Gabriela Szewcow

Anyone who knows me well knows not to mess with me before I’ve had my morning cup of coffee. It’s a daily ritual that’s become second nature to me. It’s as normal and necessary as brushing my teeth, popping my contacts in and throwing on some makeup in the morning. I admit that there are a few days here and there when I go without my morning coffee fix, but I’m rudely reminded of my forgetfulness later in the day when a pounding headache and all-over fatigue creeps up on my body. At that point, all I can think about is getting to the nearest cup of coffee and downing it all in one gulp.
 
But how did it get to this? And am I alone? Is this healthy?
 
I used these questions as the basis for this article, along with a few other lessons I learned through my own personal journey with my drug of choice: coffee.
 
Nutritionist Susan Holmberg says there’s no denying it: caffeine is a drug. But she says coffee itself isn’t really the problem. “What goes in your coffee can also make all the difference,” explains Holmberg. “The milk, the half and half, the sweetener. That’s what makes the difference between healthy and unhealthy.”
 
So coffee intake varies greatly from person to person. You might be the kind of person who drowns her coffee with six half n’ halfs so your coffee is sugary sweet and light beige in color. I personally take mine black. Right there, the difference in our calorie intakes is upwards of a few hundred calories.
 
Needless to say, “going out for coffee” means something different to every person, because there are so many different ways to take it. Coffee, that is.
 
How Coffee Affects Your Body
 

It’s summer: time to unwind, make some money, have fun with friends, snag a summer fling, catch up on some easy reading and…decide on a college major? It may not be at the top of your summer to-do list, but choosing a major is pretty important. And what better time to do it than the summer, when you have time to reflect and figure out how you want to spend the rest of your college years and the years that follow?

Whether you’re about to enter your freshman year or you’re a junior who is thinking of switching, I promise, there’s still time to make a decision. And you shouldn’t be freaking out about it if you haven’t figured it all out yet. Believe it or not, deciding on a major can actually be fun! Don’t believe me? Take the following quiz, and your results will help you map out the road to your future!

1. On a Saturday afternoon, you’d prefer to:

A. Browse Craigslist for some great deals
B. Take pictures or film a short movie
C. Babysit
D. Volunteer at the hospital
E. Create a website
F. Read the newspaper

2. In high school, your favorite subject was:

A. Math
B. English
C. Family and Consumer Science
D. Biology
E. Computer programming
F. History

3. Your favorite TV show is:

A. The Apprentice
B. The Soup
C. The Nanny
D. Grey’s Anatomy
E. American Inventor
F. C-SPAN

4. Your dream job would be:

A. An entrepreneur
B. A filmmaker or screenwriter
C. A teacher
D. A surgeon
E. A software developer
F. A politician

5. Your ideal work environment would be:

So you made it through a whole year with your current college roommate, and you were really looking forward to having your own place for the summer. Then you got a great internship, or you decided to stay on campus to take classes, and you realized you’re going to have to start all over again with another roommate. You might be friends, you might not be. Only time will tell. But until the day comes, here are a few tips to help you navigate through those few months with a new, probably random roomie. HC called on Kathryn Williams, author of Roomies, to weigh in on possible roommate scenarios and how to deal.

Scenario: You and your roommate have very different work schedules.

What to do: First of all, start by looking on the bright side. If she waitresses in the evenings, and you work during the day, you’ll each have the room to yourselves during your breaks. If you two are friends, and not just roommates, your differing schedules may present a problem. One solution could be to plan friend dates in advance. If you know you’ll both have free time two Saturdays from now, pencil in a date.

Kathryn Williams says that the downside to having differing schedules will be having differing sleep schedules as well. Her advice is to invest in some earplugs.

When you’re in high school, you can’t wait to graduate and move out of your parents’ house. But after four years of living on our own, many college graduates find themselves going back home to shack up with mom and dad for a while. Some girls gravitate back towards home out of convenience. Others make the move in order to save money. Could moving back work for you? To help you figure it out, postgraduates and college seniors shared with HC some pros and cons of moving home.