Whether you and your friends are heading to campus early for a midsummer party, or you’re planning the last bash of senior year, throwing an excellent theme party requires some time and patience. Fortunately, throwing such a party doesn’t have to put a deeper hole in your already depleting bank account.
5. Themes
Pick something that is popular with college students right now. One idea is to ask everyone to dress up as a ‘90s cartoon character. Toga parties are also favorites of the college generation thanks to the ever-popular Animal House. If it’s near a holiday, you could also do a Halloween costume party or an ugly Christmas sweater event.
4. Food and Drink
It’s likely that you don’t have a lot of money left to spend, especially if it’s the end of senior year. To make the most of your dwindling funds, ask each of your roommates to contribute a dish and a beverage to the party, and also ask other guests with whom you are close to bring along a dish too. Keep food in accordance with the theme. Serve “eyeballs” (tortellini with black olives in the middle) at Halloween or hold a barbecue for a luau-themed party.
If you are headed off to college this fall, there are a lot of exciting things to look forward to. Not only are you going to better your education, you also have the chance to move out on your own! Getting your own place is a very exciting time, but it can also be very challenging. Unfortunately, there are many landlords and roommates out there that will take advantage of a newbie if not careful. When choosing a rental, make sure to follow these simple tips to avoid any possible problems.
Choose Wisely
One mistake that many first-time renters make is that they rent a place that they cannot afford. While the big apartment looks the best, your life will be much easier if you can easily afford your monthly payment. You are at college to learn, not to spend all of your time working to try to pay your rent. If you insist on living in a larger apartment or home, find some roommates to split the cost with you or browse the web for some great deals.
If you do live with roommates, your roommates will have access to all of your mail and private documents. A company like Lifelock can guard your personal information and keep an eye out for any suspicious activity in your info. Keeping all your personal information intact will take a load of stress off when adjusting to college life and your new home life.
Document Everything
When moving into your new rental, it is vital that you document everything. ValleyNewsLive.com even suggests taking pictures of any pre-existing damage just in case the landlord denies it upon move out. You should also do a thorough walk through with the landlord to make sure you are both aware of the condition of the home on your arrival. You do not want to be responsible for damage caused by previous tenants. You need to also get any promises from the landlord in writing. If he says he will fix something for you, have him write it down and sign it. Many landlords will conveniently “forget” many of the promises they made if they are not documented.
Set Rules With Your Roomies
If you do have roommates get everything in writing with them. It does not have to be a formal document, but all details should be written down and signed by each roommate. This document should include what each roommate is expected to pay every month, and how the payments are going to work. Will all of you give your money to one person, and he makes the payments, or will you each be responsible for paying the bills directly to the different companies? By setting out these guidelines ahead of time you will prevent a lot of strain in your living.
When moving out on your own, it is important that your emotions do not get in the way of your common sense. Always take time to make any major decision, such as where to live. Do your research to make sure you are getting the best place your money can buy. And remember, if you document everything you should not run into any problems. What other tips did you find useful when moving out for college?
This post was written by Melissa Maranto. Melissa studied English at UCLA. She is now a magazine editor who still loves the beach as much as she did as an undergrad.
A Masters in Organizational Leadership (MSOL) is a degree offered by many colleges and universities all over the world that is designed to create effective leaders. It is considered to be an alternative to the ever-popular Master of Business Administration (MBA).
A master’s degree in organizational leadership focuses on philosophy and psychology as it relates to employee and organizational activities, whereas an MBA focuses more on the analytical aspects of leadership. While a MSOL is by no means a substitute for an MBA, but it is an alternative for students who wish to pursue a different managerial approach.
According to Drew Hansen, contributing writer for Forbes that specializes in leadership and entrepreneurship, MSOL programs have shown to produce higher quality leaders than MBA programs, due to their heavy emphasis on organizational leadership.
Organizational leadership degrees provide the skills required to function in administrative roles throughout any type of organization. Due to the similarities in organizational roles, a degree in organizational leadership can lead to Click to continue reading…
Cocktails have been a staple of bars in America for years. Whether it is a classic drink, like a Manhattan or martini, or an easy combo of rum and coke or 7 and 7, ordering a cocktail is typically a straightforward affair. But much like the foodie and craft beer cultures, cocktails are now getting the special treatment. A new pedigree of bartenders, dubbed “mixologists,” are adding new life to cocktails by acting as both drink historians and alcohol scientists, perfecting their craft in bars and lounges styled after speakeasies. Cocktail culture is on the rise, so let’s take a look at what’s fueling the resurgence of the mixed drink.
Cocktails have a long, storied history dating all the back to the early 1800s. By the early 1900s, the classic drink of whiskey, sugar and bitters became known as the “old fashioned,” deemed such because of all the new styles of complicated cocktails being created at the time. So at the start of the 21st century, there had already been a vibrant, experimental cocktail culture, with bartenders creating new drinks and methods of mixing them for nearly 200 years.
Mixologists distinguish themselves from your everyday bartender with the effort they take in their ongoing search to mix you the perfect drink. They read up on the classic cocktail procedures and study the history of cocktails, searching out long lost cocktail recipes from famous bars or recipe books. They also train themselves in the standard methods of combining sugars, fruit, juices, bitters and spirits. They create their own signature mixed drink recipes, using shaved ice or even adding essential oils.
Such expertly crafted cocktails surely need to be imbibed in a fitting atmosphere, so many retro-styled speakeasies have opened in major cities. Outside of the occasional food and dining section in the local paper or gourmet magazine, the speakeasies rely on word of mouth and somewhat out of the way locales to generate buzz and curiosity. Many are built out in old storefronts, warehouses or industrial businesses, and the bar owners will keep the original facade of the buildings while hanging a simple, well-placed neon “BAR” sign to give a clue about their location to patrons in the know. Some speakeasies even have a prohibition-style secret entrance and password.
Has the latest trend in artisan delicacies sparked your interest? Well then, there are plenty of new sites out there dedicated to the study and art of mixology, like dipsology.com. The media has taken note and claimed interest as well, as seen in this Rachel Maddow clip:
There’s even a YouTube video tribute to the mixologist by the San-Francisco-based duo Fog and Smog:
Logan Harper is the Community Manager for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Government’s online MPA@UNC program. He also loves television, travel and technology. Follow him on Twitter @harperlogan.
There was a time when meeting someone was something that happened by chance and almost always in person. You would run into someone on the street, in a bar or club, or at a club where you share common interests. Most couples would have ended up meeting in high school, college, graduate school, or even at work. However, the world has changed so much and in many ways we are busier and living our lives at a faster pace than ever before. This is why the modern world needs a new alternative to meeting people of the opposite sex. That is where dating sites come into the picture. While many people scoff and think that meeting someone online is beyond ridiculous, there are plenty of examples of happily married couples who met for the first time by chatting on the internet.
The Top Sites:
The top dating sites out there, such as Match.com, OKCupid, and eHarmony all have certain aspects in common. Then again, they also have very fundamental differences that provide for a very unique experience of being matched with people. The first dating sites that were introduced a few years ago simply had search criteria’s that you could use to sort out people who you were interested in. That is no longer the case. Click to continue reading…
