Aside from the night after you’ve taken your last final, the first week of school is generally the best time of the whole semester. The weather is great, you’re reunited with all of your friends, and the school year has returned just when you were starting to feel like you had too much free time.

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. Read More »

Welcome Week is coming to an end for most of you. You have spent the past 5 days unpacking boxes (while drinking), buying books (while hungover) and stopping by every bar/house party/gutter that just so happens to have a keg in it.

And you have the pictures to prove it.

While the themes of the parties may have been different (Tiki Tuesday? Beach party? Ghetto Fabulous?), the music was not. I don’t know what it is, but it seems like there is one playlist that somehow makes its
way into every bar or house on campus. And then plays on repeat. All night.

You love it while you’re double fisting Coronoa’s, but, for the love of God, if you hear that damn song one. more. time…

Our writers know how that goes. We asked them which songs they never ever (as long as they live) want to hear at a party again. Watch your back, Flo-rida – I think your time is over.

Alex – Lakehead University: I never ever EVER want to hear Hotel California by the Eagles at the bar again. I know it seems like a strange one, but come to Thunder Bay and you’ll suffer through it at least once a night.

Kari – Florida State: “Boots with the furrrr.” Not only does this song make my ears bleed, it feels the need to accost my eyeballs as well. For some reason every girl with a FUPA feels that this is “her song” and runs to the middle of the dance floor. No thank you.

Carly - Grinnell: “Follow Me” by Uncle Kracker. It is not good now, and it was never good. It should be eradicated. Read More »

You only have a few days left to submit your entries for CollegeCandy’s Welcome Week iHome Giveaway!

Want the deets? Read on, my friend.

If there is one thing we at CollegeCandy miss most about actually being in college it’s Welcome Week. (And our parents footing the bills.) 7 full days of debauchery, warm weather and nothing else to do makes for one pretty awesome time.

Want to stay up all night playing Kings and eating Doritos? Go ahead!
Want to pack up the car and take a trip to the beach for the day? Why not?
Want to fill a pool with Jell-O and wrestle around in it while your friends watch and cheer you on? You got nothin’ else goin on..

Sigh.

We want to do those things too, but unfortunately we have to go to “work” and “be adults.” But that doesn’t mean we can’t live vicariously through you lucky ladies (and give away a sweet prize at the same time!). So, we are having a contest.

Send us your best/funniest/most hilarious/ridiculous photos from Welcome Week. (Yeah, including that one of you climbing the school’s famed fountain in your dress.) We will pick our favorites, post ‘em to the site and have the readers vote on which one is the best. If you or your friends don’t wanna see your faces on the interwebs, feel free to block em out. We don’t care; we just wanna pretend like we are right there with you.

If your picture is chosen, you will win a free iHome.
Free.
Sent to you.
To use for those awesome pre-party dance parties. Or to muffle out the sounds of your roommate doing the naughty, naughty.

All entries should be sent to editor@collegecandy.com and must be received by Friday, September 5th at 1:00 PM. We will post our favorites the following Monday and voting will last until Friday, September 12th. Tell your friends. Tell their friends. Just don’t tell your family.

We will announce the winner on the site (picture and all) on Monday, September 15th, at which point we will send your tubular (we are trying to bring that word back) iHome to you.

So chug that beer, grab that camera and enjoy Welcome Week (for us!).

There’s a party tonight that you’ve been dying to go to, but your energy level is way low. You can’t even get up to find pants.

Maybe because you haven’t stopping partying for the past 3 days? It’s OK - it’s Welcome Week.

But it’s not OK, because even that Red Bull you chugged isn’t working. And you really wanna go out.

The solution? Music, duh.

Invite a few of your girl friends over to help ramp up your partying spirit: throw back a few cocktails, put on your party face, and listen to this awesome mix. If this doesn’t get you goin‘, get back into bed. You are dunzo for the week. Read More »

Going away to school is intimidating enough. You’re in a place you know nothing about, and if you’re far enough away from home, you probably don’t know anyone who goes there. You’re pretty much dumped in a completely foreign surrounding and told to hit the ground running. If you’re lucky, in some places the ground is made of nice recycled tire mulch. More realistically, though, it’s dirt with a few twigs and stones. And sometimes the ground is cement.

Obscure analogies aside, the only thing more unnerving than being in a place you know nothing about is being assigned to live with a person you know nothing about. Even if your school was nice enough to give you your roommate’s contact info earlier this summer, your conversations haven’t gotten much further than who is bringing the microwave. It can be a scary experience walking into your dorm, laden with boxes, and seeing a room that probably isn’t much larger than your bedroom at home…with another person smiling at you from their bed.

But it doesn’t have to be so scary. Roommates are one of the most awesome parts of going away to college, and I found that having a roommate my first year who was actually a year above me helped a lot. But for all you incomin’ freshmen, that probably isn’t the case. Still, no worries. Here are five awesome ways for you to break the ice with your brand new bud. Read More »