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Post-Thanksgiving Break: When The Claws Come Out

For most girls, coming back to school after Thanksgiving means it’s time to blast Christmas music at every hour, suck up to your Addy dealer in preparation for finals, and swear off food in preparation for winter formal. This doesn’t change much in your adult life – well maybe it does in your actual adult life but in my “adult” life, I’ve eaten broccoli, an apple, a chicken Caesar salad hold the Caesar, and one cracker since my return to Austin Monday morning. Damage control, amirite?

Freshmen, however, are about to embark on a weird phenomenon. They will come back to school and suddenly realize that everyone they know is actually a huge bitch. Amanda is so impatient about going to the D-Hall for dinner, it’s starting to get annoying just how poorly Brianna handles her alcohol, and Erin just…will not…shut up. You realize some people are so conniving, some are needy attention whores, and…what the hell? You LOVED these people before you left. Hint: you’re just as bad, and no you didn’t.

After taking a break from school to tell your home friends that “college is sOoOoOoOo awesome” and make it clear that you are definitely having more fun than everyone else and how you totally found best friends in the roomies and pledge sisters that you’ve known for 2.5 months, you come back to school convinced that it’s all true. (It will be, but it’s not quite yet. Nobody tells you that.). You come back believing that all of these people really are your best friends, so you start behaving like they are…meaning your true colors finally come out without a modicum of discretion.

When you first meet people, even if you are an extremely open and friendly person, you are not 100% yourself after such a short amount of time. You are still feigning unnecessary politeness, and biting your tongue on certain issues. You want people to like you, so you do what you can to make sure that happens, consciously or subconsciously. Unfortunately, when you come back from Thanksgiving break (i.e. now), everything goes haywire because everyone is under the false pretenses that they have been themselves all along. This, combined with the stress of finals causes a ton of unnecessary bitchfits and shit-talking, getting you totally ready to welcome a few weeks at home where it’s standard procedure for everyone to act like they don’t care, because they know you’ll love them anyway.

Things will get better, I promise. It’s during this time that you find out who your true friends are, realize it’s not actually fun to go out with your entire floor (which, by the way, is the reason everyone knew you were freshmen…mystery solved), and you start to really get to know the people by which you choose to surround yourself. The “best four years of your life” don’t really start until now.

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Veronica Ruckh

Veronica (@VeronicaRuckh) is the Director of Total Sorority Move for Grandex, Inc. After having spent her undergraduate years drinking $4 double LITs on a patio and drunk texting away potential suitors, she managed to graduate with an impressive GPA and an unimpressive engagement ring -- so unimpressive, in fact, some might say it's not there at all. Veronica has since been fulfilling her duties as "America's big," a title she gave to herself with the help of her giant ego. She has recently switched from vodka to wine on weekdays. Email her at [email protected]

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