As the temperature in Sioux Falls wavers between sweater weather and Alaskan parka weather, hot chocolate parties are becoming pretty popular here at Augustana. Friends grab their favorite Christmas mugs or ceramic coffee cups and crowd into a dorm together around a massive coffee pot sputtering hot water.                                                                                                                                              

Although these late-night gatherings started out as a way to take quick breaks from studying - to relax the brain and warm the bones - they have come to serve quite a few other purposes.

When a student feels overwhelmed and homesick, drinking hot chocolate with some floormates supplies that little comfort of home that a phone call with the folks can't always provide.

If a friend just passed a biology exam he has been stressing over for weeks, then the group huddles together and toasts hot chocolate to celebrate his success. Sometimes hot cocoa parties have no intended purpose other than to bring a group of students together. Whatever the occasion, cocoa seems to be quite a hot trend on campus this fall.

Despite the unifying power of hot chocolate parties, they do cause one or two minor disagreements. The main argument dividing cocoa drinkers: What flavor is best and which brand beats the rest.

Favorites range from classic dark chocolate Land O' Lakes to milk chocolate Swiss Miss with mini marshmallows, and anything from candy canes to creamer to honey is added in. When feeling adventurous, one may pour a mug of creamy Arctic White cocoa. If someone is having an especially rough day, a steaming cup of French vanilla hot cocoa proves to be more healing than even the best chick-flick.

Freshman Ariana Groen, frequent co-host of hot chocolate get-togethers, refuses to drink cocoa without dairy creamer and feels strongly about flavors as well. 

"Double supreme dark chocolate is my absolute favorite, but caramel cocoa is a pretty close second." she says.

Though others may disagree, it doesn't much matter. Once everyone has a cupful of their preferred flavor, be it raspberry or mocha, butterscotch or mint, the debates abate - for the moment.

The only other argument occurs later on, over who gets stuck washing everyone's mugs. It's all laughs and smiles until the dish soap comes out - a sponge and a bottle of Dawn can break up a party faster than a couple of police officers.

Faced with extremely low temperatures and extremely high stress levels, most Augustana students are warming up to hot chocolate parties. The popularity of these parties is no doubt due to their multi-functionalism: drinking hot chocolate allows students to warm up or calm down, to drop their burdens or lift their spirits, to celebrate or commiserate. Accompanied by some Josh Groban or an episode of Glee, a mug of hot cocoa can cure even the worst case of the Mondays.

So, if your roommate trudges back from her last class of the day, heaves her backpack to the floor, and collapses beside it, the best solution is to round up the troops, break out the milk chocolate cocoa, and throw yourselves a little Swiss Miss soiree.