*1* The Units — This popular weekend late-night hangout houses various fraternities. Each house holds dance parties, which can be a fun way to relax and dance the night away.

*2* The Rec — Feeling stressed or rundown? The Rec offers ways to relax and take your mind off things.

*3* The Daily Grind — This small coffee shop is a popular morning hotspot for students, faculty and staff. Often you can sit around drinking a chai latte and enjoy a chat with your friends or perfect strangers.

*4* Wren Portico — The patio outside of the Wren building ­— located on the Sunken Garden side of the building — hosts various a cappella performances all year.

*5* Matoaka — Situated on the lake, this area is a beautiful place to sit and watch the sunset or have a picnic on a sunny day.

*6* Muscarelle Museum of Art — This museum, free for students, boasts various art exhibits throughout the year. The lack of crowds and lines makes this a perfect place to pass the time and reflect.

*7* Lodge 1— This bustling location offers students a place to sit and pass the time with friends.

*8* Earl Gregg Swem Library — The library not only is a place to study, but a great place to sit back and relax. Students can sit in the comfortable seating and read a book for pleasure, with a few interruptions.

*9* Sofas in the Sadler Center — This area is a perfect meeting place for those planning to eat at the dining hall at the Sadler Center.

*10* Integrated Science Center — This recently opened building not only offers state of the art technology, but is a great way to get away from the crowds. Students looking to get away from the noises of campus can be sure to find quiet rooms and plenty of them.

*11* Jamestown Lounges — The lounges of these upperclassmen dorms offer plenty of seating and work as a great meeting place.

*Duct tape*: An obvious necessity of life anywhere you are living, but especially at college where the universal fix-all really does fix all. Whether it’s holding together your text books or shoe rack, you will need this at some point this year.

*Laundry Soap*: The washers here use high efficiency laundry detergent, and buying in bulk is a cheaper option (it might last you a few years though) just make sure you have some way to take down smaller amounts at one time (even though lugging 5 liters of detergent to the laundry room every week may seem like a good alternative to the gym).

*Alarm Clock*: Time to wake up to college — your mom isn’t here to shake you out of bed every morning, and that cell phone alarm isn’t always enough after pulling an all-nighter. Make sure you get one annoying enough to get you out of bed, but also make sure you don’t become the annoying roomate that never turns it off.

*Bed Risers*: Not a good idea if you’re bunking, but otherwise creates enough extra space under your bed to store almost any size box or crate for super-sneaky storage space.

*Robe*: Even if you never used one at home, you probably never had to walk through a hall of coeds to get to your shower.

*Small Toolkit*: Things break. Now you can fix them. And even better, if anyone else on your hall ever needs to fix something, guess whose their new best friend…

*Flash Drive*: A solid investment for power point presentations, group projects, or that time when your printer breaks and you have to run to Swem to print out an essay. Also handy for sharing music.

*Small Fan*: Unless you’re one of the chosen few living in an air conditioned dorm, these first few months in the ‘burg can be brutally hot. Having a small fan to put near your window or door can keep at the air flowing, even if it’s hot air.

*Stain Remover*: Necessary for both for bigger things like carpets and comforters, as well as smaller things (Tide-to-Go anyone?) like clothes and purses.

*Water Filter*: You can only use so much express at the vending machine until you realize the freshman fifteen is a real phenomenon. When you finally move onto water, it will taste much better out of a Brita filter than the sink 20 other people brush their teeth in every day.

*Snacks*: Although freshmen all have some sort of Gold meal plan, the dining halls can only fill you up so much. For all other times of the day not covered by meal zone hours, having a few snack favorites on hand can go a long way in saving your sanity.

*Target*: 4630 Monticello Ave — About three miles from campus

*Staples*: 1320 Richmond Rd — About one and a half miles from campus

*Office Depot*: 4900 Monticello Ave — About three miles from campus

*Home Depot*: 6700 Mooretown Rd — About five and a half miles from campus

*Trader Joe’s*: 5000 Settlers Market Blvd — About two miles from campus

*Best Buy*: 210 Whittakers Trace — About four miles from campus

A popular bumper sticker on Facebook profiles reads: College Life, choose 2: 1. a decent grade point average 2. a social life 3. sleep. While most people think they can forgo sleep, and others try to work around the academics, you don’t have to settle — you can have all three. The key to balancing life at the College of William and Mary is to know exactly where, how and when to study.

As most freshmen find, sometimes Earl Gregg Swem Library isn’t the best place to study. The third floor of Swem will continue to be a place of solitude and peace — wearing noisy flip-flops on the third floor has been known to illicit death glares from the more studious, but the bustling social atmosphere on Swem’s first two floors can cause distractions well into the night and end up being detrimental to attempts at solid studying. More often than not, students get sucked into the socializing — only to discover they’ve spent the past three hours discussing the latest episode of Lost. So if you actually want to buckle down and study, try these places:

*Small Hall*: Located next to Swem, Small is a prime location for studying. While not as intense as Swem’s third floor, Small’s library provides the perfect atmosphere for paper writing.

*The cafe in the College Bookstore*: Located on the second floor, it is usually quiet and provides plenty of studying space, including window nooks. Another plus: you can sip a latte with your biology textbook. Just remember not to get sucked into the magazines.

*Old Campus*: For late-night study sessions, most buildings around the Sunken Garden remain open late. An empty classroom in Tyler Hall, Washington Hall or Blair Hall is the perfect quiet getaway for all-nighters. The comfy seats, white boards and adjacent location to Wawa are all pluses. During exam periods most students find these empty classrooms suitable for studying alone or in a group.

*Outside*: On a nice day, the Terrace or shady areas of the Sunken Garden seem like the ideal spots for studying. However, be careful not to get sidetracked by passersby or to turn a study session into a half-an-hour power nap in the sun. Instead, try the Lake Matoaka Amphitheatre. It may seem far from campus, but this fortress of solitude can help most to relax and focus on the task at hand.

*The Recreation Center*: An unexpected favorite is the gym. There are a few couches and tables on which to study, but for some, the treadmill can be a motivating factor to finish work early. A post-studying workout can help de-stress after hours of studying.

*The Daily Grind*: Located in the heart of campus, the Daily Grind may seem like a haven for those who worship indie music. However, a table at the Grind — if you are lucky enough to snag one — is golden. With coffee, your computer and chill background music, the Grind isn’t just a great meeting place for friends, but a great location to study — without the trek to the bookstore.

All students know the feeling of procrastination. It is common to become flustered with starting a paper or studying for an exam, and suddenly what was one hour of Project Runway becomes five hours of watching re-runs of ESPN news, crappy MTV dramas and even the Lifetime Channel. The first thing to do in this situation is to hunker down and start. For those who can’t just start, try getting a planner. The most effective way to maximize your social time and sleep is through organization. Here are some other ways to help you study better and more effectively:

*The Writing Resources Center*: This free service is not solely for English majors. WRC students help with drafting, revising and starting papers. There is also a History Writing Resources Center as well for those writing history papers.

*Get plenty of sleep*: Freshman year does not have to be a fiasco. There will always be parties, students running up and down the halls at 1 a.m. and recruitment for midnight games of Ultimate Frisbee. If you set a disciplined curfew then it will be easy to balance friends and papers. And once you get an A in chemistry, most of your night-owl friends will be wondering how you managed to pull it off.

While you should get plenty of sleep, try not to sleep in. We all love to do it, but reserve this luxury for weekends. Most learn the hard way by accidentally sleeping through classes and not making the most of the day. Getting up at six, seven or even eight a.m., grabbing food or hitting the Rec Center will start the day off right and get your body into a rhythm for the school year. Otherwise grades suffer, as will your sanity.
The Reference Desk: Library services are incredibly helpful. They are more than happy to help students and they even have an AOL instant message screen name (swemrefdesk) so that you can ask questions at your convenience.

*Notes*: If you set out at least two hours every day to look over notes and study, it makes a huge difference. The more you go over notes, the easier the information will soak in — cramming does not work.

*Fruit*: Try to eat plenty of it. The dining halls may not serve blueberries, but one apple in the morning supplies the same amount of energy as four Monster energy drinks, and that’s without mentioning the health benefits. Eating a lot in the morning isn’t so bad either. Studies show that making breakfast the biggest meal of the day helps fight the morning slump, all-day cravings and fatigue.

*Study habits*: Most people find highlighting a book helpful. College is for knowing and absorbing information, not just memorizing. Flash cards can be useful for studying, but study groups have proven to be the best — especially for bouncing off questions, ideas and discussing subject material. Also, studying with a partner can be motivating and will ensure you don’t fall asleep or procrastinate — just choose your partner wisely. If you’re not a group person, making charts that group related subject matter helps strengthen an overall understanding for the course.

*Rest and Relaxation*: Take time out to relax. Our brains can only take two to four hours of studying before turning into mush. To forgo numbing ourselves, study in advance and in intervals. Study for two hours, then hit the Rec Center for one hour before two more hours of studying. Taking breaks is more beneficial than studying for eight hours straight. Despite walking all over campus during orientation, it still may take some time to locate all these places, and even more time to implement these habits.

However, keep in mind that the study and sleep schedule you follow at the beginning of the semester tends to get stuck that way. And remember, even though academics are important to keep up with, the college experience is also about everything else that goes on around campus. Don’t forget to get involved with extra-curricular activities and to have some fun. After all, it is college.

Welcome to Williamsburg, freshmen. I’m your friendly neighborhood sex columnist. My column, Behind Closed Doors, appears in The Flat Hat once a week. Its chief purpose: to keep the sexual morale of the College of William and Mary firmly erect.

Hopefully, you have all settled into your dorms easily. If some of my favorite websites are any indication, many of you have begun looking for special friends. After all, when young, sexy coeds are living together, how could hook-ups not result? A guy and a girl, two girls, two boys, three girls, two guys and a girl — I’ve watched all of these scenes play out on the internet over and over again.

Encounters between dormmates are affectionately — and not so affectionately — referred to as “dormcest.” Urbandictionary.com has a charming and insightful definition: “Common among freshmen, who excited by their newfound freedom have sex with the nearest person they can get their booze-soaked hands on. It’s all well and good until October rolls around and you hate each other but still see each other everyday.”

Not all of you will participate in dormcest, but it is an experience that will beckon to most. Those inclined to get down with the same sex are the most likely to follow the yellow brick road to Dormcest City. The people in your dorm are often the first people you get to know, and they will stick with you throughout your time at the College. In this way, freshmen hallmates are like herpes– once you have them, you will never get rid of them.

Getting to know the people in your building is nearly inevitable — and I mean that with all the Biblical implications of the word “know.” There are a huge amount of lures to dormcest. You may run into the sexy guy from down the hall after his hot, steamy shower, while his chest is exposed and a drop of water trickles effortlessly down his six pack towards his, erm, towel. He is likely to be in your group of friends, so you will interact with him often. And late at night, his room is as close as the vending machine.

After a midnight snack, the walk of shame is softened by the fact that you never have to leave the building. He will always be there after you go out, should you have failed to find a mate at the frat party you were attending. And you may feel comfortable with him in a way that you don’t with other men because you’ve known him the longest.

But dormcest has its perils, too. As Urbandictionary.com states, things may go awry and you will have to face your hook-up over and over again for the rest of the year. Every time you see her at the water fountain, you will be forced to think of the passionate, yet fumbling, grope you shared in the stairway after Convocation.

Worse, still, are the downsides if you go on to have a relationship with a hallmate. Confining yourself to your dorm may leave you without a steady friend group when the relationship is over and your former mate claims everyone in the building. Basically, do not put all of your eggs into one hall basket.

So what’s the final verdict on dormcest? My opinion is to go for it. Plan for the worst and do it anyway. You only get one freshman hall and one freshman year, and sweet, sweet love — or sweaty handholding — is worth a little awkwardness.

At the same time, don’t let your in-building adventures stop you from searching for mates elsewhere. Go forth on campus in search of booty.

The more people you meet, the better. Your probability of finding a bed buddy increases as your sample size increases. Also, should you accidentally fall prey to dormcest with an unsavory partner, you’ll have someone else’s arms to run to across campus.

Now get out there, freshmen. Or, stay in your dorm. Whatever you do, be safe and get your groove on; you’re in the big leagues now.

__Maya Horowitz is the Flat Hat sex columnist. She maintains a very close relationship with many of her freshman dorm-mates even though she has moved on to bigger and better dorms.__

__Sarah Rojas has only been back on campus for three days, but she’s already thrilled to see the College of William and Mary blossoming into a new semester. Fresh from a summer spent working for the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, the ambitious Student Assembly president is busy settling into her new place in Williamsburg, catching up with friends and participating in semester kick-off meetings for the SA. She found time to discuss her college memories and summer experiences and offer up some advice to the Class of 2013.__

*What’s your favorite part of the freshman orientation experience?*

I think how close you get to your freshman hall. I remember walking in, and you don’t know what to do with yourself — you came from a place where you have a good set of friends; and you really knew who you were; and you come to college; and you’re just not sure of anything. To have that great group of friends right off the bat is something I really valued. I think orientation really capitalizes on that, and it’s great that you have that group of kids to fall back on right away.

*What do you think is the best way to spend the beautiful fall afternoons we have ahead of us?*

This is what I’m going to be doing all this semester when I have free time: First I’ll be waking up, going to the farmer’s market and talking to the people [there] because the people who open the stands always have amazing stories, and they’re so interesting and friendly. Then, getting just little treats from a couple of the stands and taking them to the back of the Governor’s Palace where there’s this gorgeous lake and eating them. Then coming back to campus and stopping by the Sunken Garden for Frisbee or just to lay out because you always have to be on the Sunken Garden on any great fall day. And then just hanging out on the [Sadler Center] Terrace in the late afternoon. It’s one of my favorite places on campus.

*You’ve been involved in a lot of different activities and leadership positions at the College, ranging from the Sharpe program to Inter-Sorority Council to Student Assembly. How do you think the experiences have impacted your time here at the College?*

One of the most amazing things about William and Mary is how open everyone is to meeting new people and helping them get involved in whatever they’re involved in on campus. I think that the activities fair is one of the most amazing things that happens at orientation because you can really just go around and see all the different interests on campus and meet people who are involved in so many different things. I think taking advantage of that influenced me because once you get involved in an organization, it’s not just something that you’re passionate about —you meet people who are also passionate about that.

*What’s your favorite tradition at the College?*

I’m a big fan of all of the traditions, but I guess one of the big ones that sticks out to me is opening Convocation just because I feel like it’s the first time everyone’s together formally. Your parents aren’t there, you’re just as a class, you have alums there, and it’s that first introduction to the William and Mary community. Once opening Convocation happens, you know you’re a part of the Tribe.

*What’s your favorite campus meal?*

So no offense to any dining services, but for the longest time I was afraid to eat the meat just because of all those horror stories I heard. I started eating it, and it’s good. So now whenever they have the chicken fingers with the honey mustard, I get excited.

*Did you read any good books this summer?*

I read a couple this summer. I read “Eat, Pray, Love,” which was good and relaxing beach reading, and I read “Walden,” which I have been meaning to read forever. My little sister had to read “Great Expectations” for high school, so I also reread that because I didn’t really remember it. I read a couple of Flannery O’Connor books, too. I love reading; reading is the best. That’s the thing; I never have time to read at school. I don’t think anyone at William and Mary does though.

*What sticks out in your mind as the song of the summer?*

Anything by Owl City. Owl City has been my summer favorite for the past two summers.

*What’s your ideal summer vacation?*

Lake Placid, NY, in the Adirondack Mountains. I go there every year with my family for my parent’s anniversary.
*Any good movies you’ve seen lately, or ones you’re looking forward to seeing when they come out?*

I’m excited to see the “Time Traveler’s Wife” because I’m a sucker for those movies, but my favorite movie I saw this summer, even though it’s not new, is “Big Fish.”

*If you were to give a shout-out to the class of 2013, what would you tell them?*

Alright, two things: One, make the most of your freshman year because it will really define your time at the College. You can always change and be different things, but if you just get out there and meet people and really experience this place, it will make the next three years amazing. Okay, so there are actually three things [laughs]. Second thing, when you’re arriving on campus, understand that you’re going to be on campus for four years but you’re going to be a member of the Tribe forever, and that involves coming back for Homecoming, supporting the College financially and being a good ambassador for this school. It’s a lifelong commitment so don’t forget that. And third, it’s a beautiful day, so get your Terrace seat early — because they fill up and you won’t have anywhere to sit.

*Any last comments?*
To all you freshmen out there, somehow get involved in service during your time at the College, whether it is in Williamsburg or an international or domestic service trip; my time spent with service has made me realize how giving and genuine this campus really is.

__Sarah certainly embodies what many of us at the College strive to be: passionate, involved and fun-loving. Though a campus leader, she’s also a regular student just like us. She likes to lie out on the Sunken Garden not doing homework and ordering mac and cheese — in “the largest size there is” — during late-night Wawa runs. Say hello to Sarah when you see her around campus, because aside from being able to answer questions about new SA initiatives, you’ll see that she’s full of the energy that makes being a part of the Tribe so great.__