Welcome to college, freshmen!

You may have made it through Welcome Week without any run-ins with the campus police (congrats!), but you still have plenty of opportunities to meet them up close and personal.

There are going to be many times this year and well into your college career that you will find yourself surrounded by alcohol. And, naturally, you are going to want to partake. Just beware–while you are navigating the university party scene, your RA’s, Campus Police, and Public Safety units are gearing up to bust underage revelers.

Here are some tips on how you can avoid getting written up before your first semester is over.

1. Don’t act like ‘The Freshman.’

Just because you suddenly have access to alcohol, it doesn’t mean you need to consume ALL of the alcohol at once. Even if the cops are out and about, they don’t have the manpower to hunt down every single underage boozer. So, they’ll zero in on the kid stumbling around with a trash can on his head before thinking twice about the passive mingler. The same goes with your RA, who really doesn’t want to walk in on you peeing in the corner of elevator. Read More »

Another week has come and gone. And so has the summer. Tear.

This week we put our white pants back in the closet, returned to the lecture hall and answered the questions on everyone’s minds:

Who would be better candidates for VP?
Who would we never wanna see in a sex tape?
Should we fart in front of our bf?
Which fall shows should we be excited for?
Should we ever consider sex without a condom?
Is hooking up with the hottie prof worth it?
Can the new 90210 really match up to the old one? (Not even close.)
What kind of germs did that dude leave in our sheets?
What do we need to have when we hit the party scene?
Why do we insist that we can still drink like we are in college?
Do guys really care about our sexual history?
Is there an alternative to yucky beer?

And, the most important question of all:
Who’s hotter?

I remember my life before I discovered Franzia and its wine-in-a-box counterparts. I was developing a hunchback from lugging a backpack full of Keystone cans around campus, hopping from dorm party to dorm party. Or, I would spend an arm and a leg on bottles of Bacardi (and the mixers to go with it), only to go through a whole bottle in one night after my friends had passed shots around the room.

At some point during my college career, I discovered that wine is stronger than beer and more consistent than mixed drinks, which are super weak at many stingy bars.

Wine became my go-to drink.

When I moved into an apartment with a fellow wino, we quickly realized that even 1.5 liter bottles of wine went too quickly, so to save gas on packy runs, we became avid boxers.

Boxed wine is completely underrated by many collegiates across the country. In the wine world, Franzia may have a bad rap, but come on; we’re college students. We have no money. We drink a lot. And we aren’t opposed to drinking Dubra when times are tight, so why exclude boxed wine from our list of libations?

In many states, wine comes in 5-liter boxes. That’s FIVE LITERS of booze for about $15. Depending on how much (or how little) you drink, that can easily be split throughout the night between you and your five closest friends, or you can suck it down yourself and not worry about another liquor run for a week or two. If you can’t find a 5-liter box, you’ll still be set with the “smaller” size box, which contains three liters of fermented grapes.

Heaven. Read More »

So now you’re back on campus, away from the ‘rents, and you can go out and drink as much as you want. In moderation, of course. (At least that’s what you tell your parents…)

Need a reason to drink? Need some motivation? Too young to get into the bars?

These three games are sure-fire ways to get drunk and have fun without ever having to leave the house/dorm. Or simply as a little fun before the main event. Whatever. They are fun. Play them.

Beer Pong: This is the ultimate drinking game. If you don’t like beer, replace it with cider or Smirnoff or Bacardi (not straight up, please…you may die) or anything else tasty. Side note: In my recent travels abroad, I discovered that we Americans take this game very, very seriously. Do not attempt to cheat during a beer pong game. You will be seriously heckled and possibly thrown out. Unless everyone’s too drunk to notice (which is entirely possible).

Flip Cup: The first time I played this, I didn’t realize that the entire team had to flip their cups over. I thought the contest was over after the first pair. And everyone was just looking, and looking, and looking at me…

Kings: I couldn’t find a satisfactory link to rules, so here they are as I play it. (Which is the best way.): Read More »

I get asked about my diet a whole lot. As my peers are getting older every year (because I am…and you are, too), it’s become progressively more difficult for lots of my lady friends to keep the figures that they want. But, some way or another, it’s become easier for me.

I used to eat whatever I wanted and exercised only when I wanted to. My metabolism was sickly fast and I just figured I was healthy because I was skinny. Over the past few years, I have slowly learned to eat right and to exercise right, too. Now that it’s a part of my routine, it’s easier than ever to be healthy.

BUT I still need to be unhealthy here and there. Some people I know can eat healthy 24-7 without any screw-ups. I am not one of those people. My diet regime that I get asked about so much actually DOES include days where I eat all of the wrong stuff. I have these days maybe once every week or two and nothing sets me back on track for healthy eating faster than a day filled with fried food and chocolate treats.

Are they good for my arteries and liver? Hell no.
Am I being unhealthy by indulging in these days? Hell yes.

But I still feel as though I am better off throwing these days in here and there (and savoring my sweets) than to always wonder what I’m missing, or living a bland life full of carrots and bottled water.

Here is a typical day’s worth of food for me: Read More »

Heading back to campus? Psyching yourself up to lug giant suitcases across the quad? Rinsing out that Nalgene in hopes of filling it with a cran / vodka combo? (Protip: just fill it with cran and watch all the drunk people say things everyone will forget except you.)

Whatever your attitude or mode of moving in, most likely the majority of you will be settling into dorms you’ve never lived in before. At first, everything is clean and vacuumed and smelling like Glade. At first, it seems like you’ve picked the absolute best place to sleep, study, and veg out after a giant Econ test. But then.

The weekend happens. And suddenly it hits you like a splatter of what you hope is cake: you’re smack dab in the middle of a party dorm.

Here are a few ways to tell you’re living in the Bermuda Triangle of beer and screaming.

As you’re moving in, you notice that you’re the only one dragging a suitcase into your room. Everyone else is hauling dollies of 12 packs.

Your roommates are really friendly! Or…why are their eyes drooping like that?

The community fridge is stocked with liquor, sour cream, and mixers.

The community cupboards are filled with cheetos, salsa, pork rinds, and Alka Seltzer.

It’s Monday night, you’re reading Proust, and it sounds like the people in the room next to you are throwing…what’s that? Quarters? And then cheering? Read More »

Because my college career will be drawing to a close soon, my mind is winding its way towards that point in my life when I will no longer be a carefree college student. I will be a— what do they call it again? A grown-up?

In that same frame of mind, I’ve been looking at my so-called grown-up friends to see how their lives are different from my own, searching for things that would tell me when I’ve become one of them, or if maybe -gasp- I’m already there. Here is what I came up with.

5 Signs that you are now entering Adultsville:

1. Bills. Gone are the days of blissful ignorance as to how the lights stayed on at home or the hot water kept running. Now those infuriating little statements just keep slipping through the mail slot. Phone bill, gas bill, waterworks, eating away at your paycheck- your new pair of shoes! It was a lot more fun when you had an allowance.

2. Your parents are asking you to drive them places. You thought it was your ticket to freedom when you got your license, huh? Wink, wink. Mom and Dad were just waiting for the day when they wouldn’t have to take you anywhere and you could start chauffeuring them around. Now it’s, “Honey, can you take me to the doctor’s on Monday?” and, “Oh, could you stop by the grocery store after work and pick some things up for me?” Don’t forget doing someone else’s errands: “Your sister’s done with soccer practice at 6.” Some kind of freedom. Read More »

I know the Olympics are supposed to be exciting to watch, but, let’s be honest, besides scoping out the hotties, sometimes the excitement just isn’t there. But, of course, you have to watch because it’s a huge deal and you want to see if the US can dominate in ways other than invading countries and water boarding.

How to turn a quiet evening of competition into something a little more….fun? Why not do what college students have been doing for centuries: add alcohol.

We at CollegeCandy love alcohol (almost as much as we love bad TV) and try to add it to everything (except driving…and voting), so we did some research and came up with quite a fantastic game that goes well with booze and the Olympic games.

Grab some friends, stock the fridge with the bevy of your choice (though we recommend beer, as the games could go all night) and let the games begin. Note: A couple bags of chips aren’t a bad idea either. Or, I don’t know, a cake?

Now, be advised that this game is very adaptable to whatever sport you happen to be watching. That means you can play again and again! And here are the rules: Read More »