You’ve spent the last 3 nights enjoying the free booze freedom that Welcome Week allows, but as you wake up with the garbage can next to your bed – again – you realize it might be time to buckle down. Classes are looming ever closer and not only can your body not handle another 12-hour hangover, you’ve got a lot of stuff to prepare before those 18 credits take over your life.

So while your friends watch another SATC marathon/discuss what they’re going to wear to the night’s festivities, you grab your schedule and head out for something a little more….fun: school supplies shopping (!!).

Most people wouldn’t find this particular type of shopping exciting, but back-to-school shopping has been the highlight of your Augusts since you were 6 years old. The smell of fresh books, the feel of a new (medium point) pen as it runs across the pages of a fresh, crisp college-ruled notebook. The richness of a new, juicy highlighter. You can’t wait to get it all home and organized for the first day of classes. Read More »

Back-to-school means two of my favorite things:

1) Back-to-school supplies.  Seriously. Walking down the aisles of Office Max the year I got a brand new set of scratch and sniff markers has earned this yearly event a very, very special place in my heart.

2) Back-to-school jeans. As a kid, it was because your jeans didn’t fit you come back-to-school time; you were growing. As a college student… well, same story but with one minor difference: we’re growing out instead of up. Details schmetails.

Credit it to the bad economy or credit it to the fashion gods wanting everyone to look GOOD in their denim (please no muffin tops thankyouvermuch), but right now the hottest trends in jeans are on sale sale sale sale SALE! 20% off here, $19.00 jeans there — and they’re cute! My two favorite C words! Cute and Cheap! (Oh, and Chanel. The day I can fit all 3 words into that sentence, I will be one very, very happy chick.)

There are deals to be had, people! Now is the time to snag the latest styles (think skinny jeans for tucking into boots and the boyfriend jean for comfortabe chic-titude) and  the wardrobe staples (throw on for class and go go gadget).  Right now is the time to reassess your denim wardrobe and start shopping for those denim discount deals! Read More »

Spring Break (and that 3-day hangover) is over and summer break is so close you can taste it. Mom’s home cooking, that is.

I know it’s hard to stay on track, especially when you’re only thinking about the months of freedom, days at the beach and (finally!) reading for pleasure, but snap out of it! You’ve worked too hard all year to eff it all up now.

If you want to spend the summer lounging by a pool (or in your front yard with the roomies) and not re-taking that Econ class, heed my advice:

1. STAY Organized: I don’t know about you all, but my room has certainly gotten messy. However, the minute I took the time to organize it the way I did when I got back from winter break, I immediately felt less stressed out. Having an organized work space makes you focus better, so take the time to reorganize if you’re room has gotten out of hand.

2. Calendar EVERYTHING: I have this big dry erase wall calendar that I write everything down on. Hopefully you have one of these, and if you didn’t get one at the beginning of this semester, I suggest you invest in one NOW. When you write things down it helps you remember them. It’s a very easy way to keep track of tests and quizzes that are on your syllabus. Also make sure to put birthdays on there, especially your roommates. Forgetting a roommate’s birthday could be fatal. (They do know where you live…) Read More »

Everybody makes friends in college. Sometimes it’s through a group, sometimes it’s by a chance encounter, sometimes it’s just because you were too hungover for class last Monday and you need the notes to catch up. When you’re scanning the lecture hall for help, there is one person you need to be aware of.

That would be the completely anal, extremely irritating, absolutely crazy Overachiever.

This one is easy to recognize. Watch for it on the first day of class. They’re right there, in the front row (no matter what kind of class it is). They might wear glasses. Though they’ll be dressed neatly (no pjs for them!), it probably won’t be stylish; look for business attire, like suit jackets and pencil skirts. Unlike the rest of the class fighting to stay awake, they will sit up straight.

Their desk will have an open, blank notebook on it, ready to go. There may also be a tape recorder, a neat row of pencils, pens, and highlighters, and a planner opened to the current date. They’re totally prepared….for a shortage of school supplies. If their desk doesn’t have these implements, there’s a laptop already open to some note taking program with a title and date at the top. The textbook will be on their desk, even if the rest of the class doesn’t even know what it looks like yet.

Once class begins they will highlight important dates on the class syllabus. They will write everything down. They will ask questions about everything pertaining to the class. Five page research paper? They will ask if it’s okay to go over. Need four sources? They want to know if eight is too many. This is the kid who did the extra credit in high school for “the learning thrill,” not because he needed it. Read More »

If you’re like me, you’re much more apt to study if you’re given some cute notebooks and fun colored pens. Give me a few sheets of loose-leaf and a yellow pencil and I will probably just stare at them for a while and then say “screw it,” pack up my books, and head home to do things that are more fun than studying.

Your school’s library is probably the ultimate in boring. On the one hand, this makes for few distractions, which could help you study better. Or it’s possible that this horrible under-stimulation could cause you to just fall asleep. Which is probably not a good thing when it comes to getting those chemistry problem sets done. Let’s see if we can amp up your study experience, shall we?

Tips for creating the ultimate study space at the library:

1) Pick the perfect room to study in. Chances are your school’s library has lots of choices for where you can set down your books and study. Some of the rooms will be more crowded and some might be empty. Do you study better when completely alone? You might even be able to reserve a private room for yourself. If you know you’ll just end up falling asleep if you’re sitting by yourself, try to sit in a room with other people (trust me, it’s embarrassing to start drooling on the table when someone’s sitting right next to you). Don’t sit in a computer lab if you know you’ll be distracted by the Internet.

2) Pick up a coffee or a snack before you head to the library. It’s possible your school’s library doesn’t allow food and drinks, but if they do (or just don’t check), grab something before you go. Having a large latte to sip on or a nice warm Starbucks cookie can make all the difference when you’re stuck behind your history book. Read More »

OK, so you’re running late for your Monday morning class (again). You would have been on time, but you spent all Sunday watching TV (again), and had to stay up extra late to get your assignment done (again). Now, where the heck did you put that assignment? You tear through the pile of papers on your desk until you find it, crumpled and stained with last night’s coffee.

Sound familiar?

Now that you’re in college, you don’t have parents to bug you about keeping your room clean, or to tell you to turn off the TV and do your homework. As Spiderman says, “With great freedom comes great responsibility,” but when you’ve got no one to help you out, how do you stay organized?

You may not like it, but you’re going to have to make a sacrifice or two to get truly organized, starting with your precious weekend. Cancel your plans and put away your going-out top. It may suck now, but in the long-run, it will be worth it.

The first thing you need to stay organized is the right set of supplies. Get yourself up at a reasonable hour on Saturday morning and get your butt down to the school bookstore, or your local Staples or Target. You should buy:

-A notebook for each class – Or, even better, one large notebook divided into sections, so you can keep all your notes in one convenient, not-as-easy-to-lose place.

-A two-pocket folder or small binder for each class – to store all of those pesky class hand-outs that always seem to go missing

-A day planner – Each day should have enough space to write down your class schedule and any assignments you get. My personal fav is the Moleskin Weekly Planner, because it has an extra blank page next to each week, but whatever works best for you.)

-Lots of your favorite kind of pen (or pencil) – Don’t deny it. You know you have a favorite.

-A stapler – Especially if you write a lot of papers—your teachers will thank you.

-An accordion file Read More »

Shopping for college can be stressful: you don’t know how much room you will have in your dorm, how much is too much, if you’ve brought enough, and if it will match the stuff your roommate has.

Shopping for elementary school supplies was so much more fun – you got to stock up on your favorite Lisa Frank supplies and you begged your mom to buy you a few gel pens because everyone was using them.

This year, instead of making a quick pit-stop at Staples on the way to school and buying a few notebooks and black pens, why not bring some of that grade school excitement back with fun school supplies?

Remember how excited you were to use those gel pens to fill out worksheets in the first couple weeks of school? How cool it was to start a brand new notebook? Here are some funky school supplies that will make you want to head to class, take some notes, and do some hardcore studying. Or at least they will help you make friends by serving as a good conversation starter for the girl sitting next to you.

This stuff puts the “cool” back in school. Yeah…I went there.

Calculator – You will probably need to bring one of those nerdy graphing calculators to your Advanced Stats class, but why not buy one of those enormous & brightly colored calculators for when you just need to add, subtract, multiply, or divide? Math sucks, but bright pink makes everything better. Read More »

It’s that time of year again: the first day of school. Students all over the world are preparing for the opportunities that lie ahead. There is so much to learn and so much to see. It is no wonder so many students look forward to this day.

With the first day of classes so near, I began thinking about the way things were in high school around this time.

I remember the big trip to Office Max with my mom every year; we’d hop in her SUV and drive on down to the store, where I would leap from the vehicle while it was still in motion, and run up and down the aisles (Supermarket Sweep style) seeking out the newest pens and folder colors.

I would then return home with my new purchases and proceed to label every folder for every class, color code my notebooks and binders, and put it all in my brand new Eddie Bauer bag for the first day of school.

And I know I’m not alone.

Even more exciting (if possible) than my school supply spree was my first day of school shopping extravaganza. There was nothing more important in life than what you wore on the first day of school; it set the tone for the year and let people know what kind of person you were. Read More »

I woke up the other day and realized, “I’m moving into my dorm room in a week.” Although an exciting thought, I immediately became aware of how stressed I was considering I hadn’t pack up a thing…or cleaned my room all summer.

I looked around my room, which literally looked like the Tasmanian Devil came through, and began to freak. My clothes were everywhere (and not laundered), my desk was littered with piles of mail from Alabama, bank statements and various other stuff that had piled up and I was in no way ready to pack up and ship out.

I took a breath and relaxed. The packing needed to commence. So, before I even touched this hazardous scene, I thought of things I could do to make my packing experience easier. I made a list lots of lists. A list for the kitchen, living room, bathroom, my room, school supplies, etc. I shopped, I packed, I conquered. Here are some tips I’ve learned on how to pack for college:

1. Take a breath and calm down! You’re finally going to college. This is going to be the most exciting time of your life, so stop stressing out and just enjoy the fact that you’re starting a new part of your life.

2. Write down what you have and what you need. Like I said before, LISTS. If you have something, you don’t need another one. I made lists of what I have, what I have that I need to replace, what I need, what I can get when I arrive at school, and what my roommates are bringing. I promise you, lists will keep you so organized when you’re packing because you actually see what has been done and what you still need to get. Read More »

9. I HAVE FRIENDS

As soon as I arrive home from school for summer break I spend the next three months filling my family members in on everything that happened to me throughout the year. I expect them to smile, laugh, cry, and sob at all the appropriate moments in a story and I can’t lie, I get very angry when they don’t. I cannot comprehend why my mom doesn’t find it hilarious that I woke up next to a homeless man one morning. Even my dog is walking out on my, “and one time at school…” stories when August arrives. So it’s always exciting to get back to school and be around the people that star in all my stories.

8. ALCOHOL IS TO GET DRUNK

One of the hardest parts of readjusting to home life is drinking alcohol in moderation. When I first came home my parents would offer me a glass of wine at dinner and I would chug it down and put my glass out for more. They told me I needed to learn moderation, I told them that they needed to learn that if they wanted to get buzzed before the first course they would have to sip a little faster. They suggested I might be an alcoholic, I suggested that they suck. I can’t wait to go back to school, drink wine from a box and take shots of what may or may not be rubbing alcohol and not get stared down for getting drunk before sunset.

7. NO PARENTS

I’m very old now and so its ludicrous for me to have any rules when I’m home. However that doesn’t stop my mother from playing twenty questions every time I go out or come home. How was it? Who was there? Does she like school? What did you drink? Did you buckle up? How much did you tip? Did you see anyone from high school? Really? She got that fat? I love being at school and stumbling home at 3 a.m and having no one care. I love waking up underneath the kitchen table and not having to give anyone a reason why. Read More »