This group of boys keeps making chili in our building’s communal kitchen, and they never clean up after themselves. I’m so tired of the smell of week-old chili. What should I do?
If you have tried GroupMe texts and polite requests and found no success, time to suit up and become the pots-and-pans police. At the end of the day, pots and pans are a privilege, and these boys have proven that it is one they do not deserve. Take them away.
While you might upset the other residents and your house coordinators, you’re doing the community a service — reducing unpleasant odors, deterring rodents and bugs, and keeping the kitchen clean. In time, the other members of your dorm will thank you and possibly even attempt to enlist in the force themselves.
I’m an international first-year, and I suck at making friends. I’ve gone out of my way to step out of my comfort zone, but I feel like I haven’t been able to form meaningful relationships like everyone else around me. Plus, I feel like it’s too late for making new friends. Please help!
It might seem like everyone around you is settled in close-knit relationships, but things are not always as they seem. Not to mention the fact that you are only in your first semester, and a lot can change! Who you are friends with in your first year is not who you are friends with senior year, or even junior and sophomore year.
My advice is to keep an open mind. Pursue activities that are exciting to you, especially new ones that may seem scary, and keep yourself open to the possibility of meeting new people. The worst thing you can do is to be a hermit and tell yourself everything is already socially settled and that there’s no chance for you. You got this!
Give it to me straight. Is lead actually bad for you? Sincerely, a Stanley cup fanatic.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the dangers of lead are pretty well documented. Consider the United States’ remarkably poor ability to regulate consumer products. The health consequences of lead are so apparent that even our defunct government did something about it, which is saying something.
Your limited edition Valentine’s Day one-million-ounce Stanley might be cute — and you might have gotten into a brawl over it in Target — but there are plenty of jumbo emotional support cups on the market that will not set off an at-home lead testing kit.
My girlfriend graduated last week, but I have another semester here. How can we stay connected when we’re apart? I’m nervous about us being in different places in life.
It’s always harder to be the one left behind. Your girlfriend gets to go off into the real world and experience new things while you are stuck with another semester of the same banal Williams shenanigans. Of course that’s going to be difficult, but thinking about it in those zero-sum terms will drive you mad. Remind yourself that the grass is not always greener; the adult world has its own set of challenges. Plus, it’s only a semester!
Your last seven have gone by fast, and this one is no exception. If a semester seems like a long time, make it more palatable by designating days to see each other — even if those days are not until graduation — and make time for quality conversations throughout the week, even if it is just once. While it is natural to look forward to these, try not to revolve your life around them. Focus on the present. College will be over before you know it.
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