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!