So it’s no secret that the world of online dating has become increasingly more common. In fact 1/5 relationships now starts online. (At least that’s what Match.com claims.) But these are relationships,  you know the things that are about more than sex, the ones that don’t start out as the result of a night at the bar and beer goggles. I can understand the need for a way to sift through those less than stellar companions in the hopes of finding someone you can actually connect with. What I can’t understand is the need for a social networking site that is geared towards pursuing casual hookups.

But apparently the University of Chicago can. The site first launched a few weeks ago, under the name UChicagoHookups.com, “a place where fun comes to thrive.” But since then, the site has gained more media attention and has been renamed EduHookups.com, allowing students from Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and soon Brown University, to register under a .edu email address, and search for hookups.

More than 300 people have registered for the site and over 1,300 private messages have been sent, but I have to ask, is this really necessary? I mean it’s college. Aren’t we always complaining that there’s nothing but casual hookups in college? Aren’t we saying that it’s difficult to find anything more than that? If that’s the case why do we need a website geared toward this? Isn’t this what bars and house parties are for? Will those become irrelevant now, too, with students no longer even bothering with the fun and the flirting and the cheesy pickup lines? Now we’ll just send people private messages and meet them in the appropriate dorm room?

I’m all about new media, but this seems like a bit much even for me. Is it too much to ask for a good old fashioned house party hookup?

Remember when you were a little kid, and you’d actually wake up on time for school… just so you could huddle next to the radio and listen for your school to be called on the list of snow days? With winter’s doom impending and temperatures dropping faster than The Situation’s pants, we can’t help but cross our fingers and pray.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Are snow days something you never grow out of? Or, in college, do they prove that miracles really can happen? Here’s how our anticipation of snow days has evolved since grammar school.

Then: A snow day meant a day off from times tables.
Now: We don’t have to finish copying someone else’s MiniTabs before Stats lab.

Then: We would make a beeline to the street and get all the neighborhood kids together for a snowball fight.
Now: We don’t have to brave arctic winds to walk to class and sit through lecture with snotsicles hanging from our frostbitten faces. Read More »

For a lot of my life, I’ve been a religious person. I went on mission trips every summer with my church, I was on my church’s Youth Board, and I attended mass every Sunday (oh yeah, I’m Catholic). So when I got to college, one of the first things I did was to see what campus ministries were available. While other girls were rolling out of bed at 1:00 pm on Sundays and going for a hungover brunch, I was in the student cinema with about a hundred other students praising God.

Because I became so involved with my campus ministry, I met a lot of friends with my same beliefs and morals. While this shouldn’t be a problem in my life, it became one almost from the very beginning. Once people find out that I’m religious, they start to make a lot false assumptions about myself, as well as my friends.

Assumption #1: We are holier than thou

The first thing I always hear is that we are “holier than thou.”  I’ve learned through my experiences that a lot of other Christians have trouble going to church. They say that if they went, it would make them feel like they have to act holy all the time. So this makes it even difficult for me to really express everything I feel about God. I don’t want people pointing out examples of how I’m not leading the most holy life. And I’ll be the first to admit, sometimes it’s easier for me to pick one persona or another. Either the quiet, Christian girl who won’t talk about her problems or the troubled party-goer. A lot of people will argue that it’s not worth going to church because all the pews are filled with a bunch of hypocrites. Sure it’s a valid point, but they’re forgetting why we go to church in the first place.

We go to church because frankly, we aren’t good at being a holy people. We need God (because we aren’t perfect), so we seek Him in church. My friends and I are just like you and we won’t judge you because you might make different choices than us. I have never condemned people for their life choices, because that is one thing the Bible tells us to never do. What it does tell us to do is love everyone. As a Christian, I try to view people as God views them – with unconditional love.

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There are few things I love in life more than holidays. Perhaps that is unhealthy, but I do not care. And, amid the holidays that I passionately adore, there are some that rank higher than others. Halloween is one of my favorites. I love the autumnal weather, the unnecessary amounts of chocolate, and having one day to claim “my life is a masquerade” and not be greeted with WTF looks.

I love it so much, in fact, that I have decided to write a poem. Perhaps a sonnet would have been more appropriate, considering the extent of my obsession with Halloween, but an ode was what I came up with. So, read with care and enjoy.

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Halloween in college is a big deal.  Major, really.  You may have thought you hit your trick-or-treating peak in the 3^rd grade when you wrapped yourself in tinfoil and went out as leftovers, but think again.  Unlike Christmas, the 4^th of July, and Thanksgiving, everyone’s on campus for this most hallowed of evenings and the booze will absolutely be flowing (perhaps in cauldrons).

From fog machines to technicolor jello shots, there’s a lot of stimuli to process and as a freshman it’s easy to get overwhelmed.  But novice or otherwise, you’ve got to keep your head, wigged or otherwise, in the game.  Here’s what you can expect as your favorite bars and frat houses become unrecognizable with silly string…

A General Lack of Pants
From dozens of Risky Business-era Tom Cruises to sexy cats/bees/fairies/mice, there will be maximum leggage come October 31^st.  I’m not sure what it is about “everyone dress up crazy” that translates to things being purely pants-optional, but it’s a fact: ass cheeks will show, cellulite will be on parade, hairy man thighs will make a one-night-only appearance.

Dry Ice
Is it edible?  Will it kill you?  Why did those stupid pledges have to go stick it in the jungle juice and ruin a perfectly good concoction?  No, it doesn’t look like witches’ brew.  And the fact that he’s 22 and just drew that connection makes you question his sanity.

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Halloween costumes you’ll wear again

Why it’s good to go to college far from home

The Rappin’ Librarians (video)

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8 Brain Boosting Foods

Vote now for a national homecoming queen (and be eligible to win MONEY)

Collaborate With Classmates Using New Facebook Groups

Letter from a grammar nazi

Are study drugs a form of cheating?

Help a foreign student out at UCLA

Scheduling will make your life easier

Whether you see it in the movies, hear it from your peers or participate in it yourself, it is a generally understood fact that college students like to party. Some adopt the habit during their first Halloween away from home and hold tightly onto it well into their twenties, while others pick it up only between midterm exams. Either way, it happens; it’s been happening and it probably will continue to happen, as long as there are weekend evenings and boring classes and closet doors that prop sideways into perfectly proportioned beer pong tables.

So why were a few neighboring families of Northwestern University so shocked to discover students who “parked themselves on a neighbor’s parkway for a little love fest” or are “hollering about “Bl** J*bs”? Sure, this behavior isn’t acceptable in a world where mothers and fathers and their eight year-old daughters are riding their bicycles to church services on Saturday evenings. But when you’re living in the midst of a university, it should be almost be expected that this will happen.

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We launched a photo contest at the beginning of the semester that challenged all our readers to send in a Welcome Week photo that said “I love being back at school.” While we expected a few good ones, we were in no way prepared for the awesomeness onslaught we got when we started looking through your photos on our Facebook wall. From slip and slides to ski shots, we were impressed with your Welcome Week spirit…and jealous of how much fun you are all clearly having.

And of course, the winner will be having a lot more fun when she goes home with $500 from lulus.com!

We chose our top five favorite entries (which was hard, let me tell you) and posted them here so YOU can vote on which one most says WELCOME WEEK. Because, honestly, we’re too busy looking through our own Welcome Week photo albums (insert nostalgia) to pick our favorite.

You have from now until noon ET on Monday, September 27th to cast your vote. Then we’ll close the polls, count the votes and announce the BIG WINNER on Twitter and Facebook (so start following us, fools). And then she’ll jump for joy and spend the next 10 hours poring over Lulus.com, figuring out how she’ll spend that $500!

P.S. If you’re one of the lucky finalists, be sure to promote your photo on Twitter and Facebook! $500 dollars worth of new clothes is at stake. This is no time for modesty!

Check out the finalists then scroll down to vote for your favorite below.

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Okay, so you know how when you watch a new reality show, the first few episodes are always crazy because all these people with huge personalities are thrown together and it’s just like a huge firecracker of insanity? Things happen that happen seem totally normal, but looking back you just don’t even understand how any of it was actually possible.

That’s kinda what freshman year feels like right now. I’m meeting a ton of people, but I’m just not sure how they’ll all fit into my lives. Who will be my bff? My Facebook stalkee of choice? My worst enemy?

It reminds me of the Jersey Shore, season 1: Snooki dramas out the first week and everyone hates her, The Situation and Sammie are an item, and Pauly D actually talks – things that are all highly unlikely and strange by now (we could never hate Snookums and you know The Situation would never settle down with just one lady). The guidos and guidettes of the Jersey Shore were just trying to figure out their niche in the house, to settle down and make some friends.

And much as some of you guys will hate to be compared to J-Woww and the crew, figuring out the beat in college happens very much the same way as the Jersey Shore squad approached it. You wander around, looking for potential friends and potential loverboys…and you learn that some are winners, and some not so much.

But unlike the cast of the Jersey Shore, we have to see these people over and over again for the next four years (without getting paid), so it’d probably be better if there wasn’t so much drama that called for big ass apologies.

Some tips for staying on good terms with new people: Read More »

So you’re going to college. You got your GPA up and your admissions essay down, you got in, and now you’re out! Happy times are here. Your final days are characterized by blasting Lil’ Wayne with the sunroof open and going to lunch with the people with whom you’ve spent the last four, eight, or even 12 years of your life in school. You’re pretty sad it’s over, but you know that your life isn’t about to end; in reality, it’s only the beginning.

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! Read More »