What It's Like Your First Time Back From College

As the leaves started to fall and the New York City air got chillier, my anxiousness to go back home for the first time since move-in grew stronger and stronger. Like a lot of my peers, I was counting down the days until I could be reunited with my family, friends, pets, and - oh yeah - my bed. So when the day came for me to catch a shuttle to the airport for Thanksgiving break, I couldn't believe it.

Why Fall is Truly a Powerful Season

Ah, fall: it's the season of color changes and pumpkin flavored everything.

I love absolutely everything about autumn. Give me the falling leaves, the trips to pumpkin patches, the warm drinks on cold nights, the sweaters being broken out again for the end of the year, and, yes, even the pumpkin spice (my newest favorite is a pumpkin spice chai tea latte!).

By now, it's mid-October, which means that the season is in full swing. Unfortunately, here in New York City, the 70-degree weather has me missing the chilly, drizzly fall weather back home in Seattle. Besides the few random days where we had windy weather in the low 40s, it hasn't felt like fall here at all - which means that I have had to do some creating in order to get myself in the fall spirit, including camping out in a freezing air-conditioned Starbucks while drinking my PSL and creating a fall playlist and Pinterest board to get me in the mood (click the words to see those and fall in love with the season all over again!).

Lessons from the Arch

Wherever you are in life, enjoy your journey!

I decided to take a day to myself the other day to read in Central Park. It was a wonderful way to get out of my head and to take a nature break from the concrete jungle. I didn't expect to learn anything that day, but sometimes the best lessons come when you least expect it.

Walking back to my dorm, I noticed a small crowd around the arch in Washington Square Park. Just another street performer, I thought. However, as I got closer, this performer stood out to me for many reasons. I mean, besides the fact that this guy was painted like a marble statue and climbing on the arch. Even though this was crazy, the thing that got me was that not only was he climbing, but his eyes were closed the whole time so as to keep up the illusion that he really was a part of the arch.

Travel Diary: Welcome to New York!

2,685 miles are now between me and my hometown and, honestly, moving in to college is a lot different than I thought it would be.

Over the past four days, I've felt probably every emotion I could feel. I didn't even know it was possible to go through so many emotions at one time, but there I was -  excited, terrified, panicked, hopeful, sad, happy, etc., etc. The world felt like it was moving so fast (which, it was! Moving everything into a small dorm room with two other people in only an evening means everything is fast-paced).

All in all, it's hard to accurately describe the roller coaster that is starting college.

Travel Diary: 2 Days Until NYC!

Pinch me, I'm dreaming! There are only two full days left for me in Washington State before I head off to the Big Apple for school and, wow, is this time crazy.


I am still feeling lots of conflicting emotions - I don't want to leave my friends and family, but I am so excited to be in my dream city and at my dream school. That being said, I'm stressed beyond belief. I usually like to have control over what's happening in my life, and that involves planning everything out on paper. However, with two different orientation schedules to look out for (one for NYU, and one specifically for Tisch), this is becoming very difficult.

Travel Diary: 15 Days Until NYC!

Before I know it, this will be part of my everyday view.

All summer long, I've felt like this point of summer would never come! Now that it's here, however, I am feeling way more feelings than just "excited". I'm getting a little stressed - I haven't really packed, I'm still trying to figure out how to change my meal plan, my friends are slowly leaving, and on top of it, I'm in a musical for which I've been at for 9-12 hours a day for the past two weeks!

As all of this is happening at once, I am finding I'm giving myself reminders to take deep breaths and enjoy every minute of this hectic time.