Back in Columbus & GAME DAY

Well, I'm not off to a very good start for the semester. I moved in yesterday which ended up being pretty chaotic, and it took me awhile to get settled in. But this morning has definitely not been the best of mornings, either. I forgot my required lecture slides/outlines for my 9 AM Stats class (which took forever to print out yesterday), and the girl who sat next to me in lecture this morning spilled her coffee all over my backpack. So like I said, not off to a good start.

On the plus side though, the big game is today. My Buckeyes against Oregon. The excitement is in the air here in Columbus, and everyone is decked out in their scarlet and grey OSU gear. ESPN and other news reporters were in the student union today, where I saw them setting up while getting my coffee this morning. All I can say is, I hope OSU wins tonight to top off an otherwise not-so-great day. 

I hope you are having a better day than I am!

Things to look forward to for 2nd semester

How did winter break go by so quickly?? I’m heading back to Ohio tomorrow, then staying at my Grandma and Grandpa’s house until moving back in at OSU on Sunday. And of course, I’m no where near done with most of the things on my winter break to-do list. I thought since I was going to be alone this week at home (since my siblings had to go back to school and most of my high school friends had to go back to college already), I would get a huge amount of stuff done. But with this crazy cold weather we’re having near Chicago, my brother and sister had a couple days off of school due to “cold days” and I wanted to spend more time with them before I leave.

So today, my Friday will be filled with finishing up my internship application (aka writing my cover letter that I’m dreading to write), filling out scholarship apps, and packing for going back to school. Fun. I’ll probably end up watching more Gilmore Girls on Netflix in between all those things, cause that’s been my latest obsession (and another reason why I’ve gotten nothing done over winter break in the first place…oh well. GG is worth it!).

This past week, I’ve been trying to think of things I can look forward to for spring semester, to get myself a little more excited in going back to school. Not all of them deal with school, but here are some of the things that will be exciting about spring semester (and hopefully a few of them will get you excited too!):

1.      A Fresh start. I don’t know about you, but this is what I’m most excited for. New classes, professors, and getting to start fresh with grades and my semester GPA. What makes the fresh start even better is the new school supplies I bought for the semester…and who doesn’t love new school supplies?

2. New opportunities. Last semester was my first semester of college ever, and I’m sad to say that I was a little to overwhelmed in the beginning to take advantage of the nice opportunities around me. From getting involved more, getting to know my professors in their office hours, to finding new study spots or using the gym facilities more, there are LOADS of new opportunities to take advantage of this semester.

3.  Change. This kind of goes along with the fresh start, but with my new schedule of classes, I’m going to have to change up my routine a little bit from fall semester. Change will be good though, I think. Since I have later classes this semester, I want to try to get more done in the morning.

4.  Spring weather = spring dresses. I know the spring weather won’t be here in the Midwest until at least late March (if not April), but spring clothes just edge out fall clothes for my absolute favorite. I LOVE wearing sundresses in the spring, and I also can’t wait to wear wedges and cute sandals.

5.  SPRING BREAK. Although I’m going to be just going home for spring break, I’m excited for it. It’ll be another 2 ½ months before spring break comes around, so I’ll be glad to see my family, anyway. I even bought my plane ticket home for spring break a couple days ago, so I’m all set. J

6.  January 12^th, 2015. Not only is it the first day of spring semester classes at Ohio State, but it’s also the day of the first ever College Football Championship game, where OSU is playing Oregon. Saying that it will be crazy on campus when I get back to school would be the biggest understatement of the century. I CAN’T WAIT. Oh, and this OSU hype video gives me chills.

7.  February 4^th, 2015. The day the OPI spring/summer Hawaii Collection comes out. You can see some swatches of the collection here. My two picks of the collection are Just Lanai-ing Around and Hello Hawaii Ya? I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I used to have a nail blog. I’m still into nails and have quite a nail polish collection, but now that I’m a college student, I don’t really have the funds to dish out on new nail polish for the blog all the time. However, OPI is one of my favorite nail polish brands, and I can’t help it this time…I need a couple of the polishes in their upcoming Hawaii Collection!

8.  April 19^th, 2015. The Lilly Pulitzer collaboration with Target comes out. I don’t know how I feel about this yet, but I’ll be going to my local Target or shopping at Target online when this Lilly collaboration comes out!

Anyway, if you're just about to start 2nd semester or have already started, I hope this maybe gave you a little more to look forward to! Have a great rest of your day!

2015: Breaking Outside of My Comfort Zone

Well, Happy New Year!! 

The door of 2014 is officially closed, which means I get to finally leave behind my high school years for good, and any other not-so-stellar things that happened in 2014. Today is the first of 365 new pages, and it’s a chance for me to start fresh. I can be whoever I want to be in 2015, and it’s up to me to take advantage of everything I can to make 2015 the best year yet.

Instead of making regular New Year’s resolutions, I’ve decided to center my goals for 2015 around a common theme. The theme I’ve chosen for 2015 is “Breaking Outside My Comfort Zone.” I chose this theme because in 2014, I just skated by. Yes, I worked hard in school and successfully completed my first semester of college. But the thing is, I think I would have enjoyed my first semester of college more if I had pushed outside of my comfort zone when it came to meeting new people and getting involved in things that I’ve never done before.

In order to make 2015 a great year, it’s going to take some effort and initiative on my part. Here are my 4 main goals for 2015:

Workout at least 5x a week for at least 30 minutes. In years past, working out more has always been a New Year's resolution for me. But notice how specific I'm being this year. I've set a specific number of times and time minimum for myself, so I can't talk myself out of anything. There's no "I don't feel like it" or "I'm too busy" excuses that will work this time. At school there's a gym right across the street from my dorm, so again, there's no excuses.

Make an effort with people. At a large school like Ohio State, it can be hard forming relationships and friendships with people. In large 600-person lecture halls like some of the ones I was in last semester, you can make good conversation with someone and never see them again. This definitely goes along with the theme of breaking outside my comfort zone because in order to form more meaningful friendships, it’s going to take an effort on my part in getting together with people. They say college friends are some of the best friends you’ll ever make, but that won’t happen unless I make the effort.

Blog at least every Monday. I started Classic Colleen this past June, and I can honestly say it’s been good for me. Although I haven’t been involved too much in the blogosphere, it’s been a good experience putting myself out there and learning some things about blogging along the way. The craziness of my first semester of college sort of got in the way of consistently posting, so I’m setting a specific goal for myself to blog every Monday. More posting would be better of course, but setting a minimum for myself will force myself to take time out of my crazy schedule to blog. I don’t have all the technology (ie the best camera) nor the funds to dish out to do OOTD posts, so I’m sort of making this blog into more of a college lifestyle blog with a little bit of random things here and there. Maybe someday my college experience will spark some interest in people…besides, I started this blog in the first place to document my time in college, so that’s what I will do.

Try new things and take advantage of opportunities I wouldn’t normally do. This goal obviously isn’t very specific, but it’s clearly centered around breaking outside my comfort zone. I want to try something new this year, and in order to do that, it’s going to require breaking outside of my comfort zone. I also think I’ve missed out on some great opportunities in the past because I’ve been too worried about what other people might think of me. I know I should have grown out of worrying about what people think a long time ago, but I still have some of these inkling thoughts once in awhile. Some of the things I have in mind to reach this goal is to do something like go on a Buck-I-Serve trip in May (one of the service trips through Ohio State where I would pick my destination in the U.S. and help those in need), even when I might not know anyone else going on the trip. Another idea of how I could accomplish this goal is to join another organization, or even apply for a leadership position in one of the activities I’m already in. Even if I try just one knew thing or take advantage of one opportunity that requires me to break outside my comfort zone, I think it will lead to a great 2015.

I may not be able to control everything that happens for me in 2015, but these four goals I’ve set for myself are things I can control. I have a feeling 2015 is going to be a great year, but instead of just letting the chips fall where they may, I’m going to break outside my comfort zone and make 2015 a great year.

I hope you all have a great start to the New Year & a blessed 2015! Also, good luck to my Buckeyes in the Sugar Bowl today!! Go BUCKS!

It's been real, 2014

What a year. 2014 has been full of milestones, memories, and good times. Although 2014 also had it's downs, this year was truly one for the books.

For starters, I graduated high school. I made the most of all the "lasts" with my high school friends, and was able to maintain my high school friendships even after high school ended in June. I graduated with highest honors, and all my hard work over the earlier part of 2014 paid off.

Me & my high school friends. I'm 4th from the left :)

From Kindergarten to senior year

I also made one of the best decisions of my life, and chose to attend The Ohio State University, where I started college this past fall. I met some great people, got directly admitted into the business school, went to my first OSU football game, started college as a sophomore due to AP credit, and successfully finished my first semester of college. And speaking of football, I got to experience my school's football team crushing Wisconsin in the B1G Championships, and experience them making it into the first ever College Football Playoffs.

Just me and my 7,024 person freshman class @ the Welcome Week Convocation

My friend B and I at a Dan + Shay concert in Columbus

The transition from high school to college was harder for me than I expected, and I sure had my fair share of homesickness. I also grew a lot as a person though. I'm stronger than I was before, and I've definitely become more independent. I think I'm ready to close the door that is 2014, leave behind the not-so-good things that may have happened, and embrace all that 2015 has to offer.

It's been real, 2014.

Winter Break To-Do List

Now that Christmas has come and gone, it's time for me to start crossing things off my ever-growing to-do list for the rest of winter break. I have less than two weeks left of break, and like most people, I'd like to pull ahead with the New Year and get some things done before spring semester starts up.

Here are some of the things on my winter break to-do list:

Reform my resume. -CHECK- This was the first thing on my to-do list, and guess what? Already accomplished! I sat down earlier this afternoon and just busted it out. This was something I kept putting off all fall semester, but it was surely a must because I needed something more professional than my old and outdated high school resume.

Finish ordering & buying textbooks. -CHECK- I know that a lot of college students try to hold off on buying textbooks to make sure that they're actually needed for class, but I just went ahead and saved myself some stress in the beginning of the semester and bought my textbooks. To save money, I ended up buying used books from some people I know in the business school at OSU, and for the books I had to buy new (because of those darn online access codes) I used slugbooks.com to find the cheapest price. Definitely glad I got this over with.

Fill out internship applications. As a business major, it's super important to have some solid internship experience. Although I'm in my first year of college, I'm credit-wise a sophomore and am on track to graduate in three years so it would be amazing to get an internship for summer 2015. There's a couple of internships I had in mind to apply for, with one of them at the company where my Aunt works at in downtown Chicago. If I don't get one, it's okay, but there's no harm in trying, right?

Research short-term study abroad options. I'm on track to graduate early, so unfortunately I won't be able to go on a semester-long study abroad trip. However, there's still summer, "May-mester", and other short-term options to look into! I definitely want to experience studying abroad, so it's probably a good idea to research my options now before I miss out on a golden opportunity.

Fill out Scholarship applications. Ugh. After senior year, I never wanted to have to fill out another scholarship application. They can be such a tedious pain. But hey, the more scholarship money I receive now, the less I have to pay back later...so filling out those scholarship applications it is. 

Reform this blog. When I started this blog, it was to document my college years and anything else I feel like posting. I want to add more of a personal feel to the blog, instead of the "cookie cutter" vibes I think it has now (ie posting about generic blog post topics that everyone seems to post about). I want to incorporate my voice into it, and post about things I truly feel passionate about. Maybe people won't enjoy reading my personal thoughts and college experiences, but I feel like this blog would be more meaningful to me if I had a more personal touch. 

Also, I truly haven't given this blog the TLC it needs with all the stress and craziness of my first semester of college, so I'm going to try to come up with blog posting schedule to stick with. 

Visit more with friends and family. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with family lately with Christmas and all, but after being away at college for the past four months, any time I've spent with them doesn't seem like enough. I've got a couple things set up to meet up with some of my high school friends, but I still need to see if I can meet up with some others before winter break comes to an end!

So what are some of the things on your winter break to-do list? 

  

And....It's Finals Week

I hope you all had a great weekend! I know I did. My school's football team won the B1G Championships by a landslide, and are now off to the NCAA College Football Playoffs. On Sunday when ESPN announced the top four football teams that would be in the playoffs, it seemed like literally everyone on campus stopped what they were doing and were crowded around their TV to see if Ohio State got in. It was absolutely silent right before they announced that we were the fourth spot in the playoffs, and then everyone went crazy. I was in my dorm room watching it at the time with a couple other girls on my floor, and you could hear the cheering and shouting from in the dorm and outside once we heard OSU made the playoffs. So I guess you could say that it was a good weekend to be a Buckeye fan! :)

Anyway, finals are here. My last day of school is tomorrow, and then finals start up Thursday and end for me the following week on Wednesday. Like a lot of people at this point of the semester, I wish I studied a little more and worked a little harder earlier in the semester. Now there's a lot of pressure on me to do really well on these finals.

I have 4 of finals in total (2 of my classes don't have finals thankfully), and I spent my lunch break today making a study plan for myself of when I should study what, and set aside study time for each class. If I didn't do this, I'm pretty sure I would feel really disorganized, unmotivated, and would probably have a mini breakdown by the time finals started.

So as of today I'm all set, organized, and ready to start studying and preparing for my finals. I only have 1 1/2 more weeks left of the semester...I can do this.

Have a great rest of the day and if you have any finals to study for, good luck!

Thanksgiving Break Recap

Happy December! I can't believe that Thanksgiving break has already come and gone, and that in a short 2 1/2 weeks it'll be winter break and the semester will be over...but until then, I still have a lot to get done including one more midterm and finals!

Anyway, I just thought I'd do a little Thanksgiving break recap. I didn't do anything spectacular, but it was so nice to finally go home after 3 months of being away at school!

Last Tuesday, I took a flight home to Chicago. I hadn't been on a plane since I was 2 years old, so I guess it was cool experience for me! Thankfully, I met and became friends with a girl on my floor who is from the Chicago suburbs as well, and we got to fly on the same plane together. Without her, I'd probably be a lost cause in the airport by myself (even though the Columbus airport is pretty small). When I landed in O'Hare though, it was another story. It took like 5 calls to my Dad in order to find him...man is O'Hare easy to get lost in!

view from the plane (over Illinois)

On Wednesday, I got together with one of my best friends from high school for lunch, and then met up with a larger group of friends for fro-yo. It was great to hear about all of their experiences in college so far, and I was relieved to see that most of my high school friends haven't changed. However, it was sad to find out about what happened to some of the people I knew in high school, and to hear that some of them already sort of "went off the deep end" with it not even being 1 full semester into freshman year yet. But other than that, it was great catching up with my high school friends. I didn't get to see all of them, but I can't wait to hang out with them more over winter break!

As for Thanksgiving Day, I went to my Grandma and Grandpa's house as usual. It was great seeing all my uncles, aunts, and cousins on my Mom's side of the family! Many of them didn't think I was coming in and that I was staying in OH with my Dad's side of the family, so it made it into a nice little surprise that I was there. I of course was bombarded with a bunch of college questions, which makes me a little nervous about future family parties closer to college graduation when my family is going to keep asking me about what I'll be doing with my life...But I'll just worry about that when the time comes. Other than that, the food was absolutely delicious as always, and I can't even believe how much I ate! :)

Black Friday was a day full of shopping with my Mom and my sister. We spent a whole day of it, and I got to pick out some of my Christmas presents from my parents. I also bought a new winter coat which was very much needed (even though yesterday when I came back to OH it was 60 degrees...go figure)!

Saturday my Dad and my sister drove me back to OH and we all stayed at my other Grandma and Grandpa's house for the night, before dropping me back off on Sunday. We celebrated my sister's Birthday (which is this Wednesday) and had a second little Thanksgiving with my Dad's side of the family in OH. We also watched the Ohio State (my school) vs. Michigan game, which was pretty exciting! Although I'm of course glad OSU won and will be going against Wisconsin in the B1G Championship Game this Saturday, I was so sad to see our quarterback get hurt! Hopefully OSU will still be able to pull off another win this Saturday! Go Buckeyes!!

The welcome arch into Ohio

And there you have it...that was my Thanksgiving break in a nutshell. It was great getting to see my family after not seeing them for 3 months! I was a little nervous about going home and feeling like an outsider in my own family, but thankfully that was not the case at all! And I was so glad to see that my friends haven't changed a bit. :) The break made me remember how grateful I am for having a great family and good friends!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving as well!

Talk to you soon,