Part of the excitement of moving up to college is meeting that awesome roommate and becoming BFF for life: you party together, study together, laugh together…stand up at each other’s weddings and throw each other baby showers down the road. It happens for some people.

And it couldn’t be further from reality for many others, which is why many students opt for the sweet, glorious single.

At Princeton, singles are rarely occupied by freshmen, but they’re the absolute hottest real estate for older, wiser sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I’m surprised by how many freshmen claim they would never want a single and then end up wishing they had one by the end of the year. Here are a few reasons why you should consider the sweet single life for next year.

Odds are your roommate will not be your BFF.
While my roommate and I didn’t have any major clashes, we were from different worlds and ended up parting ways at the end of the year without staying in touch. And this was the case for most of my friends. Don’t worry about missing out on a close friend by gettin’ your own place; your closest friends will be the people who share your interests and activities, not your sleeping space. And there’s no chance of having those worst-case scenario roommates you so often hear about. You know the ones: the guys and gals who leave moldy food under the bed, get in crying fits on the phone at 3am, want to hold wild room parties every weekend, or leave their alarms set for five in the morning and just. keep. hitting. the snooze. for hours. Read More »

The first week of college is summer camp. The second is back to reality. When I arrived on campus a little over a week ago, I never imagined going from name-games to essays in a blink.

My college has a week of orientation, so it never really felt like school until I walked into Geology on Tuesday morning. Before that, I had been watching movies with other freshmen, exploring—well, really getting lost in—the campus, and trying every imaginable ice cream combination at the dining halls.

From the moment I walked into my class, I realized I can’t just watch movies and eat ice cream for the next four years. Buying textbooks before the class was its own problem—really, if a book is used, shouldn’t it be dirt cheap, not just a fraction less expensive than the new version?—but being in a room filled with strangers, most not naïve first years like me, was unnerving.

In high school, the first day was one of my favorites. Sure, I hated knowing I had a year of work ahead of me, but I loved seeing old friends, catching up on summer gossip. Here, I sat down and immediately started taking notes. What part of this lecture was important enough to write down? Who was the person sitting next to me? Was I allowed to raise my hand to ask a question? Read More »

To put it plainly, my first college roommate was a megabitch. Sharon* (named changed to protect the dreadful) and I never spoke. Our room was silent and filled with angst. I would try to start conversations on topics I knew she enjoyed (dance, The Bachelor, being the biggest jerk ever) but she would usually respond with one word answers or with exaggerated sighs.

The worst part? Sharon was super fun and nice with every other person on our floor but for some reason couldn’t stand me.

I made myself scarce and tried not to be in the room when she was. I hid out in the dorm lounge and the cafeteria. Meanwhile, Sharon did the opposite and made my life a living hell.

The final straw came the night she came home drunk at 2 AM before my first big test. She shushed her gentleman friend loudly as they stumbled into our room, then she dragged the poor shlub up onto the top bunk of our bed for what had to be the most awkward dorm sex ever. I told myself that night that I would try to find a new roommate. Sharon must have heard my prayers because a few weeks later she asked ME to move out so she could live with her best friend. I didn’t even feel like arguing or complaining. I just said sure and amazingly enough moved into the open room right across the hall.

Since then, I’ve had some great and not so great living situations, but none of them taught me as much as my first semester at college. Here are a few tips for those of you taking the plunge into dorm life. Read More »

Some of us got lucky when we moved in. We had friendly, personable roommates who respected our space and kept us sane through finals week. Some of us ended up in one-room hell for a year. There are as many ways for a roommate to suck as there are humans on the planet, but here’s a few standout stinkers:

The Social Drinker
Or, in other words, the roommate that’s only social when she’s drunk. You spend the whole day together, share the same bathroom, use the same shelf for your snacks, and probably own the same deodorant, but the only things you say to each other all day will be “I’m going to class” and “Mind if I get the light?” You don’t hate each other or even dislike each other, but somehow you never seem to have a conversation longer than fifteen seconds. Unless it’s Thursday evening and she’s into the vodka, of course. Then she’s your best friend, and she always wonders why you guys never talk, why she’s never gotten to meet all your cool friends, how much she hated that stupid haircut you had at orientation, and eventually she passes out and you don’t speak to each other for another week.

The Invisible Woman
You know she exists, because you saw her parents on move-in day, and the pile of laundry in her hamper sometimes varies in size. But she’s never in the room when you come back from class, she’s never brushing her teeth or taking a shower, and nobody ever comes looking for her. There’s the empty shell of a human life: bed always made, textbooks neatly lined up on the bookshelf, television never turned on. Your room feels like it’s being haunted, as if there’s some presence only half there. Sometimes you see her outside, chain-smoking and looking waifish. Read More »

Alright, I have a confession. My name is Jen, and I’m a Mountain Dew addict. It’s my drug. It’s my euphoria. It’s my baby blanket of comfort and warmth and all-is-well-in-the-world. And right now, I’m sitting with a two-liter bottle cradled in my lap like a lime-green toddler.

I know what you must be thinking. EVERYONE has their weaknesses. But mine’s a little out of control. Sure, some people cross the street for Starbucks instead of Dunkin’ Donuts. Sure, some people can’t make it through a bad day without a pint of the gooiest, most-fattening Ben and Jerry’s flavor (uh, did you know our favorite boys now make Cake Batter? Yeah, I know. Look out waist-line, plus-size ahoy).

But do they base their entire college existences around their indulgences? I think not. Read More »

In light of the start of the new school year and a spate of “things you shouldn’t be doing” posts, I’m taking a cue from everyone’s favorite girlfriend, Vanessa Hudgens, and offering up a piece of advice of my own.

Girls: for the love of all that is holy, please stop taking naked pictures of yourselves and sending them to people. And while you’re at it, try not to make any sex or masturbatory videos of yourselves either. Haven’t we learned yet that when you send out this sort of thing to one person, you end up sending it the entire internet community?

I have no doubt that the girls who partake in these activities look amazing in the buff (hell, I’ve certainly seen my fair share of these videos). But is turning on your boyfriend by sending him a webcam video of you and your favorite dildo really worth the embarrassment when, heaven forbid, your parents or best friends catch wind of the video? Read More »

Ahh, to be a freshman again…

Long after the fact, I can safely say that there is no experience that can quite match being 18, fully on your own for the first time in your life, and living in a dorm surrounded by the hundreds of the horniest creatures on this green earth.

As a kid who had a pretty awful high school experience when it came to members of the opposite sex, I went into my freshman year with the attitude that I’d pretty much take on all comers. I turned down girls like a 15 year old boy would turn down an offer to look through Penthouse magazine.

Needless to say, it was a very fruitful year. Read More »

So you’ve already asked yourself whether or not you should hook-up with someone on your floor…now you need to know if hooking-up is acceptable while someone else is in the room with you and your hook-up partner.

Well I say, once again, it depends on each individual situation. Being an RA, I was always lucky enough to have a very large single dorm room all to myself; however, I did date guys that had roommates and you know, sometimes you just want to be somewhere different! Anyway, here are a few questions to ask yourself before committing this somewhat scandalous act.

1. Will you be loud enough to wake the roommate? I mean, I’m all for free expression but no one wants to be an extra in a porno. If you think you won’t be able to control your moans, then maybe you should take the party elsewhere. It’s just plain awkward if someone gets up and goes “uhhh…do you mind” while you’re in the middle of doing the nasty. Read More »