The Right Book Bag for You/Book Bags in a Nutshell or Two

The following is information about different types of book bags in a nutshell.  If you skip to the end of each section, you can find a smaller nutshell filled with less information about the book bag.  Imagine a peanut shell, with like a…let’s say a pistachio nutshell inside.  So if you want the pistachio nutshell amount of information, crack open the peanut.  Enjoy.

·      a backpack: Traditional, simple, straightforward.  This is pretty much always my recommendation.  It usually has a decent amount of pockets to hold essentials like post-it notes, extra folders, student ID, candy bars, etc.  It’s easy to keep organized and can hold a pretty good amount of stuff.  (Of which you have a lot as a student.)  Backpacks are easy to carry, come in enough colors and patterns to suit everyone’s needs and have a rich, two hundred year history (…that last bit might be made up.)  My only caution about using backpacks?  Careful when you’re wearing a skirt or a dress, there’s a tendency to ride up, and you don’t want to realize it after you’ve walked across the whole campus…I know…  In a smaller nutshell: Easy to use, easy to carry.

·      a messenger bag: Cool for middle school.  Or dudes.  Or people with laptops if it’s a classier one.  But I wouldn’t necessarily suggest it.  Messenger bags can be really painful for your shoulder and your side- also, you can develop a funny gait when you become accustomed to having 20 pounds of textbooks hanging over, and banging into, your left hip.  They often offer a decent amount of space, although in a sideways direction.  In a smaller nutshell: Organization usually about comparable to a backpack, cumbersome and painful to carry.

Indiana Jones & his satchel.  Nothing cooler.

·      a satchel: Dripping with coolness factor.  If you can find a satchel big enough to carry notebooks and textbooks, I would suggest this option.  Because satchels are the coolest, and everyone deserves to feel like Indiana Jones.  In a smaller nutshell: Probably impossible.

·      a giant tote bag: Mainstream with a touch of class.  A lot of college girls opt out of the whole “backpack” thing and go the more sophisticated route with a giant tote bag.  Look wise these are often very cute and classy.  They don’t quiet have the organizational capacity of a backpack, though some come close on space available.  One downside- you’ll have to keep switching shoulders, because we all know that Gen Chem textbook ain’t no featherweight.  In a smaller nutshell: Will probably get the job done, with a little bit of style.

·      a wheeled/rolling backpack: Hazardous, yet probably convenient.  These things are absolute nuisances!  I have been almost mowed down in hallways by these contraptions and their overly anxious owners.  I understand the desire for a wheeled backpack every time my back starts aching on the walk to school, but I have been hurt too often by these to ever give them a chance.  In a smaller nutshell: Only for youngin’s or older students trying to alienate themselves from their peers.  Or people with back problems.

·      sling backpacks/one-shouldered: Perfect for people with only one shoulder.  Besides that they’re a little small (because they’re like half a backpack), they’re shaped kind of like a Hershey’s Kiss (delicious but not practical), and they’re actually quite comfortable (because they’re only half a backpack).  In a smaller nutshell: Great for little things, like daytime hiking trips (only an example because I actually used one for that…), not so great for that giant Gen Chem book (really, why are you taking that class?)

If you have any questions about which book bag is really the right choice for you… then you should see a psychologist or something, because it really shouldn’t be that big a deal.  Really.  Just pick the first cool one you see at Staples or Wal-Mart or something, and then hope for the best.