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,

10 Thoughts I've Had Now That Winter Has Set In

The winter weather has officially set in here in Columbus, OH. The temperature was in the low teens today, and it was extremely windy. Although I should be used to the cold winters being from Chicago, I don't think I'll ever get used to the cold. 

View outside my dorm window. Sorry about the glare!

Here are 10 thoughts I've had now that winter has set in:

1. *looks out window* *checks temperature on phone*  Nope. Not getting out of bed today.

2. Walk to the dining hall? Nah, that involves getting out of bed. I'll order pizza for delivery instead.

3. Humans can hibernate too, right?

4. I deserve a Starbucks Peppermint Mocha for trudging through this blizzard to get to class. 

5 .YES! I can finally wear my Uggs without being judged.

6. Why on earth did I think it would be a good idea to wait until Thanksgiving break to bring my winter coat to school? Until then, I will now freeze to death.

7. After college graduation, I am officially moving down south.

8. Snowball fight? Snowball fight.

9. Should I go out with friends or stay in my cozy pajamas and watch Netflix on Saturday night? Netflix it is.

10. *Gets Snapchat of ocean from friend who went to school in Florida* -_-  --> :( 

Anyway, I hope you had a great start to your week! I have one more midterm on Thursday and then I'm flying home Tuesday for Thanksgiving! Now that I've been away at college for 3 months, I can't wait to finally go home!

Thanks for reading! If you're in a place where it's cold, stay warm!!

TheSkimm: A Great Resource for College Students

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I don't know about you, but I have a lot on my plate right now. I have two big midterms coming up on Friday, and I'm still not even finished with the reading for one of the classes. And then of course is homework and stuff for other classes, and a meeting to go to for one of the organizations I'm involved in. So to say the least, these next couple days are going to be long ones. 

Anyway, enough about me, I wanted to talk to you about a great resource for college students (or people of any age) called TheSkimm. For those of you who haven't heard of it, TheSkimm is an free email newsletter that is sent out Monday-Friday giving little blurbs about current events. Each newsletter is short and to the point, and the way TheSkimm lays out its content makes it interesting to read. 

As a college student, sometimes it's hard to keep up with what's going on with the world around us, and often times we don't have time to watch the news or tune in to see what's going on. When current events are sometimes brought up in class or by our peers, it can be a little awkward if we are hearing about things for the first time through them. 

For me, I'm in a Global Politics class where current events are talked about all the time, so it's been really nice getting to read a little bit about current events through TheSkimm before class. I usually find time to read the TheSkimm on my phone when I'm waiting in line at the coffee shop every morning, or even when I get to class early.

It never hurts to stay on top of what's happening in the world, so if you would like to sign up, there's a link up above. If you're not sure you'd want to sign up or not, feel free to check out today's Skimm (for Oct. 15) here.

I initially found out about this news resource from a girl I went to high school with, who also goes to the same college as me. She's a year ahead, so she's given me some great tips for college, such as telling me about theSkimm. 

Reading TheSkimm everyday and keeping up to date on current events really helped her in the long run, like earlier this year when she attended one of our college's internship fairs for the business school. While at the internship fair, she ran into some representatives from a company she had read about earlier that week in TheSkimm, who just underwent some great company merger. While talking to the reps, she mentioned what she had read about their company on TheSkimm, and they were really impressed. 

So honestly, you never know when you might need to know a thing or two about current events, and it never hurts to be informed, either! Whether you try it out or not, let me know what you think about it in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

*This post was not sponsored. These are just my own, honest opinions.

October Goals

Happy October! It's finally starting to feel like fall now that the the leaves are changing, and pumpkin spice everything is out in full force! [Oh, and for those of you who have seen Mean Girls, happy October 3rd! :) ]

Today I thought I would share with you a few goals for myself for the month of October.

View outside the window of my dorm room

1. Get outside my comfort zone. Now that midterms are over, I feel like I really need to put myself out there a little more. I think I really just need to relax a little and start enjoying the college experience more by hanging out with friends, meeting more new people, and maybe joining a couple more organizations. At my school, formal Sorority recruitment is in the winter, and the sign up starts this month. I'm still trying to decide whether I should rush or not...any thoughts about that from people who are in sororities?

2. Keep up better with school work. I always get my work done, but I have a tendency to push things off and procrastinate, which leads to me staying up really late to catch up. I need to do a better job at managing my time for my reading and homework, so it doesn't get too overwhelming for me.

3. Go to the gym more often. The first 3 weeks or so that I got to college, I was really good about going to the gym everyday. But now that the school work has piled on, I haven't been as good with it, so I'm setting a plan for myself to go the gym at least 3-4 times a week. I don't have an excuse either, because there's a gym literally right down the street from me.

Anyway, I really hope I can accomplish these goals this month in one way or another! I have a feeling this month's going to be a good one for me...between seeing Gone Girl tonight, having The Best of Me (another Nicholas Sparks chick flick) come out in a couple of weeks, going to more OSU football games (but this time with fall weather), and going to a Dan + Shay concert near the end of the month, I'll be keeping myself pretty busy!

Do you have any goals or fun things you'll be doing this month?

Thanks for reading!

What I Need to Survive Midterm Week

Well, this is it. My first ever college midterm week. I had one midterm so far, and thankfully it went well...but man, are they stressful. Unlike high school where your grade is padded by homework, most of my college grades are determined by two midterms and a final exam, so there is a lot bearing on doing well on my midterms. But of course, just like in high school, I haven't outgrown my procrastination tendencies. I guess I've just come to find that I work better under pressure, especially when I have to get things done. And yes, I'm procrastinating right now in writing this post while I should be studying for my econ midterm tomorrow....but hey, I need a little break!

Anyway, here are a few things I need to study my best and survive midterm week:

1. A quiet place to study. I get easily distracted when the people around me are loud, so this is a must for me. Currently, I'm in one of the designated quiet study rooms in the basement of my dorm.

2. Highlighters. Highlighters are my best friend while studying. I use them to highlight important content in my notes and for checking things off that I already studied.

3. My Agenda. I need my agenda to keep my life together, especially during stressful times such as midterm week when I really need to get things done.  

4. Food. For me, food = brain power. So when I need a little bit of a boost, or even a little motivation, this is what I use. 

5. Coffee or Diet Coke. For when I really need brain power or to stay awake, I drink coffee or Diet Coke to get that extra boost. 

6. Mini breaks. I try and divide up my studying into sections, and then give myself a little 5-10 minute break in between each section to go on social media, eat, go to the bathroom, or do whatever. This way, it'll motivate me to finish each section, and it'll keep me from constantly fooling around on my phone. It'll also keep my mind refreshed and less exhausted than if I studied constantly for hours on end.

If you have midterms coming up, good luck and I'd love to hear about what you need to survive midterm week!

15 Things I Learned My First Month of College

I've officially been at college for a month, and I can't believe that I haven't posted about college yet. But truth be told, this first month of college has been a blur. So much has happened, and it all went by so fast. It's crazy that September is almost gone already!

Anyway, I have a couple midterms this week, so I'll have to keep this blog post short and sweet. Here are some of the biggest things I've had to learn since I've been at Ohio State:

1. It's okay to go to places alone. Whether it be for lunch at the dining hall, or attending a meeting for a new organization, it's okay to go by yourself. Little did I know, no one cares if you go places by yourself. It's what a lot of people do, actually. Soon enough you'll meet people to go to organization meetings with, and even if your lunch or meal schedule doesn't coordinate with any of your friends, it's okay. There's a bunch of people who go to the dining halls alone.

2. It's important to communicate well with your roommate. I had one little incident where there was something in the room that I truly wasn't okay with (since we could get into big trouble if it was found in our room), and so I talked to my roommate about it. Thankfully she was really nice about it, and removed it from the room. So talking things through with your roommate before anything else is a great way to keep up a good roommate relationship.

3. Don't worry about what people think. It's okay to look like a bum sometimes to your early morning class. It's alright to eat that extra piece of pizza. And like I said before, if you want to go somewhere by yourself, it's okay! You only have four years of college, so it's important to make the most out of it and do everything that you set your mind to do.

4. Don't get behind in the reading for your classes. Ugh I've only been at school for a month and I've already gotten myself behind and procrastinated heavily on my Global Politics reading. I had to read 96 pages in one night + do my other homework, which obviously didn't lead to a very good night.

5. If you're going to decorate your dorm room, make sure you have a plan before you get to school.  I love to decorate, but didn't really spend any time over the summer planning any DIYs for my dorm room. So while my roommate had all these cute posters and stuff up, my side looked kind of bare. But thanks to my Aunt's DIY gifts she gave me and some binge Etsy shopping, my room finally (after a month) is starting to look pretty good and more home-y. It's not quite finished yet and I'm still waiting for some things in the mail, but I'll definitely show you some pictures when it's ready!

6. Keep a little food in your room. Odds are, you'll get hungry late at night at some point, and going to the dining hall just won't be an option. It's also quick and easy for when you really don't have the time to go anywhere else.

7. DO NOT wear your freshman orientation shirt to class/around campus. Please. You will get a lot of crap about it from the upperclassmen, and that's just not the kind of attention you want to get. (Just wanted to put it out there that I wasn't the one who wore it out, but I've seen some freshman wearing it get called out for it by people).

8. Use the buddy system. If you plan on going out at night, having a buddy system is important for your safety. Also, if your campus is in a city like mine, there can be some pretty sketchy people about so it's important that you try and stay in a group.

9. Don't start skipping classes. Once you start, it'll be the beginning of the end. Last week I decided to skip a lecture because I had a horrible cold and desperately needed cold medicine, which probably wasn't the smartest idea. But oh well.

10. Watch out for squirrels. On Ohio State's Oval (which is like what other college's call a "quad"), there are some pretty pesky squirrels. They're like so accustomed to being around people, that they walk extremely close to you when you walk near them. My roommate's friend from a different school had one jump out of a tree and nearly hit him, so trust me, be aware of squirrels.

11. Don't wear heels,wedges, or other uncomfortable shoes if you have to trudge all over campus. From having to wear black heels with my business suit, to stupidly wearing high wedges when I had a far walk, I'm sure my feet are not happy with me right now. I have a couple blisters that keep reopening, so unless you have to, don't wear those adorable heels anytime you have to walk real far.

12. Keep your door open. It's the easiest way to meet new people on your floor, and I wish I would have done so more during this first month.

13. Don't forget about your fruits/veggies/ways to get calcium. It's important to get your nutrients and vitamins, so make sure you still find fruit and veggies to eat in the dining hall. I haven't been eating the healthiest of things, so I need to start doing this more. Also, I've realized that I've hardly ever been drinking milk, and I usually don't get enough calcium as it is, so I'll have to start drinking milk more often in the dining halls.

14. Stay in touch with your friends and family back home, but don't overdo it. Don't be that freshman who is just constantly texting and Snapchatting their friends from home, and not making any effort to make new friends and meet new people. It's okay to talk to your friends and family from time to time, but being excessive about it is a real disservice to you because it will look like you don't want to make friends.

15. You're in college, so it's okay to have a little fun. It's okay to break out of your comfort zone, and have fun in college...just don't forget about your school work! ;)

Thanks for reading my list of things I've learned my first month of college! There'll be much more college-related stuff to come, and I'll make sure to include some pictures of my dorm room when it's finished!

And with that, I'll leave you with a lovely picture I took at an OSU game I went to:

Talk to you soon,

Influenster Vitality VoxBox Product Review

Well, it's official! I've been a college student for just about 3 weeks now. It's been a hectic few weeks with just one thing happening after another, so I apologize I haven't posted in a little while! I'll be sure to tell you all about my college life soon, but for now, I wanted to review the items I got in my Influenster Vitality VoxBox! 

For those of you who don't know what Influenster is, Influenster is an online company who sends out boxes of products to try out for free. Basically, all you have to do is connect your social media accounts and fill out surveys to boost your online impact score. And based on that score, Influenster chooses who to send VoxBoxes to. 

I happened to be one of the people Influenster chose to receive the Vitality VoxBox, so let's get started on the products inside:

// The Softlips Cube ($3.49 in stores) was probably my favorite product from this VoxBox. I got mine in the scent Vanilla Bean, and it just smells amazing! On the package, the Softlips cube says that it's for 5 in 1 Lip Care, meaning that it hydrates, replenishes, smooths, protects, and adds shine. And from what I've found, it does all 5 of those things. My lips feel really soft after using it, and it helps a lot with preventing chapped lips.

If you're wondering how this compares to eos lip balm, I would say that the Softlips Cube is a little better. With eos, I felt like within a half hour after I applied the lip balm, my lips were already dried out again whereas with Softlips, my lips do stay hydrated nicely. 

In the VoxBox I also received two coupons for a $1 off a Softlips cube, and I think I might actually use it! This is definitely a product that I will be buying once it runs out. 

// Another product I received was called Bikini Ready Energy Gummies ($14.99 in stores...pictured above is a sample size), which is supposed to be a B-12 vitamin supplement that gives you a boost of energy. It also says that "with a healthy diet and exercise program" the gummies are supposed to "help boost your metabolism and increase your energy so you can maximize your workouts." 

I was a little tentative to try these since I don't normally take any supplements, but when I finally tried them, I honestly don't think they did too much (if anything). They had a weird medicine-like taste to them, and I didn't feel any more energized after taking them. I probably wouldn't recommend these to anyone.

//  The next product I received was Pure Leaf Unsweetened Iced Tea. Pure Leaf Iced Tea is said to be made from "real brewed tea for that fresh brewed taste." Now I'm not a big fan of tea, but thankfully my roommate likes tea, so I gave it to her to try. She said she loved it, and a couple days after I gave her the tea, we walked up to CVS and she ended up buying another couple bottles of Pure Leaf Iced Tea! So for tea lovers, it must be pretty good!

//  Next up is the Elizabeth Arden FLAWLESS FUTURE Powered by Ceramide Caplet Serum ($60 for 1.0 fl oz...pictured above is a sample size). This Elizabeth Arden Serum is supposed to keep your skin looking flawless by reducing signs of wrinkles, reinforcing your skin's moisture barrier, and even skin tone and texture. When I tried it, I think this product did help brighten up my skin a little more, and it definitely made my skin feel moisturized. However, I don't think I'd spend $60 on it. 

//  Another product I received from this VoxBox was the Playtex Sport Fresh Balance Tampons ($3.99). I have to say, my roommate started cracking up when she saw that I got a box of tampons from Influenster. But anyway, I already use this brand of tampons, so I was happy to get a free box! I think they're pretty good as far as tampons go. :)

// Alright and the last product I received was the First Degree Advanced Burn Cream ($5.97-$8.99). This burn cream is supposed to help repair skin damage from all types of minor burns. I haven't had any burns recently, so I haven't had a chance to really use this product. However, I did just put a little on the tip of my finger anyway, and it really does feel cooling (even without a burn). So I guess this will come in handy if I ever get a burn!

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And those were all the products in my Vitality VoxBox! I was actually surprised by how many products were inside, and I think I'll definitely be using or buying some of these products again! 

I hope you all have a great start to your weekend!! I'll be going to my first college football game tomorrow night (football's a really big thing at my school), so I'll be sure to post about that and my other college experiences that I've had so far soon!

*I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes*