When I first graduated from high school all those years ago (it was only ten), I couldn’t wait to get out and into the world. I had a whole summer of mucking around, and working before I had to school to college the following semester. I was attending a smaller community college, so I didn’t have that initial shock of being in a lecture hall with five hundred other students. The class sizes at my college were no more than forty and it was really easy to walk up to your professor after class to have a chat about the latest assignment or ask them advice about how to find a thesis for your term paper. The other great thing about attending a small university was that meeting people was so much easier, and that meant that meeting boys was much easier!

Unlike most of my friends that went to college with me, I didn’t have a boyfriend. Even after the first year, I was the only one in my group who hadn’t coupled up, and I preferred it that way. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to have a boyfriend, and it wasn’t like I wasn’t be asked out on dates on a regular basis, I just didn’t want to make the time. My grades were far more important and I knew that If I ended up in a relationship, it was just something else that I would have to worry about. On top of that, there’s nothing worse than getting involved with someone on a small campus, then having to break-up with them soon after. That campus is so small that you can’t help but run into them time and time again, and who knows that they’ve said about you to their obnoxious friends.

But that was me, and I do want to make it clear that this post isn’t meant to discourage you from finding someone to date while you’re in college. I happen to think that college is probably where you’re going to find the one. I also think that having a few relationships in college is a great idea because with every relationship, you learn something. And after every break-up. hopefully you learn a little something more! What I’m getting at is that if you’re going to date in college, it’s a good idea to set some ground rules, not only with the person that you’re dating but also with yourself. Not really sure what I’m talking about? Let me give you a little more guidance:

Lay out the priorities first. Look, if you’re going to school, you’re going there for a reason. If you’re there on mommy and daddy’s dime, don’t waste it away by going all boy crazy. Whomever you date needs to know that your education is of the utmost importance to you, and that if you have to blow them off to go study, that is a perfectly acceptable, inarguable reason. I watched my friends time and time again squabble with their partners because they wanted to spend more time with them. Time is a precious commodity when you’re a college student, and if you’re going to let someone come into your life, they need to know there’s a pecking order.

Create a schedule to avoid conflict. Because a college schedule can be so grueling, it’s just as important to have you time as it is to have partner time. If there’s a schedule, than your partner will know when to expect time with you, and it give them the freedom to create their own schedule so they’re not sitting around waiting for you all of the time!

It’s June and for most of the country, university students are enjoying the pure bliss that is time off between semesters. That is, unless you’re a total keener and you’ve decided you want to finish your degree early by going to school in the summer months. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but sometimes, it’s better to take a mental break, than to push forward and risk burning out prematurely. I’m sort of in that situation now. I just turned thirty and I’ve only recently decided to go back and hit the books. But unlike most college students, I’m older, more mature, and I’ve had enough life experience that I’m fairly equipped to deal with unusual amounts of stress. For those students who go to straight from high school to university, they’re not equipped to manage the hidden pitfalls of college life.

Stress, if you’re not careful, can have devastating impact on your health and well being. It has the ability to cause severe sleeping disorders, pain, intestinal difficulties, hair loss, loss of appetite and an armload of other symptoms. It has the power to weaken your immune system making you susceptible to all sorts of nasty viruses like the flu, and it takes longer for you to get over things. A semester, for most folks, is only four months long, and if you’re spending one of those months trying to get over a cold or the flu, your not at the top of your game, and that can equate to a weakened GPA.

So from one stress case to another, here are a few things that helped me out the first time I went to college:

1) EAT!

This sounds like an obvious one, right? Of course you’re going to eat, you can’t function without food. But in reality, college students are famous for skipping meals because they think they don’t have time, and they don’t make it a priority. Skipping breakfast is just about one of the dumbest things you can possibly do, plus no one wants to listen to your grumbly tummy all morning. All skipping breakfast does, is kick your body into emergency mode, cause unnecessary fatigue, and starve the most important muscle you have, your brain. So eat, and don’t eat junk!

2) Move your body! 

Don’t sit on your arse for an entire semester, because if you do, you’ll only be ten pounds heavier and that much more lethargic. Studying is important, but so is staying healthy. So find something outdoors that you like to do like getting on a bike, jogging, or if you like being social, join a team!

3) Sleep! 

If you think you’re going to succeed at completing that honour’s degree, you can’t do it if you’re only getting 3-4 hours of sleep every night. Well, maybe you will, but you’re going to look like a drowned cat by the end of it all. When the body is starved of sleep, your body will start to shut down. You’ll lack concentration, again your immune system will begin to shut down, but what’s worse, you run the risk of mental illness. Depression is quite common among students who don’t get enough sleep, and once you start doing battle with that dragon, everything becomes that much more of a struggle. If you have time in the afternoon, between classes, put your head down and take a nap. Naps aren’t just for toddlers you know!

4) Breathe! 

Dead serious, don’t forget to breathe. Spend some time in your dorm room either on your bed or in a chair just breathing. Close your eyes, clear your head and listen to the sound of your heart, you might be surprised by what you hear!

via That Foodie Girl (see all that oatmeal? sucker. she doesn't know how to milk the system... yet)

Hey there besties!

It’s a beautiful Friday morning here at BCL headquarters (currently the Cap Hill Whole Foods in Denver), and we wanted to take a moment to share our shiesty and rather ingenious way to save money and get the best healthy breakfast around. Now, don’t get us wrong. The healthiest and best breakfasts can usually be made at home. But when you’re on the road, or on the go, it can be hard to find things that fit the following best breakfast qualifications:

• All natural
• No preservatives
• No additives
• No hydrogenated oils
• Gluten free (sometimes)
• Vegan
• Fast
• Cheap
• Delicious
• Fun
• Yes. Being a little sheisty is fun!

That might sound like an exaggeration. But it’s not. No only is your BCL tribe filled with advice about flirting and body language, we’re also your one stop shop under the umbrella of general dating advice. We know it all.

We’ve never been married. And we know so much about dating that we’re smart enough to rarely engage in the activity. So today we’re here to pass on our dating know-how to you. You’re welcome in advance.

On On-Again, Off-Again Dating

‘Tis a waste of time and energy. According to a study from Kansas State University, cyclical relationships are weaker than their non-cyclical counterparts and usually involve impulsive decision making. Most of those relationships end for good cause, and then start back up because relationship participants don’t want to tough it out in the single world. The verdict: Give it up already.

On Opposites Attract

This one’s pretty interesting. While we empirically know that having a mate with similar values, religious beliefs, and world views creates a stronger bond and less conflict, 85% of people still claim to want someone who has their opposite traits. If you love to travel, you might think you want to be with a homemaker. Odds are you’ll eventually want them to join you, and they’ll want you to stay home. The verdict: Don’t buy into the age old adage that opposites attract, or that having a common ground would be boring. It will only cause difficulties down the road.

On Hard-Headedness and Broken-Heartedness

Holy love science, batman! If you don’t believe in love, or you have the feeling that you’d never be interested in another relationship ever again, we’ve got some research for you to chew on. According to doctor Marsha Lucas, you can use mindfulness meditation in order to rewire the neurological pathways in your brain and build a path back to your heart (Holy cheesy, BCL writer!). Reserchers are noting physical changes that correspond with the places in the brain associated with love in less than six weeks. The verdict: It can’t hurt!

Best dating advice ever… right? Think you can do better? Add in your favorite dating advice below!

Welcome back to BCL’s Best of Trying to Score a Date Guide for the Living! Maybe we should really work on the title of this series. We’ll try again later. But right now, it’s time to get down to brass tacks. It’s a beautiful Saturday morning and we want to get some information to you about flirting. That way, you won’t have to spend tonight curled up with a bag of Natural Cheetos, watching another episode of Breaking Bad all by your lonesome.

We stumbled upon an insightful article about flirting without being funny that really got us thinking. So much of flirting is about body language. So, even though we just wrote a post about dishing out pick up lines, put that in the back of your mind for now, and chew on this for a moment: body language is everything.

No matter how good your line is, no matter how amazing your joke is, it won’t mean jack if you can’t master the art of non-verbal flirting. This “tactic” is tried and true. It goes way back to the point in our evolutionary period when communication between the sexes was a little on the grunty side. Using your body to communicate interest works for both men and women, and it’s more of an art than a science.

Here two major things to keep in mind when you’re stumped for a line, but want to express your desire.

Mirroring:

We mirror each others movements naturally when we’re trying to make a connection with another human. When you’re flirting, take this a step further, take it to the dance floor. Mimicking the way another person moves when they’re expressing themselves is the perfect way to show that you’re on the same page. Don’t take this too far. “You’re a forensic psychologist? Me too!” That won’t get you very far.

Eye Contact:

Did you know that most men won’t talk to a woman until they’ve made direct eye contact? That is a fact. Don’t be sheepish and look the guy/gal in right in the peepers and you’re much more likely to make a connection.

Arms Over Chest:

This move can go either way. It can signal that you’re not interested, or if you’re a lady, it can draw attention to your breasts and suggest sexual anxiety. It’s a bold coy move. Try it if you dare.

What body language do you use when you’re flirting?

Finding single members of the opposite sex really isn’t that hard. According to CNN 43% of people over the age of 18 are single. That means you have nearly a 50% chance that the good looking dude/chick in one of your software engineering courses is single (and can probably program their own remote control). But making a move can be a tricky mess. What are you supposed to say? This month at BCL, we’re going to focus on the art of getting from point A to point B. Point A being that horrible place of wanting to say something to someone, but not knowing what or how. And point B being that lovely place when you’re dating the person that you had your eye on for the entire semester.

First things first, let’s talk about the first impression. If you’re smooth, confident and well spoken, just jump right in. Notice something about the person you’re admiring, compliment them on it. Make a joke about your professor. Just chat. If you’re not any of those things, you can use an old trick: The Pick Up Line. Using the pick up line effectively isn’t as easy as it looks. You’ll have to learn how to incorporate some finesse into utilizing the pick up line in order to get results.

Warm Up

Beware of the standard pick up line, especially if you’re coming into the situation cold. Imagine this scenario: You’re sitting at a coffee shop and I pop up next to you out of nowhere and say, “Hey there good lookin’! Is your dad an astronaut? Because your rear end is out of this world…”

Do you think that would work? Are you ready to go on a date with me? Do you suddenly want to meet my parents? Should we get a puppy together? What do you mean, no? Is it because that pick up line has the phrase “rear end” in it, and it reminds you of your grandma? Is it because you’ve heard it before? Or is it because you have no idea what to say in response?

The thing about dropping a line on someone is that you have to warm up before you jump in the game, otherwise, they’ll be forced into that awkward silence when they’re trying to figure out what to say in the same breath that they’re figuring out if they want to date you. Focus on giving the person a little eye attention. This doesn’t mean that you should stare at your potential lover for hours on end. But make a little eye contact and smile before you go over.

Take It In Stride

Don’t be too serious about using a pick up line and keep it light and funny. If she gives you an odd look, just laugh it off and tell her, you’re studying the effectiveness of pick up lines. Have fun with it.

Take The Words Out of Someone Else’s Mouth

If you hear a good pick up line from someone else, try it out. Or you can try some of these ones on for size.

It seems Colorado’s secret is out. This state is awesome. As a recent new addition to the 2,543,482 people that call the Colorado Front Range Home, I can’t help but be taken in by this amazing place. This is an area that extends from Ft. Collins to the north, and Pueblo to the south, and also is home to Denver, Colorado’s largest and most populated area.

Arguably, the best part of living here is the weather. Colorado has six months of perfect weather, and the other six months are just a step below perfect. With 300 days of sunshine a year, it’s a sunglasses collectors dream. The people that live here anticipate every season with absolute excitement.

Denver has an amazing music scene with more shows than you could ever hope to go to. With venues like The Fillmore and The Ogden  lining Colfax Ave, you’ll never feel bored, and the ultra-hip twentysomethings that frequent the area are great eye candy. I recommend wearing the skinniest jeans you own.

Obviously, Colorado is known world-wide for it’s natural beauty and abundance of year-round outdoor activities. Mountain bikers, hikers, skiers, snowboarders, rock climbers, hang gliders all call the state home. The result is urban areas filled with in-shape young people from all over the world.

Colorado is a melting pot of american youth. Almost nobody in Colorado is a native, and come from all over. Natives wear this fact like a badge of honor, covering their cars with bumper stickers letting everyone know they were born here. How many people do you know from Colorado? If any, I’m willing to bet they live here, or plan to come back at the first opportunity. The only place you can ever develop a group of friends from a more diverse list of places is college.

With perfect weather and a population that is more in shape and beautiful than most places, it’s no wonder everyone is moving to the mountains.

It’s disc golf, and you better respect. Don’t you dare call it Frisbee golf. The hammer of Thor will beat down on you if you even think about saying the word “frolf”. And if you even try to call it “that sport that stoners and hippies play,” well… the gloves are coming off.

Okay. Call it whatever you want, but disc golf is an amazing spring sport. It’s pretty mellow, so you don’t have to worry about being super in shape in order to be awesome at it this spring. All of that wandering around from basket to basket won’t get you a set of ripped abs, but the activity will help warm you up to all of the stuff you’ll be doing in the summer months.

Why Disc Golf Is The Best 
It’s like hiking, golf, and ultimate Frisbee had a chill, but technique based baby. Sure, it’s not the most natural sport when you start playing. Tossing those discs can feel awkward. It can seem like you’re going to spend a fortune replacing the ones you lost in the lake. But if you wait long enough to get that one good pull, when your disc seems to float from your hand, high into the blue springtime sky and float down, right where you wanted it to go, you’ll be hooked.

It’s cheap. A good disc will run you ten to twenty bucks, and that’s really all you need to get started. This is probably perfect for you since you’re not making that executive assistant salary quite yet. When you finally are, you can start collecting discs over time. You can buy nice bags to hold all of your discs at second hand sports stores for virtually nothing.

It’s Outdoorsy. One of the best parts about playing disc golf is travelling around and checking out the courses in different areas. Some disc golf courses rival the beauty of traditional golf courses. Some of them, like Horseshoe Canyon in Arkansas give you a chance to take a rugged hike around a canyon while you try not to float your disc over the edge.
Disc Golf Tips

• Put your name and phone number on all of your discs.
• You can do it with one, but it’ll help your future game if you start out with at least two discs: a driver and a putter.
• Practice alone just as often as you play with your friends. This will help you sharpen your game, because you can focus on your technique and throw as many discs as you want on each hole.

Do you disc golf?

You strut onto Michegan Avenue and the majesty of this city creeps into your veins. You are ready to explore and have a grand old time in a city run by the mob. But where will you go? What will you do? You reach deep into your pockets and realize that they’re completely empty.

Oh darn. That’s right, you had to pay off the bell boy. He said he had “a family.” Well, you’re no dope. You know what that meant. Surely he was connected to the mob. And he said his daughter little Suzie runs the show. You wonder if they call her lil Suz. You wonder if she chews on a cigar when she steps into meat lockers. Now what are you going to do for fun in this town?

Whether you’re attending one of the many colleges in Chicago, or if you’re just visiting for a quick weekend, the windy city is filled with free stuff for you to check out.

Here’s the Best of College Life Short Guide to free stuff in Chicago:

1. Go Ice Skating: If you have your own ice skates, you can go Ice skating at Millennium Park at no cost. If not, skate rental is a little spendy ($10) depending on how long you plan on skating. If you plan on going more than one day, you check out Play it Again Sports and buy a pair of second hand skates. You can sell them back when you’re done.
2. Take a stroll in the park: Grant Park & Millenium park are both gorgeous and free. In the summer, both parks host some big free festivals as well
3. Take a trip to the zoo: Lincoln Park Zoo is completely free. You can wander around and see polar bears, lions and other animal-like creatures for hours without having to spend a dime. Take that San Diego.

Unless you’re new years resolution was to give up everything warm, baked and awesome, you’re probably open to the idea of finding some cool new places to get a cup of coffee or some awesome baked goods. Enter: the coffee shop.

Best of College Life is proud to be made up of a band of gypsies, touring the nation looking for the best coffee shop in the nation… Nay, the world. But first, we’re starting out in Chicago, which just happens to be where we are for the next couple of weeks. Over the past month in Chicago, we’ve seen a lot of the coffee scene, from the ‘jittery love’, to the ‘wouldn’t touch a cup’, to the ‘nothing to blog about’. Since we’re not Worst of College Life, or Mediocre College Life, we’re just going to share the top three coffee shops we’ve been to.

This could probably be titled the best coffee shops on the Northwest side of Chicago, but that was too long. Keep in mind that even though there are a billion  coffee shops in Chicago (according to the census), we spent most of our time in the Ukranian Village, West Town, Wicker Park and Old Town. Here’s the best ones we visited in those areas.

Wormhole Coffee [Wicker Park]

Beyond being one of the coolest coffee shops in Chicago, this is probably one of the best coffee shops we’ve ever been to. When you walk in, you won’t be able to miss the Delorian (of Back to the Future fame) on your right. If you can score an open couch across from the counter, you can play some old school video games on the NES. You may not be able to travel back in time to turn in that over due term paper for your forensic psychology class, but you can grab one of the Wormhole signature drinks like the Peanut Butter Koopa Troopa that will keep you up long enough to get it done today.

ATOMIX [Ukrainian Village]

This place is pretty simple, just some cafeteria style tables but ohhhh so hip. It’s so hip that we overheard this line of nonsense from one of the baristas:

“I’m into wrestling, but more like, independent wrestling.”

Oh yeah, Atomix barista? Well, I’m, like, into air, but more like, independent air. So, could you, like, stop breathing mine? Kidding! A lot of people get up in arms about stuff hipsters say, but we tend to think that it’s kinda cute. Awww, you think you’re so different with your waxed up mustache and love for PBR. Then when you find out you’re not so different, because that neighborhood is filled with 785943 mustache waxing, PBR chugging dudes, you go and say sh*t like “I’m into independent wrestling.” Precious.

Anywho, the staff was great. The tea was good (we’re kicking our coffee habit). They have reasonably priced vegan food as well. It’s like six bucks for a vegan sammie and chips… Not too shabby.

What are your favorite coffee haunts in the windy city?

So you’ve graduated college (or you’re taking a break), but you’re not ready to trade in your hard soled slippers for stilettos. You’re not prepared to let the days of elastic waste bands come to an end. Then you should look into a career that has an extremely lax dress code.

Keep in mind that making this decision for your career cuts out a ton of professions. You probably aren’t going to be able to work in any office environment. The people who run those cubical-ridden outfits are usually fans of the business casual dress code. And you won’t be able to take most minimum wage gigs. Those folks love their uniforms.

Sweat pants. Stretchy pants. Yoga pants. Scrubs. Here are the top five jobs that you can do without ever having to put on a pair of slacks or a high waisted skirt and heels. 

1. Freelance Writer: If you go with this career, you’re probably not going to make millions, but you don’t have to worry about donning anything but your underpants when you’re developing vegan recipes for a blog. This is a great job if you are focused, hardworking, grammar minded, and an aspiring nudist.

2. Artist: If you’re uber creative, and you’re not afraid of taking the leap to being a full time artist, you can rock paint splattered flowing skirts, paint splattered jeans, or (if you’re going through your blue period) paint splattered tightie whities. Let’s face it, you won’t have to wear pants, but you might have a hard time scraping together the cash to buy pants.

3. Nurse/Doctor: If you’re looking to rake in a little more dough than the other pants off careers, check into becoming a nurse or doctor. You can tack on a few years of college and spend the rest of your life in jammies… I mean scrubs.

4. Personal Trainer: If you’re into gym shorts and swishy pants, think about becoming a personal trainer. Not only do you get to forgo business attire, you also get to work out for work. Abs and sweatpants? Yes, please.

5. Yoga Instructor: This active profession will keep you flexible, and in stretchy pants, for life. If you want to do something that’s calming and strengthening and you don’t want to wear pants that snap down the side, consider this fitness career. It’s a growing field so check out a cool yoga studio to see if it’s for you.