Oh, New York. The city that doesn’t sleep. Luckily for you, neither does CollegeCandy. Don’t you sometimes wish you could read CollegeCandy’s New York thoughts-and-rants in real time? Well, you can actually. Follow CollegeCandy NYC on Twitter, so you can find out more about New York – like the correct reaction when someone touches your hand on the subway. I know I’ve always wondered. Whether you live in the Big Apple or not, we’ll keep you up-to-date on everything from bars to yoga to awkward situations. Tweet us!

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Not even Carrie herself wants to go back!

Carrie Bradshaw is an icon. Her lifestyle is completely unattainable (you show me a columnist for a New York paper who has a closet full of Manolos, and I’ll shave my eyebrows). She’s the most fashionable woman in New York, and she’s not even real. Don’t tell me you have never looked at a wacky dress and thought, “That’s SO Carrie.”

She’s an aspiration. You know you’ll never have her closet or her men or her friends who always seem to always have time to grab lunch with her despite their real jobs. She’s pure fiction, but I still love her. And let me be clear, I know she’s self-centered. I know she only talks about herself when Miranda’s mom dies or when Charlotte learns that she can’t get pregnant, but her whole aura is still fabulous.

And now she’s going to be ruined.

The CW is as close to closing a deal to create The Carrie Diaries as Carrie was to marrying Aiden. The Carrie Diaries is Candace Bushnell’s prequel to Sex and the City and follows Carrie through her senior year of high school.

Being a huge Sex and the City fan, I read The Carrie Diaires when it came out, and it made Carrie a normal high school girl saving her virginity for the right man. WHAT? I don’t want to see Carrie on the small screen as a NORMAL, VIRGINAL girl. I want fabulous Carrie. Flawless Carrie, who seems like she never had an awkward phase. Glamorous Carrie who simply shot out of the womb wearing Manolos!

I don’t want to see her with pimples on her face wearing a Hollister hoodie. That makes her just like me. Just like everyone else. The Carrie that we know is a sexpert, not a high school senior wondering why everyone else is having sex but her. I don’t want her living in a town that isn’t New York City. It was bad enough when she went to Paris (I don’t even want to talk about Abu Dhabi).

How am I supposed to want to change lives with Carrie when she’s cramming for a Bio test? I don’t want that. I want my Fendi-toting, Big-dating, sex-writing Carrie; the one I’ll never be.

What do you guys think? Would you potentially tune in to see Carrie as a teen, or do you want to preserve the truly great Carrie HBO gave us so long ago?

The battle for comprehensive sexual education in New York City is finally over, as for the first time in over twenty years public middle and high school students will be required to take sex-ed classes. The Bloomberg administration has decided it’s time to implement new initiatives in an attempt to improve the lives of the city’s black and Latino teenagers. City statistics show these groups are more at risk than their white counterparts for unplanned pregnancies and contracting sexually-transmitted diseases.

This is just an another example in the move away from abstinence-only education. Between 2006 and 2008, one in four American students was only taught about abstinence, without receiving education about any other form of contraception. At the start of this year, 20 states and the District of Columbia mandated both H.I.V. and sex education.

Students in New York will now take a semester of health classes in sixth or seventh grade, and then another in either grade nine or 10. The education will include how to use a condom as well as discussion on an appropriate age for sexual activity. Parents who do not want their kids learning about contraception can opt to have their students removed from lessons on birth control.

Though since 1987 New York has had education from kindergarten to grade 12 on H.I.V. awareness, a push for a sex-education curriculum was defeated by religious groups in the 1980s.

[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

My summer in the city had officially come to an end and by the time you’re reading this, I will be back in my hometown, probably eating a home-cooked meal and driving my car with reckless abandon on the highway. (God, I missed driving.) Though I’m excited to be home, I couldn’t help but feel a rush of sadness as my cab led me out of the city, toward LaGuardia airport and toward life after New York.

Since I go to college in my hometown, I’m never more than a 30-minute car ride from my parents’ place, my childhood friends and as far as I was concerned, I lived in the greatest city on Earth. While my loyalty to Austin will never die, after this summer I know that I can see myself living in New York too.

Never having lived away from home before, I expected to crack under the pressure of trying to navigate the city on my own. I surprised myself in the best ways. In just three months, I devoted myself to understanding the subway system, seeing all of the museums and attractions I could afford and trying new restaurants. As an unpaid intern, there were definitely times that I knew having more money would’ve made my time in the city a lot easier. But looking back, my unpaid status forced me to really experience living in New York, as opposed to just shopping or going clubbing in New York. Upon leaving, I knew that if I could do New York without a paying job, that doing it with a paying job would only be that much more exciting.

As a writer, New York is sort of a Mecca. On any given day you could walk into a Starbucks and see aspiring playwrights and undercover bloggers alongside the world-renowned writers for household name publications like The New York Times and Vanity Fair. I went to lectures at The Strand, a class at The New York Public Library and read more books in three months than I had all school year. As a writer, I felt a sense of belonging in the city. That in itself is more than enough justification to go back after graduation. I’ve never been one to believe in “energies” or “vibes” but there really is no rush like the one of being on deadline in the city. Just knowing the tremendous amount of creative talent that surrounds you in the city, is inspiration enough to get you to your worst writers’ block.

New York is a tough place and that’s what I love about it. It doesn’t apologize for itself. The city can kick you when you’re down, get you crying on the subway, and that same week can take you to places you’d never thought you’d ever see, like the office of the editor-in-chief of one of the biggest magazines in the world.

I learned so much about myself this summer by living in a new place. If you have the means to move away for a while for an internship or job opportunity, I highly recommend it. Moving away is a lot like eating vegetables, even if you hate it, it still affects you positively. Because even if it sucks, at least you’ll have an excuse never to stray again and you wont have to regret never having given yourself the chance.

[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

When you walk up and down Wall Street, it’s easy to believe that men clad in Thomas Pink attached to their Blackberries run this city. But take a note from Beyoncé and paint the town red (or pink) because girls? Yeah, we run the world and the town.

Tip #33 – Ladies’ Night really does exist. And it’s fabulous.

I was surprised to find out that a good number or bars and restaurants in the city still have ladies’ night drink specials. Sure, the feminist in me felt a little offended but the college girl on a budget (and unpaid internship) couldn’t help but be ecstatic. Ladies’ night isn’t exactly the best place to meet guys seeing as how there really aren’t many around so embrace it and grab your best girls to gossip or vent about work, your boyfriends, your mothers. A simple search on Yelp for “ladies’ night” will yield enough options to try out or check out the guide on Murphguide.com for specials listed by day. Just remember, just because the drinks are cheap doesn’t mean you need to attempt to drink all the liquor they have. Keep it classy ladies…well not too classy!

Tip #34 – Bus tours – not just for old people!

When you’re nursing your Ladies’ Night hangovers but not in the mood to waste the day in the city, get your girls signed up for the perfect way to spend the afternoon without exerting too much energy – a Sex and the City bus tour with On Location tours. I have to admit, before this tour, I totally thought bus tours were for old people and tourists with a camera strap permanently attached to back of their necks. When I got on the bus, however, it looked more like a sorority field trip than that of a nursing home. And the locations? Not geriatric at all. On Location really it hit on the nail with a hilarious (and definitely not cheesy) tour guide, special discounts at participating boutiques (including Fresh and Alexis Bittar) and free Magnolia Bakery cupcakes. Have a cosmo at the bar that went undercover as “Scout” for SATC and make a reservation with a free drink at the restaurant hotspot from the big engagement party scene in the first SATC film. Grab your three best friends for three and half hours and you’ll laugh and best of all, you wont have to track down these spots on your own…by foot.

Tip #35 – Welcome to NYC, land of the cheap mani/pedi combo.

The city is definitely one of the cheapest places to get your nails done up. On my block alone, three nail salons boast a $20 mani/pedi combo. Sure, the ambiance isn’t all that great and you can’t help but avert your eyes from the Good Luck Maneki Neko statues that you could swear at peering into your soul, but your toes will walk out looking better than they did when you came in. Since most of the magazines in these places are pretty outdated, your best asset is a girlfriend. Talk about the crazy things you couldn’t believe you did the night before, the drinks you wished hadn’t downed or plan out the rest of your day. Either way, you cant beat a cheap mani/pedi with a friend.

Get the first 32 tips for living it up in the city right here!

[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

There’s nothing quite as sweet as a summer love. Summer flings happen at the best time, on the cusp of classes ending when summer fearlessness sets in. Throw the city into that equation and the possibilities really are endless. So spend your free time this summer on dates that you’ll remember even if the guy was less than memorable.

Tip #29 – Reach new heights.

Can’t help but roll your eyes when you hear about how a girl got proposed to on the top of the Eiffel Tower? Believe me, I’m right there with you, and yet somehow a date at Top of the Rock just feels so right. It doesn’t have to be cheesy! Spend an unreasonable amount of time in the control room, where the neon lights are controlled by your body movement and challenge your date to a dance-off. I suggest you go at night when the city really comes alive, and see if you can find your apartment roofs hiding in between the thousands of twinkling lights from the top of Rockefeller Center. It doesn’t have to be cliché and romantic as long as you’re both having fun. After you visit the top, grab a drink at the bar in the plaza where the famous skating rink resides in the wintertime.

Tip #30 – Movies in the park at Bryant Park.

The Bryant Park summer film festival plays a new classic every Monday at sunset. Grab a soda pop and a bag of your favorite candy and sink into the lawn to relax after the workday. Best of all, the film fest is totally free. Leave the foldable chairs at home since they aren’t permitted and grab an old towel to sit on instead. As the sun goes down, snuggle up together because PDA doesn’t feel so public after dark.

Tip #31 – Spend your time and money on experiences, not dates.

Money is best spent on an experience as opposed to just another dinner date and since money is time in the city, be sure to spend it wisely. You can have a drink with your guy anywhere, so opt instead for tickets to a show you’ve been dying to see. Dinner dates come and go but an impromptu date to the Central Park Zoo is forever. I love an amazing meal as much as the next girl but nothing beats watching my date’s jaw drop when I’m making continuous strikes at the bowling alley at Chelsea Piers. Summer leaves more time for spending time with one another so make it worth it.

Tip #32 – When all else fails, date the city.

Follow the words of the beloved Carrie Bradshaw when your summer is fling-less and date the city instead. It may sound trite, but this city is literally teeming with things to do. Museums are the perfect alone-dates. With options like The Met and MoMA, you could spend hours getting lost in other people’s loves, like Degas’ love for painterly ballerinas or Alexander McQueen’s love for avant-garde fashion. There’s something so wonderful about leisurely wandering around the city, alone and calm. And best of all, you don’t have to put on those first-date shoes that leave your feet in blisters by the end of the night.

Get the first 28 tips for living it up in the city right here!

[This summer a dream internship with Lucky magazine moved me from Austin, Texas, where I’ve spent all 21 years of my life, to New York City for the summer. Come along for the ride and follow me through this column as I take on all that the city has in store for me. I’ll share tips I’ve picked up along the way about everything from how to pack (stop, drop and roll people!) to dating to fitting in (or standing out) and so much more.]

There a few things about New York I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to, like the inexplicably constant reek of urine it the subway and, maybe it’s just because I’m from Texas, but where I come from horse cops demand respect and are not meant to be pet by tourists. Every time I pass by the cops on horseback in Times Square and see tourists gleefully petting these horses, I can’t help but wonder how people in this city are okay with their tax dollars going toward novelty horse cops. But believe it or not there are some things I have gotten used to, like checking out local event sites to see what’s going on in the city daily.

Tip #11 – Don’t just check event feed websites for your city when you’re bored, integrate them into your everyday routine with Facebook and Twitter so you don’t have to hear about things after they happen.

I’ve already mentioned Time Out New York, but I recently discovered Inside New York, which seems to be more tailored to a college-aged audience. Not only is Inside New York a true local’s guide as it’s passed out at many New York City freshman orientations, but they are always posting new stuff on their Facebook and Twitter pages, which is ideal for social media fiends like me.

Tip #12 – Schedule at least one day a week to wander your city solo.

After about a month of living in the city, I’ve also gotten in the habit of taking at least one day a week to do a little solo city-wandering. Last Friday, while I was perfectly lost in the city, I stumbled into Bryant Park and the historical New York Library. Though some of us only know it for its guest role in the Sex and the City movie, this library is more than a pretty wedding venue. Right now they are running a free exhibition in honor of their 100th year anniversary that showcases everything from a first draft of Washington’s farewell address to Malcom X’s journals to Jack Kerouac’s pipe. The library is definitely my favorite place in the city and I think I have more appreciation for it because I found it on my own and had all the time in the world scheduled to just wander around the halls and really enjoy being there.

Tip #13 – Clip Coupons or if you’re living in this century, download a coupon app on your phone.

Tip #14 – Plan ahead when grocery shopping.

I still don’t think my mother believes me when I tell her that since I moved to the city I use coupons. Grocery shopping in the city is painful to say the least. Not only is it expensive compared to my hometown, it’s like a game of Tetris as you figure out what you’re physically able to carry back to your apartment.

I always carry an empty backpack and reusable grocery tote with me when I go shopping. The lining in my backpack is insulated which is perfect for frozen items and produce and I usually place boxed and bagged snacks in the tote bag.

Coupons, as embarrassing as they may seem, have actually added up to savings that allow me to feel less guilty about a shopping trip to SoHo (by the way, Houston is pronounced How-ston– something the inner Texan in me still cant get used to). MobileCoupons is my app of choice and it’s something I’ll definitely carry with me back home.

Get the first 10 tips for living it up in the city right here!

For this week’s DIY project, I was inspired by my downtown fashion conscious and too-cool-to-be-a-hipster hipster friend, Landon. This guy is like half artist, half designer and totally rad. He just may be the perfect man, especially with his newest creation: paint splattered boyfriend trousers.

Designers like Tory Burch and the late, great Alexander McQueen also rocked paint splattered pieces in their collections. For mucho dinero. For those of us on a college or recent-grad budget, these trousers will give you the same designer look without paying $180 (or more!) for a pair of designer digs. (Plus, you get the glory of designing them yourself…and that’s free!)

What You’ll Need

1. An old pair of trousers. If you want to go for a boyfriend slouchy pair (which are inherently more chic), try to steal an old pair from a brother, boyfriend, or random man on the street. OK, maybe not a random man on the street, but I bet you can find a great pair at the Salvation Army….

Tip: The paint splatter look would also look great on jeans!

2. Craft paint: Pick any color you prefer. Try neon colors for a modern city look, pastels for a vintage look, black and white for something a bit more understated, or whatever colors inspire you. You can get these at any craft store like Joann’s or Michael’s.

3. Paintbrush or toothbrush: Use old ones or pick up some new ones up at your local craft store or CVS.

What You’ll Do:

1. Get your inner artist on and go crazy on your trousers. You can splatter paint (for the effect seen above), or use the paintbrushes, toothbrushes, or use your finger-painting skills to decorate the jeans.
Tip: Using old or frayed paint brushes will help spread the paint out evenly so it isn’t too thick.

2. If you wanna distress your pants more (after the paint is dry, of course) grab some sandpaper and rough ‘em up a bit. And if you really want to explore your inner rock star, try adding studs around the pockets for even more designer details!

3. Cuff the hems and slip ‘em on. Pair these with a loose white tee or tank, a blazer, and a sick pair of heels. Then tell everyone how awesome you are… and look. Just try not to be afraid when people try to rip the pants off of you (unless its a hot man, like, say, Chase Crawford… then just go with it).

Wanna see some more DIY projects? Click here and channel your inner artist!

[Everyone’s got a morning after story (some of which are way more mortifying than others) and we wanna hear yours! Send it over to us and we’ll post it – anonymously, of course – right here!]

I’ve come to learn two fundamental truths this week: the happy hour does not exist, and breaking and entering is easier than it looks. I’m serious.

If I had known that a quick drink with a friend after work was going to lead to free steaks with married men, a rooftop bar with what may or may not have been a British boy band on holiday, and a late night snack session alone in my friend’s boss’s apartment, I would have worn a better outfit to work that day.  Because that’s my biggest regret of the night… obvi.

But as I was saying before, there is no singular hour that is happy, at least not in my world. Personally, I want each hour to be happier than the next. And I accomplished that, to the max, with my friend Monica this past (epic) Wednesday night. One beer turned into three different bars, multiple drafts, and a gaggle of new male friends with money to spend. So, despite the wedding bands and balding heads, when they offered to take us out to dinner, who were we to say no?

The Bald Brigade took us to a restaurant in the Meatpacking District of New York that can only be described as a steak-turned-whore house. It was like a bachelor pad designed by a metrosexual with a taste for busty women and black satin. But seven courses (and seven gin and tonics) later, we were having a grand old time discussing how many times a week we can eat Chipotle without falling into coma. The verdict: 7 times… but only if you got the burrito bowl with no cheese or condiments, which basically sucks all the fatty joy out of it anyway.

Once that pressing issue was settled, it was off to the rooftop bar at the swanky Ganesvoort Hotel where we replaced our gentlemanly dinner guests with a group of British men who all sported the Justin Bieber hair do and were more than happy to make sure our glasses were never empty. It was around the time I was entering “Leo Your Fiancé” into my phonebook when I realized that …. wait a tick, I live in New Jersey, and it’s now three a.m. and there are no trains going home. And it’s a weeknight. One minute I’m sitting in the VIP section of a luxury hotel with the world on a string, the next I’m homeless and without a change of clothes for work in the morning. How cruel life can be sometimes.

While Monica found it prudent to seek shelter in the arms of a Backstreet Boy, I still had no place to go. That’s when Monica remembered her boss was out of town for the week. PERFECT. She sent me off to a Manhattan address, with only the knowledge that I could find a key to the apartment underneath the mailbox. Next thing I know, I’m entering into a stranger’s apartment and making myself right at home.

I proceeded to: take a shower, making sure to remember to shave my legs; get myself dressed for bed, finding a sassy little nightie in this woman’s top drawer; and eat a late-night snack of cashews and Rocky Road ice-cream. My last fleeting thought before I finally passed out was, I better make sure to position myself correctly in this lady’s memory-foam mattress, otherwise the jig is up! Because surely the empty jar of cashews and dirty ice-cream spoon in the sink wouldn’t be enough of a clue.

I woke up in the morning not 100% sure where I was… or why I had thought it OK to wear another woman’s clothes to bed. Or to even sleep in her bed in the first place. But I made sure to return the nightgown to its rightful place, make the bed, and return the key to it’s hiding spot underneath the mailbox.

As I walked around H&M searching for an acceptable outfit to wear to work that morning (I chose a see-through t-shirt dress, sans panties, and sneakers—I must have still been drunk), I pieced together my night. After giggling to myself in the dressing room (both at my reflection at at the previous night’s shenanigans), I realized that I’d actually learned a third lesson:

If you ever happen to become a boss of any kind, don’t – under ANY circumstances – let the location of your hide-away key slip to your employees. Just don’t.

Sometimes interning in a Big City is really exciting- the celebrity events, the high-profile bosses…even the extra-complicated coffee orders can be fascinating at first.  Other times, like last week, it was completely overwhelming.  Between the oppressive heat wave (hello triple digits) and feeling like something in my brain just wasn’t connecting, I was left in need of a night off to regroup and have some fun.

Trouble is, when you’re one in eight million, the process of finding a kindred soul to cry into your martini with can be daunting.  Of all those people, it’s impossible to narrow the field down to the ones who want to come together in commiseration over receiving little (to no) pay over performing the tasks few employees want to do.  Or so I thought.

Welcome to the age of Intern Parties.  A little bird slipped me the website’s link in an email and just like that I had plans for Friday.  Let me tell you, if you’re a novice to New York nightlife, as I clearly am, Intern Parties will save your social status by bringing interns together every night of the week in trendy New York City bars with zero cover.  Zero. Plus, drink discounts!

Needless to say, after work I ran to get a manicure…big splurge, I know…then it was a mad dash to my temporary home so I could get decked out.

Before you stare at me all agog wondering if I went to an intern meet-up alone, let me clear the air and say, yes, I absolutely did.  Please understand the situation I was in: my best skirt had ballpoint pen all over it from a note-taking session that went horribly wrong, my hair was a frizz ball from the humidity, and my pride was hurt from a boss unhappy with my photocopy skills.  I needed a cheap drink and a cute guy to flirt with me.  I didn’t care how I went about achieving these things.

I arrived at the bar at the same time as two other girls who interned together at an advertising firm.  They were completely friendly and we decided to stick together for the evening.  After all, I don’t mind going somewhere alone, but hell if I’m going to drink alone for three hours.  As the night wore on, the bar filled up with hundreds of interns from all across the city, leaving us all mixing and mingling in a haze of vodka and cheap beers.

Overall the night was a success and I left with a handful of new friends, which is no easy feat when you’re a lowly intern in the biggest city in the country. To all my fellow interns out there, drop me a line and maybe I’ll see you out at one of the Intern Parties.  This is an insider secret too good not to share.