The best and worst advice from on-screen moms. [Tres Sugar]

Get in shape for summer! [Life by DailyBurn]

5 clothing staples you’ll need for your internship. [I Want Her Job]

Would you have surgery so your heels would fit better? [Newser]

Fascinating facts about your brain on love. [YourTango]

People are auctioning off old payphones on eBay. [BuzzFeed]

The struggles of fast food lovers. [Thought Catalog]

The Betches guide to taking graduation pictures. [Betches Love This]

Master the transition between college and the real world. [The Huffington Post]

Sci-fi predictions that have come true. [Vox]

Sick of eating cereal and ramen for lunch and dinner? Want to spend less money eating out and finally start cooking for yourself? Put down that frozen pizza, because HC’s Health Editor, Sammie Levin, is here to share her daily eats so you can get ideas for healthy, satisfying meals that are easy enough for any time-strapped collegiette to make. After you read Collegiette Eats, your taste buds, wallet and waistline will thank you.

The other day, I found a bag of Dang Coconut Chips in my kitchen pantry, and as a coconut lover, I had to try them. I was immediately obsessed. I can't believe I've never encountered toasted coconut chips before, but I have really been missing out. I asked my mom where she discovered them, and she explained that she tried them at her friend's house while they were playing mahjong (classic Mom) and was obsessed too, so she went out and bought a bag. Shout-out to that friend, because coconut chips are life-changing. If you haven't heard of them or tasted them before either, then I'm here to make sure that you do with this snack spotlight on coconut chips. If you're in a snack rut and desperate to find something new to switch it up, consider these chips the next kale chips, but sweeter. 

What are coconut chips? 

Coconut chips are flakes of dried coconut meat (known as copra) that have been toasted in an oven or skillet until crispy and golden brown. The result is a chip-like, crunchy snack, similar in size to tortilla chips, with a distinct coconut flavor that is both sweet and slightly salty. Dang is the brand I tried, but there are several other brands that make this packaged treat. 

Why should you try them? 

First and foremost, they're delicious. If you like coconut, it's pretty much a guarantee that you'll like these, and if you don't like coconut, it's still worth trying because they could change your mind. A handful can satisfy your craving for something sweet, and their thick cruchiness is perfect for snacking. 

The bonus is that on top of the flavor, coconut has a myriad of health benefits, meaning these chips do, too. It's a rich source of fiber, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. The only caveat is that the fat content is very high, so the calories do add up fast, meaning you have to watch your portion sizes. One serving of the Dang chips (0.7 ounces, or about a handful) is 115 calories with seven grams of unsaturated fat (11 percent of your daily value) and seven grams of saturated fat (35 percent of your daily value). So, stick to one serving for a snack. 

How should you eat them? 

I first tried them just on their own, and they were absolutely amazing, so you can definitely eat them plain. Just make sure to portion out a serving rather than eat straight from the bag - they're so addicting that it'll be tough to stop and the whole bag will be gone within minutes. Once you've tried them plain, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy coconut chips. The Dang website recommends trying them with ice cream, salads, oatmeal, yogurt, trail mix, cereal and baked goods. After I had a handful straight from the bag, I used a sprinkling of the chips as a topping for frozen yogurt with raspberries. The fro-yo was from Pinkberry, we got a big container of plain fro-yo to go a few nights ago so that we could have it for dessert at home. Yum. The chips added a perfect sweet crunch to the tart yogurt. 

Where can you get them? 

You can check if Dang chips are sold in a store near you or you can order them online. You can also check your local Trader Joe's for their line of roasted coconut chips, or you can search for other brands online. Or, you can make your own! There are tons of different recipes online, such as these sweet and salty coconut chips or these cocoa-cinnamon coconut chips.  

Whether you buy your own or make them, eat them plain or use them as a topping to your ice cream or oatmeal, give coconut chips a try. You can thank me later. 

It starts out innocently enough, doesn’t it? A coy smile here. A wink there. A couple of drinks out at the bar and a hug that’s kept going for just a second too long. No, this isn’t a Friday night date with that cutie from class. It’s your guy friend. We’ve all had those fun, flirty first date feelings: those butterflies-in-your-stomach, goose-bumpy feelings. But what if you had those feelings for a friend? A guy you know really well? Like, your old friend from high school or that guy who lives down the hall in your dorm?

I’m talking about flirtationships–that tricky in-between stage when you regularly flirt with a guy friend but for one reason or another, you do nothing more than that. Flirtationships can be fun and silly, but they can also get awkward really fast (and potentially mean bad news for having a real relationship with that guy). So how do you navigate this tricky territory? This guide will give you the rules to live (and flirt) by.  And with some advice from Julie Spira, best-selling author and the Cyber Dating Expert, and stories from real collegiettes, you can take charge of your flirtationship.

So, what’s a flirtationship?

Spira breaks it down to the basics for us. “A flirtationship is that fun and flirty in-between place of being just friends and without claiming that you’re in a relationship,” Spira says. “More often than not, it does become a romantic relationship. It’s a friendship filled with flirting.”

How do you know that you’re in one?

“Hey, are you and so-and-so dating?” If you get this question a lot, along with raised eyebrows and winks from your mutual friends, chances are you’re in a flirtationship.

Flirtationships typically develop in one of two ways: they can grow into a romantic relationship or revert back to a friendship. Or (worst-case scenario) they can fall apart completely, leaving out the idea of a possible relationship and the friendship too awkward to fall back on.

So are there any pros to a flirtationship?

It sounds like flirtationships can get emotionally complicated, and they can. But sometimes, they can be an easygoing alternative to a relationship.

Rachel from New York University says that her flirtationship with a longtime guy friend Hunter means having someone to depend on.

“Hunter is always someone I can rely on to listen to me when I need to talk out something,” she says. “The thing with friends is they’re always there for you. It’s sort of like having a boyfriend, but without having to worry about him judging you.”

And as Tammy, a student at Boston College says, a “no strings attached” flirtationship can be the best of both worlds in the dating scene. “There’s no real commitment involved,” she says. “What’s great about a flirtationship is that you can still date around with whoever you want without the drama of being ‘attached’ to someone or  people calling you a cheater.”

A flirtationship, much like a friends with benefits situation, means having all the benefits of a relationship without the obligations. You don’t feel obligated to spend money on date after date or have the awkward meet-the-parents dinner to please your partner in a flirtationship. You can save your weekend nights for clubbing with the girls and splurge on those to-die-for heels you just hadto have.

Can this hurt my friendship?

Like any gamble, in a flirtationship, you run the risk of ruining the friendship.

“It starts off really simple, light, easy, fun and uncomplicated,” Spira says. “And as soon as one person has more feelings than the other or as soon as one person meets someone else and moves into a relationship, all the rules change and someone can get hurt.”

Say you meet a new cute guy and say this guy asks you out. If the guy you’re in a flirtationship with had feelings for you, this could cause jealousy between the two of you as friends. The same thing can happen if you saw the flirtationship developing with your friend and he started a committed relationship with a new girl. Jealousy is the number one cause of destroyed friendships that developed into flirtationships, according to Spira.

“The number one way a flirtationship can hurt a friendship is if all of a sudden with all of this flirting foreplay you get this false sense that you’re in a relationship and maybe one person wants to be in a relationship with that person,” she says. “They wake up one day and they say, ‘Wow I really have feelings for this person. I’d like to take it to the next step.’ If the other person doesn’t feel the same way, then you basically run the risk of losing the friendship.”

Collegiettes in flirtationships agree. “I have found that they never work. Either they want to be more than friends or don’t act the same way back,” says Heather, a collegiette from the University of Arizona. “I have found that on the rare occasion that it does work out I was starting to develop a relationship with another guy. They might work out for other people but for some reason they just don’t work out for me!”

Kerry from Hofstra University found herself in a dire dilemma when her flirtationship with a taken guy went a little too far.

“My good friend Paul used to live in a house off-campus with me – directly next to my room. He's had a girlfriend for four years and he's incredibly loyal to her except for this flirtationship we've established. We've kissed a few times and I've slept in his bed without taking any further steps than that (though we're usually pretty physical and affectionate with each other). I know it has a lot to do with sexual tension and repression on his end considering that his girlfriend lives hundreds of miles away from him... but we definitely have fun with each other. It's a mutual understanding that this is just how our friendship works, but I do know that his girlfriend would be devastated if she knew how we act around each other.”

So far, it hasn’t ruined her friendship with Paul, but she cautions collegiettes that flirtationships are definitely “dangerous territory.”

“When his girlfriend came to visit in December it was so awkward,” she says. “We always hug each other so when she was around I had to monitor my behavior to avoid any trouble.”

The worst case scenario can happen when the whole flirtationship falls apart. If it all falls apart, not only do you lose the chance of that perfect boyfriend, you lose the chance of keeping him as a friend.

Emma from Mount Holyoke College found herself in this situation. “I've had a few flirtationships, and they were entertaining, but I went too far when I accidentally got into one with my best guy friend,” she says. “We had previously considered dating, but decided against it because we thought it would damage our friendship. I started texting him and we flirted for a month or so. When I got home for break, I realized what a mistake I had made, because we both were being flirty, yet expecting more to come of it, and it didn't work out so well. We haven't spoken in two months.”

“So beware!” she warns. “They are fun if you're not close to the guy, but if you value the friendship, don't get into a flirtationship with them.” 

So is a flirtationship worth it?

Despite how complicated a flirtationship can be, Spira says they can be healthy. A close flirtationship with a guy can even turn into the best relationship.

“Some of the best relationships start off with humor and wit and joking,” she says. “Anyone who is looking for love, is looking for someone who is smart and funny, someone who has a great sense of humor. It’s like the first phase of what attracts someone to another.”

Whatever the reasons are behind the flirtationship, Spira says that there are some common sense boundaries you should never cross, like don’t become too emotionally attached and never keep up a flirtationship with a guy who is in a relationship. This avoids hurt feelings on either side. But with a flirtationship, you can be single and available. You can be single and bro-down with as many guy friends as you want. You can be flirty as friends, as long as you don’t hurt him in the process. Or more importantly, hurt yourself.

Although we may still be kids at heart, the real world is right around the corner (cue panic attack). Here are 13 moments that make us feel like we're becoming responsible, well-adjusted members of society. 

1. Buying toilet paper.

2. Paying rent with your own paycheck.

3. Cooking dinner for yourself without the use of a microwave.

4. Choosing to stay in rather than go out on a weekend night.

5. Hosting a dinner party.

6. Buying your first legal drink.

7. Getting invited to the wedding of someone you're graduating with.

8. Not understanding the lyrics in popular rap songs.

9. Moving in with your significant other.

10. Making your own doctors' appointments.

11. Going to bed early.

12. Seeing that you have more than $10 in your bank account and not spending that money on alcohol. 

13. Realizing that popular celebrities are younger than you. 

Throughout high school, when I was sick, I was really sick. No one wants to talk about what they do in the bathroom in regards to “number two,” but after months of hiding how awful I had been feeling, I came clean to my doctors and family. I told them about the bloated, cramped and painful state my stomach seemed to be in constantly. I told them how I would wake up at night and rush to the bathroom, only to not go at all. I was constantly exhausted, hungry and dehydrated. On December 23, 2009, I got my diagnosis:

“Ulcerative colitis is a chronic disease of the large intestine, also known as the colon, in which the lining of the colon becomes inflamed and develops tiny open sores, or ulcers, that produce pus and mucous. The combination of inflammation and ulceration can cause abdominal discomfort and frequent emptying of the colon.” -The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America website

I’ve Googled this definition so many times I have it memorized. I’ve learned to become comfortable in hospitals. I’ve gotten really good at entertaining myself in doctor’s office waiting rooms, and I can hum along with the music when I’m put on hold on the phone with specialists at Boston Children’s Hospital.

After I received my diagnosis, I had to make adjustments to my daily routines. I never particularly liked going to monthly appointments, getting blood work checked or swallowing 19 pills a day to stay healthy, but I never hated those things either. Dealing with this disease was my life now, and I had to accept it. 

Ulcerative colitis works in cycles of symptoms. When things are good, you feel fine. When I wasn’t feeling so well, I would go through months of intensified symptoms called flare-ups.

When I wasn’t flaring up, the only things that made me different from any other teenaged girl were my frequent sick days, growling stomach and avoidance of anything fried, spicy or pizza-related—foods I knew would make me feel sick.

When I was flaring up, things were different. I would dash to the bathroom up to two dozen times a day, doubled over in pain. I would wake up in the middle of the night to go some more. I would lose weight fast from not absorbing nutrients from any of my food, even though I was constantly starving. I would gain all the weight back and then some after being put on powerful drugs for months. These drugs, although they saved my life many times, also ruined it. They were supposed to support my body and stop it from attacking my large intestine, but the drugs didn’t come without side effects.  They made my mind race, my heart palpitate, my appetite increase and my dreams become horrifying whenever they would allow me to get a decent night’s sleep. 

So when I walked into my GI specialist’s office in November of 2012, I wasn’t expecting anything big. Just the routine check-up, an interview about my current state and maybe an increased medication dose to help me feel better, since I’d been feeling a flare-up coming on recently.

As it turns out, my medications weren’t working well enough to keep me healthy. This was the third time they’d failed, which in the past has meant hospitalizations and rounds of those powerful drugs that put my body into overdrive. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes at the idea of taking those drugs again.

This time, however, my doctor had a different idea. After flipping through my charts, files and medical records, he swiveled in his chair to face me and asked, “Have you ever contemplated surgery?”

Surgery?

The white linoleum room began to spin. My immediate reaction was no. Hell no. My doctor gave my mom some details about different procedures and approaches that surgeons used to completely remove the large intestine. I didn’t listen.

He explained it as a two-surgery process: one to remove the organ, and a few months later, a reattachment surgery to fit my small intestine to where my large one used to be. As it turns out, your large intestine isn’t a vital organ; you can live without it.

I had a hard time focusing on this, though. There was so much going through my head. I could feel a lump forming in my throat as the blood drained from my face. My heart was breaking as tears welled in my eyes. I had so much to say that I was rendered incapable of saying anything at all.

So I didn’t say anything for the rest of the appointment and the entire way home.

For me, surgery meant giving up my dream of being a success story. It seems stupid, but when you fight against adversity for so long, the idea of any type of success story or any story of overcoming is all you have to keep you going sometimes. I saw getting this curing surgery as quitting. After fighting against this disease for years, I wasn’t ready to just drop everything and quit. It seemed pathetic to me.

However, surgery also meant a cure. No more 19 pills a day. No more dashing to the bathroom when a certain food didn’t agree with my system. No more hospitalizations or blood work with sharp needles. The idea of a disease-free life was incredibly enticing, but getting there would undoubtedly put me through the weakest and most vulnerable time of my life.

It took a lot of late-night conversations with my parents, a lot of tears and a lot of hard questions for my doctors and mentors who had received the same surgery, but I decided to have the surgery. In a few months, I had a surgery date set: May 31, 2013, two weeks after the last final exam of my freshman year of college.

Oh, and I was completely terrified.

But it happened. I got the first stage of my surgery done in May. I was in the hospital for 10 days, and I recovered at home for another six weeks. I was in a lot of physical pain for a long time. I was weak, exhausted and at times discouraged. In January, I received phase two of my operation, which finished the process but made me weaker and put me through similar pain to the pain I felt back in May.

But the thing is, I don’t remember the pain. I don’t remember how boring my time in the hospital could be. I don’t remember my exhaustion. If I felt that pain again, I don’t think I’d recognize it.           

What I do remember is everything I’ve learned from this experience.

I learned that I have an amazing group of friends and an incredible family. I received meaningful cards and endless phone calls and text messages of encouragement. I had many visitors who brightened up my dull hospital room as well as my day. Although most of my friends and family couldn’t relate to what I was going through, they certainly tried to understand and they gave me an ear or a shoulder to cry on when I needed them. 

I’ve also learned that I’m much stronger than I ever thought I could be. Being constantly weak and in pain teaches you a lot about yourself. When the nurses aren’t in the room at night and you’re lying in bed with your own thoughts, you can either pick yourself up or beat yourself down. And I picked myself up. Twice.

Upon leaving the hospital after my most recent surgery in January, I promised I would start living my life more positively and happily. Before illness or surgery or long hospital stays, I took my health for granted. I took my support system for granted and I took opportunities and life in general for granted.

Chances are you probably don’t have a chronic illness and you’re sitting at your desktop wondering why I’m writing this. Well, I don’t want you to wait for a life-changing event (a surgery, a diagnosis, a big loss) to start living your life. It sounds corny, but you’re luckier than you think. If you’re unhappy with a situation, you have the power to fix it, or at least fix your attitude about it. Smile, breathe, be grateful and make the most out of everything. Be positive and confident, and good things will come your way.

These days, I have nothing holding me back. I’m confident, healthy and happier than I ever thought I could be. I celebrate the small things and take nothing for granted. Before surgery, I accepted this disease as the hand I was dealt in life; it wasn’t a negative attitude, but it wasn’t necessarily a positive one either. The most important and best decision I have ever made was getting the surgery. I put my body through the ringer in hopes of a better life, and I can say that I definitely have one now.

As a person who has dealt with bowel conditions for most of my life, I know that life can sometimes be, well, crappy. But life’s not about the crap we get handed to us, it’s about how we get through it.

Do you have a story to share? Submit your story to Her Story! 

One of the most enjoyable times of summer is what people refer to as “graduation party season.” It’s the time of year when graduates can commemorate the last four years with their friends, celebrate their achievements, see each other off before they leave, and even pocket some spending money from relatives they never knew they had. From the invitations to the decorations to the cake, there is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into this festivity that can become overwhelming if not organized properly.

Before jumping in, however, it is important to decide what type of party you want, as this will dictate most of the decisions you will make throughout the planning process. Are you looking for the classic backyard barbeque with a big group of people, or a smaller party with just family and a few close friends? What about ditching the party idea all together, and planning a getaway with your girlfriends? No matter what your style, however, there are some universal elements to consider when planning your big bash.

Establish a budget:

With all the glitz and glam that can come along with a graduation party, it is easy to get carried away with spending money on decorations and other expenses. The best thing for you to do so that you don’t end up spending on a fortune on this one-day event is to sit down with your parents and decide on a financial plan. This is an essential step in the graduation party planning process, as it will dictate most of the decisions you will make. Discuss with you parents how much they want to spend and what they want to spend most of it on. If you are not looking to spend a lot of money, consider having a small gathering with family and a few close friends. This will save you money on renting a venue, catered food and decorations. A good rule of thumb to follow when establishing a budget is to make sure that they money you spend on the party does not exceed the amount of money you receive as gifts from your guests.

Alyssa Howard, a collegiette from the University of Texas at Austin, knew right away that she didn’t want to spend a fortune on her party because she was aware of the expenses that soon lay ahead of her. “If you're fortunate enough to attend college in the fall, you have a lot of expenses to consider: books, clothing, supplies, food, tuition... the list goes on and on! Definitely have a party, but keep in mind that the money you're spending now can also help fund your future. Sticking to a budget might be a good thing to consider, and may help you focus on the important things,” says Alyssa.

Choosing a venue:

There are many factors to take into consideration when deciding where you want to have your party. Having your party at home or at another venue are the two most popular options.

Home
If you decide to have your party at home, there are extra tasks that you need to complete on you own that a venue would otherwise take care of, such as seating and food. If you are planning on a lot of guests and you want to have your party outdoors, you will need to rent tables, chairs and tents in order to protect people from the sun and possible rain. It is essential that you order the tables, chairs and tents early (aboutthree to four months in advance) because there will be so many other parties happening, too. Remember to order enough tables for not only eating, but also a couple of tables for a buffet and other displays like photos, trophies, plaques, certificates, other high school memorabilia, a sign-in book, and speakers.

If you’re having a smaller party, however, renting tents, tables and chairs won’t be necessary. You could also have food set up indoors on your kitchen counters or table so people can load up their plates and then go outside to mingle, where tables and chairs won’t be necessary. Another really nice option for a home party is to do a small dinner party with your closest friends and family. This cuts costs, keeps the party small and intimate, and is generally low-stress, too.

Other Venue
One of the major benefits of having your party at a venue besides your home is that the staff will do a lot of the work for you, like cooking, setting up, cleaning up and providing seating. When deciding on what kind of venue, consider a place that is centrally located and can comfortably fit all of your guests. Since it will be in the summer time, it would be nice to choose a place that gives guests the options of going outdoors, or has a lot of windows that will let in a lot of natural light and help set the mood. Having your party at a venue other than your home may be less work, but it can also turn out to be more expensive, so make sure to you get quotes from a wide variety of services and determine which would be most cost effective. Popular venues for graduation parties include restaurants, hotels, event halls and country clubs, with the least expensive being a restaurant and the most being a country club (if you are member).

Invitations:

The first thing you need to do before making your invitation is to make your guest list. Think about how many people to invite and how to invite them. If you’re having a small party, you’ll want to set a guest list and choose between printed invitations or Facebook invites. If you're planning a big, grade-wide party, you might want to create an open event on Facebook and send printed invitations to people you definitely want there. You should also let people know whether or not they can bring friends.

There are many options available when designing your invitations. You can buy them in a card store, make them yourself at a photo kiosk at your local convenience store, or order them customized from a company, paperless post or Vistaprint.

Don’t forget about Facebook invites, either! Don’t go overboard on broadcasting your event on social media, however, or your small get together could turn into the Project X sequel. If you want a small party, it’s probably a good idea to make your Facebook invite private not only to avoid too many unwelcomed guests, but also to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings who did not make the guest list. It’s also a good idea to purchase or create your ‘thank you’ cards at the same time as your invitations so you don’t forget. When sending out your invitations, do it about a month ahead of time so that your guests can plan accordingly.

Pick a convenient date and time:

It’s impossible to choose one that works for each and every one of your guests, but there’s no harm in trying! When picking the date and time for your party, consider what works for other people. Is it a popular vacation time? Is it a holiday weekend when people will have other plans? Also, remember that it is inevitable that your party will most likely overlap with many of your friends, so don’t stress about that too much. Also keep in mind that the weekends before and after graduation weekend are often packd with parties, so people tend to party-hop rather than stay at a single party for several hours. If you are planning on having your party outside, don’t forget to pick a rain date or make alternate indoor plans. If you are having a small gathering with friends and family, it’s not a bad idea to see what their schedules are like and accommodate to them since you will want as many of your loved ones to be there as possible.

Remember that having your party at home gives you a lot more options of dates and times, while having it at a venue limits availability and causes you to have several back-up dates in case your ideal date and time at the venue is already reserved. If you choose to have your party at a venue, make your reservation 3-4 months in advance.

Set up and clean up times are also important to keep in mind when choosing when to have your party if you are renting out space. If you want an outdoor get together, consider having your party earlier in the day so that you are not stuck cleaning up while it’s dark outside.

Food and Drink:

The most important thing to remember when choosing food and beverages is to get what will appeal to the greatest amount of people. While escargot may be your favorite dish, it may not be as appetizing to your guests.

Some other decisions you will have to make are what type of food you want – picnic-style hamburgers and hot dogs? finger food? a buffet? Are you going to prepare it? Are you going to have it catered? If it’s within your budget and you plan on having a lot of guests, consider having your party catered along with on-site staff management so that you don’t have to worry about refilling dishes and enjoy your party. Additionally, make sure you get quotes from a variety of restaurants to ensure that you are getting the most for your money. A standard buffet at a graduation party usually consists of rolls with butter, a garden salad, two to three different kinds of meat, two sides (such as potatoes and some kind of pasta) and a fruit platter.

If you are planning on providing your own food for you event, you need to consider how many people you are cooking for and what would be the most convenient to prepare. If you are inviting a lot of guests, preparing food on you own may not be your best option since you want to make sure you still have time to interact with your guests, but it is still doable. The best thing to do when providing your own food is to make simple dishes that can be prepared ahead of time and can easily be replenished such as salads, sandwiches, wraps, pastas, and dips.

As for desserts, cupcakes are increasingly trendy with popular television shows like DC Cupcakes and The Cupcake Girls, so those are a guaranteed hit. Cake and cookies are other good choices, too. It’s good to give your guests options. It’s also a good idea to have little snacks at each table, such as M&M’s or Chex Mix. A fun dessert option if you are providing your own food is an ice cream sundae bar. Start with vanilla ice cream, and have 5-6 toppings such as syrups, crushed Oreos or candy bars, and chopped fruit in dishes that guests can scoop for themselves.

Drinks are another thing you should have a lot of. Definitely have water in case of dehydration, and different kinds of sodas such as diet and regular cola, sweet drinks like lemonade, and possibly beer and wine coolers for the adults. Make sure to keep this separate from the drinks for the kids, as your parents will be held responsible if anything were to happen.

Decorations:

Show off your creativity and school spirit by decorating your party with balloons, centerpiece, tablecloths, and even tents featuring your school colors (high school or collegiate, it’s up to you). Many people have display tables highlighting their accomplishments with pictures, trophies, plaques, framed acceptance letters, or other highs school memorabilia such as swim caps, t-shirts, dance shoes, scrapbooks, and more. It’s also popular to have slideshows of pictures and videos of you and your friends throughout the years.

While all of this will surely help get your party started, what’s a celebration without some music? Most people play music through speakers or bring out their iHome, and some of the more extravagant parties will even hire a DJ. If you are providing your own music like most people do, make a playlist on your iPod and play it through speakers. Your playlist should have about 50 songs just to ensure that they don’t repeat too often. Some grad party classics include “Graduation” by Vitamin C, Green Day’s “Good Riddance,” Rembrandt’s “I’ll Be There For You” and Eve 6’s “Here’s To The Night.”

…Not the celebration you had in mind?

There are plenty of ways to go about celebrating the end of an era, and now more than ever is the time to get creative with it. Who knows when will be the next time you have the free time to hiking in the mountains or have a lazy weekend on the beach? Jeannie Shen from Walter Johnson High School decided this alternative better suited their desires.

“I’m planning a hiking trip with my friends. We’ll hike up a trail and then have a picnic afterwards while we exchange gifts for each other,” said Jeannie. 

Another alternative to the standard backyard grad party is to go out to dinner to your favorite restaurant with your family and a few close friends. This is low stress and low maintenance but will still provide you with the lasting memories and sense of accomplishment that any graduation party is expected to deliver.

No matter how you wish to celebrate your big achievement, do it in a way that is right for you and is a reflection of all of your accomplishments. Keep in mind that it’s not about the money spent, but the time spent.

“There is no need to spend hundreds of dollars to create a picture-perfect party. Graduation is full of change, and the best thing to do is spend time with loved ones. Memories are more enjoyable when spent with people, not decorations or fancy food,” says Alyssa. “I definitely think you should make your party special, because it may be the last time for a while that you and your friends are together. Just don't get caught up in the details.”

Ah, finals week. ‘Tis the season for baggy sweatpants, messy buns and ridiculously late nights spent cramming in the library. And with sleepless night after night comes the unflattering dark under-eye bags. You don’t want to look like a zombie, so what’s a girl to do?

Although genetics and the thickness of the skin around the eye affect how eye bags develop, dark circles can also arise from lack of sleep and moments of stress. When you’re feeling overwhelmed from class and homework, the last thing you want to worry about is under-eye bags. But, if you follow these quick tips, you can look like you got some much-needed shut-eye!

1. Get hydrated

First things first—drink lots of water! The skin around the eyes is super thin compared to everywhere else on your body, and if you’re dehydrated, it will show up noticeably as puffy, dark circles. Lisa Owens, a Metro-Detroit area makeup artist and licensed aesthetician, says hydrating by drinking water and using targeted eye creams can help quickly reduce pesky under-eye bags.

“There are many topical products available for the eye area, [and you should] focus on products which contain hyaluronic acid and vitamin K, if possible,” Owens says. Products with hyaluronic acid and vitamin K as active ingredients will work to reduce skin inflammation and any appearance of puffiness after the first application. Along with reducing puffiness, vitamin K also helps lessen signs of bruising or dark circles that may appear as a result of sleep deprivation.

Although on the pricier side, Peter Thomas Roth’s Power K Eye Rescue ($100 at Sephora) is a viable option, and should be applied twice per day after signs of swelling. According to Owens, the product is well worth the investment and will last for plenty of uses. For more reasonable options, you can also try Clinique’s ‘Even Better Eyes’ Dark Circle Corrector ($39.50 at Nordstrom) or Caudalie’s S.O.S. Morning Eye Rescue ($34 at Sephora).

Owens says these products should be used once under-eye bags and dark circles become a noticeable problem. However, there are options for collegiettes looking to prevent bags from happening in the first place! Bobbi Brown’s Hydrating Eye Cream ($49 at Sephora) or Exuviance Hydrating Eye Complex ($42) both work to keep the under-eye area hydrated and moisturized, which lessens the chance of bags forming. 

2. Stay cool as a cucumber

When you spend long hours staring at your computer, your eyes will definitely show it. Every now and then, your eyes need a break! To help get rid of any puffiness, you should look for a cool compress.

Yes, cucumbers can actually be used for more than a sleepover makeover with your girlfriends! Just place sliced cucumbers over your eyes for 10 to 15 minutes in the morning. The moisture and cool temperature will work wonders for relieving the inflammation and tenderness that comes with under-eye bags.

“Whenever I notice that my eyes are getting puffy, I’ll either use a cold rag or fresh cucumbers and just hold them over my eyes,” says Sara Jackowicz, a junior at the University of Michigan. “My roommates think I’m crazy, but I definitely notice a difference.”

3. Exercise your facial muscles

Have you ever heard of facial yoga? Believe it or not, massaging the under-eye area can stimulate your muscles and blood circulation in order to tighten up your skin and reduce the appearance of under-eye bags. Just like exercise is good for your body, the under-eye area needs a pick-me-up sometimes, too! Livestrong.com provides quick and easy exercises for every collegiette to try. Even better, they take five minutes, tops.

Exercise 1

Start at the outer corners of your eyes and use your middle finger to massage under the eye from the outer edge to your nose. Repeat the motion in the opposite direction by working your way back to the outer eye. Repeat four times.

Exercise 2

Use the three middle fingers of each hand in order to pull the lower lids down, holding them onto the cheekbones. Try to tighten the muscle by closing the lower lids, but don’t release them entirely. Repeat 10 times and hold for six seconds each time.

4. Conceal them

If you can’t get rid of the puffy darkness right away, you can always hide it! If it isn’t already, concealer will soon become your best friend.

“Concealer is the best way to hide dark circles on a daily basis,” Owens says. Her favorite is IT Cosmetics’ Bye Bye Under Eye Anti-Aging Concealer ($24 at Ulta). “At $24 for a tube, which will last an average user quite a while, it is a really great option for concealing with makeup,” she says.

When it comes to choosing the right concealer, Owens recommends aiming for a color that is a half shade lighter than your skin tone so it doesn’t look unnatural. By going a little lighter, it will help neutralize dark areas while blending in with the surrounding skin.

“The product shouldn't be obvious; if it is, chances are it’s too light for your skin,” she says. “Try to buy [a concealer] with a yellow base [because] the art of concealing comes down to the color wheel at the end of the day. Yellow cancels out purple, so this is a good rule of thumb to follow.”

Once you find the right shade, it’s time to apply! “When applying an under-eye product, it is important to use gentle pressure, and I prefer to apply product with my ring finger or a concealer brush,” Owens says. She likes using the EcoTools Bamboo Deluxe Concealer Brush ($5.29 at Ulta) because it helps to blend the product in nicely without looking too cake-y.

With concealer, “Less is also more [because] too much product can look caked on and make fine lines more noticeable, so start with a lighter application and layer if needed,” Owens says.

With finals and term projects stacking up, the last thing you want to worry about is how presentable you look on exam day. But with little to no effort, you can work to hide those all-nighter eyes. Just promise us you’ll catch up on your Zs once you ace those exams, collegiettes!

Finals week in college can feel like the academic version of the Hunger Games. We’re stressed out, exhausted and doing everything we can to stay sane. Surviving finals is all about finding the balance between getting everything done on time and not overworking yourself. Check out these tips for surviving finals week (and staying healthy along the way!).

1. Pick a good study space

In theory, studying in your room in sweats with snacks nearby sounds great, but living with roommates can make it hard to focus. Make sure you pick a study space that is quiet and free of distractions, whether that’s a café or a quiet corner of the library. Know what works for you and what doesn’t.

2. Plan out your studying

Pull out that barely-used planner and make a study schedule, keeping in mind how many exams you have to study for and how much time you’ll need to spend on each one. This way, you can focus on one project at a time, which will prevent you from getting overwhelmed.

3. Take breaks

Studying for hours without a break or two is a recipe for disaster. It’s important to give your mind a rest, even just for 20 or 30 minutes, to keep yourself from getting overworked (and losing your sanity!). Watch an episode of a TV show on Netflix (if you can stop at just one), exercise or talk to a friend—anything to get your mind off studying for a little while.

4. Eat healthy

It can be tempting to turn to junk food when you’re stressed out, but greasy pizza and fast food are only going to make you feel more lethargic. Instead, munch on a protein-rich snack, like a LUNA Protein bar! Not only will they give you the energy you need to power through a library study sesh, but eating the right amount of protein each day is the key to staying fit and lean because protein keeps you full longer. Our favorite LUNA Protein bar flavors are Lemon Vanilla and Chocolate Coconut Almond.

5. Get some Zs

Although many collegiettes spend finals week studying at the library until the wee hours of the morning, sacrificing sleep is never a good idea. Your brain needs rest, and if you’re exhausted, it’s going to be harder for you to focus and absorb information. So even if you think pulling an all-nighter works for you, give yourself time during the day to take a quick nap or two! Your mind and body will thank you.

With these tips, you’ll be able to take on finals week like a pro. Good luck, collegiettes! 

Name: Joyce Meng
Job Title and Description: CEO/Co-Founder of Givology
College/Major: University of Pennsylvania/Huntsman Program - international studies and finance
Website: www.givology.org
Twitter Handle: @Givology

Name: Jennifer Q. Chen
Job Title and Description: President/Co-founder of Givology
College/Major: University of Pennsylvania/Huntsman Program - international studies and finance
Website: www.givology.org
Twitter Handle: @Givology

What does your current job entail? Is there such a thing as a typical day?

Joyce Meng: There’s no such thing as a typical day at Givology since we’re constantly working on new campaigns and initiatives. As the CEO and co-founder… a day can include any of the following:

• Editorial content for our blog and newsletter; in addition, currently we’re finalizing the second edition of our book A Guide to Giving, available on Kindle.
• Website updates. We’re constantly trying to improve our platform to help connect donors to our grassroots causes. Even with my limited coding skills, I’ll still dabble.
• Conference calls with our grassroots partners around the world to get the latest updates, posting updates from our partners on our website (transparency is a core tenet of the Givology philosophy) and coordinating collaborative campaigns/events.
• Social media advocacy on Facebook and Twitter primarily; we typically have seasonal campaigns throughout the year and weekly social media sessions. In addition, sometimes I’ll listen in on our analytics team calls and discussions.  
• Our chapters are engaged in awareness-building and fundraising activities in their respective cities. I’ll oftentimes reach out to chapters to get progress updates and discuss ways to help them increase the reach of their work.
• Interviewing new volunteers for our team. We’re 100 percent volunteer-run, and despite how large our team has grown, I personally believe in meeting and speaking to every new hire to our team. Our organization is only as strong as the people who join in.

Jennifer Chen: Givology is unique in that no one gets paid a salary, and the entire organization is comprised of volunteers. My role within Givology is to wear many hats, and the “typical” day will require me to do so. As a leader of Givology, my responsibilities are multifold, from managing people and operations and corresponding with field partners to brainstorming upcoming fundraisers and initiatives and working on marketing and communications. We are extremely flat and wide, with a network of over 100 volunteers and 10 chapters worldwide.

Joyce and I both believe that Givology has always been built on taking ideas and running with it, so we always encourage volunteers to come up with and work on their own ideas. Any given day, I could be assisting and managing a handful of projects that Givologists are working on—social media messaging, marketing and public relations work, partner management, new initiative building, fundraising, etc. Throughout the day, there may also be more operational issues that come up related to wiring money to our partners or making sure our fundraising checks have come in and have been promptly deposited. Also, I will often be talking to new and existing partners in the mornings and evenings due to the international time differences. I will also make sure to allocate “focus time,” which means at least one to two hours to any longer term projects that require more careful planning, writing, designing and/or calculating, such as an annual report, a grant, upcoming presentations and event planning.

What is the best part of your job?

JM: Knowing that our work touches the lives of so many students and their families around the world. I’m constantly inspired by the passion, resourcefulness and impact-orientation of our grassroots partner schools and education organizations. It’s truly an honor to work with so many incredibly talented and motivated people, and without the doubt, seeing how our efforts at Givology makes a difference [for] one student, one school, one community at the time is truly one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.

JC: The best part of my job is being able to empower both the students and communities in areas where there is dire need and the young, eager volunteers of Givology to make a difference. When our field partners receive Givology funding, it is not just a mere check, it’s a symbol of global connectivity and potentiality. It’s an invitation to share their stories where they will be heard and responded to. Especially because holding a day job in advertising technology is so different from doing my job at Givology, I love being able to make [a] meaningful impact from thousands of miles away and make the warmth giving accessible to all, regardless of one’s age, occupation or demographic.

What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?

JM: Before starting Givology, I did an internship with FINCA International, primarily doing data analytics to figure out from survey data how the program impacted their clients. Later on, I had the chance to be a FINCA fellow in the field collecting data from microcredit clients in Mexico. I got the first position initially from doing research on organizations with a mission that I strongly believed in, and then reaching out to contacts listed on the website; I sent out dozens of emails and didn’t give up even when I didn’t hear back.

The second opportunity came from working hard, doing a good job and being in the right place. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.” I strongly adhere to this philosophy; the big career opportunities come when you work hard and gain experience one step at a time.  

JC: My first “job” in nonprofit and education was not a paid role or a structured program. My most relevant experience was during the summer of my sophomore year, when I traveled to an extremely poor [region] in Northwest China called Ningxia. I traveled to a tiny local village and spent a week living with the families there, documenting their stories, videotaping their accounts and later writing it all up for my senior thesis on the quality of rural education in China. It was a grueling week without hot water or toilets, with only a few pieces of meat per day (which the locals saved for me) to eat. The families slept on stone beds lit by a fireplace carved out beneath the beds, which was the same fireplace children had to kneel by to read and complete their homework after the sun set. It did not matter to the families that they could not afford many amenities at home. It only mattered that they could save enough money each month to pay school tuition.

By high school, only 20 percent of the families were able to keep paying for their children’s education. I left the community with 1,000 dollars and a promise that I would do something about this after I was able to return back to what seemed like a different realm of comfort and fulfillment. It was shortly after Ningxia that I started to venture into education nonprofit entrepreneurialism.

What is one thing you wish you knew about your industry when you first started out that you know now?

JM: I started Givology because education really changed my life, and I strongly believe that education is one of the foundational, quintessential elements to poverty reduction. As an online giving marketplace for education, we relate to our donors via our website and our social media networks. Since we launched more than five years ago when crowdsourcing was a relatively new concept, we had to build a lot of our infrastructure from scratch. In retrospect, we probably would have used a different online database platform with a CMS system to make our website much easier to update, as well as take advantage of the many open-source features now readily available. We’ve come a long way from our initial launch design to Givology 3.0, but we’re constantly looking for ways to improve.

JC: From start to finish, Joyce, myself and a few other founding members back at Penn spent six months ideating and creating the first version of Givology. In hindsight, I wish I did more research about other education ventures of Givology’s nature–both for-profit and nonprofit. The industry of microfinance within education specifically is very small, always changing in terms of regulation and market receptiveness, and the people within the industry are fairly open to sharing advice. In fact, as students, we would have had an easier time approaching and requesting a few minutes of time from other more seasoned entrepreneurs and industry leaders. Only recently did I realize that there were a few Penn alumni who started a national for-profit peer-to-peer student lending platform and that they had once looked into international expansion but found many legal challenges to doing so.

What is one mistake you made along the way and what did you learn from it?

JM: Oh, we’ve certainly made our share of mistakes at Givology! The key is to learn from the experience and move on. For us, transparency in connecting the donor to our grassroots causes is essential; we require regular student and project updates to make sure that the money we give is spent properly and to keep our donor network informed.

When we first started out, we were still experimenting with our screening and interview process with potential partners. Needless to say, a few of our initial partnerships didn’t work out in meeting our criteria for transparency of impact and communication, but we didn’t know until later on. Out of our own pocket we refunded money to our donors since we refuse to compromise the quality of our network. Since then, we’ve added additional steps to increase the rigor of our partnership interviews and to address the key questions surrounding the measurement of impact and the ability to communicate in the field. I think this is what makes Givology truly unique—we may get dozens of applications each week for a potential partnership, but we enter into new partnerships now at a pace of one or two per quarter. Donors can rest assured that we’ve applied the most rigorous screening standards to ensure that we’ve identified truly innovative, lean and impactful organizations.  

JC: One mistake I have personally made at Givology was the set up of our Google grant. The initial application process was not arduous, but it required a lot of paperwork and follow-up. I had to work closely with our CFO to get everything in order. However, the night before the deadline, there was miscommunication about who was compiling and submitting the final application. We ended up missing the deadline and delaying our grant by a few months. Needless to say, we both felt responsible and guilty but as a result, we signed up for file-sharing and project management software hosted on the cloud to avoid email ping-pong and lost documents. We also built a much better rapport after the incident and worked on being clearer in our communication thereafter.

What has been the most surreal moment of your career thus far?

JM: Surreal moments happen all the time as we step back and look at what Givology has accomplished in the last five years. Scaling our website from only dozens of hits per day to now over 30,000 per day, growing our presence at the University of Pennsylvania to now over 18 chapters globally, publishing our first book and selling over 5,000 copies, building a network of now nearly 50 partnerships in 28 countries from starting only initially with one partner in China... it’s surreal reflecting back about how we’ve grown as an organization from just an idea in a dorm room while keeping to our idealistic goal of keeping Givology 100 percent volunteer-driven.

JC: Two years ago, we were contacted by M. Night Shyamalan’s family foundation as a result of a personal recommendation by a Givology donor and volunteer. I had to read my email twice at that point. Both Joyce and I were ecstatic and humbled to be supported by the foundation. The fact that we had such a strong recommendation organically and that we had not done any marketing to establish such a partnership was what made this event so special. I was so inspired and impressed that we had reached a point where word-of-mouth recommendations started to propel us forward.

What do you look for when considering hiring someone?
 

JM: At Givology, we accept volunteers and interns of all backgrounds and experiences as long as they can demonstrate passion for the cause and sufficient time availability to follow through on our projects. However, the candidates we quickly promote in our organization typically have three common characteristics:

1. Reliability in execution: Our best performers follow through on the things they say they want to do with a realistic view on timing, and truly take ownership of their work. They care about the quality of their output and see themselves as true stewards and ambassadors of Givology. It’s not simply getting a project done haphazardly and quickly just to be finished, it’s about paying attention to quality and making sure it’s done right with all our stakeholders, partners, students and schools in mind.
2. Ability to work independently and dedicate sufficient time: There are many challenges to working with an online organization: principally, the ability to keep oneself on track even when there is no direct in-person supervision. Our best performers have the discipline to keep to a schedule, and will take the time to ascend the steep initial learning curve... I always tell my team that Givology is a truly flexible platform that enables each core team member to leave his or her imprint on how we operate: the more time you put in, the more you get out. It’s truly a linear relationship.
3. Effective communication and leadership: Our best performers communicate very effectively with the team. They demonstrate strong leadership ability in motivating their peers on the team and have an “entrepreneurial” spark in proposing new campaigns, ideas, and changes to make Givology more effective. Age, prior experience, background... none of this matters. It’s all about what each person can do.  

JC: We look for a few things. First, they have to be a self-starter and want to take their own initiative and be a mini-entrepreneur within Givology. They [may] not have big ideas but they want to actually get their hands dirty and try them out. Whether they fail or not fail is less important to us.

Second, the candidate wants to do Givology for the right reasons and to truly help out our partners in need, whether that is directly having contact with partners and students in need or using his talent to work on operational projects that lay the foundation for Givology to be able to help our partners. They will work hard on any task and will see that it gets done well.

Finally, the candidate has to be a strong remote worker. Givology is 100 percent volunteer-based, online and distributed across all geographies. Communication over email and phone is essential for collaboration at Givology. Because there is limited face-to-face management, it is also hard to hand-hold anyone, and the candidate has to be an independent worker.

What advice would you give to a 20-something with similar aspirations?

JM: As shown in Thinking Fast and Slow by Nobel-Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, the fear of regret in decision-making often leads to suboptimal choices. When thinking about a career change, fear of regret can often result in paralysis/stasis as we worry about losing what we have in our current job more than valuing what we may potentially gain from the new opportunity.

From experience, some of the most rewarding milestones I’ve achieved have come from taking more risk. With a good education, you will always land on your feet. If you’re unhappy at your job, be proactive and do something about it; since we spend so much time at work, it’s imperative to do something that you enjoy. It’s always the most rewarding to take the plunge and do something that you are truly passionate about—the “safe” and “comfortable” path may be easier to take now, but years later, you’ll be so much happier finding your own way.

JC: For someone in his or her twenties, the most important thing is to self-reflective and self-aware. When I had been frustrated with the number of hours I had been working in investment banking, one of my mentors advised me to look at the life of my boss’s boss and assess what I liked and disliked about it. If there are more things I like than dislike about it, I should stick with my job regardless of the short-term pains. If the contrary is true, it is time to seriously consider another job or role.  I took that advice at the time and evaluated the lives of several senior leaders. As a result, I realized that I chose a job that other people wanted and not one that I wanted myself. It was only then that I forced myself to explore on my own.

eCollegeFinder has created a map that shows the college or university with the highest graduation rate in each state.

Each school's logo is used as the image for each state to show which schools a student is most "likely" to graduate from. Check out the map below to find out if your school made the cut! 

From putting up with us during our teenage years to listening to us rant about our 20-something problems, our moms have done a lot for us. No matter how old we get, we can always count on our moms to be there for us, whether we need a pep talk or a shoulder to cry on. Although it goes without saying that we love our moms, we thought we’d share a few reasons why moms are amazing! Be sure to read through the end to find out an amazing way you can show your mom how much you care about her on Mother’s Day (for free!).

1. They taught us the most important life lessons.

Where would we be without our moms’ words of wisdom and on-point advice for every situation? From relationships to career advice and everything in between, our moms taught us all we need to know about life.

2. They always know how to cheer us up.

Moms somehow know exactly what to say to make us feel better, even when we feel like giving up completely. We can count on our moms to be there when we just need to vent, send us care packages when we need them the most and make us laugh when we want to cry.

3. They put up with us through every stage of life.

Even when we were at our absolute brattiest (remember those middle school years?), our moms had the ability to tolerate our mood swings, tantrums and ever-changing phases with patience and grace.

4. They taught us their beauty secrets.

How would we have ever figured out how to apply mascara without stabbing ourselves in the eye with the wand if it weren’t for our moms? Plus, they handed down their good looks to us!

5. They’re the best listeners.

Let’s face it: our moms are probably the only people who actually want to hear about every detail of our days. We can talk to them about anything and know that they’ll always pick up the phone, no matter how late it is. 

6. They’re our biggest fans.

Our moms are our strongest supporters, coaches and cheerleaders all in one. They inspire us to be our best, celebrate with us when we succeed and comfort us when we fail.

7. They would do anything for us.

Over the years, our moms have given up a lot for us, whether it’s spending hours at the mall searching for the perfect prom dress or sharing the last piece of cake.  

8. They love us unconditionally.

Our moms were (and always will be!) there for us through every questionable decision or mistake, giving us endless love and support without judgment.

Show your mom how much you appreciate her by getting pampered together! When you book yourself for any services at European Wax Center on the phone and say the code “Her Campus” through May 31, your mom can get a matching service of her choice for free! Find your nearest European Wax Center location here and call to make a reservation.

You can also enter European Wax Center’s Mother’s Day sweepstakes to win beauty treatments for your mom!  Check out European Wax’s Facebook and Twitter pages for opportunities to win!

1. Crêpe (France): A thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour, stuffed with the most delectable insides you can imagine.

Strawberries, bananas, chocolate, jelly, sugar, cinnamon, Nutella – you can’t go wrong!

2. Macaron (France): A sweet, meringue-based confection made from egg whites, sugar, and ground almonds that comes in every color of the rainbow.

Oh, how we miss these dainty little cookies.

3. Gelato (Italy): Italian-style ice cream made with milk, cream, various sugars, and love.

What, are we supposed to just go back to eating normal ice cream after experiencing the wonder that is gelato?

4. Belgian Waffle (Belgium): A thick, sweet waffle with a lighter batter and higher grid pattern, meant to be loaded with all the ice cream, powder, sauce, and fruit you can fill it with.  

Do you miss us as much as we miss you, Belgian waffles?

Because we really, really miss you.

5. Chocolate and Churros (Spain): A fried-dough pastry, predominantly choux, dipped in a vat of hot, thick chocolate sauce. Delicioso.

6. Doner Kebab (Turkey): A Turkish dish made of meat, normally veal or beef, cooked on a vertical spit, served with all the pita bread, fries, and chili sauce you can handle.

7. Paella (Spain): A Spanish dish of rice, saffron, and meat such as chicken or seafood that’s served in portions so big you think, “Oh, I’ll never finish all this!”

But then you do.

8. Currywurst (Germany): A German dish consisting of hot pork sausage cut into slices and slathered in curry sauce. #NOM.

9. Vlaamse Frites (Amsterdam): Traditional Dutch fries bathed in whatever sauce your heart desires.

Never has consuming a dollop of garlic aioli felt so wrong, yet so right.

10. Tapas (Spain): Savory Spanish snacks or appetizers that made us believe we were consuming a lot less food than we actually were.

Once you taste bravas, you never look back.

11. Fondue (Switzerland): Melted cheese served in a communal pot over a portable stove, into which you can dip as much bread as you can eat before bursting.

Don’t forget about dessert afterwards.

12. Bruschetta (Italy): An Italian antipasto consisting of grilled bread drenched in olive oil and served with garlic and tomatoes. The one appetizer that makes Olive Garden breadsticks taste inferior in comparison.

13. Escargot (France): A French appetizer of tasty, little cooked land snails. (Don’t knock it until you try it!)

14. Crème Brûlée (France): a French dessert with a rich custard base topped with caramelized sugar and the answers to all our prayers.

15. Flan (Spain): A spongy tart surrounding any number of sweet or savory fillings (Custard? Fruit? Cheese? We’ll take them all, please.).

16. Croque Madame (France): A grilled ham and cheese sandwich with—wait for it—a fried or poached egg on top. Oh, France, what will you think up next? 

17. Chocolate Eclair (France): An oblong creme puff drenched in chocolate. 

MARRY US.

18. Pizza (Italy). Think you experienced real pizza before going abroad?

Think again, collegiettes!  

We have a love/hate relationship with public transportation. Though it’s a convenient, inexpensive way to get around, there are always those little things that make us wonder if forking over the few dollars to ride a subway or bus is really worth it. When we’re commuting to work or school, there are always very distinct thoughts running through our heads:

1. I’m so lucky to have public transportation! It’s so much less expensive than taking a taxi or driving my own car.

2. Do I have enough money? Will they kick me off if I’m 50 cents short? You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you don’t even have 50 cents.

3. Why is there never anywhere to sit? Guess I’m going to have to awkwardly hold the overhead railing. Hope I don’t have body odor.

4. I definitely should have brought hand sanitizer.

5. That guy is ca-uuuute! Better try to act natural in case he looks over here. 

6. How many stops until I get off, again?

7. Look, an open seat! Be aggressive! Get it!

8. Now to entertain myself.

9. There are always the grossest smells on public transportation.

10. Why does that man feel the need to talk so loudly? Shhhhh! 

11. Only two more stops! This is basically just as fast as driving.

12. OMG that baby is so cute. I hope her dad doesn’t notice I’m staring at her, but those cheeks are so chubby and adorable!

13. Whyyyy are we stopped? Gooooooo!

14. It's so flipping hot in here. I actually think I’m suffocating. This is not okay.

15. Wait, am I even going the right direction?

16. Oh, good - my stop! Now everybody MOVE! This chick has got to get off.

17. Did I forget something on there? *Checks all pockets twice*

18. Whew! Thank goodness that's over. 

We love you, public transportation, but you aren't without your quirks!

Obnoxiousness takes form in many ways, but none quite as irritating as on your Facebook News Feed. There are always those people on Facebook who drive you nuts. Their statuses are annoying and often just plain stupid, their posts are pretty pointless and their photo albums are full of pictures that literally nobody needs to see. These are the people you really, really need to unfriend. In case you (somehow) aren’t sure whom we’re referring to, we’ve listed all the people you need to banish from your News Feed.

1. The New Mom

The first pic of your baby was cute. The second was less cute. The 85^th was just annoying. We get that you don’t sleep anymore and you’re constantly covered in spit-up, but we really just don’t care. Plus, it’s creepy that you’re putting so many pictures of your child on the Internet. Like, that’s just asking for trouble.

2. The Oversharer

This person uses Facebook as his or her own personal diary. From long, dramatic status updates about the unfairness of the world to in-depth descriptions of his or her (very) boring life, The Oversharer is exhausting and needs to go far, far away. 

3. The Kid Who Has Horrible Grammar

We don’t know why you missed all of third grade, but your ≠ you’re and then ≠ than. Do us all a favor and get up to speed on basic grammar, because reading your obnoxious posts that are riddled with mistakes just gives us secondhand embarrassment.

4. The Person You Don’t Even Know

This is the kid you somehow became friends with, but when you look at his or her pictures, you have no bleeping idea who he or she is. See ya never (literally).

5. The Middle Schooler

Maybe she’s your cousin or your younger brother’s friend’s sister—The Middle Schooler friends everyone she has mutual friends with. Unaware that being “cool” on Facebook means strategically planning your posts, this person spams everyone’s newsfeed with quotes that don’t seem to mean anything and lots of numbers where letters should be.

6. The Stalker

He liked a tagged pic of you from 2008, so you could say it’s time to remove this guy from your friend list. It wasn’t even a profile pic, which means he literally had to go through all of your thousands of tagged pictures to get to 2008, and that’s just creepy.

7. The Club Promoter

Here’s a secret, Mr. Promoter: nobody wants to go to a 16+ foam party at a sketchy club, no matter how many free drinks “ladies” get. Stop inviting us to these random events that we will NEVER attend.

8. The Political Ranter

Political views are great, as long as they aren’t splattered across our Facebook News Feeds every hour of the day. Keep it to yourself; your political rants are not endearing. In fact, it makes us more likely to unfriend you… and disagree with whatever point you’re trying to make.

9. The Selfie Queen

Whether a girl or a guy, this Facebook fiend is known to post entire albums of selfies… in his or her bathroom, at school, in bed or in a car. Just stop. Please.

Sorry, Facebook friends, but a lot of you aren’t going to make the cut. Just think of it as Spring Cleaning—something that has to be done. 

Administrators at Cedarville University in Ohio stopped distribution of the school's newspaper, The Ventriloquist, after the paper published a first-hand account of a gay student.

The narrative was written by Avery Redic, a former Cedarville student who was removed from student leadership positions at the university because of his sexuality. In the op-ed, Redic writes that after coming out as gay, he was told by administrators that his sexuality was "spiritual instability."

"[Student Life President John Wood] said he was not comfortable having a gay student in a positions of leadership, and so the article was just Avery's basically first-person account of what happened with that, and I have to imagine the administration wasn't especially fond of that,"said Ventriloquist writer Zach Schneider. "The move to confiscate it happened so quickly that I would be pretty surprised if they actually read it before they confiscated it."

University President Dr. Thomas White responded by saying that the school (which has a Baptist affiliation) did not shut anything down, but instead "prevented unauthorized solicitation."

An article posted on the newspaper's website suggests that "the move to shut down The Ventriloquist is likely the latest in a series of shifts towards right-wing religious fundamentalism by the new administration." 

It’s been a while since your last relationship, and you’re ready to put yourself back out in the dating world again.

The only problem is, you can’t find yourself a boyfriend in a day – getting to know a guy takes some time! As much as you’d love to run into a cute guy and have him immediately realize that you’re the woman of his dreams, most of the time you go through a few stages before he gets to that point.

Here are the seven stages of talking to a new guy in college:

Stage One: The Awkward Class Conversations

When the super hot guy in your English class decides to sit behind you, you’re going to try to find every possible excuse to talk to him. You’re not even in first-date-conversation territory yet - any tiny homework question or comment about the weather will do!

You try to play it cool whenever you two talk in class, but little does he know you’re totally freaking out on the inside. You ask him if you can borrow a pencil or offer him a stick of gum way too many times.

Whenever you see his beautiful face as you walk into class, you know you’re in for an entire hour of word vomit à la Cady Heron.

Stage Two: Serious Flirting

After a week or two of subtle flirting, you guys exchange numbers “just in case you have questions about the homework.” When he finally texts you, you’re like…

Over time, you find out that you guys actually have a lot of things in common (who would have thought that you BOTH liked Chipotle!?) and your crush continues to grow the more you guys converse through a never-ending stream of winky faces.

The only problem is you’re left with a ton of text-related questions: Am I texting him too often? Am I not texting him often enough? Should I text him first? I sent too many emojis in that last text, didn’t I? How many “hahas” should I use to respond to his last joke? It says he read my text five minutes ago, so why hasn’t he texted me back yet?!

Since you’re not totally sure if he’s into you quite yet, you overanalyze every little text message. What did his compliment text really mean?!

Stage Three: Running Into Him at a Party

After a few weeks of some serious flirt-texting, you pray that you’ll run into him at a party on the weekend. Your daytime classroom flirting and over-the-phone messages can only get you so far – it’s time to graduate from the kissing-face emoji and move on to the real thing!

When you finally see him at a party, your stomach fills with butterflies and you know this is the moment things are really going to start happening between you two. Without the restriction of a classroom or your professor’s watchful eye, you can finally get a little extra flirty and truly let him know that you’re into him.

After a little bit of flirting and a little bit of dancing you decide that, okay, you REALLY like this guy. Your hopes and dreams for the weekend are fulfilled when you go back to his place at the end of the night.

Stage Four: More Awkward Class Conversations

After your weekend hook-up, it may seem like things have gone back to square one. You don’t really know where you two stand after your party escapade, and things are more than a little awkward when you get to class on Monday.

And in class on Wednesday…

And Friday…

You might take his awkward indifference and his lack of text messages as a sign that he’s not really that into you anymore, but then again, he could be searching for the right way to break the tension, just like you.

Stage Five: Friends With Benefits

Despite the awkward tension you felt in class all week, when the weekend rolls around, you guys pick up right where you left off. And before you know it, you guys start hooking up EVERY weekend. At this point, you’re not really sure where you two stand. Are you exclusive? Is this going anywhere? Are you guys just fooling around?

You might be reluctant to define the relationship right now because you don’t want to scare him off, but you’re anxious to know if this is going to turn into anything real or not.

Things start getting way less awkward in class, you start texting more regularly, trips to the dining hall together after class become the norm and you start to really get to know each other. You leave him casual hints about your ever-apparent status as a single woman, but of course, he’s totally oblivious to your subtly persistent ways.

Stage Six: The DTR Talk

When casual trips to the dining hall turn into restaurant dinners, staying over at his place on the weekends is almost a given and you find yourself with more than a few of his sweatshirts stockpiled in your closet, you know that it’s time to define the relationship. Most of your friends already associate you guys with each other anyways; that’s when you know it’s definitely time to DTR. You take it upon yourself to initiate “The Talk” even though you’re pretty nervous and you already know what you’re going to say if he shoots you down…

You decide to just bring it up and hope for the best. It turns out, he was just as nervous as you were to talk about it! Thank goodness!

Stage Seven: Romantic Bliss

After weeks and weeks of hook-ups, flirt-texting and hanging out, you guys finally make the leap and decide to be exclusive, which leaves you plenty of time to ask the question…

So maybe there’s no one easy step that can help you land the guy of your dreams. If you wait it out a few weeks and go through all the stages, your English-class crush could turn into the boyfriend you’ve been waiting for! 

Feeling nervous about Advanced Placement exams? You’re not alone, and we definitely don’t blame you for feeling a little test anxiety. But if you’re feeling like you don’t know where to start, have no fear! From study strategies to test-day snacks, we’ve got you covered with all the steps for acing your AP exams.

Choose the right study technique

Everyone has his or her own ideas about which study strategies are most effective. But recent studies have indicated that the old-school methods of highlighting and re-reading notes may not actually be as helpful as we thought.

Researchers at Kent State University tested the relative utility of 10 commonly used learning techniques for retaining large amounts of material. Of the 10 techniques tested, the five with the lowest utility ratings included highlighting and rereading—ironically, two of the most heavily relied-upon study techniques. On the other hand, practice tests and distributed practice proved to be highly effective.

So put down your highlighter and pick up those practice exams! And forget about last-minute cram sessions. Jenn Gold, a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania, can definitely relate to feeling bogged down in exam stress. With five APs to prepare for her senior year, Jenn says “the worst thing honestly was the anxiety. But the best way to ace them is to think about them in little chunks. Study little pieces at a time and have faith in yourself that you know the information.”

Use your resources

Ever been to the College Board's AP Central website? Now might be a good time to check it out.

Not only does this site have practice questions for each subject, but it also offers sample student essays for many subjects, such as AP U.S. History and AP English Language and Composition.

Another thing to consider is purchasing a review book. This can help with time management and with providing a digestible review of all of the material you need to know for the exam. Furthermore, if your AP teacher missed teaching you something, you won’t be at a disadvantage for not being exposed to any of the material.

There are a multitude of options out there, but some popular books to look into are Barron’s AP test prep series and McGraw-Hill’s 5 Steps to a 5 series.

Eat right

You might not think your diet has much to do with your test scores, but food is fuel, and what you’re putting into your body can really effect how you perform on the exam.

“First of all, don't overeat, especially during [the] test; small and healthy [meals] is the way to go,” says registered dietitian Elisa Bremner.

According to Bremner, certain foods are actually linked to increased concentration and memory function. For starters, eggs, walnuts and blueberries are among the top “brain-boosting” options out there.

Eggs contain the essential nutrient choline, which, according to Bremner, increases memory function, and the serotonin in walnuts helps keep you to stay calm and focused. In order to make it through the whole exam without losing steam, make sure that your morning-of breakfast includes both a complex carbohydrate and a protein. Some great breakfast options include:

• Whole-wheat toast with almond butter and banana slices. Top it with cinnamon for a flavor boost!
• A Greek yogurt parfait with walnuts and blueberries. Add a dash of honey for a little sweetness.
• An omelet with spinach and mushrooms. The protein from the eggs and the fiber from the spinach will keep you satisfied during those grueling test hours.

The same goes for snacks. The AP tests are very long, but luckily you’ll get a quick break generally about halfway through the exam. Take advantage of this opportunity to refuel.

Steer clear of junk food, which can leave you feeling bloated and drowsy. Instead, Maria Simonetti, the director of community health education and outreach at Northern Westchester Hospital, suggests packing a snack with a healthy balance of protein and natural carbs.

Some test-day snack favorites include:

• Carrots with hummus. Sabra sells convenient snack packs that are great for packing on the go!
• Yogurt with fruit. Try Fage Greek yogurts. Fage separates its fruit from the yogurt, so you have more control over how much sugar you’re adding compared to fruit-on-the-bottom brands. Plus, the extra protein in Greek yogurt will keep you satisfied for longer, so you won’t have to worry about your belly grumbling mid-exam.   
• Raw, unsalted almonds. Stay away from trail mix varieties with too many sugary ingredients, like M&Ms or dried fruit, which can pack in loads of sugar and extra calories. Try sticking mainly to raw, unsalted nuts.

Treat yourself along the way

Yes, it’s crunch time. But that doesn’t mean that AP exams should consume your life. As Simonetti says about teen health, “It’s all about balance.”

Help yourself to stay on track by rewarding yourself when you do well. A study conducted at the University of Chicago explored the short-term effects of financial and non-financial incentives on students’ performance. Researchers found that when students were promised rewards for doing well on tests, their scores increased.

Did you ace a practice exam? Treat yourself to a manicure. It’s Friday and you’ve stuck to your study schedule the whole week through? Grab some celebratory fro-yo.

Annabelle Tourkam, a freshman at George Mason University, uses Netflix to reward herself for good study habits. “It gives me something to look forward to and I feel that I deserve to have downtime because I put in the time and effort to study,” she says.

And don’t forget to treat yourself after the exam, either. You’re almost there! Anxiety is a killer—don’t let it get you. Eat a good breakfast and believe that you know the material. We know you do!

With graduation only a couples weeks away, many of you seniors are starting to hit the panic button about your post-college plans. If you don’t know what you’re doing yet, graduation can definitely be daunting to think about.

During this stressful time, it’s important to make sure you have some tricks to calm your nerves. Check out our guide for relieving post-graduation stress now!

1. Confront the future

If no one has hired you yet, you’re probably starting to feel like you’re never going to get a job. But it’s essential that you keep trying! Feeling a little bit discouraged is normal, but refusing to send out any more applications altogether is not the way to go. You might not have a job, but you’ll feel much more productive if you know that you’re doing everything possible to get one.

“As a soon-to-be-graduate, I'm a little terrified that I don't know what's coming next,” says Rachel from Butler University. “To combat that, I remind myself that I am doing everything I can to find work after graduation. I'm networking, I'm consistently applying to jobs, and I'm sending out requests for informational interviews.”

One good idea is to make a plan of action that maps out what you’re going to be doing for the next few months. Having an idea of what you want to accomplish can help organize your thoughts and lower your anxiety.

“I’ve always known I want to live in New York City after college,” says Nicole from the University of North Carolina. “I’ve created a plan applying to jobs in the city and simultaneously looking for apartments.”

Start out by deciding where you would like to be at the end of the time period you’re planning for. Then create specific goals and steps that you need to take to get there and come up with concrete milestones that measure your success rate. Finally, put a timeline on everything, and use your day planner or smartphone to keep track of your deadlines.

No one is going to come knocking on your door to hand you your dream job, you’re going to have to make that happen on your own. You never know when the phone call you’re making, the e-mail you’re sending, or the networking event you’re attending is going to be the one that lands you an opportunity, so the key is to be doing something every day to reach your goals.

2. Keep things in perspective

It’s no secret that the job market that college graduates are facing is a tough one right now. It’s good to remember that while it may seem like you’re the only person who doesn’t have anything lined up yet, many other post-grads are feeling exactly the same way.

You might feel like some of your peers were immediately hired to do their dream job and you have absolutely no idea how to make that happen for yourself. Considering alternative routes to get to where you want to be rather than trying to jump right into it is a great way to take away some of the tension from your situation. Getting a job that’s in a field related to what you actually want to do can be a big stepping stone towards your final destination.

For example, if you want to eventually end up working in public relations or advertising, you can start by looking for a job anywhere in the communications field. Getting a job writing for any publication would be a step in the right direction and would allow you to make contacts that could possibly help you get the job you’re actually striving toward.

“My professors keep telling me that if I don’t get my dream job right away it’s still helpful to get a job that will put my foot in the door and can help me work my way up,” explains Nicole.

Creating a budget is another good way to keep your mind focused on what you need to be doing rather than just sitting around worrying. Having a budget will ensure that you know what you can and can’t spend money on.

Realistically budgeting can be difficult if you’ve never done it before, so using a site such as CashCourse can be extremely helpful. Along with other financial advice, it gives you tips on how to create a budget and how to adjust your budget as your income increases or decreases. It even has an online worksheet you can fill out that’s specifically intended to help you budget for life after college.

3. Practice daily stress reducers

Even if you’re working in the right direction toward getting a job, there are probably still going to be times when you feel overwhelmed by what’s going on in your life. Practicing daily stress relievers can be a great remedy for this.

One option for daily anxiety management is practicing mindfulness-based stress reduction.

“I am a big proponent of practicing mindfulness which incorporates a couple of different things: mediation, yoga, walking meditation, etc.” says Dr. Karen Bluth, a Post Doctoral Fellow in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina. “It’s a combination of meditative techniques and research has shown that it’s really effective for reducing stress.”

Andy, a collegiette from the University of North Carolina, says that yoga, an aspect of mindfulness-based stress reduction, helps her relax.

“Yoga definitely has a meditative aspect to it and the asanas - or poses - are very refreshing in the morning or after a long day of studying or job-searching,” she explains. “Going to yoga is a great break because I always have more energy afterwards, and it really clears my mind! It has great health effects too. Inversions [a type of yoga positions] are great for blood flow and help relieve anxiety and stress.”

Dr. Bluth says that these practices can be most effective during times in your life when you’re feeling more stressful than usual, e.g., post-graduation.

“These techniques are effective for any kind of anxiety really and certainly at times in your life when you’re more anxious is probably when they’re most useful,” she says.

She also details how one common mindfulness-based stress reduction skill can be perfected.

“An example of a typical practice would be a breathing technique,” explains Dr. Bluth. “You sit in a comfortable position and bring attention and awareness to your breath. You breathe normally, but as you inhale and exhale you bring your attention to your breath and you notice how your breath feels. Usually in a very short amount of time you’ll realize that you’re not thinking about your breath anymore and that your mind has wandered. When you notice that, you make a mental note of it and then bring your attention back to your breath. You’re training your mind to be in the present moment. When you’re in the present moment, you respond to things in a way that is more conscious and more aware.”

Dr. Bluth strongly recommends taking a class on mindfulness-based stress reduction if you are still having trouble controlling your daily anxiety about post-college life.

4. Stay happy and healthy

Another huge aspect of keeping your stress levels at a minimum is making sure you’re taking care of yourself. Eating well, working out, and getting enough sleep are essential factors in determining how good you feel and how anxious you are.

While you do need to be working to accomplish your goals, you also need to be enjoying your life and doing things that make you happy.

“Most importantly, I'm taking time for the things I enjoy: ice cream dates, late night walks around campus, and reading for pleasure,” says Rachel. “Laughter is a great tension reliever, so I've started reading Mindy Kaling's book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). It's witty and true to life--perfect reading for a stressed out collegiette!”

You can’t live in a bubble where your every thought revolves around getting a job. After all, you’re about to be a college graduate and deserve to pat yourself on the back and give yourself a break. Go out and spend time with your friends and family to celebrate everything you’ve accomplished over the past four years.

“I stress about this all the time, almost every day,” says Jasmin from the University of the Sunshine Coast. “The best advice I give myself is 'just think about the now' and only think a little bit about the future. It's so hard to do but if you don't live in the 'now' many moments can slip away or even just seeing your friends and family - those moments can slip away, too.”

Your friends and family are a great support team during this time of transition in your life. They’ll be able to give you not only emotional backup, but also advice about what to do next. Talking to them can be a great outlet for stress and will leave you feeling much better afterwards.

“My family keeps telling me to relax because a lot of graduates don't have a job lined up right away,” says Nicole. “I’ve finally realized it’s ok if I take a couple of months off while I live at home and apply places.”

It’s normal to be somewhat stressed about what you’re going to be doing after college, but driving yourself crazy over it isn’t going to help anything. Following these tips will help to keep you calm while still staying on the path to get to where you want to be. Good luck almost graduated collegiettes!