It's the first Thursday of the semester already, and officially this is the fourth day of classes. Unofficially, the weekend starts tonight for many Penn State students.

I remember first arriving at school as a freshman and realizing this newfound trend of weekends lasting from Thursday night through Sunday evening. As important as it is to have the best time possible, as often as possible, it is also a priority to make it to all, or at least as many as possible, of Friday's classes.

While going to class on the greatest day of the week is a challenge in itself, early morning lectures and quizzes can be even more bothersome after a spirited outing the night before.

So, what to do? Not go out, or celebrate the beginning of the first weekend of the spring semester?

Never fear, a solution is in sight.

Over winter break, a bunch of friends and I took it upon ourselves to visit a number of the bars and breweries local to West Chester. I also purchased several so-called "hangover relievers/preventers" to see if any of their claims held water. I did this solely for you, the reader; that's just the kind of guy I am.

Which miracles of modern science and capitalism did I buy, and how well did they actually work? Read on, friend, read on.

My first purchase was what I thought would be the obvious buy for this test, the Chaser pill. This product promises to eliminate any trace of a hangover.

Chaser directs its users to take two caplets with their first alcoholic beverage of the night. Sounds easy enough, but the Chaser package also says for best results, take two more pills every two to three hours. This may sound like a snap, but I found that the last thing I was thinking about after three hours of partying was to take a couple of pills. However, I did mange to take the required caplets and to my surprise, I felt great the next day. The product did everything it claimed, and at only 50 cents a pill, it won't leave the wallet empty.

Next on the list was Alka-Seltzer Morning Relief. Basically a tablet containing aspirin and caffeine, this product requires the user to simply dissolve two tablets in 4 ounces of water and drink the mixture. The package also claims that it will make you "feel better than you should." Oh, Alka-Seltzer, thank you so much for looking out for my well-being and judging me at the same time.

This little box of morning magic proved to be more than I could handle. I followed the directions, but found myself unable to down the nasty concoction that claims to have a "great citrus flavor." This stuff might work well for some people, but for me it has one fatal flaw: You take it the morning after. On this particular morning, my hangover included a heartbeat in my head that was so loud it was annoying the neighbors. Let's just say I'm not running out to buy another box of the stuff any time soon.

RU-21 (one Web site called them KGB pills) was the final product I used for my day-after drinking data. As far as I can tell, the product has only been tested in Russia, but hey, if its good enough to keep them hangover free, its good enough for me.

The directions are similar to those of Chaser, directing the user to take one to two tablets before drinking, and another one to two while drinking. It could have just been subconscious worries about what was actually in the pills, but I definitely had a knot in my stomach for the first part of the night. I took two to start and another three by the time the night was over, just to be sure I had the proper dosage. The next morning, I felt slightly groggy, but not as bad as I might have been had I not taken RU-21. Overall, it worked pretty well. Thanks, little pills with the clever name.

But what if you don't drink but still want to go out on a Thursday night? Well, it looks like you've found the best hangover cure of them all.