleck who called bulls*** on everything, even when I was 5.

We all lie, in some form or another. We lie to our parents (it’s not a hangover; it’s a stomach bug), our teachers (I’m late because the bus was delayed, not because I forgot to set my alarm), our employers (it’s my mom’s birthday, not some girl in my hall’s 21^st) and our sexual partners (you’re the best I’ve ever had!).

Lying to someone you’re sleeping with is dangerous territory, though. By lying to them, you could be endangering their physical (or mental) health. Which lies are OK to tell, and what things do we have to fess up too?

Lie: I’ve never worn this lingerie for anyone else.

Verdict: OK. We all have a favorite pair of lingerie, and we’ve probably worn it with more than one partner. After all, good lingerie is expensive, and we shouldn’t have to throw it out just because a relationship ends. But your partner probably doesn’t want to know what you wore last time you canoodled with someone else, so it’s okay to keep that information to yourself, or fib a little if it comes up.

Lie: I never slept with [insert friend here].

Verdict: BAD. The truth will come out eventually, and it will not be pretty. How would you feel if you found out one of your partner’s close friends was actually someone they used to sleep with? It’s best to have this information up front.

Lie: Your family/friends are so much fun.

Verdict: OK. You might hate the way his best friend burps or her crazy uncle that gets way too competitive playing volleyball, but your partner doesn’t need to be privy to this information. These people are going to be in their life for a while, so you best learn to deal with them, or at least act like you have.

Lie: I don’t have a crush on my chem professor.

Verdict: OK. You don’t have to fess up to every little crush you have, as long as there is no chance of the crush leading to anything real. Although, if you do fess up to it, you can probably convince your partner to role-play it with you.

Lie: I’ve always used condoms.

Verdict: BAD. Lying about your sexual health is never OK. If you have had unprotected sex, fess up and get tested, to keep you both healthy.

Lie: I came.

Verdict: BAD. Faking orgasms only hurts your sex life. When you say you like something, you encourage your partner to do it more often. If you lie about having orgasms, your partner will keep doing what they think works, and you’ll suffer the consequences.

What are some lies you’ve told to a sexual partner?

This Week’s Article: 5 Lies All Women Tell by askmen.com.

This article’s tag line is: “If she’s said any of these things to you, she’s lying.” Starting off with a gross generalization is never a good thing, but let’s take a look at what lies the boys at AskMen think we’ve been telling. All of us. Every time we speak.

“I’m not mad at you.”

Askmen says: “Oh, yes she is. Don’t think you’re getting off that easily. This lie is one of the most frequently used in relationships. Typically, women who have been hurt by men in their lives — often inadvertently — use this phrase as an emotional defense. For example, if a guy forgets his girlfriend’s birthday, calls her by his ex’s name or commits any of the other minor screw ups that most men do on a daily basis, women usually can’t just let it go. They dwell on it, letting worries whittle away normal feelings of well-being like a dog gnaws on a bone.”

I say: This is true some of the time, but there are definitely times we really just aren’t mad! Really! And if we are, we don’t all let it “whittle away normal feelings of well-being”; we can get over things, you know. The best way to get around this confusion is to encourage open and honest communication from the start of a relationship.

“I don’t mind if you go to strip clubs with the boys.”

Askmen says: “If this one sounds too good to be true, that’s because it is. Word to the wise: Virtually all women mind when their men go out to ogle other women at strip clubs without them.”

I say: I love strip clubs. I’ve even done amateur night. I don’t mind if you go and I’ll probably ask to come along!

“I’m just not ready for a boyfriend right now.”

Askmen says: “The truth is, if the woman is single and at all interested in you, she will certainly make the time to date you. It’s that simple.”

I say: That’s true. But it’s important to note that dating and being boyfriend-girlfriend are not necessarily the same things, and it’s possible she just wants something more casual.

“I don’t mind picking up the tab tonight; you always pay anyway.”

Askmen says: “Not true. Although this lie doesn’t apply to all women, most still do expect men to pay for things, especially if the man asked them out in the first place. They will secretly think that the guy is cheap if he wriggles out of the bill on a regular basis.”

I say: Not true. My boyfriend and I split everything, because we’re both broke at the moment. I don’t think less of him at all.

“That was f*cking great!”

Askmen says: “This lie falls under the broad category of sex lies. When women are committed to a man, they focus on him, often believing, time and time again, that he is “the one.” Because girls have this tendency, they also tell guys whatever they think they want to hear (like they just had an orgasm), just to make them feel good about themselves.

I say: So anytime we say we’ve had an orgasm, it’s really just our secret hope that you are our soulmate? (And that we want to spend the rest of our lives with someone who can’t satisfy us!?) This sounds scarily like it falls under the old school “women don’t like sex but do it to keep men happy” train of thought, and that is just wrong.

What are some lies you girls have actually told?

No one should be expected to sit in the library or stare at their dorm room walls every day of the week with their nose in a book. Everyone needs something that helps them unwind, especially on the weekends.

Sometimes finding something to do – especially on a campus where parties are a rare occasion -  is hard. I knew when I signed my life away as a Hollins woman, I was going to be living in Roanoke, Virginia,and that I wouldn’t have a big city as my playground on the weekend. I knew I wasn’t attending a huge state school where fraternity parties are the social factor and that club activities would be endless. As a prospective, I remember asking about the student life on the weekends only to hear the same fib that my fellow peers heard themselves as prospective students: “Don’t worry about it, you will always find something going on.”

Oh, but that is very far from the truth. Options on campus are very bleak. From the first weekend as a first year, I realized as no one was around on the weekends I would have to be entirely responsible for finding something to do Friday and Saturday nights. While not feeling bogged down by having too many social activities planned, I like that Hollins has a sleepy atmosphere (especially for those weekends I need to do a lot of work), but for the most part – I don’t understand why we can’t have some sort of decent entertainment when the weekend rolls around.

The social scene at Hollins on any given weekend can be summed up in three ways:

1) You leave on the weekends

2) You rely on an apartment party or a party hosted by NEFA (a specialty housing dorm)

3) You hope the Student Life/Activity Board has something planned

A huge chunk of the student body leaves on the weekend. Girls carpool for the entire weekend up to Hampden-Sydney, an all male college two hours away and sleep on random futons since making the drive back in one night is out of the question. If Hampden-Sydney isn’t someone’s bag, other colleges like Washington and Lee, Virginia Tech, and Roanoke College can be visited. However, if you don’t know someone who goes to those schools, good luck finding a party or meeting people. What does the rest of the student body do when they leave? They go home! Students who are from Virginia or even close cities in North Carolina find themselves frequently going home because of the lack of campus activities. The only time students make plans to stay is if a formal is happening, which only happens twice a year.

Occasionally an apartment party or a themed party through NEFA will happen, but the frequency of this is rare. Also, these parties aren’t for everyone. Many girls don’t feel comfortable going over to the campus apartments because they don’t fit the cliques that live in many of the apartments. NEFA, a housing dorm for the campus’ artsy folks, throws unique, unforgettable parties, but most of them are not for the faint of heart. What if you just want a small get together? What about a dorm room?

Parties in other dorms do not happen, whatsoever, which can be very frustrating. Say it’s 11pm on Friday and you want to “Just Dance” along with Lady Gaga and your two best friends? Good luck getting through the song before someone calls Campus Safety to complain and a knock from an officer interrupts you. Every hour in all the dorms seems to be quiet hour. Whenever students speak up about the lack of social atmospheres, the Activity Board usually says “We have monthly mixers with a DJ and we invite other schools” to combat the complaints, but it does not suffice when no one actually shows up to the poorly planned and advertised school sponsored parties.

For a small university, Hollins is very diverse in its beliefs and types of students. Regardless of the variety amongst us, I have heard over and over again that not enough is done on the weekends in order to give students something to do. Yes, Hollins shows a movie every weekend in the auditorium and they have a shuttle take students to the mall, movies, and Wal-Mart, but that is not enough. When over half of the campus departs on the weekend to other colleges or home, something more needs to be done. How can a campus have a close-knit community when everyone leaves by 2pm on Friday and returns by 6pm on Sunday?

I am not asking for endless activities on the weekend. I think that students should be responsible for coming up with something to do, but I do believe that the university should endorse a more sociable atmosphere. Whether that means allowing students to have dance parties at reasonable hours without getting campus officers sent up or providing well planned mixers with other colleges, something needs to happen in order to help the social scene from sinking even more than it continues to do so!

In asking for other opinions from students on campus, Hollins sophomore Jennifer Old sums up how actions should be taken on campus to improve the overall weekend situation: “I think people are hesitant about the parties and other social events held on campus. Parties are broken up much more quickly at Hollins and the threat of the Roanoke Police has become very real. As for the social scene outside of the party sphere, I think there should be a community forum every semester. HAB (The Activity Board) should hear the collective desires of the campus and cater to the diverse interests of Hollins women.”

Obviously a social environment is very important to college life. Now tell me, how do you spend your weekends? Do you think your college provides enough entertainment and amusement for students? What do you want more of in your school’s social scene? Dish – I want to hear what I’m missing!

You’ve been killing yourself all semester to tackle mountains of coursework while finding time to hit the gym and develop the perfect bikini bod to show off in Cancun, the Dominican Republic, Miami Beach…or wherever Spring Break 2009 finds you. When the day finally arrives, you’re ready to leave all of your woes behind. In a tropical hotspot hundreds of miles away from your RA, your professors, and your “Good Girl” reputation, you’re ready to let loose.

But be careful, ladies, because there’s still plenty of ways that your spring break behavior can come back to haunt you.

You say: It’s not cheating if it’s in another country.

The Reality: If you’re on holiday with your best girlfriends, the liquor is flowing, and a sunkissed Adonis named Paolo pulls you onto the dancefloor, it can be easy to forget what’s-his-name back home. But still, a commitment is a commitment, and Paolo will be a distant memory by the end of the week. It’s never a good idea to lie to your partner, and you never know if he will, in fact, find out. Last year, a girl saw her personal life go viral after cheating on her boyfriend. He found out and got an acapella group to “serenade” her with the Dixie Chicks’ “Not Ready to Make Nice”…in front of 1,000 fellow students.

You say: Yes! A million miles from my parents, and in this country, I’m legal to drink!

The Reality: Sure, it’s a lot harder for your parents to keep tabs on you when you’re in a different time zone, but it’s also a lot more expensive to call them long distance if your drunk ass gets busted. Some collegiate hotspots expect masses of spring break drunkards, and are prepared to handle them accordingly. Brush up on legal conduct before you take off, and try to keep yourself aware of your surroundings. An article in USA Today, for example, has expressed that students can find themselves in jail for making an “obscene gesture,” and that students arrested on drug charges in Mexico can be held up to a year before seeing a trial. Be smart, not only for your own safety, but to prevent a listing in your school paper’s Police Blotter when you return.

You Say: What do I care? I’m never going to see these people again!

The Reality: It can be a lot easier to lower your inhibitions when you don’t have to care what others think of you. But with the rise of Youtube, Facebook albums, Collegehumor.com, and the invention of camera phones and digital cameras with video recorders, it’s hard to play it safe. Hell, Joe Francis has made a multi-billion empire off of taking advantage of drunken partygoers with his Girls Gone Wild franchise. You don’t want to come home from spring break and have people come up to you at a party a month later saying, “Do I know you?” or “Aren’t you that girl who took her top off in a Wet T-shirt contest in Puerto Vallarta and then puked all over her naked breasts?” Nooooo you do not, my friends.

You say: Whatever, I trust my friends to keep a secret

The Reality: They say that once a photo hits the web, it’s impossible to completely delete it. And the post-break Facebook albums are inevitable. But the more people that have access to your pics, the more potential for these pics to be distributed. All you have to do is right-click a photo in a Facebook album and you can save it your desktop. We’ve all heard the horror stories of people getting fired for the content of pages on social networking sites. Just like the latter warning, the internet can cause your “secrets” to spiral into the public domain. It’s one thing to get drunk and tell your friend an embarrassing story, only to retract it the next morning and say that convo never happened. It’s another to try to erase your World Wide life.

You say: I just want some no-strings-attached lovin’ to get my mind off of my GPA.

The Reality: Studies have shown that spring break correlates with an increase in sexual activity – by 74 percent! Obviously, the more sexual activity, the more chances of coming home with a spring break souvenier…in the form of herpes, genital warts, chlamydia, gonorrhea…you get the idea. Besides, sure, local heartthrob Paolo may seem exotic to you, a naive American tourist, but you’re probably not his first, and you probably won’t be his last. No matter how strongly you and your pals swear each other to secrecy, an STD (or an unwanted pregnancy, for that matter) won’t be left behind.

You say: I’m in tropical paradise! I’m totally safe!

The Reality: If the above reasons to stay safe haven’t convinced you, think about the horror stories that have developed in the past few years, such as the Natalee Holloway story. If you’re worried about your sh*t spread all over campus, how about when your tragedy becomes worldwide news, and people start making their own assumptions about your spring break behavior?

Even if you are trying to play it safe, in a foreign land, it can be more difficult to get the medical assistance you need, should something go awry. And with all the booze that’s flowing, the chances of getting seriously hurt escalate. The aforementioned USA Today article cited a young girl who fell off of a balcony and died after drinking too much; I’m sure there are countless scratches, scrapes, black eyes, and ankle sprains that haven’t made the papers – and they’re all telltale signs you had too much fun over Break when you get back to class.

Gossip and rumors are main staples on college campuses across the nation, and the website Juicy Campus (which was recently shut down), shows just how far people are willing to go to spread gossip. At some point in everyone’s life, gossip comes up – good or bad. Gossip, in moderation, can be just another thing, but in a culture that obsesses about pop culture and dishing dirt (think of websites like Perez Hilton), the fixation of dishing dirt about someone else isn’t going away any time soon.

Although many of us love to gather on Monday nights to watch Gossip Girl and watch the scandals of the Upper East Side unfold, no one likes it when their own personal life is exposed in the cafeteria over wilted lettuce or when private information rolls off the lips of classmates before the professor starts the class. While gossip may seem like something that comes and goes, it can leave its dirty scars behind all too often.

Maybe because it’s an all-women’s college and women often use each other to bring others down, or maybe it is the size of the university, but the Hollins rumor mill never seems to cease on campus. It constantly peeks its nasty little head around the corner for students that least expect it. Whether it hurts friendships, ruins reputations, or isolates students from campus events — gossip can cause tremendous damage.

Remember when my mom and I met with the President to discuss the bullying that happened my first year? Well, upon arrival at Hollins for my sophomore year, the student body buzzed (never to my face, though) with the rumor that Hollins implemented a bullying policy because of me… being a bully. No one knew that my mom and I brought forth the issues that happened with me because of a bully on campus, demanding the President to come up with a bullying policy. No one knew what happened to me as a first year. However, everyone seemed to accuse me of things that I did not do.

Time after time, I have met girls on campus who tell me how “mean” I sounded from other students’ tales of meetings with me. One of my friends was even warned by another student to not be my friend. Whenever I hear these stories, the people who spoke out against me are always peers I have never met myself. They are usually students who I have never had contact with. How can anyone pass judgment before they have met someone else, especially in the context of putting someone else down? I don’t know how anyone could go around talking so negatively about someone else, when they have never personally had an experience with that person.

I have seen gossip make people unable to maintain decent friendships on campus, as well. For example, this girl named Emma (name changed) was known around campus to have a “private jet,” an extensive collection of designer apparel in her closet, and people even talked of her having major connections to the sports industry. Girls on campus thought they would take advantage of Emma by befriending her, only to go into her closet and steal her designer clothes. Not only would they go and steal her stuff, but they would talk about taking from her because she deserved it as a “rich kid.”

Truth is, Emma does not have a private jet (although her dad is a pilot), she doesn’t have immediate connections to the sports industry, and the only designer clothes she owns come from outlet malls. Now, whenever students meet Emma for the first time, they can’t get past her “rich kid” reputation. How can Emma expect to make friends on campus when everyone seems to focus on what they heard about her, instead of actually getting to know her?

Talk spreads like wildfire. I see it all the time. Just walk into the cafeteria on Monday morning and other people know where you were over the weekend. How? My first reaction to this, when it happened to me, was that those who were asking found out from Facebook. Since then I have had to make my Facebook entirely private, along with many other students on campus, in order to have any privacy. Though the gossip has not ceased.

Worst of all, it doesn’t help when the administration plays into the whole “Guess what I heard about you” game. On more than one occasion I have heard of students going to speak with the Dean of Students or head of Residence Life, only to come out with gossip from other students told to them by the authority figure who uses the gossip against them. If the administration lends an ear to gossip, of course the student body is going to keep it up.

I have heard many rumors about myself here at Hollins, and 99% of them never happened, resemble nothing from the truth, and have no merit. At first, I am not going to lie, the rumors really bothered me. A lot of them were hurtful, and a lot of them have stuck (despite not being true), but there comes a point when you have to displace yourself from that, even when it seems like everyone is talking about you. There have been so many times when I have seen my fellow peers break down about something that was said about them, and even though you want to stand up and say “No – that’s not true! That didn’t happen!” you can’t, and it doesn’t seem right or fair.

If sisterhood exists at Hollins, then why does gossip own the souls of most students? Whenever someone hears something that is obviously not true, no one speaks up – they just go along with it, and that is unacceptable. I am sick of hearing gossip about people and myself, especially at a school that talks about the loyalty and respectfulness of its students. If Hollins continues to let rumors take hold of the student body, I believe there will be no way to return to a clean, respectful state in the student body. No one will be able to avoid it, and that just seems entirely too extreme.

I know Hollins isn’t alone in this gossip battle – tell me about your school and how big of an impact gossip has on the student body? What is the worst rumor you have ever heard about yourself or someone else? Do you think gossip, in moderation, is healthy or just vicious in any degree? Time to share your story!