alicia. 28. chicago. ohio university alumna. vegetarian. blogger. intersectional feminist. lifelong learner. trying my best. lover of the color blue, airports, GelX manicures, and a sf iced latte with almond milk.
Hey all, this will probably be a quick post. So, as I’ve posted a bit, I joined a sorority, and then had to drop due to money and being poor, however, we had already picked bigs (she’s basically a mentor we mutually pick who becomes our bestie) had already made my crafts and still wanted to do a cute reveal for me.
So, me, my big, and my grandbig (my big’s big) went to lunch and I was introduced to the “AMORE Fam” (there are different families in each sorority) and they have been so kind and loving even though I’m technically not in the sorority right now. That was yesterday (Wednesday) that we got together and had my mini reveal.
Anyways, today was actual Big-Little reveal and my family took a picture together so I took the time to Photoshop my cute self into and post it on instagram. So the whole family took the picture and posted it on Facebook and instagram and commented how they were so sad I couldn’t so the sorority this semester but that they were looking forward to me being back next semester.
Honestly, it makes me so sad that people hate on sororities because these girls are so amazing and i love them all so much
When you walk into college on the first day, you are presented with a desk, closet, micro-fridge,and a bed. I purposely bought a chair cushion to use for it because I knew the chair wouldn’t be comfortable. How many times have I used that cushion? I Think four times but never have they been for school work. I spend most of time in the dorm under the warm comforter I bought because out thermostat likes to tell us it is 65 degrees in the dorm even when we have it set for 90.
Nevertheless, I still use most of the objects on the desk and will give you guys the lowdown on everything on and around my desk.
Let’s start on the top and work my way down. P.S. my desk is typically this clean when I don’t have class. If I do have class it also contains my key, papers, folders, notebooks, more water bottles, and the occasional shoe.
Paintings– My sister made them. I didn’t. I have nary an artistic bone in my body. I forced her to paint me the cat one and she painted me the Tangles one for my birthday. She’s chill.
Calender- This was probably the best investment for school. I think I bought it at Bed Bath and Beyond and it’s a 3 piece sticky calendar set. One is a month calendar, one is a week calendar, and the 3rd is a notes board. I use this thing religiously and it’s always so much better than getting my planner out. @everyone going to college next year or who’s in college now. get one. Now
Top Shelf– Contains large pack of paper my roommate and I may never fully use, a few stuffed animals from home, my Buddha, cards and letters from home, my pencil holder which I definitely need to position closer to my bed because getting up every time I lose my pen in bed is a hassle, my alarm clock (still haven’t used it. My phone definitely works just as well), deck of cards for when I’m bored, room freshener (it’s a cute one with the beads and highly necessary. We both smell and this keeps us from smelling less), my mouth guard (I grind my teeth when I sleep).
Middle shelf Assortment of notebooks, notepads, random journals I told myself I would use and never did. dictionaries (English and Spanish yay Spanish), paper clips, stapler, hole punch, tape, highlighters, sticky notes. You know the random desk necessities which you don’t need until you don’t have. Minus the hole punch and stapler. I have surprisingly uses them a substantial amount this year.
Bottom shelf– large pile of crap I got from school which I will need at some point, just not today. Also my toms bag which has stickers and things I want to put on my laptop once I get a hard case for it. More notepads and sticky notes. I also have a large roll of tape for when I have to send my textbooks back at the end of the semester and my old phone. lol my old phone
Right of my desk– an empty water bottle which shouldn’t be empty. The cup that we all got on the first day of school. I haven’t drank from it but it did hold my earrings when I cleaned them. An electric pencil sharpener is also hiding behind my water bottle. A lamp that I have only used to charge my phone when I couldn’t find the wall plug and a picture of my grandma.
Left of my desk: Well my laptop cover which has nothing in it because I’m using my laptop. I have my sunglasses, headphones, vitamins, lint roller (COMES IN SO HANDY WOW), a large thing of hand sanitizer (ALSO COMES IN SO HANDY WOW), and of course mt textbooks, a few notebooks, and folders.
That’s my desk. I also have more crap on my floor and stuff. I may make an entire room tour video thing if this posts gets a comment or a few likes that say they want me to do it.
Recently I had to do a project for my Honors class where we had to create a 15 minute presentation discussing our goals and how we plan to achieve them. However, I don’t believe life is all about our long-term (5+ years) goals. I believe having short terms are necessary as well. So what better way to remember these short-term goals than by blogging about them?
Day goals:
Make my bed- making my bed gives me a false sense of having my life together- and I love it
Do homework- I hate doing it but it has to be done
Return the phone I got- Verizon sent me two iPhones and I have to trek to the post office and return it
Reach 10,000 steps- My daily fitbit step goal
Eat 100% vegan- pretty self explanatory
Drink 2 liters of water- DO THIS EVERYDAY-IT’S GOOD FOR YOU
Switch closets with my sister- we switched rooms once I left but I need to get everything out of my closet
Year long goals:
Decide on a major- double major in Spanish and _______
Get a job
Join clubs
Become an AM
Become an Ambassador
That’s all I have for now, but the list will grow. I think I will post weekly goals on my Monday posts. But probably not daily goals because I don’t always post the posts the same day I wrote them.
A few posts ago i talked about my sorority that I’m in at my university. Well, much to my dismay, I had to drop from it the other day. It’s not because I hated it, oh gosh quite the opposite I loved the girls and everyone I’d met through it. However, after becoming a broke college kid, I can’t pay for it this semester. I will be working all winter break back home and am hoping to get a job here in San Diego next semester in order to pay for it. Until then, I have to drop from the sorority.
It’s been so weird seeing everyone and having them ask where I’ve been and being removed from our pledge class’ group message. While I’m very sad to be going I can’t ask my parents or grandparents to pay for it after I’ve made them pay for all the damages that the scammer did. I am very sad to go, but it’s not goodbye. I have made great friendships with so many of the girls that we will continue to hang out and that I will be back if not in the spring, then definitely next fall. i will miss all of my sisters and hanging out with them on the daily, but I will continue to support them all in their philanthropy and such.
Also, big little week is this week and since I was given a big, she is still going to be ‘revealed’ to me but just in person not a big reveal like the other girls in the sorority do.
While most people spend months trying to sing the perfect roommate or trying to convince their high school bestie that living together won’t break up their friendship forever, I was still trying to convince my parents to let me go to school here in San Diego. Picking a roommate wasn’t really a top priority on my list.
All I did on the subject of a roommate was fill out a little survey of what time I go to bed, the loudness and brightness of the room when sleeping, and how clean I keep the room. Honestly, I was terrified since everyone I knew had hand-picked their roommate’s through facebook posts and messaging or through mutual friends.
Then I began to hear horror stories of bad random roommates. My aunt’s college roommate stole a lot from her, so much that she kept everything but bedding and toiletries in her car on campus.
The second we were able to see who our roommates were, I stalked her on instagram. It’s ok… she did the same to me. I saw that she was a vegan which is good I’m thinking because of my lactose allergy. She seemed like a nice girl.
Little did i know that a silly survey about bedtime and nightly regimen would turn into me finding my freshman year best friend. We both are allergic to gluten, love cartoon network, binge watching netflix, and silently judging people. She tolerates my obnoxious singing and my “rockland” phrases, and I tolerate her random noise making and terrible California terms. We’ve made it two months without killing each other and I’m sure we can survive more. If she somehow hasn’t killed me yet, I think I’m in the clear.
I’m so happy I got my roommate as my roommate because I doubt I could make fun, yell at, sing to, annoy, and piss off as much as her and somehow not have a knife in my head (she has threatened but it has yet to happen). So many people say random roommates are shitty, but personally I think I’m happier than all of my friends who picked their roommates. We didn’t have to impress each other over facebook or give each other false expectations of the super cool life we live and how great we are in order to woo each other. We literally just showed up on the first day of school and the rest is history
Did any of you guys go random? Did you have the same experience as me… or different?
So, a big question that I’m asked often if how do I do it? How do I spend months away from home. So far away from home my parents have to take a plane to get to me if they want to get to me that day or week. Do I get home sick often and how do I cope with being completely on my own? How do I miss my sister’s basketball game and dances, etc.?
To be honest, I don’t know. I ask myself how I don’t miss anyone or anything on the daily. I think it’s because I still keep contact with all my friends and family. And also because I wasn’t like inseparable with anyone in high school. My dad and I are pretty close and so are my sister and I but when I said goodbye to my sister I was half asleep and didn’t really realize I was saying goodbye for 4 months and my dad cried when I said goodbye so I cried then too. My mom and I really aren’t close and rarely talk and when we do, we yell. So, us being separated I feel has actually benefited us for the most part.
I have seen my family. My parents, sister, and grandma came to San Diego for parents weekend and then I’ll see them again at Christmas. I feel like since I know that I’ll see them I don’t have to dwell on the past of missing them when I can look forward to the next time I get to see them all.
Do any of you college peeps miss your families? Or are you cold and heartless like I am?
Hey all. Well a common understanding is that college kids have no money. You can see buzzfeed pictures of college kids turning pizza boxes into dust trays, and filling a gallon of milk up at the caf because we are just so resourceful at beating the system. It’s something you have to get good at. Fortunately for me, at least I thought at the time, the job I had recently gotten would ease my empty pockets. I could pay for my sorority, pay for college, and even have extra spending money for sushi nights and that newest pair of shoes.
I found this job on care.com. A website I thought to be home to nothing but sweet mothers and fathers who needed a break on date night or a nanny during the day on occasion during work hours. This is when I came across Mary. Mary traveled a lot and said she needed help with her son when her husband was at work and she was traveling. I said I would love to help her and sent her an email. All of a sudden Mary said she no longer needed a babysitter and that the position was filled, however she could use a personal assistant to help by sending her packages and paying bills and other odds and ends that she would say when they came up. Then she told me I would be paid $350 per week for only about 20 hours a month. $70 an hour is quite a lot I told myself. So, I obliged. She said I would begin working for her right away and that she would mail me checks to deposit into accounts to do all of her spending.
The next morning, she said I would meet with her when she got back from her business trip and that she needed my bank information to deposit money because she needed something done right away. I was a little hesitant but I soon obliged because she was paying me a lot. I did her first job of sending someone in South America about $1500. I didn’t know who it was but Mary said it was a family friend. Mary then deposited $2000 more dollars into my account to whom I would send to the same person. However it was unavailable at the time. She asked me for a loan of $300 for the time being and then I told her I didn’t have $300 in the account. I told her most of my money was in my savings account. She then asked for my savings account information which I promptly declines to give her. She claimed i didn’t trust her but then gave up trying.
The next morning I woke up early to go and send that money to South Africa when I received a notification from my bank’s app. There were 2: “You account balance is less than $5.00” and the other saying “You have overdrawn from your account.” I wasn’t sure what had happened. there should have been about $2210 in my account. Maybe it was a mistake or something I wondered. I logged onto my bank account and saw a number that terrified me and caused me to break into tears. A number of around -$5000 was staring me in the face. How could this happen? How? Frantically I tried calling and texting Mary with no luck. Finally, my teary eyed self called my mom. She has told me that this job seemed sketchy but i didn’t listen to her. I was in love with the money I thought I would have. There was no possible way to get my money back and no way to contact Mary. My mom and I spent several hours on the phone with out bank and Moneygram (the service used to transfer money) with no luck.
Because of this incident, I can’t open an account ever again with my bank and am a victim of fraud, all because I didn’t listen to my parents because I was obsessed with making money. Just saying to all of my fellow college nannies, always make sure you meet a person and never give out any personal information to anyone ever. I hope this never happens to anyone ever again. WE still don’t know if Mary is a real woman or where she lives. Her phone numbers were created with texting apps so we may never find out who she is.
Now, a poor college student becomes an absolutely broke college student who doesn’t get to leave campus or buy anything off of my meal plan or buy anything online for lord knows how long.
Keep this is in mind when dealing with anyone or anything online
As I’m procrastinating on my homework of reading 20 pages about how whites suck, I’m going to talk a little about my daily life as a college student aka me procrastinating even more and watching Netflix. Any who, it’s not too intense since I only have class 3 days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. However on these days I have classes from about 9-5 which, like I said before isn’t too bad. It gives a lot of time to watch Netflix… errr study. Right study. My day goes as such
6am gets woken by my roommate who is trying her hardest to not wake me up but she accidentally slams the door or drops something so I’m awake.
Despite this, I typically get back to sleep. On the occasions that I don’t I watch out my window at the sun rising. A very nice perk of having a dorm on the east side of campus. i enjoy being basic and doing time-lapse videos of the sunrise at time. Honestly, anything to occupy my time. When I’ve had enough basicness for one morning, I get up, shower, make my bed, put things back in their places, the usual. Now here is where it gets complicated, so listen. During my weekend, (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday) I typically hop back in bed and do homework, study, or watch Netflix. That’s pretty much all I do during those days unless I make plans with someone. I love having those days to relax because it allows my brain to cool off from nonstop classes the other three days. I highly recommend a 3 day college schedule because all day Friday i sleep, on Saturday I hang out with friends and Sunday and Monday I do homework. I am able to really get everything done and ensure I will have time left on Monday night to squeeze in a few more episodes on Grey’s Anatomy (my current and forever obsession Netflix. Need more recommendations from people because I’m almost done with the series… again..). On Tuesday and Thursdays I have class from 9:30-10:45. That’s Biology. It’s a lecture and won’t kill me if I miss it. So if I ‘forgot’ to do my Spanish homework the night before I don’t go to that class. At 11 we have Spanish. It’s Spanish 301 and since I’m only a freshman it’s terrifying. The students in that class are either native speakers or juniors and are super smart. Not sure how I received a 5 on my AP test to be enrolled in that class, but I did. And me and my few other freshman friends are making our way through the semester. When I depart from Spanish at 1215, I have a break before my 2 o’clock class. I typically go to Starbucks and get my venti shaken black tea lemonade unsweetened and then head back to the dorm. I have a class after my break that I always have a quiz so I study for that and then head to my 2 o’clock Africana studies class. That class is almost always cancelled, I actually haven’t had it in 2 weeks. But when we do have class, we take a 10 minute quiz in the beginning of class and then listen to a debate, have a discussion and then we get to leave. After that I make my way to my final class f the day: Honors. We typically discuss a reading that no one reads and there are like 5 kids who do all the talking. I typically read it but don’t pay enough attention to be able to talk about in class for 75 minutes. After that class, I finally get to return to the warmth and comfort of my bed where I do homework (maybe), eat dinner, and watch Netflix until my roommate gets frustrated that she’s going to be 3 hours after she said she would earlier that day. On Wednesdays (we wear pink lol), my load is a lot lighter with only 2 classes, however those two classes are both 2 hours and 40 minutes. Typically they never take the whole time which is nice. My first class is my Biology lab from 9-1140. It’s a pretty simple class with quizzes every other week. We have dissected sharks, a squid, and look at some very unique looking creatures; marine and terrestrial. After that class, I go to Starbucks again, and then head back to my dorm. I do homework for a while, or get lunch with a friend until my class at 4 begins. My class is Sociology and is very boring because everything he lectures is not on the test, yet he gives extra credit if you come to class so I kind of have to go. He typically releases us at 530 and then I get dinner and go to the library until 9 when I go home and finish any other homework I had and then go to sleep just to start my day over again.
Well that’s my week. I know you all were just wondering and on the edge of your seats as you read each line. But that’s my day. I have a lot of free time so I’ll be queueing blog post for a while. This post probably wasn’t posted the day I wrote it. Oops.
Talk to you all soon.
Alicia
P.S. be my friend and talk to me I need friends. I don’t bite.
November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month, so I decided to talk about Lung Cancer and how it has affected my life.
For starters, almost everyone in my family (not really but kind of) smokes or has smoked at some point in their life, and i was exposed to a lot of smoking as a child because my dad raced horses and everyone smokes there. My mom has been smoking since high school, my dad’s mom smoked for a long time, my dad’s dad has smoked for at least 40 years, a lot of people who live on my block who I spent every summer night as a child smoked too. Needless to say, a lot of 2nd hand smoke has come my way.
Around January of my 7th grade year, my grandma (dad’s mom) was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. As a 7th grader I always associated cancer with dying, many people do. That night my dad told me was the first of four times I had ever seen my dad cry. After that day, we went every Sunday to visit her and spent the whole day down there. This continued for the rest of the school year and all of summer. Every weekend we could see her getting worse but I couldn’t bring myself to admit that she was dying. Around May she could no longer walk. My family went down to my grandma’s house for my 2 cousin’s graduation (one high school and one middle school). She couldn’t make it to the stands and refused to let people see her in the state she was in, so my grandpa, grandma, sister, and I watched my cousin graduate high school from the backseat of my grandpa’s car. When it came to my cousin’s middle school graduation, she couldn’t even make it out of the house so she and my grandpa stayed home and told her all about it when we got back to the house for cake and presents.
A few weekends later we were back at their house celebrating birthdays. My two cousins have birthdays on May 31st, June 2nd, and my birthday is June 12th. She couldn’t remember that I had hugged her and said goodbye. Being the brat of a 13-year-old I was basically refused to go back and hug her goodbye until I was forced into a hasty and unwanted hug on my half. I always wonder if she remembers this, because I do. And if I could take back one thing in my life it would be throwing a fit because I had to get out of the car and hug my soon to be deceased grandma. As the months passed on she got worse and worse. It was hard watching her have to be changed by my grandpa and seeing her lose hair and barely eat, but we always went. We always sat with her and watched her favorite western movies that we probably could recite to you. We watched them and we told her about our days hundreds of times, because we knew in a few short months or weeks she wouldn’t be there to ask us about our days.
In Mid-October, me and about 30 other 8th graders from my middle school went on a trip to Washington D.C. for the weekend. It was a really great experience and I enjoyed almost every second of it. Upon arriving home, my mom told me that my grandma was doing really bad and would die soon and that we would be traveling down to my grandpa’s the next morning when my dad got back. Well, we didn’t go that morning. Because on October 19th, 2010 at 6:54am my grandma died. She was surrounded by my dad and aunt and grandpa. My dad got home from my grandpa’s house that morning and told me the news and I then saw him cry for the 2nd time ever.
That day, my mom and I went shopping for what I would wear to the funeral just to get my mind off of what had happened. The next day I went to school to get my work for the rest of the week and everyone (kids not teachers) were yelling at me about how I had missed the day before (If more than 3 people missed the day after we got back from DC they claimed they would cancel the trip) and I Had to calmly explain that my grandma died and to shut the hell up but being polite about it.
The next morning, we drove down to my grandpa’s house where the hospice bed my grandma had been in was removed and replaced with her rocking chair she always loved.
The wake was among one of the longest days of my life. I refused to go and look at her because I knew I would break down if I saw her laying there, so peacefully and pain-free. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. i sat in the other room with my mom, sister and cousin and watched as people I had never met came and said how sorry they were for me, and even being surprised by some friends and neighbors who had come to pay their respects. it was so sweet knowing people cared enough to drive an hour and a half just to say they were sorry.
After many long and agonizing hours of waiting for the ceremony to begin, it finally did. I sat there next to my cousins and behind my dad and aunt and listened to the coroner talk about her. I don’t remember a word he said. All i Remember is that my cousin handed me a box of tissues because I was basically wailing in my chair. After the ceremony as I continued to weep, a person to whom I still am unaware of told me “you grandma was a great woman” which I then continued to cry even harder. My eldest cousin and I were definitely the closest to my grandma and were crying the hardest. My dad took us both up to see her one last time. She looked so beautiful and happy. There was no pain, no suffering, and no sadness on her face, Just peace It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.
The woman who had taught me how to make pot holders and other fun crafts, who had made the best chocolate milk in the coolest cups, who had let me eat chocolate frosting, who has let me stay at her house for 2 weeks where all we did was play with her dogs, watch TV, and garden, the woman who knitted beautiful sweaters, who introduced me to my favorite movie, and who loved me unconditionally was gone. My best friend was gone. She never got to see me grow up. I was still in my awkward stage and had yet to blossom into the woman I am today. She never got to see that and that still makes me sad to this day. But I know she’s here. I don’t believe in God, and I know she didn’t towards the end of her life, and I don’t believe in ghosts, but I know she is always with me.
To this day, not a day goes by that I don’t think about my grandma and miss her dearly. This past summer I got a tattoo in memory of her. She loved butterflies so much. She had butterfly puzzles and butterfly trinkets sprawled around her house. I got a tattoo for my best friend and it was the best decision of my life.
Purple ribbon is all cancer awareness but I chose purple and not white because white ink doesn’t work too well.
A common misconception of sororities is that all the girls in the sorority paid to make their friends. Well, it you’re a college student, you paid for college, and you made friends in college. Doesn’t that make any friend you’ve made in school a friend you paid for? Any club or organization in school and on campus has dues, so you literally are paying to make friends. Yet, people always say to get involved on campus because it’s a great way to make friends. I got involved on campus through my sorority and made many friends. Friendships I never would have made had I not rushed and joined the Greek system. I love all of my new friends and wouldn’t trade my rush experience for the world.
Another misconception of all sororities is that all they do is party and sleep with guys. Sororities were founded on philanthropy and community service and that’s exactly what we do. My sorority, Delta Zeta, has a philanthropy where we work with Starkey hearing and try to help people hear. We raise money through gofundme and by having nacho nights at the chapter house a few times a year. We also go on sisterhood hikes to raise awareness too. While there are parties that every frat house hosts, not everyone in the chapter participates and parties aren’t only excluded to girls in sororities. Nearly everyone in college goes out and parties at least once and you don’t have to be in a sorority to be in one.
A lot of my younger friends have asked me about the pros and cons of joining Greek Life and I guess since I’ve told literally everyone I’ll tell you guys too in case any readers are wondering whether or not Greek Life is the life for them
Pros.
You make so many lifelong friendships
There is always someone to get food or go on an adventure with
Leadership opportunities (resume booster)
Connections with alumuna and your sisters/brothers for jobs after college
Sisterhood retreats- Day trips to Disney, random pumpkin patch trips and more
Philanthropic Events- nothing is better than giving back to others, but what makes it even better is doing it with your brothers and sisters.
Cons
Costs- It’s very expensive and I’m going to have to get a job in order to pay for it
The stigma- people who aren’t in Greek Life seem to hate and give it a bad rep
It takes up a lot of time(this hasn’t been an issue for me yet but it’s what everyone says so I’ll put it up here)
Rules- You have to dress a certain way for certain days and buy this shirt for this day.
Hazing- My sorority doesn’t haze and a lot of sororities don’t have either but frats are a different story. My roommate’s brother had to get his nipples pierced prior to being initiated.
Personally, I never thought the Greek scene was for me, until i rushed and met some amazing people who convinces me that being the stereotypical sorority girl wasn’t necessary to join a sorority, And now, I have some great friendships and memories that will last me forever.
What are your opinions on Greek Life? Are you in a frat or srat? Which one?
Happy November. Also known as “Start of the Holiday Season.” People begin prepping for Thanksgiving and then comes Black Friday shopping. Then for students come finals. After that Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and suddenly it’s the New Year and it’s time to start another year all over again. The Holiday Season is such a hustle and bustle of last minute shopping, picture taking, and just a whole lot of celebrating, which is why it’s definitely my favorite time of the year. The joy that promulgates throughout the city and the snow that falls down (in Chicago not here) makes me feel so festive and content with myself and everyone around me.
Living in Sunny San Diego hasn’t really gotten me in the Christmas Spirit because of how warm and well, sunny it is. It’s quite weird to think that 2000 miles away it home, where it’s snowing and cold, and here it’s still sunny and 75. While I’m absolutely in love with this weather here, I have begun to miss the snow and coldness of Chicago. Do I miss shoveling snow and frozen hair? Or the dirty snow that shows after hundreds of cars drive over it or the hidden ice beneath the snow that i seem to be attracted to? Of course not, but snow I believe does bring me closer to feeling festive. But, on December 18th I will be completely immersed in the Holiday spirit when I return home to the cold, dreary, Holiday filled Chicago life.
Nevertheless, every mall and superstore is crawling with Christmas Lights and Santa Claus blowups so I do feel a bit holiday-like.I can’t wait to decorate my dorm walls in lights and everything else Christmas. Especially since my wall of photos fell down in my dorm today. It used to be homey and now there’s just a blank wall. Nonetheless, I will continue singing and dancing to Christmas carols much to my roommate’s and the rest of my floor’s shagrin.
I’ll continue to discuss my love for the Holidays and discuss my Holiday experience.
Unlike most college students, I didn’t go out and party during Halloween. Halloween has never really been a favorite Holiday of mine mainly because I haven’t dressed up since like 6th grade because I’ve either been sick or had practice on the day. So, Halloween has ceased to become a day of importance. I guess people take Halloween very seriously in college because it’s literally a day to be a ‘skanky ho’ as my roommate would say without being judged. I always thought was supposed to be about originality too, but after seeing hundreds of cats, bunnies, angels, and devils, I have become aware that isn’t the case.
Personally I would never dress up in a bra, underwear, and some ears and call that a costume, but if you don’t dress up as that in college, you’re sort of looked down as prudent. I’m not a prude but I don’t want to dress up in nothing just to get the attention of people. That’s only my opinion and I know there are others, but it’s my blog, so I’ll say what I want.
I also didn’t go out because I’m pretty sure I’m getting sick and going out until like 3am and drinking from cups other sick college kids have drunk from is probably a bad idea. My roommate went out while I was in bed doing a mixture of blogging, sleeping, watching Netflix, and blowing my brains into a tissue. Wow love Halloween.
I mean I haven’t been completely unfestive. A few girls and i went to a pumpkin patch a week or two ago and picked some pumpkins (pic on my insta found on the bar to the right) and my roommate and I have also decorated our white board on our door with a ghost, and we have also decorated the room with a few fake spiders and other pumpkins. I enjoy the season of fall, not to seem like a basic white girl, but it’s a nice season. Just not a big fan of Halloween.
That’s just an opinion of mine. What do you all think of Halloween? If you all like it, what did you dress up as?
The Freshmen 15. A phrase many people don’t believe to be true until they come home for winter break and see the pounds rise on the scale. Fortunately for me, i have lost weight since coming to school. It’s definitely not easy eating healthy (vegan and gluten free especially) yet somehow I’ve been able to do it.
At my school, or on the meal plan I have anyway, we are given about $20 to spend during the weekdays and about $14 during the weekends. We don’t really have a major cafeteria on campus, there is one but a lot of people spend their money at the many restaurants and the markets that we have on campus. We have many restaurants on campus but I try and only go to Chipotle, Oggi’s (pizza place with gluten free crust and vegan cheese), and the market. The markets have tons of food from sushi, a shake place, rice, fruit, vegetables, granola bars, and many other things that i eat. I also go to Trader Joe’s biweekly with my roommate for bread, peanut butter, bananas, apples, and other vegan- gluten-free needs.
Eating healthy in college is definitely not as hard as people make it out to be. As long as you don’t stay out all night drinking and then making 3am taco runs, you should be good. Personally I believe becoming a vegan in college is easier than not in college because your options are limited yet at those places you can always get a salad or something with no cheese. My roommate, some friends, and I also get sushi on occasions which is definitely a nice change from the regular diet of rice, soup, and pineapple. But, I suppose if I can eat healthy in college and lose 10 pounds, then anyone can. You just have to be committed to eating healthy and not eating a bunch of garbage throughout the day.
So many of my friends keep saying that eating healthy in college is impossible and how they ate panda express 3 times in one day, and then I tell them what I eat and they say it’s still impossible to eat healthy. I’m doing it so it can’t be possible. But they all can go ahead and eat panda express 3 times a day and gain 15 or more pounds while Im over here eating my rice and pineapple and getting happy that I need a smaller belt.
A goal of mine is to have a career or at least have a hobby of something involving animals. I’ve always loved animals my home growing up was a basically a wildlife rehab center. There have been squirrels (which led to fleas), fish, turtles, hamsters, hermit crabs, my dog, stray dogs, birds, birds from outside, and so many more. I would never eat these animals. So, why is acceptable for me to eat a pig or a chicken or horse hooves? These animals are all precious to our Earth so why am I allowed to pick and choose what animals I eat and what animals I don’t. In all honesty, I can’t. Which is why I’m trying to become a vegan. I’m already lactose intolerant so that part isn’t that hard. And the idea that eggs are chicken periods is reason enough to never look at eggs the same way again. Thanks roommate for turning me, but it is for the best.
Now, as I begin to transition my life to veganism, I need to prepare myself for all of the criticism I will be getting from my friends and family. After I admitted that I was lactose intolerant and become gluten-free, I got and still get a lot of criticism. My uncle told me “you’re just being another California pussy” and my mom had never been too on board with my dietary decisions. For 4 weeks my freshman year I had to be a vegetarian and then my friend and I tried becoming vegans for a week and she gave me crap for it for about a month leading up to it and every day while I was doing the vegan/vegetarianism.
But, I have decided that it is my life, it is my decision. So, I just need to tell people that. I’m making this decision for not only the health of the animals’ health, but mine as well. All I know is that vegan food is better than processed fast food. Not only better for you, but better tasting. So, I’m very excited for this next step in my life and I can’t wait to see how different I look and feel in 6 months and just for the rest of my life.
I have so many more ideas for posts so hopefully I can keep them coming
I apologize for my horrible blog post title, but it grabbed your attention, didn’t it? maybe it was to see if I am as lame as my title and perhaps you’re correct. Well, I suppose the thing to do in all blogs when beginning is to say who I am, what I’m going to talk about, basically the answer to the “how are you?” question that no one wants to hear but always asks anyway.
For starters, my name is Alicia and I am 18 years old. Currently I reside in San Diego, California, however I was born and raised in a little suburb about 10 minutes away from the City of Chicago. I chose to come to San Diego for college and it has been probably the greatest idea of my life. Ever since I had hypothesized about attending a university in California, many people have questioned why. Why would I go to a school over 2000 miles from home and can only see family 3-4 times per year. In complete honesty I felt as though I had to get away; from the toxic people around me, from my parents, and just to start fresh in a new city that I can call mine and no one else’s. Some people are content with living in the same city for their whole lives, and raising a family in their childhood homes and never seeing the world but I’m not. I yearn for the day when I can travel the world and see all the continents and be a tourist and just live life in the moment. And I presume that since college is expensive no matter where you go, I figured I’d start my touring in college, in San Diego.Once I complete undergrad, I hope to go to grad school on the East Coast to further my knowledge of the US.
But enough about my need for travel, I guess I’ll talk about other aspects of my life. I’m a double major in Spanish and ______________. I’m still deciding between business, biology, journalism, and chemical engineering. I also have a minor in Interdisciplinary Studies which I am getting since I am in the Honors College at my school. Some possible career choices that I have are: editor of a magazine, engineer (my aunt and uncle work for Intel so they said they can get me a job), wildlife rehabilitation center worker/ owner, or maybe some random thing may occur where I decide that 8 years of babysitting haven’t exposed me to enough runny noses and crying children and I may decide that I want to teach English to children in Spain.
I am starting this blog because I have decided that I want to change myself. And I feel that the best way to do that id to have a support group of people who will listen and comment about challenges they have faced as well and to give constructive criticism and support along the way. By the title of this blog, you can see that I am a buddhist and a vegan. Well, an aspiring buddhist and vegan. I eat no dairy or gluten at the present moment, however after my roommate made me watch this video, I have decided to change my ways. After seeing what happens to these animals, I realized that I cannot eat them anymore. I also have always wanted to become a buddhist. I don’t believe in God, but I want to believe in myself, which is basically what buddhism is. So, that’s me. I hope to post at least two times a week, but being in college and all, I have zero motivation and zero time, so we’ll see how it goes.
Living off Leesh 