You’ve been thinking about it. You’ve been having trouble meeting people, and online dating makes it easier. You know that it is vain to judge someone only off of looks, but at this point, you don’t care. So I have for all of you a step by step guide on how to Tinder.

Step 1. Obsessively agonize over the pictures you will use for your profile. Ask yourself questions such as does one of my arms look bigger than the other? Or does this picture make me look like a crazy cat lady?

Step 2. Obsessively agonize over your bio. Try to come up with something witty and creative. Consider putting how much you love cats. Also consider putting how much you love to hike. You don’t really love to hike, but hey you’d look outdoorsy and if someone asked you to go hiking, you could do that. Hiking is basically just walking after all, right?

Step 3. Realize that you are neither witty nor creative. Decide not to add your love of cats due to the fact that you don’t want to be that crazy cat lady. Panic and then just write basic information about yourself.

Step 4. Start becoming addicted to swiping because goddamn this is fun.

Step 5. Match with someone for the first time. Become super excited and immediately go check who you had matched with. Fail to remember swiping right on this person. Feel mildly disappointed.

Step 6. Continue swiping. See that cutie from one of your classes. Swipe right immediately after stalking all his pictures and bio.

Step 7. Get extremely insulted when you and the cutie don’t match immediately.

Step 8. Come across on one of your friends. Swipe right and instantly match with them. Decide the Tinder universe is very unfair.

Step 9. Swipe right on someone specifically because they have a cute dog. Decide that even if you meet up with that person and they royally suck, it’s okay because they have a dog you can bond with.

Step 10. Match with more and more people. Eventually, receive a message from one of your matches. Become super excited again and instantly read the message.

Step 11. Wait the appropriate amount of time necessary to reply. You don’t want to seem too eager. During said appropriate amount of time, write and rewrite your reply until it’s perfect.

Step 12. Send that wonderful reply. Regret it instantly, convinced that you sound stupid.

Step 13. Wait anxiously for a reply.

Step 14. Repeat steps 10 through 13, until you decide whether or not this person is worth your time and not someone whose IQ is about 50 points lower than your own.

Step 14. Get asked to Netflix and chill. Decide to accept the offer because watching Netflix on a date sounds like heaven to you. Maybe they will binge-watch Scandal with you.

Step 15. Realize what your date meant by Netflix and chill. Get disappointed because you just wanted to watch some Netflix.

Step 16. Return to the continuous swiping and matching. Become discouraged, but remind yourself that there has to be someone out there that’s a decent human being.

Step 17. Discover someone that has multiple people along with them in every single one of their pictures. Analyze each picture with your friends, trying to determine which person is the one that the profile actually belongs to.

Step 17. Get asked on a date, an actual date, not just to Netflix and chill. Spend an excessive time getting ready for that date. You want to look cute, but not like you’re trying too hard.

Step 18. Go on an extremely lackluster date to Prince Puckler’s Gourmet Ice Cream shop. Get bored and realize you have nothing to talk about. You’re disappointed, but at least you got free ice cream out of your misery and discomfort.

Step 19. Run out of swipes, and to be honest, you’re a bit relieved.

Step 20. Decide to delete Tinder. It’s been real and it’s been fun, but it hasn’t been real fun.

Long distance relationships in college do not work out. Period. End of story.

I wish someone told me that when I was a freshman. I wish someone was blunt with me. I once thought that my high school boyfriend was my soul-mate and that we were head over heels in love. I thought that one day we would be married. When I went away for college, we decided to stay together and do long distance. He stayed back in California, and I went up here to Oregon. We thought staying together was a better alternative to breaking up. It was a terrible mistake.

Before I left, I Googled statistics on long distance relationships. My findings were very discouraging.

According to a study from The Center for the Study of Long Distance Relationships, long distance relationships last an average of four and a half months. Also, 40 percent of long distance relationships end. Basically, the statistics were screaming at me, “Don’t do this!” But, I didn’t listen.

I didn’t listen to anyone when they told me that long distance relationships in college just don’t work. I thought that my boyfriend and I were going to be the exception. I remember the looks that I would get from people when I told them my boyfriend was back in California. It was awkward and discouraging, but I would always ignore those pitying looks and those “good luck with that” comments.

We were doing long distance for a while but soon, things quickly went downhill. He was keeping me from going to parties and meeting people because he was afraid I would cheat on him. I didn’t join a sorority because of him. He didn’t trust me, and because of that, I felt like he controlled my every move and I couldn’t do something without asking his permission first. Basically, he was sucking the fun out of my college experience.

I didn’t feel like my happy self. I didn’t feel like my boyfriend wanted me to be myself. I felt like I was constantly on the outside of everything. I was lonely and spent most of my time wanting to be home. I felt like this wasn’t right, this wasn’t how I wanted to live my live. College is supposed to be a time of new-found freedom and figuring out who we really are. Why waste this new-found freedom by being tied down to someone?

I remember meeting other students in my dorm that were also in long distance relationships. None of them acted like they were. They would openly flirt with other people, and to me, their relationships seemed pointless. I judged these people based on the notion that I thought my relationship was better than theirs. But they seemed happy, and I was clearly not.

We struggled through this hard, energy-draining relationship for a year. Eventually, I got so fed up having to deal with the distance and the long nights we spent arguing over the phone and on Skype. It was the beginning of my sophomore year, and I couldn’t stand the idea of spending another year depressed and lonely. So we broke up, and it was the most freeing moment of my life. I never cried over the ending of this relationship with a guy I once felt so committed to, I was too ecstatic for tears. Long distance relationships are time-consuming and just plain messy. I felt wonderful not having that weight on my shoulders. I was happy to finally be who I wanted to be.

I’m sure that there is a way for long distance relationships to work. Hell, I hope that everyone who is in a long distance relationship finds a way to make things work. I’m just saying that when I tried it, it was awful. It takes trust, time, commitment and being good at communication, things I have never been particularly good at. There may be people that are happy in their relationship. I’m just a cynic, and you don’t have to listen to me.

I really don’t mean to be negative. All I’m saying is that most likely, your long distance relationship has a good chance of ending. But don’t worry if it does, you’re not alone.

One morning, the summer between my freshman and sophomore years, I stepped on my mom’s tauntingly shiny scale and looked down at the number: 130. My mouth dropped open in disbelief. A year before I had fluctuated between 110-115 pounds. I stepped off the scale and weighed myself again. That same number flashed at me mockingly. Without even realizing it, I packed on 15 pounds over the course of my freshman year.

I was such an idiot my freshman year that I didn’t even realize when I gained weight. When my jeans started to get tighter, I just thought that I was getting older and curvier. I thought the same thing when my bras started not fitting. I didn’t stop to think about the dreaded “freshman 15.”

My mom warned me about the weight gain that all college freshmen experience, deemed the freshman 15. I had always been skinny and never had a problem with my weight, so naturally, I didn’t listen to her. Besides, with all the walking to and from class, I thought that there was no way I could be gaining that much weight. Maybe five pounds, but definitely not 15, especially since I went to the gym every day.

At the time, I blamed the dorm food. It was the pasta night and “Fried Friday” at Carson Hall. It was the burritos and nachos from Big Mouth Burrito. It was the damn milkshakes and cheesy grillers at Common Grounds. It couldn’t be my fault it. It had to be the food.

But it was my fault. I tried to work out every day, but it wasn’t enough. I was still eating foods that were bad for my body. All that gym time couldn’t reverse the effects of the food I was ingesting. When I went home for winter break, my mom noticed that I had gained some weight. She didn’t directly tell me, though. I wish that she had bluntly told me that I was gaining weight. Maybe I would have listened to her for once.

I felt that extra weight. It weighed me down with every step I took. I looked in the mirror and finally saw all that extra poundage. I saw the muffin top that had formed over my jeans. That was all I needed to decide that I needed to lose weight. I signed up at my local gym and started dieting.

Dieting sucks. I always felt hungry and desperately wanted to eat ice cream. But I felt terrible about myself. My self-esteem was at an all time low. I looked at all the pictures taken of me during the last year, and I couldn’t even recognize myself. That was my motivation, so I slowly worked on losing weight. That’s how I spent my entire summer. But eventually, I lost the extra poundage. I felt lighter and better about myself. I felt more free.

Now, I try to maintain my weight and not allow it to get out of hand. It gets difficult dieting sometimes (especially since I live annoyingly close to Dairy Queen), but I strive to try and eat foods that are good for me. For me, it’s all about self-control. I’ve always had a sweet tooth. It’s just that it was never a problem before.

Tons of people gain weight during their freshman year of college. It’s hard not to with all the fattening food in the dorms. And it’s hard to stay healthy being away from home for the first time. I tended to eat more fattening foods than my mom ever kept in the house, like Poptarts and Lucky Charms. I just didn’t take care of my body. Even though I worked out almost every day, I wasn’t eating like I normally did.

To all the freshmen out there, don’t be upset if you gain some weight because it happens to everyone. It’s hard to eat healthy. It’s especially hard for young college students. I know the struggle of the freshman 15. It’s a curse we can’t avoid.

In terms of feminism, a lot of Disney princesses, well, suck. Yes, Disney’s more recent movies feature strong, smart and talented princesses. And yes, not every Disney princess is a bad role model for young girls, but many of them are. Disney princesses constantly have to be saved by their princes. Where are the princesses that have to save their princes? What do we have to do to get a little role reversal? Not to mention the fact that every single Disney princess is impossibly skinny with eyes that are literally bigger than their waistlines. Young girls are already overloaded with images of an impossible standard of beauty, do they really need to have that showcased in movies with heroines that they want to look up to?

In 1937, Disney released its first full-length animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The film featured the first of many Disney princesses, Snow White. Made just 17 years after women were given the right to vote, it is no wonder that Snow White is full of blatant sexism. Snow White longs for a handsome prince throughout the entire movie. In addition, Snow White is praised solely for her good looks. Her step mother is jealous of her beauty because she is the “fairest in the land.” Because of this jealousy, her stepmother vows to kill her. When she is put under a spell by the Evil Queen (her stepmother) it is a kiss from her prince that awakens her and saves her. Snow White is brought out of her crappy situation by a prince that only loves her because she’s beautiful. Snow White is basically telling young girls that one day some her handsome prince will find her and rescue her.

After Snow White came Cinderella, from her self-titled movie. In the movie, Cinderella is forced by her stepmother to perform many domestic tasks. This reflected the majority of women at the time: quiet and classy whose job is to do the house work. To get out of her less than satisfactory situation, Cinderella gets all dressed up to go to a ball where she meets her prince. They marry because her prince is impressed by her beauty, not by who she actually is. Like Snow White, Cinderella isn’t a good role model. She shows young girls that even though performing domestic tasks isn’t necessarily fun, it is what women do. She also relies on a prince to find her attractive and marry her to release her from her undesirable circumstances.

Skipping ahead a few decades, Disney princesses begin to show a little more promise. Even though she is not technically royalty, Mulan is considered a Disney princess. She’s strong and a hard worker. She even saves China! Basically, Mulan is awesome. She is a great example of what a Disney Princess should be. Another example of a good Disney princess is Pocahontas. She is kind, wise and caring. Belle from Beauty and the Beast almost had it right. She is intelligent and can actually think for herself. But she ends up marrying the guy that enslaves her, which is creepy. Princess Jasmine from Aladdin is a bit different than other princesses. She is feisty and doesn’t even want to get married in the first place, but her father is basically raising her to be married off. Although she could be a good role model, she’s not even the main character in the film. These princesses aren’t the problem from this era of Disney. My biggest issue is with Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

I judge people when they say that Ariel is their favorite princess. Ariel is the absolute worst. In the beginning, she only seems to care about herself, but when she sees Prince Eric she instantly falls for him. She longs to go on land and meet this guy that she’s only seen once. When she finally does meet him, they fall in love, and she ditches her entire family to live with him as a human. Ariel throws her entire life away for a man that originally fell in love with her because of her singing voice.

Although Disney has done a good job in recent movies creating princesses that are better role models, the old princesses are terrible. For decades, Disney basically promoted the idea that for women to be happy they need a man. Because hey, every marriage leads to a “happily ever after,” right?

Whenever I was asked as a kid what my favorite holiday is I would say Christmas and Halloween. I loved both holidays equally. Halloween was such a fun holiday for me as a child. My grandma would make my sister and I creative costumes, for example, I was a cow for my first Halloween. I loved those costumes, and I loved trick-or-treating around my neighborhood. I loved coming home after a night of trick-or-treating and spreading out all my candy and trading with my sister. As a kid, Halloween is an awesome day full of candy, fun costumes and spooky haunted houses. It was something I looked forward to, even planning out my costume months in advance. Now that I’m an adult, the fun of the holiday has definitely diminished.

For me, it started in high school. Girls started dressing in provocative costumes, and I felt like I had to do the same. Dressing too conservative made me feel like I was being judged as a prude. I traded the homemade costumes made by my grandma to skimpy lady bug and devil costumes. Everyone wore the same types of things. It was like all the individuality of Halloween had been lost. In addition, the trick-or-treating stopped because I felt like I was too old to go door-to-door begging for candy (no matter how much I still wanted to). Instead, I stayed in watching scary movies with my friends. On the Halloweens of my junior and senior year, I didn’t even bother dressing up. Basically, Halloween had lost its wonder and fun. It was now just another day.

It got worse in college. Girls walked around wearing what was basically slightly more appropriate lingerie. Costumes had lost their originality and were now just sexy. Everything had to be sexy. We could never be bunnies anymore; we had to be playboy bunnies. We wore tight spandex shorts and revealing tops with bunny ears and called it a day. We live in a culture that sexualizes everything, Halloween costumes are no different. Halloween is basically the one day a year where women can dress like total sluts and no one will say anything about. So, to not be mistaken as a prude, I wear the sexy costumes. I walk around, going to parties, wearing tiny skirts and tops that reveal way too much cleavage. I feel uncomfortable wearing revealing clothes. I walk around completely self-conscious, convinced that I look fat, and hating the fact that every guy I pass is unabashedly staring at me.

As much as I don’t want to wear a slutty costume, I feel like that is the only option that I have. It seems like women’s costumes become more and more revealing as we get older. Everything that we could possibly think of as a costume is made to be sexualized. We can be sexy Minions from Despicable Me. We can be sexy Donald Trump. We can be a sexy pizza for God’s sakes. These costumes are both ridiculous and ridiculously sexy. What ever happened to leaving some things up to the imagination? Do we really want every part of our bodies put on display for everyone to see?

I don’t want to be sexualized by every person that I pass when I walk down the street on Halloween. I want to be able to wear cute costumes that don’t show off my cleavage and booty excessively. I miss the days of trick-or-treating, and not worrying if I was too old for it. I miss being able to carve a pumpkin and then leave it on my front porch without worrying about if it is going to smashed by some drunken idiot. College has made me a Halloween cynic to the point where I barely enjoy the holiday anymore.

Still, this Halloween I will put on my black cat costume (really, it is just a black dress with cat ears and drawn on nose and whiskers; my hatred has made me lazy) and roam with streets of Eugene with the hundreds of other black cats. I’ll look like the appropriate cross between sexy and slutty. I still dress up because I still want to go to fun parties and attempt to put my Halloween disdain to rest. Yet, I can’t help but wish for the days of candy and cute costumes. Let’s face it, Halloween as an adult kind of sucks.

One evening last year when I was back in my hometown, I went to a Anaheim Ducks hockey game with my dad and sister. I proudly showed off my jersey as my family and I sat down in our nosebleed seats. Somewhere far below us, two young women walked up the stairs wearing high heels, tight skirts and tiny cleavage-bearing shirts. My sister leans over to me and scoffs, “They’re wearing clothes that I would go clubbing in.”

It was ridiculous. Why would someone wear party clothes to a hockey game? For one, it is insanely cold in there due to the giant ice rink down below. For another, everyone else is wearing jeans and Ducks gear, like jerseys, T-shirts and hats. And then these women are wearing clothes that my sister would go to a club in.

Everyone knows the type of girl I’m talking about. We have them at University of Oregon football games, too. They’re those girls that scream and clap obnoxiously, but only when everyone else does. When they aren’t screaming, they’re taking selfies for Snapchat and Instagram. When something happens that makes the crowd groan and boo at the referees, they lean over to the closest male and ask “Um like what is everyone so upset about?” Basically, they’re girls that go to sporting events and have no idea what is going on the entire time.

I try not to judge these women. They’re just trying to support their school’s football team after all. Yet, they make every woman that actually likes and knows sports look bad because they make it look like all women don’t know what they’re talking about. They make men not take women sports fans seriously.

It’s insulting not to be taken seriously in the world of sports just because of my gender. I hate when I tell a male that I’m a huge hockey fan and they scoff, even after I scathingly inform them that I’ve been an Anaheim Ducks fan since the seventh grade.

I know that I have negatively stereotyped against women at sporting events in general, but to myself I wonder why. I see women dressed up in sports gear cheering on their team, and I always assume that they aren’t real fans, just because they are women. For example, an old friend of mine started dating a hockey player and magically turned into a hockey fan. Whenever she would discuss hockey with me, I would roll my eyes thinking to myself that she’s only a fan because of her boyfriend. Even if she is actually a fan of the sport, I know that I will never take her seriously. I always think to myself that she is a fake sports fan, even though she is trying to become a serious hockey fan. Yet, because I’ve been a hockey fan for much longer, I see myself as superior to her.

I’ve even stereotyped against myself. When I met my boyfriend, I learned that he is a Chicago Blackhawks fan. I automatically assumed that because he’s a male, that he knows more about hockey than I do. This turned out to be extremely false, but still, I doubted my knowledge just because of my gender.

Women have become more present in sports media, which is of course a great step forward. However, because they are women, men tend to disagree with their opinions. Male fans also harass women sports reporters. For example, Julie DiCaro, an anchor for a Chicago sports radio station, recently shared threatening messages she has received over Twitter. In these messages, she is called degrading names and threatened with rape and assault.

It is dangerous being a woman in the man’s world of sports media. Men make women feel unwelcome and threatened in this world. This is absolutely atrocious and unfair. Male reporters aren’t threatened in this way, why does the world have to be so harsh to women sports fans? Why should our gender even matter in the first place?

Women shouldn’t be threatened for sharing their opinion. Women shouldn’t be scoffed at because they are fans of a sport or a team. In a male-dominated world of sports, women are often seen as unknowledgeable and uninformed. For us women who want to appreciate sports, this is discouraging and unfair. The sports world and the male audience needs to change and be more accepting. Because women sports reporters and fans aren’t going anywhere.

Last year, after my older sister graduated from Oregon State University, my parents took me, her and her boyfriend out to dinner. The restaurant we went to was absolutely packed with parents and their newly graduates, so naturally we had to wait for a table. With such a small seated waiting area, my dad decided that we should just wait at the bar. Within seconds, the bartender comes up to me and asks for my I.D. It was like the bartender had a sixth sense to determine who was underage. With a charming smile, I explained to him that we were just waiting for a table, and I was with my parents, after all. He told me that I had to find another place to sit and wait.

I was 20 years old, but at that moment, I felt like I was 10. I felt stupid and childish as my mom and I left the bar to wait away from the rest of my family. I would be turning 21 in 6 months, and at that moment, I felt like my birthday couldn’t come quick enough.

Despite this incident, there was a huge part of me that dreaded my 21st birthday. Don’t get me wrong, I was excited to be able to flash my license at the next bartender who tries to dismiss me as a minor. I was excited to finally be able to drink with my parents at restaurants or have a beer with my dad while at a hockey game. I was super excited, yet so not at the same time.

I was born in November. Everyone born in the months of September through December are either way older or way younger than everyone else in their grade. My mom opted to have me be older than everyone else. I always loved this about my birthday. In elementary and middle schools being older made me feel cooler than my younger classmates. It was only until college that I realized what an annoyance my birthday was.

In the months leading up to my 21st birthday, I started thinking about who the hell was going to go out to the bars with me. All of my friends were younger than me, and the ones that weren’t, were back in my hometown. I felt like my birthday was going to be a massive failure if I didn’t go to the bars. So for this reason, my birthday didn’t excite me anymore.

I turned 21 on Monday, November 16th , and it was probably the most anticlimactic moment of my life. For one thing, it was a Monday. Who wants to party on a Monday? Because I certainly didn’t. For another, I still had no one to go out with. I, instead, went to dinner with my boyfriend, where I ordered a mojito (wahoo first legal drink), and afterwards, had a quiet night in with my friends. Happy freakin’ 21st birthday to me. I mean it was a nice evening, but I couldn’t help feeling lame.

Which was ridiculous. I had a nice goddamn birthday so why should I have felt like such a loser just because I didn’t get trashed at some sticky bar that would have been empty anyway? I have an old acquaintance from my hometown that also went to school at the University of Oregon. When she wished me a happy birthday, she asked me if I was going to Taylor’s. I lied saying that I was because I didn’t want to seem lame because instead of binge-drinking I was going to be binge-watching Netflix.

We live in a culture that glorifies partying and binge-drinking so much that spending a Saturday night in is almost looked down upon. And spending a 21st birthday in? Well, that just makes you look like you have zero social life. It’s not fair that we are expected to have a crazy 21st birthday and if we don’t, that makes us almost like a failure.

I know that I’m not the only person that is the oldest in their groups of friends. There are certain perks, of course, but I felt like I missed out on the typical 21st birthday drink fest. So to all you people who, like me, feel like they won’t have anyone to go out with on their 21st birthday, believe me, I feel your pain. Someone always has to be the first.

If you are like me, you always wait until the last minute to go shopping for holiday gifts. I am a procrastinator, and it is never more of a hindrance than in the holiday season. As is gets closer to Christmas, malls fill up with frantic shoppers desperately looking for gifts for loved ones. It may seem impossible to find the perfect gift when you are wandering around a packed mall surrounded by so many stores that are filled with so much stuff.

But fear not, procrastinating holiday shoppers. Here are some helpful tips to get you through last minute holiday shopping:

1. Try to get to the mall or shopping center early in the day. Earlier in the day there are going to be less shoppers. With less shoppers means more parking spaces, so no driving around aimlessly praying for a parking spot. Also, there will be less people in general around you while you’re shopping. Less distractions, more space to do your thing.

2. Provided that you have the time, spilt up your holiday shopping into two or more days. Don’t try to buy everything for everyone in one day. This adds unnecessary stress, so make it more manageable. You can instead shop for a couple of people on your list one day, and then a couple more the next. I find it easiest to split up shopping for family members one day, and then shopping for friends another.

3. On one of your shopping trips, go with a family member that is on your shopping list. I learned this one this year. I went with my mom to the mall to get a present for my dad. As we were looking around, she would pause and look at a couple of items that she liked. Once she stopped to look at a tea kettle, but couldn’t find the exact one she wanted. After describing her specific guidelines, I looked on Amazon and found the perfect one. It was easier buying gifts for her after shopping with her because I knew exactly what she wanted.

4. Ask for gift lists from people, and if they say the typical, “Oh I don’t know” or “You don’t have to get me anything,” then insist on the list. Having a list reference makes shopping easier. Plus, you are more likely to buy something that the recipient needed or wanted. When you’re stumped on a gift idea, just ask.

5. If you are still completely stumped on gift ideas, books or gift cards may be your safest way to go. Buy a popular book for an avid reader in your family, and you can do no wrong. Observe or ask about which genre they enjoy most and pick something out. Gift cards may seem impersonal, but they make a great stocking stuffer. I often buy my dad a gift card to Home Depot because he is always working on some type of project in our backyard. If you do get someone a gift card, try to couple it with another gift that is more personal.

6. Finding the perfect gift for your significant other can be the most stressful part of the holiday. Yesterday, a friend of mine told me that she was struggling to think of a gift idea for her boyfriend because he is very practical, and she couldn’t think of anything he would like. So, for your boyfriend or girlfriend, try to buy something that shows you listen to them. For example, last year I told my boyfriend that I adored chocolate covered strawberries, so he sent a bunch to my house. If he/she is a fan of a certain sports team, buy them a T-shirt. If he/she loves cooking, buy them a recipe book. The key is to pay attention to what they enjoy.

Year after year many of us procrastinate on the holiday shopping and tell ourselves that we will get an early start the next year. But, other commitments often get in the way, and we are forced to shop at the last minute. Holiday shopping can be a stressful experience. With these tips, hopefully your last-minute shopping experience will be a bit less taxing. Maybe next year we will try to get an early start.

Well, the first week of winter term has come to a close, and we must start setting goals for the rest of the term. It is important to begin on the right foot, so here are some tips on how to make sure the term is a success:

1) Do the reading

Sometimes we can slack off on the assigned reading for a class in favor of other assignments we deem more important. This is not wise for a couple of reasons. For one, completing the assigned reading early in the term would be less stressful than attempting to cram in all the reading the day before a midterm or final in order to study. For another, assigned reading typically corresponds with the material lectured during class, so doing the reading can help you get a good grasp of the material when it is presented.

2) Get to know your professors

This is really important. Professors should be a resource to us not just someone that lectures at us twice a week. Actually knowing your professors will be a big help when you need a recommendation or some help finding a job or an internship. Professors want to be helpful, but only if you take the time out of your busy schedule to go to their office hours. No professor wants to write a recommendation for someone that only spoke to them once (and that was to ask for a recommendation).

3) Keep a planner

I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten to do something because I didn’t write it down. Planners are a good way to keep organized and on top of due dates and tasks that needed completing. If planners aren’t your style, try sticky notes or to do lists or a calendar. Try to find something to keep you organized early in the term so that you will be more organized at the end of it when things are more hectic.

4) Set aside “you time”

Every day you should set aside an hour or so where you can just relax and chill out by yourself. You shouldn’t always be working, it is not healthy. You should find an activity that relaxes you, whether it be yoga, dancing, or even just reading a book in bed. You can’t succeed in classes unless you are emotionally, physically or mentally unhealthy. Take care of yourself.

5) Establish a type of routine

Having a routine can keep you stress-free and on top of your to do lists because a routine keeps you organized. You can establish a routine by things such as going to the gym at a certain time or doing homework in the library after a certain class. Although sometimes it can feel tedious, keeping up with a routine can help during finals week to de-stress.

6) Go to class

This may seem like an obvious tip, but often many of us skip class and regret it later. Early in the term, we think that skipping a class or two will have not major consequences. However, you will disappointed when your grade in attendance is not where you want it to be. Going to class is also very important so that you can hear the lecture and take notes on it. Both will help during midterms and finals later in the term. Even though the early classes in the term may not seem that important, going to them could also help establish a routine (see tip above).

7) Always take notes

Having a set of handwritten (and I do believe handwritten is better than typed. It makes it easy to grasp material and remember it.) notes will help later when you are studying for tests. Reviewing these class notes every night is also a good way to grasp the material and really understand what is being discussed in classes. Make a habit of taking detailed notes now rather than later and you will not regret it.

Establishing good habits early in the term makes it more likely that you will have good habits throughout finals week. With these tips, you can establish your good habits. Let’s have a good winter term, and go Ducks!

I was once proud to call myself a feminist. I felt empowered because I felt like I was a strong woman who longed to be successful in life. I wanted a career because I didn’t want to be a stay at home mom. I wanted to be able to provide for myself in life and not rely on a man. I was a proud feminist because I believe that people should have equal rights regardless of race, gender or ethnicity.

A simple definition of a feminist by dictionary.com is someone who is “advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men.”

Upon reading the above definition, I thought to myself, “Well, doesn’t everyone advocate for that? This isn’t the 1950s.” So to me, identifying as a feminist was something I was proud of, and I never thought anyone could say anything negative about advocating equal rights between genders.

However, recently, I’ve felt reluctant to label myself as a feminist. This is because of the stigma that goes along with the term and the concept of feminism today.

Feminism in the western world has come in three waves. The first occurred in the end of the 19th century into the 20th century, and it focused on advocating for women’s suffrage and property rights. The second wave occurred during the early 1960s, and it focused on reproductive rights and called attention to domestic violence and marital rape.

While the second wave did many good things, it was not as successful as the first or third wave because it excluded lesbians and women of color. The third wave of feminism is the most recent, occurring in the early 1990s and continuing to the present. This wave focused on changing stereotypes and language in regards to women. The third wave also improved on the actions of the second wave.

The women of today’s society have benefited from the work of early feminists, yet many of them now lash out against the term “feminist.” It is wrong for women to take advantage of all the work done by previous feminists, but reject the term “feminists“ because of the implications of it in society today.

The word “feminist” has turned almost into an insult. There is a stigma that women who are feminists must be man-haters or simply women who want the rights of men but still expect them to pay for everything.

There is a common misconception that feminists advocate for women’s rights but are completely against men’s rights, hence the idea that they are “man-haters.” This is absolutely not true. Feminists just want equal rights to their male counterparts and not to be treated as subservient.

Maybe some feminists are more extreme than others, but just because women may show or advocate for feminism in different ways does not mean that it should be negative. Wanting to be considered equal in our patriarchal society should never be considered a bad thing. It is wrong to classify types of feminists because a feminist is just a person that thinks women should be equal to men. Crazy right?

Being called a feminist should not be an insult. It should not be a way to call someone a derogatory name because they advocate for simple civil rights. Feminists are not man-haters, we’re just people. Using feminism as an insult is making people such as myself feel ashamed instead of proud to be a feminist.

As a society, we should be prideful of the work previously done for our rights by strong women in the 20th century, but if there is still a negative implication to feminism then there is still much to be done. Men and women alike should be able to label themselves as feminists without worrying about being perceived as something they aren’t because wanting equal rights for each gender is not a bad thing.

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