Whether you were interning from 9 to 5, waiting tables or perfecting your tan by the pool (lucky), those three months of summer seemed to drag on forever without your best friends, favorite restaurants and wild college parties. But don’t despair, collegiettes; school is back in session. And not only is it a new semester, it’s fall semester. And fall semester is the most awesome time of the year. Here are a few reasons why (actually, 33):
1. It’s a fresh start. It’s a new year, which means a clean slate. Fall semester is the best time to reinvent yourself into the ultra-studious, ultra-fun, ultra-collegiette you’ve always wanted to be, or just to keep improving on the awesome collegiette you already are.
2. Seeing your friends again. Be prepared for a lot of screaming, running hugs and squealing, because you’re back with your best friends again after a long summer break and you can’t wait to start having collegiate fun together again.
3. Catching up on summer stories. Annie interned at Google, Emily had a super-hot summer fling with that dark-haired lifeguard from her work, and Beth visited New York City where she actually saw Ryan Gosling in a restaurant (or a blonde lookalike, at least). Clearly you’ve got some summer gossip to share.
4. Fall fashion. A new school year is the best time for a wardrobe refresher, and we’ve already picked out the latest fall trends that we want to show off this semester (in case anyone forgot how stylish we were over summer break). Who doesn’t love an excuse to go shopping?
5. Back-to-school events. Most schools have a few days to get students acclimated and excited to be on campus before class starts (usually called Welcome Week or something similar), and these can be full of concerts, outdoor movies, and informational sessions — all for students. And did we mention they’re usually free? Take advantage of them; remember, your college budget starts now…
6. Free stuff! Free stuff everywhere! Welcome Week typically has an event where student organizations will give you free t-shirts, Frisbees, sunglasses, food, you name it to persuade you to sign up for their club. Not only is free stuff awesome, but Welcome Week might also help you find a fun organization to join that you had never heard of before (ski and snowboard club? Cool!). Just try not to write your name down on too many sheets of paper or your e-mail inbox will be dreadfully full before class even starts.
7. Being free of your parents. Yes, you’re free of your parents for spring semester, too, but you were at home for winter break for like, three weeks. This was three months. Three months of curfews and nagging. We love you, Mom and Dad, but we missed our freedom.
8. Buying a ton of back-to-school stuff. Because even notebooks and laundry detergent can give you a shopper’s high. The best way to start off a new year is buying a lot of new things!
9. Fall semester is perfect for starting your new year’s resolutions. Who decided January was a good month for that, anyway? Why would you start your vow to go to the gym twice a week or chat up that hot guy in your psych class when the school year is halfway over when you can start now?
10. New exercise classes at the gym. (Speaking of those new year’s resolutions…) Did last year’s group exercise schedule bore you so much that going to the gym just became so banal (totally why you stopped going… or never started in the first place)? Never fear, a new exercise class schedule is here! And look, that combo kickboxing-Zumba-yogalates class fits perfectly in your fall schedule! Now you have no excuse not to get healthy this year.
11. The first week of classes. Wait, classes? That was one thing we didn’t miss over the summer. But the first week, otherwise known as “Let’s Read the Syllabus Then Leave After 10 Minutes” week, lets you ease into your academic life (ugh) a little more smoothly.
12. Start of the year parties.“Let’s Read the Syllabus Then Leave After 10 Minutes” week goes perfectly with lots of wild back-to-school parties. No homework means more time to have fun! For a week, anyway.
13. New guys. A magical thing happens every fall on college campuses: a whole new crop of freshman guys arrive, ready to save bored collegiettes from their man-droughts. And even if you may be nervous about dating a younger man, think about all the hot new transfer students and new guys in your classes that you haven’t met before. Microeconomics just got a whole lot more interesting.
14. New friends. So that hot guy in your microeconomics class ended up already having a girlfriend (ouch). But why not talk to that hilarious girl who sits on the other side of you in class instead? A new year means new classes with new people who could have a lot in common with you, such as a love for Darren Criss and late-night ice cream runs.
15. Sorority rush. For those GDIs out there, rush might be more of a headache than anything else, but for girls interested in the Greek system, rush is an exciting introduction to hundreds of girls who could become your new BFFs.
16. Football games. Dressing up (or painting up) in your school’s colors, waving pom-poms like your life depends on it, screaming at the refs and cheering on your team until your throat hurts; there’s nothing quite like college football. Even if you can’t tell the difference between a cornerback and a quarterback, anyone can appreciate spending a sunny Saturday cheering on your school with your best friends. Go State!
17. Tailgating. With football comes tailgating, and with tailgating comes delicious food, beer and lots of cute guys. Need I say more?
18. At first, the dining hall food doesn’t seem too bad. At first.
19. New digs. A new year means it’s time for a new dorm or apartment that’s (hopefully) not a 25-minute walk from your classes like last year and (hopefully) doesn’t smell quite as weird as your old dorm did.
20. A new living space means new décor. And lots of DIY — yay for Pinterest! Or Target, if you’re not that crafty.
21. A new roommate. Remember how much your roommate’s sexiling habits and overflowing trash can drove you nuts last year? Guess what: she’s finally gone. Hallelujah!
22. A new RA. He’s kind of hot, too… and just down the hall…
23. Fall TV shows. Time for weekly viewing parties with your dormmates (and lots of popcorn).
24. Falling leaves. Red and orange leaves + the quad = a perfectly picturesque campus worthy of an admissions brochure. Ahh.
25. Holiday drinks at Starbucks. We missed you, pumpkin spice lattes. And the red cups are just so much cuter than the white ones!
26. So. Many. Breaks. There’s fall break, Thanksgiving break and winter break, which is way more time off of papers and exams than that measly couple days you get for spring break next semester.
27. Fall weather. It’s not too hot and not too cold (all you need is a light jacket!); fall weather is perfect for playing Frisbee on the quad, starting an outdoor exercise routine and walking home from a night out without freezing your butt off.
28. Halloween. Don’t you miss dressing up in costumes and eating a ton of candy every Halloween as a kid? You’re in luck — in college, going out on Halloween dressed like a flapper or a witch or a Transformer that can actually morph between car and robot (yep, it’s been done) is cool again. Halloween is the one night a year where the entire campus comes together to don the craziest costumes you’ve ever seen and throw the craziest parties you’ve ever been to.
29. Homecoming. Concerts, parties, football, a new Homecoming Queen and King and lots of cute old people walking around campus talking about their former hangouts and favorite college memories. One day, that’ll be you…
30. Thanksgiving break. Remember how the dining hall food tasted good “at first”? Welcome to your first home-cooked meal in three months. Our mouths are watering already.
31. Black Friday. Your back-to-school wardrobe finally feeling a little dull? Time to get up at 5 a.m. (or 3 a.m.… or 12 a.m.), down a ton of coffee and duke it out with a lot of sleep-deprived people over sweaters and jeans with triple-super-markdown prices. Then take a nap. Then eat leftovers.
32. Tacky Christmas sweater parties. Now you can tell your grandma how much you loved wearing her Christmas present to you and actually mean it.
33. Winter holidays. It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And nothing says festive quite like a dorm decorated with red and green lights, a mini Christmas tree, blue and white streamers, or a silver menorah.
Excited yet? We are! Get ready — something tells us this fall semester is going to be seriously epic.