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by Andrew Hauck

Be a Transcontinental Student

June 18, 2013 in Alive Campus, Campus Life, Style, Travel

Maybe you’re going to be a senior. Maybe you’re going to be a freshman. Maybe you’re in between or even (for now) neither—if you’ve got a desire somewhere inside you to get out of this place and see the world in all its many glories, then you should definitely start pondering  a semester (or two!) studying abroad.  The reasons for studying abroad are innumerable, unique to every individual, but there are some reasons that everyone should take into consideration.

Learn About Yourself:

Traveling to a foreign land is one of the best ways to learn about the most important topic of your life: yourself. There’s no better way to find out what kind of person you are: how you react when things don’t go according to plan, what you do when you are somewhere you don’t know anyone, or what kinds of things you truly value in your life. When you travel, most especially when you travel alone, the answers to these questions and questions like them become apparent, sometimes painfully so.  You will probably return home a more responsible, frugal, open-minded person. You’ll be forced to keep yourself on a tight budget; you’ll have to take care of your belongings and be wary of your surroundings; you’ll have to force yourself to meet people and even rely on them. You will become twice the person you are now, and people will notice it.

Meet Lifelong Friends:

Anyone who comes back from a stint across the oceans does so with a new pool of friends. And these are the kind of friends that everyone wants to have. You’ll have met them in a time of need, surely, and they’ll be the ones that came to your aid. They will take you into their homes and give you a bed to stay, free of charge. They’ll cook you a fantastic dinner and you’ll converse with them and their families about their lives, about all kinds of things. They’ll take you to the best bars or restaurants in town, or to see hidden sights that most tourists pass by without noticing. The bond you and your new friends will develop will be stronger than most bonds you have with the people you know at home. You may even meet your new wife or husband, like my brother did while he was hiking through the mountains of Spain!

Eating home-made meals with new people is the perfect way to bond with them and learn about their lives.

Get Away From Materialism:

Everyone loves their toys. How much time do you spend in front of your computer or iPad every day? How often do you shop for things that you don’t need, and don’t even want any more after a few days? How do you feel inside when your bank account isn’t fat enough for that new pair of shoes or that new game? This is materialism, and it’s something you can get over just by travelling.  You’ll learn to appreciate the beauty that is inherent in the world, in nature, in people, in food. You’ll learn to entertain yourself without electronics. Reading a good book on a train, hiking up a mountain or sitting by waterfalls, conversing with people whose lives are utterly different from yours… these are ways you can find happiness in every moment of your life.

Learn A Useful Language:

You’d be amazed by how quickly you can learn a language. Learning a language in a classroom setting is probably one of the slowest and least efficient ways to learn one, so it would be very wise to give yourself the opportunity to study a language the fastest and most efficient way possible: by total immersion. Immersing oneself in a language is a method that is similar to the way a baby learns to speak, and that’s why it works so well. When everyone around you is speaking a new language, you get to see it applied to every aspect of your life. When you’re in a restaurant, you’ll pick up on food-related words; when you’re in a taxi, you’ll learn transportation-related words; when you’re in a park, you’ll learn nature-related words; and so on. By living within the language, you’ll be able to much more easily remember what words mean, and recall words and phrases by pulling from the memories of past experiences in your mind.  I became fluent in Mandarin Chinese in less than 18 months this way. Learning a language can also give you job opportunities, ones that will land you more money than you’d think you could (especially if it’s an uncommon language).

What better way to see the world than from a little raft in the middle of a meandering river?

Really, there’s no better way to learn about the world or about yourself than to travel. It will change your life, and it will change you for the better. Your mind will open, your confidence will blossom, and you will be the envy of all your sedentary friends.

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Avatar of Meg Loiselle

by Meg Loiselle

Spring Break on a Budget and Alternatives

June 18, 2013 in Alive Campus, Campus Life, Colleges, Events, Travel
Daytona Beach

Daytona Beach

One of the most exciting things about college is the idea of spring break. At Umass Lowell, that’s exactly what I had in mind. I experienced so much within my first year at college. After my first semester I wasn’t sure of the major I wanted to pursue, I had just made it into a sorority turned 18 and got out of a 3 year relationship on the same over winter break. I was starting my first spring semester in college with a clean slate.

I had very strict parents throughout highschool so much of my focus was spaced between jobs, athletics and academics. The only social life I really had revolved around my boyfriend at the time. Without him the spring semester, I had more freedom than I’ve ever encountered in my life, and the fact that I had just turned 18, really made me want to take advantage of my new social circumstances.

More and more students these days need to pay for their own education. If you don’t pay for your own education, consider yourself lucky, and just know it’s expensive as hell.

I was a little lucky my freshmen year. School was practically paid for in grants, and I balanced two jobs, leaving me with some extra cash over break. That spring break we chose to go to Daytona Beach, Florida.

Now if I were to go on a break I’d want a meaningful vacation that enables you to really experience the place you’ve traveled to, but then I just wanted the beach.

Daytona is the perfect location for a freshmen looking to experience their spring break the right way. There’s tons of party specials each night of break, students from colleges and universities across the country go there, and most of the hotels are right on the strip of the beach and only costs a few hundred for the whole trip per person.

Each morning I got to wake up and I would lay on the beach under the sun. It was nice then, but at the end of the day, it was crowded, and I’d prefer something like an alternative spring break, a trip that’s actually meaningful. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time, but looking back the idea behind spring break doesn’t have much value to me.

If you want a cheap and fun party, and to experience warmth and the beach, I highly suggest Florida.

If you’re not much of a party person but still would like to get away for spring break I’d try a volunteer program. You can do good, meet new people, and get to travel to a place that you can experience first hand. Volunteering can be cheaper than your average vacation because they’ll have deals as a way to bring in volunteers.

This is also such great life experience that will be a nice addition to your resume and you’ll meet so many great people that have similar interests as you, and will be positive people to surround yourself with. If you have the opportunity it’s definitely worth taking advantage of.

Spring Break Options

Spring Break Options

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by Monicia

Keeping off the transfer 15

June 16, 2013 in Campus Life, Health

It’s so easy to gain that ‘freshmen 15′ or ‘transfer 15′ as I like to call it. But what isn’t so easy, is taking it back off again. Exercising and eating right is an important key to staying healthy in college. With busy schedules and junk food readily available at P.O.D.S on the Southern Miss campus, students have to make an extra effort to keep fit.

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of healthy food options on campus at Southern Miss. There’s a Subway and just about every food place serves some sort of salad. The best place to go if you’re looking for something wholesome and good to eat is USM’s cafeteria, the Fresh Food Company.

In my first year after I transferred to Southern Miss, food at the Fresh wasn’t super healthy and more or less bordered on heart-clogging. This past year, they have made efforts to make the food fresher and even introduce gluten free options to the cafeteria offerings. Along with an always fresh salad bar, they provide plenty of fruit and vegetable options at the ‘Smart’ food station. There is also a soup station and an island with fruits, yogurt and granola for a healthy morning or evening treat.

Fresh Food Company

Fresh Food Company

For those students that like to keep their energy up and stay fit by exercising, there are quite a few options on campus for that. First, Southern Miss is a decent-sized campus and walking and bike-riding are typical activities for students who live on and off-campus. Students who live on-campus usually walk to classes and student events and it’s easy to break a sweat that way, especially in the humid spring and summer months. The Southern Miss Office of Sustainability also provides another great way for students to get around campus if they choose not to walk. Each year they provide Southern Miss students with eco-friendly bikes, completely free of charge. All students have to do is fill out an application, pick up the bike and store it properly so that it doesn’t get damaged. Students who live nearby also tend to ride their bikes back and forth to campus and that provides good physical activity.

USM also has an amazing recreation facility called the Payne Center. It features two floors of recretional and fitness equipment and large rooms for sports activities and group classes. A basketball court, locker rooms and an indoor pool is located on the first floor of the facility. The second floor holds various pieces of exercise equipment and a weight room for more students who are more serious about their fitness routines. It also features a running track above the basketball court and two large rooms for group exercise classes. The Payne Center conducts up to 10 group classes daily and my personal favorites are Zumba, TurboKick and Cardio Combo. Outside of the facility, there are two volleyball nets and a sandy area where students can play, or even check out frisbees to pass the time on the large field out front. Students can use the facility for free and community member can use it for a small fee. There are even personal trainers that students and non students can hire to help them get healthy.

Payne Center at Southern Miss

Payne Center at Southern Miss

Southern Miss has managed to transform itself into a healthy and fit campus in the past few years. It could improve in some ways, but students seem to be happy with the current food and fitness options.

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by JL

How a State Kid Ends Up in a State University

June 16, 2013 in Admissions, Alive Campus, Colleges

Since I am a resident of the state of Colorado and have been for the last 9 years, getting into CU Boulder was relatively easy for me as compared to an out of state resident. When I attended high school in Littleton Colorado, the state mandated the ACT test for all juniors. Even though I performed very well on the ACTs for the state, I didn’t expect those scores to mean very much to non-state Universities I was interested in. Almost all college students have been through the hellish charade of SAT and ACT testing, the Common Application, Essays, college fairs, visits and interviews, as I have. Many have felt that participating in said charade in addition to their academics and extra-curriculars were inadequate in getting them their admission to their choice universities. Being from the state of Colorado and attending a good high school meant that I knew where I fit on the spectrum of students, locally. I had little to worry about getting into CU Boulder and so it became my safety school. I was accepted there long before I heard back from the other schools I had applied to, which were all private Universities. My deciding factor was money. I didn’t want to go into extraordinary amounts of debt just for a bachelor’s degree.

With student debt becoming the largest source of debt for Americans, now numbering in excess of $1 trillion, I didn’t want to cripple whatever financial future I might have. 1 trillion dollars of student loan debt in a nation that is supposedly the richest strikes me as a most problematic situation. It depresses me that students are treated as pawns in this game not only by those involved in the student loan industry but by universities themselves. Why is the inflation rate for university tuitions in the US so high when a college education seems essential to be able to move on and have decent professional careers in the future? With concerns like these on my mind, it should make sense why I chose to attend CU Boulder which, as a state institution, was feasible for me.

The decision I made wasn’t as smooth as it could’ve been, regardless of the fact that money was on my mind. As a high school student, I was bombarded with mail from multiple universities that always tried to showcase to me the many wonderful things about their institutions and the towns they were in. It was the strangest thing to me, at the time because they didn’t know me, where I was from, what I did in my spare time, what I looked like or anything substantive about me. All they knew of me was a test score and perhaps my ethnicity.Over time, even though I knew better, it seemed as if all these universities actually knew an awesome kid and wanted that awesome kid to attend. The reality was that they wanted multiple awesome kids to apply to their schools so that they could appear exclusive and say that they attracted only America’s finest for reasons of prestige. After all, how could they care about you if they don’t even know you?

So they short answer to how a state kid ends up attending a state university is simple: it’s all about the money. The country’s economic situation and persisting epidemic of student debt among the young make it necessary to keep money in for any current or prospective college student. Just because you have to settle for a more financially sensible option doesn’t mean you’re gonna have a bad time.

University of Colorado - Boulder

University of Colorado – Boulder

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by Alive Campus

5 Best Drinking Games. Period.

June 15, 2013 in Campus Life

There’s nothing better than beer, friends, and a great drinking game. It helps everyone break the ice, have some laughs, and keep the drinks flowing. Next time you’re hanging out with some suds and some buds, whip out this list and you’re all set. 5 drinking games that are guaranteed to entertain all night long, here it goes:

1. Beer Pong

Ten solo cups are set up in a pyramid at each end of a table. They are partially filled with beer. Two players stand at each end of the table and take turns shooting ping pong balls into the cups. Each player of a team takes a shot and then it is the other team’s turn. When a player makes their shot in a cup, a member of the other team must remove the made cup from the table and drink the beer that’s in it. The first team to remove all their opponent’s cups from the table wins.

2. Flip Cup

Two teams of an equal number of players stand on opposite sides of a table. The players face each other and each has a red solo cup filled partially with beer in front of them. The first two players of opposite teams begin the game by drinking the beer in their cup, setting the cup down on the edge of the table, and flipping it by hitting up the edge that is hanging off the table. Once the cup is flipped to land upside down without falling over, the next player on that team drinks their beer and flips their cup. This continues until one team flips all their cups, in which case they are the winners.

3. Never Have I Ever


Let me give you an example to explain how this is played. Sitting in a circle everyone starts with 3 fingers up. Tiffany says “never have I ever been to Europe.” Whoever has been to Europe must put one finger down and drink. If no one puts a finger down, meaning no one has been to Europe, then Tiffany puts a finger down and drinks. Once a player has put all three fingers are down they are out. The last player remaining wins.

4. Edward 40 Hands


You play by duct taping a 40 ounce beer to each of your hands and cannot remove the bottles until all the beer is consumed. There is good reason to finish the beer quickly since it is hard to use the bathroom with two 40s strapped to your hands!

5. Questions

Everyone sits in a circle while holding their beer. You start by looking at someone and you ask them a question. That person has to respond in the form of a question while looking at someone else. The chain continues until someone cannot quickly come up with a question. The person who messes up must drink. For example, I might look at Sara and say, “Would you like to play questions?” she looks at Tom and says, “How do you play that?” and Tom cannot think of a question quickly enough so he has to drink.

Written by John Accardi who knows his stuff when it comes to drinking games. He runs a popular beer pong website called PartyHouse Pong.

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