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Question
Hi! I love your website, I read it all the time. It’s really helpful. I will be a senior in highschool this upcoming year (2010-2011), but instead of going to high school, I’m taking classes full time at a local university in a joint-enrollment program my state offers. The university gives joint-enrolled students the opportunity to live on campus, but you have to pay for it yourself. With all the economic crap thats been going on lately, my parents can’t afford to pay for a dorm and the deadline has already passed. My question is, is it possible to have a good college experience while living at home? I really want to have a lot of fun, meet lots of new people, and have a lot of new experiences next year. I’m worried that this won’t really be possible if I’m stuck living at home next year. If you could give me any advice at all, I would really really appreciate it! Thanks so much! Read More »

Just another day in the country...

The summer before my freshman year of college, I packed my bags into the back of my car and drove to the big city. Cue the music, feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you… My blonde hair was whipping in the wind, my shades on. I was starting a whole new life, and although Raleigh, NC is nothing like LA and my life is far from an episode of The Hills, it was really exciting. I’m from a town where if you want to go to a mall, you have to drive forty-five minutes. A town where you can’t talk about someone, because chances are, it’s your friend’s second cousin.

So I did what any big-city-living-in-the-country girl would do; I said eff that and moved to the state’s capitol.

Oh the city; when your skyline came into my view I screamed and threw my arms into the air, excited to reside within your warm arms. For an entire school year, I danced on your bars, shopped in your stores, and fell in love with your boys. But when the summer came, I pulled a Scarlett O’Hara (“Home. I’ll go home…”). I figured the country would give me time to relax, to detox, and, frankly, it was closer to the beach. Things would be serene, and all that.

Yeah, until I smelled my town before I even entered it. Serenity (and the sound of tractors) is only interesting for about a day. I miss the city! I miss the constant buzz, the bars, and the stores! You would think I learned my lesson the first time, yet here I am, my sophomore summer, sitting in a town with a Food Lion and that’s it.

What the hell was I thinking?! Read More »

Spring semester is winding down, and when we’re stuck in the library for 24 hours at a time with our eyes glued to a textbook and an energy drink surgically attached to our hands, it’s easy to count down to seconds until summer vacation. But as we all know, life back at home can be a drag an adjustment.

We’ve got it pretty easy on campus – sleeping till noon, going to class if and when we feel like it, and bar-hopping every night… while occasionally squeezing in some work. Pretending to be a real, responsible person when you get home to mom and pops can be a tough change. So while it’ll be all good in the hood to ditch those books in favor of mom and dad’s luxurious leather couch, there are a few things you might want to prepare yourself for before you head home for the summer. Read More »

After spending all of spring semester counting down the days until summer break started, I’m now faced with the end of summer and even more school.  Where did the time go?  What was I doing when the sun was shining and the waves were crashing?  Oh yeah, I was probably online.  Hazard of the job, I suppose (and of being a college student).

However, I decided that I would not let the rest of the summer go to waste.  I’m going to take stock of all the things I was excited about before the summer began and make sure I do them before I go back to my dungeon dorm room.

Eat A Lot of Free Food – My mom loves to cook for me whenever I’m home.  I don’t have to say anything more than, “I think I’m coming up to visit on Saturday” and she’ll have already bought the ingredients for my favorite meals.  Things like eggs benedict, home-made macaroni and cheese (with six kinds of cheese!! mmm), cherry roasted baby-back ribs and so much more are thrown at me (not literally, although I fully support food fights) from the moment I step out of my car.  Plus, a plate of brownies or cookies that seem to fall into my hands at random times.  Yes, I’ll leave fit to burst and probably need a couple days to sleep off the food coma, but it’s so worth it.  Just thinking about a whole semester of dorm food and ramen noodles makes me wanna go home right now… Read More »

The only thing harder than saying goodbye to your roommate for the summer is packing up your dorm… and mopping all of the dried beer of the floor.  And scrubbing your desk where pizza sauce has been encrusted for months. And figuring out how to pack it all into your two-door.  Yeah, moving out sucks.  But moving IN with your parents again… well, let’s face it.  It rocks.

Here are my top ten faves about crashing with Mom and Dad for three months.  What are yours?

1.  You can live with your parents without looking like a deadbeat loser.

You have an excuse: You’re still in college and the dorms closed.  If you were 35 and working at the Venus Club and living with the ‘rents… you might belong on Jerry Springer.  But there’s nothing shameful about going back to your teenage years and living under their roof for one more summer.

2.  You’re a legal adult now.

Maybe your parents tried to force some strict rules on you in high school, and you vowed to move out asap.  But now, you’re an adult.  So even if they try to enforce a curfew, you at least have the “I’m a grown up” argument, which can be bolstered with “I just made Dean’s List,” or “In college, you aren’t keeping tabs on me and I made it home alive, didn’t I?” Plus, a lot of parents won’t even pick that fight, because they realize that you are an adult, you are a responsible collegiate, and they don’t want to know what happens on spring break. Read More »

Considering the fact that I’ve done nothing but sulk (with the occasional break for a anxiety panic attack over my future) since graduation, it’s relatively amazing that I was able to find time in my self despair to write this blog. Graduating college is worse than I ever imagined. Probably because I always imagined going straight from graduation to an awesome job with an awesome apartment in an awesome city. (Thank you, Lauren Conrad!)

Instead I’m sitting at home covered in hummus (I couldn’t find the pita chips so I’ve just been eating it straight) yelling at my sister to answer the damn phone. I can’t take that old-fashioned landline ringing.

My mother’s turned into a hovercraft and a social butterfly. She spends half her time leaving me alone on the couch to go out with friends (pray tell, when did she attain those?) and the other half asking me what would make me feel better. To which I answer, “Umm I would like you to build a time machine and transport me right back to the part of Freshman year where it stopped being awkward.” So far she has failed at this task. She has one more week to reach success before I give her the next “make me feel better task” of finding me a job. Read More »

Lots of people in the USA like to complain about the drinking age. And by lots of people, I mainly mean those who are under the legal drinking age of 21.

This included me when I was underage. I used to rant continually to any listening ear around me about how hard it was for me to get into bars. I despised the injustice of the photo ID and the fact that I had to constantly verse myself in the full name, birthday, and address of the older friend I was always pretending to be while out on the town.

I had a boyfriend in London and HE was allowed to drink already. It drove me, as he would say, mad. However, now that I’m a few years past the drinking age and a few years wiser, I have come to understand how detrimental a legal drinking age of 18, for instance, could have been to my life.

If I had been drinking (legally) when I was 18, things would be different for me now, I reckon: Read More »

I am the biggest. idiot. ever. Why? Because I will be spending one dreaded semester at home. That’s right, I gave up my freedom so that I could come home to spend a little extra time with the ‘rents. No, I’m not one of those people who can’t bear to spend time away from my parents, I just made a couple of mistakes…well, let’s call them choices…

Rewind to the end of senior year when a certain girl was debating between College A and College B. College A is the largest school in North Carolina, is very serious about their sports program (which means tons of fans to party with, plus I love college football) and just happens to be an hour from my boyfriend. College B is a smaller but well-known school located right in the middle of a booming city not to far from my home in Virginia that also happens to house an insane Arts/Fashion program.

Of course, naive senior Amber picked College A so she could get a degree in Fashion but still tailgate, party like crazy and spend time with her beau.

One cringe-worthy break up, one failed class, dozens of racial/socioeconomic clashes and too many drunken nights later I decided that it was time to transfer. My decision was a good one, but was made too late; by the time I submitted my application to another school (College C, I guess), it was impossible to receive housing and a decent financial aid package. Then I remembered good ol’ College B with the awesome Fashion program and decided going there was worth spending one semester at a sh*tty community college while having to obey Mom and Pop’s rules.

Some of you may have decided (or been forced) to stay at home too, or maybe I’m just hoping I’m not the only one that gets upset when I see those back to school commercials with all the cute dorm furniture and kids running through campus. Either way, there are pros and cons to movin’ back in with the rents and I know all about them: Read More »