Whether you love football or the commercials, many Americans will be tuning into the Super Bowl this Sunday. The Super Bowl is a huge event – of the 10 most watched TV programs of all time, 9 of them are Super Bowls, according to yumsugar. This year will certainly be no different, especially with the Patriots and Giants facing off once again. Regardless of which team you are rooting for, or if you’d rather watch the Puppy Bowl instead, diehard fans and casual viewers alike can share in what may be the cornerstone of Super Bowl Sunday: the food and the drinks.

Food

No matter which team you’re rooting for, you’re probably going to be eating a lot throughout the game. The average American will consume almost a day’s worth of calories (2,000 calories) during the hours the game is airing, according to USAToday. A day’s worth! And that’s no wonder – Americans will eat 11 million pounds of chips and 1.25 billion chicken wings on Sunday. And that’s not all, we’ll consume 8 million pounds of my favorite snack – guacamole! – according to yumsugar.

Keep your Super Bowl snacking on the healthy side this year by being mindful of what you’re eating and how much. Use small plates to keep portions under control, and try to choose healthier foods from the spread. Skip on the chips and enjoy your dip with veggies instead, go for a lean bean chili instead of fried foods and indulge in some guac, both the tomatoes and avocados in it are considered superfoods.

Drinks

How better to wash down a bunch of chicken wings than with a nice cold beer? Perhaps a Bud? Budweiser has spent more on Super Bowl ads than any other company. Beer and football are practically synonymous, especially during the Super Bowl, when tensions run high and either celebratory drinks or drowning sorrows are in order when it ends.

Whatever your plans are this year, if you’re partying (the average size of a Super Bowl party is 17 people!) or one of the 5% of Americans watching the game alone, be safe. More drivers are involved in alcohol-related accidents on Super Bowl Sunday than any day of the year besides St. Patrick’s Day, according to the Insurance Information Institute. According to NHTSA, 48% of U.S. traffic fatalities on Super Bowl Sunday are alcohol related.

Staying safe this Sunday is as easy as being prepared before beginning your celebrations. Try to stay close to home, but if not make your plans in advance and include finding a designated driver in your game day preparations. If you find yourself forced to reach for your keys after the game, reconsider. There are many options that will get you home safe without you getting behind the wheel. Call a cab, take public transportation, book a room, crash with a friend, or if you must get home with your car on Sunday night, the Tipsy Tow will pick you, your car and as many friends will fit in the truck up and bring you back home. Call 1-800-AAA-HELP (1-800-222-4357), anywhere in the US and Canada, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week to request the Tipsy Tow.

However you choose to spend Super Bowl Sunday this year, all of us at GradGuard wish you a safe and happy Sunday evening!

Photo by Cupcakes & Dreams

As I’ve mentioned before, study abroad is an amazing experience during college. It’s a fantastic opportunity to travel and learn about life outside of your everyday college campus. While abroad, your new life takes some adjustment. After all, you are living in a new country with different customs, food and possibly a foreign language. This period of adjustment is something everyone goes through. Coming back from abroad is similar as well.

Reverse culture shock is the feeling you have when you’re not quite used to being back at home or on campus in the United States. Often, reverse culture shock hits a few days upon return from study abroad. In my jet-lagged haze on the way home from the airport last spring, I remember staring out the window, amazed at seeing billboards written in English. I had gone so long looking at things in Spanish that it seemed weird to understand everything on an advertisement right off the bat! Reverse culture shock is also completely normal. Almost everyone who goes abroad experiences it.

Reverse culture shock can be broken down into 4 distinct stages. Stage 1 is Disengagement. This happens when you are about to leave the country you’ve come to call home. Basically, you get nostalgic and become overwhelmed with good-byes and a reluctance to leave the place that has become such an important part of your life–both as a student and as a person. Disengagement can sneak up on some people, while others don’t feel this way at all. It varies on the person.

Step 2 is Happiness. It’s the feeling you have when you step off the plane, see your family and friends at the airport and can’t believe the fact that you are currently back home. It also can begin abroad when you realize that you’ll be home soon and get to see your family and friends. For me, this happened as I was packing up my room, preparing to leave Madrid in a few days. I was overwhelmed with happiness at the thought of seeing my family!

Step 3 of reverse culture shock is Irritability. This may happen when you realize that people don’t seem as excited about your stories as you expected them to be. It also can happen when you notice things about U.S. culture that you didn’t before, like how quickly people talk. These small things may build up to a desire to go back abroad.

The final step of reverse culture shock is re-adaptation. It’s when you’ve finally settled into a specific routine at home or school. You’ve been with your family for a while and your friends have heard all about your life-changing experience somewhere in the world. At this point, students start to integrate their newfound experiences and discoveries abroad into their day-to-day lives back at home or on campus.

Although you may be thrilled to be back home amongst your family and friends, reverse culture shock is completely normal. Adjusting back to school at your home university after a semester abroad may feel more different than anticipated, but take this time to enjoy the new things you discover, and celebrate the familiarity and friends you missed while you were away. You’ll soon see that those things you find “lame” about your old stomping grounds have their own unique charm, just like the  new things you discovered abroad.

Stay safe this semester!

The United States Department of Justice defines cyberstalking as “The use of Internet, e-mail or other electronic communications devices to stalk another person.” For today’s college student, the line between an offline life and an online one is blurred, or never existed at all. This high use-rate of digital communication puts college students in a very high-risk population for cyber-stalking in a way unimaginable when cyberstalking first landed on the DOJ’s radar in 1999.

Indeed, the numbers appear to support this anecdote. According to the organization Working to Halt Online Abuse (WHOA) 2010′s statistics (its most current data-set), 41% of cyberstalking victims are between the ages of 18-30. Alarmingly, 73% of reported cases list a female victim. 15.4% of respondents in CampusComputing.net’s 2010 National Survey of Information Technology in U.S. Higher Education reported that at least one incident of cyberstalking or cyberbullying. The figure was much higher for four-year public colleges, at 20.8%.

There are a variety of national resources available to victims of cyberstalking:

National Network To End Domestic Violence (NNEDV)
FightCyberstalking.org
WHOA

In addition, many Dean of Students offices on campus provide resources for victims of cyberstalking.

There are seven steps that you can take to help protect yourself from the risk of cyberstalking everyday:

1) Understand social network privacy settings
Social networks and other online content and service providers all have privacy policies and most have customizable privacy settings. The challenge for most consumers is how often and quickly these privacy policies and settings can change. Facebook changes its default privacy settings often and even Google has gotten into the act, dramatically changing their privacy policies and practices. If you use these social networks and tools, and you likely do, it’s an absolutely must to take the time to understand these policies and adopt privacy settings that help give you protection from potential risk or harm online. Reputation.com offers a strong primer on how to make your Facebook account more private. (Full disclosure: I am a former employee of Reputation.com)

2) Gut-check your check-ins
Location-based social networking is a fantastic way to curate your social life, interests, and your experiences. Before checking-in, take a moment to consider whether or not it’s vital to be announcing to your social network where you are at that given moment. At the very least, make sure your privacy settings will offer some form of protection.

3) Friending should be for friends
While we’d all love to believe that we have 2,000 friends, it’s humanly impossible. Dunbar’s number offers a limit to the number of people a human being can have a proper social relationship with, and that number is 150. You probably don’t need those 2,000 Facebook friends, because you’re likely physical unable to really know more than 150 of them. Keeping a tight rein on the number of people with access to your personal information will ensure your information is distributed to people who you really know and away from friends-of-friends-of-friends who you actually don’t know all too well.

5) Change Your Passwords
We all love having easy-to-remember passwords, and our instinct is to use them often because it’s more simple. If you’re looking to help lower your risk of Internet crime, changing your passwords often and varying them is a great way to make your personal data and social networks much more difficult to consistently access for would-be criminals.

6) Keep Your Anti-Virus Software up to date
According to FightCyberstalking, Trojans, worms, and email viruses are common ways for would-be cyberstalkers to access your information. Make sure that your anti-virus software is up-to-date and you’re doing everything you can to lessen the probability that your personal computer will be attached with a Trojan virus, worm, or email virus.

7) Tag With Caution
Use photo tags cautiously and make sure that photos with your information tagged to them are made available to a small circle of well-known family or friends.

Cyberstalking is a real and serious crime on campus and beyond, but with increased publicity through events like National Stalking Awareness month and through more understanding of digital privacy and social network usage, we can all help build awareness and prevent these crimes.

iPhone, iPad and Mac applications continue to reduce time and effort while increasing ease and the enhancement in a given task. Here are some of our favorite study applications, on some of the top digital tools that will help you maximize your short-lived time while at college. These apps are here to help you become more efficient, thorough and hopefully even a little more engaged in your studies!

Dictionary!
If someone drops an overly complex word in the middle of class discussion, you can easily stay up to pace with the help from the Dictionary! application. All you have to do is type in the word that flew over your head and you instantly receive the definition, the word’s synonyms and the definition of the term according to Wikipedia. Who said the dictionary couldn’t make for a great app? A great perk to this application is that it doesn’t cost you a penny.

iStudiez Pro
If you want to keep your class schedule and assignments all within your easy to access iPhone or iPad, then iStudiez Pro is should be a great asset for keeping track of your daily activities. The App allows you to create a detailed, color-coded class schedule and provides you with the ability to attach assignments to each course that shows up on the calendar and when they’re due. For 2.99 it’s worth it to get organized and on top of your college coursework.

EZ Read
This application brings summaries from Sparknotes to an easy-to-use platform on your iPhone. Read up on just about any text and even take quizzes to help you retain information right before an in-class quiz or class discussion. This free application makes it easy to catch up on a chapter you just-so-happened to forget to read… or use the app to jog your memory on a text you read the past semester!

Chegg
If you don’t mind a virtual version of your textbook, I would recommend downloading the Chegg application, which is a free tool for renting textbooks. You can search for your textbooks on the go by name or number or by scanning the book’s barcode with the iPhone’s built in camera. The textbooks can be opened on computers and iPads, in addition to your iPhone.

Twitter
Surprisingly enough, a lot of professors are active on twitter, and cater to their student audience by updating additional information that may pertain to your curriculum or inform students when they can not make it to class. Word to the wise with this app – I would recommend only following professors if your twitter account is relatively clean of swears and just about anything you wouldn’t want your professor to know about your personal life.

Mental Case
Mental Case is a study aid that is designed specifically to help you learn, using virtual note cards. It doesn’t matter what exactly you need to memorize, whether it be friends birthdays, studying for finals or practicing a new language. Mental case is 4.99 for iPhone customers, and works for the Mac, iPad and iPhone and can be relayed between the three platforms. It works by entering exactly what you want to study in the form of brief notes. The notes can include text, images, audio, and even short videos. Once you have all your notes set, you can get started studying!

Wikipedia
While everyone knows you can’t use this information as a legitimate source, it provides great starting background on just about any topic you can imagine! This free application provides on the go, mobile access to Wikipedia encyclopedia articles to help you investigate various topic meanings, histories and backgrounds.

I almost forgot – Don’t feel guilty spending a little time on your Facebook or Tumblr applications! It’s a great way to tone down and unwind after all that hard work you put into studying and getting organized for your hectic class schedule.

Have any applications you’d recommend to fellow students? Let us know by leaving a comment with your thoughts!

Let’s face it, sharing a small room can be a challenge, even if you adore your roommate. It is an adjustment going from your own familiar environment to sharing a tiny space with another person. Most dorms consist of two beds, two desks, two chairs, and minimal closet space. The walls are usually white and blank, and the dorm rules can be aggravating: usually you cannot paint the walls, make holes in the walls or ceiling, light candles or bring in your own furniture.

Luckily you don’t have to spend your college days living in a boring dorm. This semester, don’t limit yourself to the four bare walls. Spice your dorm room up! Whether you are a sports fanatic, a music lover, fashionista or all of the above, there are options for every student to add some flare to his or her dorm room.

Get Creative!

1. Posters
   Hanging posters of your favorite artists is a great way to express yourself, but take it a step further! Take an old T-shirt of your favorite band or artist, cut the neckline and sleeves off and stretch it out over a canvas or poster board till it is fitted and tight. If there is extra fabric staple it to the back of the poster, so you can only see the image on the front.
2. Photos and Images
   Photos are great! Whether you make a collage, or frame your images, it is nice decoration. But take this a step further as well, Urban Outfitters sells a “cable photo holder” you can attach your photos on the cable. You can hang images anywhere; above your bed, along the wall or on the ceiling. You can really get creative in displaying your images this way. If you want to take a different route, frame record covers, paintings or photography. Pinterest has tons of printables if you’re looking for cool patterns or cute sayings to frame.
3. Wall warmth
   Tapestries are wonderful for sprucing up a blank wall. Unfortunately painting your dorm room walls is a no-no. A tapestry adds wonderful patterns and colors (just make sure it does not hang over a heater). If a tapestry is not an option, decals are also wonderful additions to a blank wall. Urban Outfitters has some unique wall decor as well.
4. Lights
   Fluorescent lighting is harsh and can even make you sleepy. Add some ambiance to your room with a little mood lighting! Add some color with holiday lights or get a cheap mod floor lamp from Ikea to add some dimension to your room. Lighting from lamps or twinkly lights will add a warmth and coziness to your room that will make it easier to relax.
5. Plants
   Simply adding flowers or plants can really brighten a room, especially in the colder months of the year. Bring a slice of spring to your dorm and think about all the healthy oxygen they give off! Consider the light requirements for your plant – if your dorm is on the dark side, philodendrons are indestructible low-light plants. If you have tons of light, a hanging spider plant looks amazing!
6. Extra Seating
   You may not have any extra room to spare, but if you do, consider a cheap chair that you can easily fold up and store away when needed. The color will brighten up the room and provide a place for friends to sit when they come to visit. Extra seating in your room will provide a cozy study space that’s more comfortable than your desk chair and less sleep-inducing than your bed!
7. White Board
   Having a white board to write down thoughts, to-do’s, or to leave your roommate a note is not only productive but creates a fun environment for the two of you. Don’t forget to grab a pack of colored dry-erase markers – you’ll be drawing masterpieces in no time!
8. Rugs
   Most floors of dorm rooms are uncomfortable. Get a rug to add comfort. Rugs do not have to be boring – rugs come in all different colors, textures, shapes and sizes! Consider one of the faux fur ones for a hip, cozy look.

Before putting your time and money into spicing your dorm up, make sure to ask your resident advisor about any regulations. Each school has different rules which are put in place to ensure your safety and protect the building and other people around you.

Also, respect your roommate by running your decorations and alterations by them to ensure a positive roommate relationship!

Whether you want to maintain your awesome GPA or improve it this semester, check out the dos and don’ts for study tips in college:

DO keep up with course readings throughout the semester.

Especially for all of the procrastinators out there, it’s easy to skip readings each week unless you have reading quizzes or assignments. Many college classes won’t involve reading comprehension quizzes or assignments in hopes of preparing students for the accountability challenges that they will face in the real world or in their career. Usually you’re given a syllabus with reading due dates and the dates of tests, papers, or projects. It’s completely up to you to manage your time wisely and keep up with your readings. Planning more than enough time for reading in your schedule each week is a great way to ensure you pace yourself throughout the semester. If you finish your reading early or in less time than allotted, you’ll have free time to spend on your activity of choice!

DON’T skim over readings or give them less effort.

While it is important to keep up with readings and complete them on time, you should not rush through readings or give them less effort than other course components to simply get them over with. It may seem insignificant to purchase books for class and actually read those books when you could potentially still get a decent grade in the course without ever looking at the book. However, readings are an important part of your learning and can help you remember theories and course content for years to come. Breaking your readings into smaller sections and writing notes or short summaries after reading every section can help with comprehension and time management.

DO find an effective study location.

Utilizing the library and traditional study spaces on campus might be highly effective for you. However, some students get stressed out or distracted in these study spots, so finding alternatives is important for their success. If you need a quiet study spot, such as when you’re doing reading assignments, empty classrooms or resource centers on campus are ideal. However, these spaces are not always available for you to use. If your surroundings are too noisy for studying, then try wearing headphones without plugging them in or listening to instrumental music. Check out these awesome playlists of instrumental music that rock (featured on 8tracks.com): “The 7 Years of Harry Potter” and “My Ultimate Study Playlist”.

DON’T study in your bed or somewhere too comfy.

When scoping out your study spot, it’s important to avoid your bed at all costs. As college students, our beds can often turn into our kitchen table, living room couch, and sleeping space. However, studying in your bed can both make you sleepy while doing homework and stress you out when you try to sleep. Reserve your bed for just sleeping and you won’t have any trouble feeling relaxed and ready to sleep at night when you’re done studying.

DO make flashcards.

Flashcards may be “so high school” for some students, but for others, they have worked for getting a 4.0 in a course. Whether you’re working on vocabulary words or concepts, breaking the material into flashcards can help segment the work and focus on the concepts that are tripping you up. Make the flashcards at least a week before your exam, so that you can keep them with you and study on-the-go or when you have unexpected downtime. Also, some of the best studying can happen when making the flashcards, since you’re rewriting concepts and learning as you go.

DON’T deprive yourself of sleep the night before a test.

“All-nighters” might seem like a typical part of college, but in actuality, you can avoid the sleep deprivation if you manage your time and study throughout the semester. It might seem like a good idea to stay up as long as possible and study, but during the test the next day, you won’t be thanking yourself. Getting enough sleep is essential to doing well on exams because despite how well you know the material, you still need to be awake and alert in order to complete the test. Scheduling a deadline or bedtime on the night before the exam can be effective in helping you get enough sleep, as long as you stick to it.

This semester, try some of these tips and experiment to find your study style! It might feel stressful to devote more time to academics, but you will be feeling great at the end of the semester when you get your grades back.

Happy studying!

Photo by billaday

Spring semester is rapidly approaching for most college students, with classes starting in the upcoming weeks. Want to pick up some positive habits to help you start your semester off with your best foot forward? Solid organizational skills are the key to success in college. It is essential to learn to effectively juggle responsibilities and deadlines, while managing a fullfilling social life, to achieve what most people would view as a well-rounded bang for your college buck.

Take a look at these tips to stay organized and on top of your educational and extra curricular game.

Planners are Imperative
Buy one reasonably sized book that you can write everything down in – from your daily activities, homework, phone numbers, random tidbits of information, class schedual, meeting dates, lock combinations, to-do lists, etc. The reason for this is that it keeps all of the information you will need in an easy to access, handy-dandy notebook that you can add or refer to, at any time (just make sure to always keep it on you).

You may prefer a different planner layout, depending upon how in-depth you intent to be with your planner and how hectic your lifestyle is. I personally use a daily runner that has the days of the week, monthly pages and – most impotantly – many blank pages designated for miscellaneous information. This format provides me the essential daily planning structure while offering great flexibilty.

Buy Your Books in Advance
Show up to class this semester prepared and ready to participate in class discussions. Let’s be honest, it isn’t fun having to play catch-up in a class, especially during the first few weeks of juggling with a new full schedule. Buying your books early and keeping up with important readings will prevent future nervous breakdowns, which always seem to occur right before midterms. More importantly, early preparation will provide you a feeling of confidence and control over your hectic workload and will lighten the load as the semester proceeds.

Try to Develop a Routine for Success
Benjamin Franklin once said “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man, healthy wealthy and wise.” Attempt waking up and dozing off around similar times every day, if possible. Also try to maintain a standard study time every day where you typically find yourself being the most productive. Dont forget to include pleasurable activities in this schedule such as excercising or bonding time with friends. Once you find a consistent schedule that works best for you, you will become better able to manage your current workload and you may even find yourself with more free time and less procrastination time. Productivity is key!

Organize your Materials and Your Work Space
Keep your class notes and course work in order, ledgible and easy to reference. One way to easily reference information is to use consistent color codes in your notebooks, folders and highlighters. This organization will pay dividends when you need to cram for an exam. Also, make sure you have a clean study area that is free from distractions such as friends, television or music. Go there when you want to get your work with done with an air of efficiency.

Photo by Easternblot

The Spring 2012 semester is here and with it comes a new chance to get more involved on campus! During your four years at school, there are so many different clubs and organizations to join. Here’s a quick overview of some clubs and groups that help get you involved in university life while also having fun!

• Hobbies-based clubs. Do you enjoy knitting, painting, singing or even juggling or people-watching? Colleges have all sorts of clubs and student groups based on the hobbies of the student body. Usually if there isn’t a club you’re interested in, schools are open to creating a group for you! Look into your interests and see if they match up with the groups on your campus this year. Check with your school’s student activities office for more information on what clubs are available and if there will be an activities fair or sign up period at the beginning of the semester. Don’t be shy! Clubs love having new members and probably can’t wait to add you and your talents to their ranks!
• Professional organizations. Are you a business major? The Entrepreneurs Club might be right for you. More interested in communication? How about the Public Relations Student Society of America? Colleges and universities usually have professional or career-related organizations for students to join in order to learn more about their field of interest and boost their resumés in the process! These groups often hold career workshops and networking events in order for members to get insight for a professional job, and help you land an internship come the summer. Undecided? Professional organizations and clubs will help you get your feet wet and decide if a particular career is a good fit for you.
• Intramurals. An intramural is perfect for anyone who was an athlete in high school. If you miss kicking around a soccer ball or hitting up the tennis court, an intramural group will allow you to play once or twice a week with other sports fans. It’s a great way to get some exercise, show school spirit and have some fun all at the same time! Friends don’t wanna play? See if there’s an option to join a team as a free agent – you’ll get to play the sports you love while making new friends.
• Campus groups. One great way to get involved on campus is to get involved with the campus. Greek Life, religious organizations, orientation, the admissions office and student government groups are all integral parts of a college campus. If you’re looking to help out within your dormitory, the Residence Hall Association is a great way to get involved. As a current Resident Assistant, the RHA at my school prepared me for the challenges and interactions I would face in the future. It was a great group to join for my first two years and I never would have become an RA without it!

GradGuard wishes you the best of luck as your check out the opportunities on your campus! As always, we’re here for your student insurance needs!

Photo by tbplante

It is no myth that college is an expensive four years of your life. After paying your semester costs for tuition and room and board, don’t forget to account for your text books. According to Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG), textbook prices increased 22 percent over the last four years, which is more than four times the current rate of inflation.

This semester, don’t take out extra loans to accommodate for your necessary textbook expenses. Instead, take a look at these options to think about and outlets to check out when buying college textbooks at the absolute cheapest prices.

Cut out the Middle Man
Try posting an inquiry on Facebook to see if friends who may have recently taken a similar course have the textbook you need. Craigslist can also be effective for similar requests in your area. Also, the Student PIRG’s website, which has its own book swapping forum, allows for students to look up their university and post books they have available and search for those they will need.

Google Shopping
If you know your ISBN book number, you can enter it into the shopping section on Google. This will provide you with a vast selection of outlets from which you can buy your textbook, sorted by lowest price. One aspect to keep note of is the often steep shipping prices. Many times retailers will lower the initial cost to grab your attention but raise the shipping cost significantly. Also, as a rule of thumb – when you are looking online for your textbook, always make sure you purchase the correct edition and year it was published, in order to prevent any purchase mishaps.

E-book and Text Book Purchases
In a poll taken by 3,719 college students, 43.1% of the respondents felt that Amazon.com provided the most inexpensive textbooks. If you are the type of student who enjoys reading on an iPhone or computer, maybe you should consider purchasing an e-book this semester. In addition to traditional textbooks, Amazon offers Kindle e-books for typically a cheaper price than a printed version. Students can read these texts either on a computer, smart phone or a Kindle, although surprisingly the Kindle is not required. While the Kindle books are un-printable, students have access to margin notes and the ability to highlight text, even after the rental has expired. Similar to Amazon, Abebooks.com offers a database of new and used e-books that average around 50% off the retail textbook price.

Book Rentals
If you leave buying textbooks to the very last minute and need the books in a rush while on campus, don’t forget the college book store can be of some assistance. Instead of buying a book new or used for that matter, try checking to see if you can rent books from them. This is the cheapest way you’ll get your book from your school book store. If you find you have some time to spare, then don’t forget to compare your school’s rental prices against that of Chegg.com, a very popular textbook rental website. The Chegg discount, compared to retail prices, is anywhere from 30%-80% off, with most book rentals falling around the 50% mark. Other rental outlet options to check out are bookrenter.com or campusbookrentals.com.

In my personal experience, I searched long and hard for a developmental psychology text required for an upcoming class this Spring semester. The text retails at $185.65, although after some extensive seaching, I was able to find the cheapest rental price on Chegg.com for $30.00 plus $3 shipping for a 6 month rental period. Amazon.com was the runner up, offering the used book for $45 plus $3.99 shipping. There is some residual value in buying the textbook, since I may retain it for future reference or just resell it after the course is complete, but it will likely not prove cost effective to resell the used book because editions frequently get superseded.

Have any bargain experiences to share? Tell us at GradGuard about your experiences buying textbooks and let us in on some of your money saving tips. Have fun with your text book search this semester and save money while you’re at it!

Photo by LifeSupercharger

The promise of new year brings hope of new opportunities, new experiences and new resolutions – and a great reason to celebrate! Despite wishes of growth, greatness and improvement, New Year’s celebrations are notoriously dangerous. Drunk driving and excessive partying are two big issues on New Year’s Eve and can ruin the night for everyone.

Make sure you have a safe and fun New Years Eve by keeping a few things in mind this year!

Don’t Drink Too Much

It can be easy to overdo it on New Year’s. There’s pressure to have a lot of fun, there’s always someone ready to buy a round, and always a champagne toast at midnight (which definitely counts as another drink, being a tradition doesn’t change that a glass flute of champagne is the same amount as a beer or a shot!). It can be tempting to overindulge before your New Year’s resolutions kick in, especially when everyone around you is doing just that.

Make sure to count your drinks to keep track of how much (and how quickly) you’re drinking throughout the night. Pace yourself – drinking too many drinks in a short time can lead to problems later in the night. It is best to alternate drinks with a non-alcoholic beverage – it will help you stay hydrated, pace yourself and allow you to enjoy your buzz for longer without getting you too drunk. So grab a Coke from the selection of mixers between drinks or ask the bartender to give you a soda water with lemon next round. And don’t forget to eat! Make sure you take the time out of preparations to have a full dinner, and be sure to snack throughout the night (you’ll be up much later than usual, so don’t forget to give yourself the fuel you need!).

Being careful and mindful of how much you are drinking will keep you having fun and feeling good, it’ll also preserve your memories of the big night and prevent the dreaded hangover. You don’t want to spend the first day of the new year in bed with regrets! Plan ahead how much you want to drink and stick to it! Staying hydrated and nourished will also help.

Don’t Drive Drunk

This may seem like common sense, but, when in the moment, too often people make this mistake. As many as 11,000 people are killed each year in drunk driving accidents, and 1.5 million people are arrested for driving under the influence each year, according to MADD. Plan ahead to make sure you or your friends aren’t getting behind the wheel while under the influence. There are plenty of ways to avoid drunk driving. Pack an overnight bag just in case you end up needing to crash at the house party you’re attending – any good host will be happy to ensure no one leaves the party with keys in hand when they’re too drunk to drive. Book a room at a nearby hotel and make a whole night of your New Year’s plans, while treating yourself to a safe good night’s sleep. Go in on a room with a couple friends and use a site like Priceline or Hotwire to lower the cost. Take a cab – the fare costs far less than the costs of drunk driving. Uber is a great app for getting a ride home – avoid the hassle of hailing a cab and have their car service pick you up, you won’t have to worry about fumbling for cash and calculating a tip after a few drinks either. If you must get home – call AAA at 800-222-4357 (AAA-HELP). The Tispy Tow will pick you and your car up and bring you home.

With all these options, there’s no need to drive drunk!

Stay Away From Fights

If you find yourself being pulled into a bar fight, do everything you can to get away and stay out of it. Whether it is your friend or someone you just met, do not get involved. Not only may you get hurt, but you could end up in jail. Make sure to get the attention of bar staff or call the authorities if you see a fight break out.

Create a Safe Party

If you are hosting a party on New Year’s Eve, there are a few things to take into consideration when planning your fete. First, do your best to make sure none of your guests are driving home drunk. Have everyone check their keys at the door in a bowl just for that purpose, and try to keep an eye on guests so no one leaves if he or she is not fit to drive. Drunk driving is not only dangerous for your guests and other people on the road, but there may be legal consequences for you as well. Keep the number of your guests within reason – too many people and strangers in your home can get out of control. Make sure to party-proof your home before the guests arrive – remove valuables and breakables from common areas, stock up on paper towels and Clorox wipes, and hide your valuables. If you’re worried, renter’s insurance covers many of the potential problems you could encounter. Be neighborly by informing your neighbors of the party and respect their wishes.

New Years Eve is no doubt a big night. It’s a great time to spend with friends and family and an excuse to stay up until midnight waiting for the new year to arrive. Keep a level head during the party planning stage and throughout the night, and you will surely have a successful New Years Eve!