The following is a guest post by our (nerdy yet totally helpful) friends at Hack College. Check ‘em out for all your techy needs. They’re like the nerdy boyfriend you never had but always needed.

The week after Thanksgiving break can always be pretty overwhelming. If you haven’t started preparing for your final projects, papers, or exams yet, you might be feeling if you’re drowning. And sometimes, even if you have gotten a good head start on your assignments, the fast approaching deadlines can be terrifying.

However, fear not. Even if you feel like the horrificness of your hell week(s) will swallow you alive, don’t panic. There are several steps you can take in order to ensure you get all of your work done on time. Stay calm and read through these tips that will help you survive college hell.

Schedule
I’m sure I’ve said this several times on HackCollege, but I can’t stress enough the importance of scheduling out blocks of times to work on certain assignments. There are several huge benefits to doing this. First of all, it allows you to take one assignment at a time. Even though you may have three papers and four exams, there is no way you can finish any one of them if you are stressed about all of those things at once. Take some time with your scheduler and block out large chunks of time to work on certain assignments. I usually block out a two to four afternoons and evenings to work on papers, though you may need more depending on the size of the paper. Do the same things for your tests and projects.

Scheduling this blocks of times will also help you relax a little bit. If you can see exactly when you are going to have time to do certain assignments, you can stop worrying about whether or not it’s going to get done and start focusing on what you scheduled yourself to do that day.

Get Comfortable
As obvious as this may seem, you really do your best work when you’re comfortable. If you’re not, then you’ll be distracted or annoyed by whatever isn’t making you comfortable. You should know by know what makes you comfortable, so do what you can to make your study area reflect that.

While this is usually pretty easy to do in your room since you have your nice desk that you’ve organized oh-so-particularly and all of your books for quick reference, it’s usually a little harder to do if you go study outside of your room, like at the library or a study room. Even for people who like to study in their rooms (like me), often roommate issues will drive you to work out of your room every once in a while. So while you may not have all of the amenities that your room may have, still try to make your study environment as comfortable as possible.

For instance, I spent all last week in the library working on a paper. Our library is cold. And I hate being cold. I cannot concentrate if I am cold. I also get really cranky. So, to solve the problem, I packed a throw blanket and a big sweatshirt. Yes. I packed a blanket. Was it silly? Yes. But guess what? I wrote that damn 23-page paper and I was warm. So if you get hot in the library, bring a little portable fan. If you like studying in a chair or couch instead of a table, seek out the best spot in the library. Make your study spot comfy because you’re gonna be there for awhile.

Take Away Distractions
Even though you want your study place to be comfortable, you’re also there to get work done, not surf the webs for fun videos. If you don’t need the internet for whatever you’re doing, turn off your wireless capability. If you don’t even need your computer, don’t even bother opening it. Pick a study spot away from people who are going to distract you from your work. The more time you spend distracted, the less time you’re going to have to finish your assignments. Once you’re in your work zone, you will be amazed at how much you can get done.

Set Goals
It’s really important to set goals each day so that you can make sure that you’re getting done everything that needs to be done. Also, you won’t feel so overwhelmed with the amount of work if you know you’ve made it to your daily checkpoint. For instance, if you have a paper with three major sections, write a part each day. Setting goals will also help you feel good at the end of your busy day and make you feel like you are getting closer to the end of your hell week.

Take Breaks
As important as it is to stay focused, it is as equally important to take breaks. If you don’t take breaks, you will absolutely overwork yourself. Our brains need little rests in between large stretches of intense work in order to work at their greatest potential. Your breaks should be about 20-30 minutes long. If you take a break any shorter than that, you really haven’t given your brain the proper rest that it deserves. If your breaks are any longer, you tend to lose steam in your work and when you go back to work, you’ll feel unmotivated to continue.

Your study breaks could anything that gets your mind off studying. I like to take a nice hot chocolate break and watch 20 minutes of one of my favorite TV shows. I usually pick a fairly mindless show so I can let my brain totally veg for a good break. You could also take a walk, have a chat with a friend, or clean your room. Cleaning sounds kinda boring, I know, but it is actually a fantastic, mindless action that lets your brain go on autopilot. Plus, you get a beautiful, clean room.

I’d always recommend eating a snack with your break. You’ll need a little sugar in your bloodstream to keep you working at your fullest potential. I like to treat myself to some chocolate whenever I take a break, but you should eat something yummy and that will make you feel rewarded. With all the work you’ve just done, you’ll deserve it.

Now, almost a year out of college, I would say 99% of my day is regimented, scheduled, planned, organized, and color-coded on my Google Calendar. I know people in the army who have more flexible schedules than me (and by people in the army I’m referring to the Disney channel documentary, Cadet Kelly).

I wake up at 7:45, press snooze exactly 3 times, look at myself in the mirror and debate if I need to shower, turn on the light and realize that I without a doubt need to shower, blow-dry my hair while praying that one day it will dry stick-straight, walk to work, step in front of a bus and make a bet with myself if it will stop before hitting me, work, go home, watch reruns, eat dinner, squeeze fat rolls and blame my birth control, eat stale Valentine’s Day candy sent by my mom, try to convince my roommates to get a dog (Shar, back me up here), go to bed, have a bad dream about getting hit by a bus.

With the exception of my Valentine’s Day candy getting progressively staler, every single day is exactly the same. And if I assume that I’m not starring in a ‘Groundhog Day’ remake (bold assumption, I know), then I can also assume I’ll spend the next 97 years of my life repeating this same conversation over and over again.

At this point I’m considering having a baby just to break up the monotony. Not only will I finally get to fulfill my fantasy to shop in Pea-in-a-Pod, but I’ll also get to steal all my sister’s attention at her upcoming graduation. And if I time everything just right and spin a good enough story, I might just get featured on TV’s most uplifting show “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant.” Hey, a girl can dream!

But having a baby means having a boyfriend. And since text messages can’t get you pregnant in the blue states, I’m plum out of luck. So I’m on to my back-up plan to bring back spontaneity into my life: never say no to anything ever again. Well maybe sometimes I’ll say no. I don’t want my life to turn into a half-ass trailer for the ‘Yes Man’ sequel. (However I do want my life to turn into a non-stop running list of movies, so expect at least 9 more to be mentioned before this blog ends.)

From here on out expect my blog to turn into a live action version of ‘The Bucket List.’ Who knows what wacky adventures I’ll get into when I say yes to everyone from the gypsy cabs (uh oh! death city) or the girl in the bar bathroom offering me coke (watch out, Lohan) or my roommate asking me if she can get me something while she’s out (um, a summer wardrobe and groceries for the week. k. thx).

"How many more hours until I'm chugging eggnog with the fam?"

Finals week is probably the most daunting few days of your college career. Winter break is so close you can almost taste the gingerbread cookies in your mouth. But first you have to survive your Calculus exam. Four exams, three term papers and a presentation may seem like the impossible dream. But I promise, where there is a will (to get home and gorge yourself on home cooking and holiday cookies) there is a way.

Do use your time management skills to help lessen the stress of your workload. Plan out your days using your friendly school-provided calendar – yes, the one that I’m sure you tossed aside long ago – to map out your plan of attack. When you realize your end goal is attainable, the path to getting their seems less dreaded.

Don’t cram your studies into a series of all-nighters at the library. You will go stir-crazy and end up mindlessly watching videos of people falling on Youtube at 4:00 a.m.  Don’t be that person. Nobody likes that person. Your GPA won’t like that person.

Do use the nerds to your advantage. And by that I mean form study groups with your classmates. Five brains are better than one, especially if that one is my own. Having people to catch my mistakes has always been my saving grace. It can be yours too.

Don’t rely on energy drinks and your roommate’s Adderall prescription to get you through this week. Save yourself from an early heart attack and make sure to schedule in sleep. A good night’s sleep is actually beneficial to your studies, believe it or not. This is your body’s time to recuperate and regenerate. And if you’re lucky you’ll regenerate a few of the brain cells you lost during last weekend’s pre-finals booze-fest.

Do resist the urge to party on your days off. My school always designates one day for study, which means there are no finals scheduled on that day. Which also means that people tend to party the night before. It seems so right (especially with a half-bottle of tequila running through your bloodstream), but it’s oh so wrong. This is one week where you can’t afford to be hung-over because, while you can’t relive the party… you really can’t retake a final.

Don’t stress yourself out.  And don’t surround yourself with stressed out people. While you shouldn’t take studying for finals lightly, there’s a difference between over-achieving and over-doing it. Take a break and let off some steam.  This is one time when I can call chocolate my friend and not feel bad about it.

Do rejoice when your last exam is over! What’s done is done. And if you’ve followed my advice, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Except how you’re going to fit all those for-pleasure books into your two week break.

If you’re attracted to your professor, it can be painful to fight the urge to flirt shamelessly with him. However, is breaching the student-teacher conduct worth it? And better yet, is it safe?

The downside to flirting with your professor is that you have to be subtle. When he asks, “Any questions?” You can’t blurt out, “Would you like to make out with me?” Likewise, the lines, “I’ve lost my number, can I borrow yours,” “Are you tired? Because you’ve been running through my mind all day,” and “Nice shoes. Wanna f*ck” are inappropriate.

Even being subtle can be difficult, since, chances are, if he’s really that hot, all of the other girls in class have noticed. So if you’re idea of flirting with a prof is to memorize all of the reading assignments and raise your hands twelve times in a 50-minute lecture, the other girls are going to recognize your feeble attempts, and you’ll be labeled a suck-up or a teacher’s pet. And if he nicely asks you to give someone else a chance to participate, you will feel your heart shatter into bitty pieces and fume when he compliments Betty Jean’s insightful answer.

Like any man, you have to learn to read your crush before you can establish whether you will get anywhere by flirting. Sure, it could happen. But even if you think he’s vibing you, making a pass could result in utter embarrassment, an awkward rest-of-the-term, or a violation of student conduct. Sure, if he’s one of those laid-back teachers with a sense of humor, you can crack jokes laced with innuendos and brush it off, but those professors are few and far between, and you still need to be careful not to cross the line.

The bottom line is, do you really think a relationship could work? After all, your grade lies in his hands. If he grades you fairly and you don’t like the mark, it could start a fight – it was his fault you couldn’t do your homework, after all – and if he grades you on your extracurricular activities, you don’t deserve your GPA. What about after the course, when he keeps his hectic teaching/grading schedule and you just want to run away for spring break? Or, in the worst case scenario, what if you wind up jeopardizing his career?

We’re all legal, consenting adults in college, so it can be difficult to draw the line between lust and completely inappropriate. Who knows, maybe he feels the same way, and will come on to you first! However, since your education is involved here, I recommend trusting your instincts and PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION.

I’m happy to share – after all, that is what this column is all about – so check them out!

1. Make a schedule for yourself.

This is really the most basic time-management tool. I use a daily planner and I write a new to-do list for each day. Then I cross things out as I finish them. For longer-term projects, I write down the due date and then I write down what I need to accomplish on the project on a daily or weekly basis. You can do whatever works for you—color-code your schedule, write it on a white board, use an electronic calendar, etc.

2. Consolidate activities.

I used to go to the bank every time I got a new check, which sometimes meant I’d be going several times per week. I wasn’t using that money immediately after depositing it, so there was no reason for me to go so often. Now, I only go to the bank once every two weeks. It saves me tons of time, and I just keep all my checks together until I go on my biweekly trip.

Think about the things you do often—run errands, cook, do homework—and then think about whether you can consolidate any of them. Maybe it would help you to cook several huge batches of food on weekends and then freeze them in meal-sized portions to use throughout the week. Can you do a quick math assignment while you’re riding the subway or waiting on the phone for a customer-service rep? If so, you’ll have more free time later.

3. Eliminate activities.

There are probably a few hobbies you have that you really enjoy doing, and a few things you do that you may consider a slight waste of time. I spend way too much time surfing the Internet, so if I’m going to write a big article or work on a portion of my book, I’ll disable my wireless connection. If you feel like you watch too much TV, you might want to drop a couple of shows from your repertoire and catch up on episodes online later (but only if you have extra time). Consider your biggest time-wasters (Bromance, anyone?), and get rid of them! You’ll be amazed at how your week opens up if you downgrade this way.

I know many of you guys are multitasking mavens, so please feel free to share more tips in the comments!

[Image courtesy of blogs.theage.com.]

Sure, it seems overwhelming; sure, sometimes you want to break down and cry; but at the end of the day, you love what you do, and you’re proud of the fact that you can accomplish an exponential amount more than most mortals. And you know that everything you do will benefit you in the long run.

I love to feel useful, so it’s always been hard for me to say “no” to picking up an extra shift, or doing an extra project. When I was in high school, I worked part time, was active in drama club, cheerleading, amnesty international, gay/straight alliance, dance classes, and, senior year, I edited the yearbook. And I did it all while making honor roll each semester. In college, I wasn’t so active in extra-curriculars, but I held down two restaurant jobs, took a full course load, and partied my face off, while making Dean’s List. You can call me a nerd; I just think I have a severe case of ADHD that’s never been officially diagnosed.

That said, Wonder Woman, I know the meaning of stress, and I know the importance of staying organized. Here are some of my own personal life-saving tips.

1. Write everything down.

In fact, write everything down multiple times. I feel relaxed just by rifling through my brain and coming up with a list of what needs to get done, and when. Carry a planner, so you don’t have to rack your brain if someone asks what you’re doing Saturday, November 15 at 3:30 p.m. Tape a list of upcoming homework assignments next to your bed, and cross off each completed task when you’re finished. Instead of doodling during a boring lecture, write the list over again, and come to grips with what projects are the most urgent (eg. you need to start them NOW).

2. Use every minute of free time.

Have a half-hour break between classes? Email your professor while you scarf that bagel. Do that “busy-work” assignment that’s been in the back of your head – the one that’s so simple you can’t bring yourself to start it. Lunch break at work? Bring your English book and read a chapter instead of gossiping in the smoking lounge (and by smoking lounge, I obviously mean that obscure space outside the back door where everyone huddles around a butt can). You’d be surprised how much you can get done in little intervals… and you might even find that you’ve suddenly got a large interval of time to spare.

3. Condense Your Tools.

When you’re on the go, forgetting one thing can ruin your day and cause a mega-meltdown. Instead of having a folder, a binder, and a notebook for each class, get a five-subject notebook and one of those accordion folders with dividers for handouts. You’ll only need to grab the same two things each day. Plus, instead of having an assignment book, a date book, and all that fancy shmancy stuff, grab a planner that has a section for everything you might need, all in one. Still not efficient enough? Try…

4. Using Technology to Your Advantage.

My favorite tool on my Macbook? The “Stickies” application. I have notes open (in all different colors, of course), for my banking and credit card info, upcoming assignments, important email addresses, etc. As long as you have your computer, you’ll never lose them or accidentally throw them out; they’re easier to manage than rifling through a hundred pages to find one reminder; and they can conveniently disappear behind your Microsoft Word or Firefox windows, OR you can set them as a “floating window” so they’re always visible. Blackberries, iPhones, and other digital instruments can work to your advantage, and send you preset reminders so you never forget.

5. Stay clean.

This is the most difficult for me, a self-proclaimed slob and packrat. But if your papers are all over your desk, you’re not going to find your Spanish notes before the exam. Hell, even if your clothes are scattered on the floor, you might freak out if you can’t find the blouse you just NEED to wear for your business class presentation. Knowing where everything is, and how to locate it will make things a thousand times easier for you, and, in a crunch, you can probably get help from your roommate, friend, or a family member (such as when you’re stuck in bumper to bumper traffic but have to hand in an essay in twenty minutes, and your dear, sweet, darling roommate agrees to find your USB stick, print your essay on her computer, and meet you outside your dorm to pass it off as you spring to your deadline).

6. Plan ahead.

Finished everything for today? It might be easy to crash on the couch and watch SoapNet reruns for hours, just so you don’t have to think. But then you might be stressed again tomorrow. Look at your calendar, and see if there’s anything you can get a jump start on, or anything you can work on now to give yourself time to party like a rockstar on Saturday. Forcing yourself to work when you’re beat might seem like cruel and unusual self-discipline, but as a fellow workaholic, I can affirm: we did this to ourselves.

7. Take Time to Recharge.

Sure, I just said to plan ahead. And you should, if you’re up for it. But if you can barely keep your eyes open, it’s time for a nap; even if you still have one more little thing to do today. Running yourself into the ground will have drastic consequences, including sloppy work and a bitchy attitude. Besides, if you are a stellar multi-tasker, you’ll learn to plan ahead your time to recharge. Look at your calendar- if you know you have back-to-back midterms, a twenty-page paper due, and a monthly meeting, it won’t kill you to take a shift off from work. Or, if you’re on top of your game in class, you can use your free skip day when you know you won’t be missing much, and rest up with little guilt. People as busy as we are can appreciate every minute of free time, so if you treat yourself to an unexpected break, even a half-day can feel like a million years.

These are my own personal tricks to staying collected even when I feel like I’m on the brink of erupting in a volcano of anxiety. On the bright side, the waves of stress come and go, I’m NEVER bored, and at the end of the day, I can sit back and see a variety of products that I made happen. People ask me if I’m on crack, and I’m not. Just a billion milligrams of caffeine. And I wouldn’t change my lifestyle for the world.

How do all the other supergirls of the world deal with their hectic schedules?

[Photo courtesy of www.crystalcreekproducts.com]

Maybe it was the “this semester’s going to be different” syndrome that somehow possessed you to sign up for that early morning seminar. Or maybe it’s that pesky biology course that you’ve put off for the last 3 semesters — the one you have to take to declare your major. Either way, we all succumb now and then to the evilest of academia plaguing our university campuses – 8 AM classes.

After spending about five lectures cursing the school’s scheduling system, you realize that you actually have to suck up this class for the entire term. When you finally come to that place of acceptance, rely on these survival tips to get you through the long road ahead:

1. Prepare your sh*t ahead of time – It takes about 5 minutes to sleepily throw everything you need in your school bag before you hit the hay. Make sure to grab the essentials. Notebook? Check. Pens and pencils? Got ‘em. New York Times sudoku book? Hell yeah!

2. Set your alarm to your own sleeping habits – Personally, I like to set my alarm to about 20 to 30 minutes before the time I absolutely have to wake up, also known as the Oh Sh*t Hour. That way, I can have the satisfaction of slapping my snooze button without actually being late for class. Now, if you’re like my roommate, you may want to set your alarm at the actual O.S.H., or else you may automatically turn off your alarm in your sleep.

3. Drink coffee – And lots of it.

4. Bring breakfast with you – Let’s be real, most of us run a little late when it’s 7:45 in the morning, leaving no time to prepare let alone eat a hearty meal. I trust that you’ve seen the Special K Red Berries commercial, so you know that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” I don’t like to lose any opportunity to eat, so I make an easy breakfast that I can eat in class. One of my favorites is the parfait – nonfat plain yogurt, granola, and mixed frozen or fresh fruit. Clean, easy, and effectively makes everybody around you drool in jealousy.

5. Wear your gym clothes to class – This is one of my personal faves. Wear gym clothes to class so you don’t have to get up earlier to get ready. It doesn’t even matter if you plan to go to the gym or even have a membership. As long as you’re wearing gym clothes you can be certain of two things: 1) You will be comfortable and 2) You can speed walk/run to class without breaking an ankle. This also doubles as an excuse to look like crap while still appearing as there’s a purpose to your raggedness.

Good luck and take heart: you’re not the only one struggling to keep those eyes open this morning…

The semester’s off and running, the weather’s getting worse, and next summer feels like an eternity. It’s easy to find your mood plummeting, your motivation waning, and your usually chipper self turning into a snappy betch. Misery has a snowball effect: you’re grumpy, and it rubs off on your roommate; you’re already in a bad mood, and walking into a pop quiz can set you over the edge. Before the blahs take over your body, take time to stop, breathe, recharge and rejuvenate. Here are five quick pick-me-ups to get you out of a funk.

1. Sleep: You’ve been up at the crack of dawn every morning to hit the gym, struggle to stay awake through three back-to-back classes, rush to your part-time job, and finally head home to tackle several hours worth of homework. Of course you’re feeling dreary! Lack of sleep can have adverse psychological effects– take it from a girl who is known to burst into tears at the slightest provocation after pulling an all-nighter or two– so even if you can’t fit in a full eight hours of sleep a night, treat yourself to a long, comatose nap. When you wake up, you’ll be more energetic and alert, so it might even boost your studying stamina later in the week.

2. Treat Yourself: You’ve been running on empty for weeks, neglecting yourself in order to make a good impression on your professors, sorority sisters, friends, coworkers, etc. Do something nice for yourself. If you have some extra cash, buy yourself a new outfit. If you think you look good, you’re bound to feel good, too. Low on cash? Scrape together some change and download a couple of jams on i-Tunes. I mean, they’re only 99 cents most of the time– you deserve it! Get a track that will raise your spirits, like Flo Rida’s “In the Ayer,” DJ Laz’s “Move, Shake, Drop Remix” or, for a bubblegum pop sound, The Orion Experience’s “Obsessed with You.” Then, crank up your speakers and have your own personal dance party for a few minutes. It’ll be worth it.

3. Exercise: Everyone knows that cardio releases endorphins in your brain. When I’m in a bad mood, I take out my anger on the elliptical machine, and half an hour later, I’m dripping with sweat, I’ve burned 400 calories, and I forget what I was so frustrated with in the first place. If you’re really miserable and the first five minutes feels like forever, just pushing yourself to finish the circuit can feel like an accomplishment. If the university gym has a group exercise schedule, take advantage. You’re less likely to quit after ten minutes of Zumba when you’re surrounded by twenty of your peers, and chances are, the class comes equipped with some peppy beats.

4. Laugh it Off: Throw a Will Ferrell flick into the DVD player or catch up on The Office. Go online and waste your time at LOLcats or Yearbook Yourself. My personal favorite is Group Hug, which has been around longer than PostSecret. Whenever I read the confessions on this site, I either pee my pants, or just feel better about myself for having NOT done some of the shenanigans these strangers own up to.

Other ways to laugh it off? Grab your roommate and act like five-year-olds. My former roommate and I both had final exams the DAY BEFORE we graduated college. We needed to study, but couldn’t focus. We were stressed that we couldn’t focus, because we didn’t want to screw things up at the last minute. So what did we do? We put on our caps and gowns, and drew giant smiley faces on pillowcases and wore them over our heads.

We actually won a graduation-themed photo contest with that one. Of course, we can’t all be ruining our bedding every time we get stressed out, but I’ve found that a solid phone call with a good friend in which we recount the stupid sh*t we’ve done over the years also works wonders.

5. Blow Everything Off: If you decide to sleep, shop, work out, or watch a movie, chances are you’re blowing something off to do it. But sometimes, you need to put everything on pause. Working five shifts a week on top of your heavy course load? Take a night off… just because. Social schedule getting in the way? Turn off your phone and spend some QT with yourself. Social schedule nonexistent? It won’t kill you to skip your night class (just this once) and go dancing with your friends.

Hell, blow off your diet and 3-hour-a-day workout routine and eat a freaking piece of chocolate cake. You might be thinking, “There’s no way I have the time to blow everything off!” But sometimes, you have to choose your battles. If you stress yourself into a nervous breakdown, you won’t be getting any homework done from the psych ward.

[Any other funk-fighting tips?]

(photo from www.justlaura.com)

The campus is buzzing with returning students, eager to see what the new year has in store. Even if you anticipate your hardest semester to date, there’s still a feeling of excitement in the air during the very first week.

1. You Get to Scope Out Your New Classes

Maybe I’m a dork, but I was always excited to see what my new classes would be like. In certain classes–the must-take courses taught by the professors with the best reputations– it was great to see what all the buzz was about. Other classes might have sounded intriguing in the course catalog; reading through the syllabus on the first day, I’d think the class sounded interesting, and hadn’t been assigned 500 pages of reading to prove me otherwise. I would also look through the syllabus and see what the course requirements looked like, so I could estimate how little effort I could put into the class, and still walk away with an “A.”

Of course, it’s also fun to see who else has signed up for the class. Whether you walk through the door and see five of the girls from your freshman dorm, or right into the eyes of your new insta-crush, it’s fun to find out who you’ll be taking the class with.

2. Your Sched’s Not a Lock (Yet)

So, “Intro to Film” turned out to require three 15-page research papers and 7 chapters of reading a night. Drop it! Your roommate insists that you take “Deviant Behavior” instead of “Early Childhood Development.” Sign right up! In the first week of class, you can roll the dice as many times as you like, without falling behind in the course or having to beg your advisor to sign something so you can drop a class you probably shouldn’t have signed up for in the first place. My senior year, I was determined to have the best schedule ever, and must have signed up for and dropped classes about five times before I found the perfect combination of classes that I could learn from, enjoy, and ace, while still having plenty of room for senioritis.

3. There’s Free Stuff Everywhere

Clubs and organizations want you to join, so they’re apt to set up booths all over campus, offering free food, games, or knick knacks that will clutter your dorm. Often, the Student Activities department will also sponsor “Welcome Back” activities that extend beyond the incoming freshman class in order to get their returning students amped for another great school year. It’s a great way to (A) not spend money, (B) hang out with your friends, and (C) socialize with potentially new pals. Did I mention it’s all free?

4. Dorm Living Rocks in the First Week

As everyone gets settled in, and midterms are only a very distant threat, the doors to everyone’s rooms stay open, music blares through the hallway, and everyone is ready and willing to introduce themselves to their new neighbors. The schoolyear drama has yet to set in, so everyone’s pretty laid-back and carefree. Similar to scoping out your new classmates, you can scour the dorms for new friends (or crushes), figure out who the partiers are, who you can go to in an emergency, and who has the biggest TV to watch the VMA’s. Often, whole floors will arrange group trips to first-week parties, which is a sort of mixer in itself. Once the real work sets in, the doors close, the music is shut off, and you have to practically beg people to go to the bar with you on a Monday night, so enjoy week one!

5. You Can Party. All. Week. Long.

By far, the best part of the first week of school is that, since people are juggling schedules, and the first classes are usually a 20-minute overview of the syllabus, you have little, if any, assignments and responsibilities. My favorite college tradition was the week-long drinking binge that was the first week of classes. We would hit up a different bar each night to take advantage of the best drink specials, before deadlines, midterms, and research papers came pouring in. Even if you are assigned homework on the first Monday of class, you probably won’t have that class again until Wednesday, and you can probably knock it out on Tuesday after your teacher lets you out of an hour-and-a-half class after only twenty minutes. Besides, if you do get so sloshed that you start the semester off on the wrong foot, you still have plenty of time to add/drop a new class!

This is not a weekend.

This is a Wednesday night.

It seems the time has come to prune some extraneous leaves on the branches of my social tree. My phonebook now includes some names to which I cannot even match the slightest hint of a face.

I have now reached the stage where I can answer the question, “So what are you up to tonight?” with, “Oh nothing,” and invariably end up somewhere loud at three in the morning stumbling into a dirty bathroom and incessantly repeating the line that never fails to impress: “I have work in the morning! I can’t believe that I am out doing this!”

Someone always calls at the last minute with something just a little too exciting for me to pass up and stay responsibly home on the couch. It’s rarely the same person two nights in a row.

I don’t even have time for myself anymore. My yoga DVD’s are gathering dust in front of the TV. My library books are a week overdue because I refuse to return then until I’ve finished reading them, but I just can’t seem to find a corner in my schedule to curl up with one. I’m too busy tossing clothes out of my closet getting ready to go to someone else’s birthday party.

My little black book is more like a little black binder by now.

The dishes are piling up in the sink. The clothes are piling up on the floor. My list of things to do is piling up in my mind.

It’s not that I don’t love to go out. I do. It’s not that I don’t love seeing these people. I do. The problem is that there are just too many people to see and so little time in which to see them. I don’t even think this is healthy anymore.

At which point do we just have too many friends? Acquaintances? What are we even calling them these days? You’d think with all the little booklets by Hallmark we’d know what a friend is by now.

And how to decide which “friends” to hang out with and which ones to let go of? Is it even moral to choose between people like that?

The upshot of all this is that if I ever need anything, I’ll be able to make more than one phone call.