Junior Year and Other Daydreams

I entered my junior year in complete uncertainty. Coming off a gap semester in a new state, a new city, a new house, a new major (on top of the others) a new university, and a new lust for life. There’s a blog post up about moving to Miami (read that here) but I wanted to hop on the blog and get in a formal write up of the literal dream that was my third year of college. Spolier (I spent it all in one place! And I’m gonna go back!)

So, some updates in the form of 4 P’s.

PRODUCTIVITY

I took five classes this fall, and six classes during spring semester. Some highlights include:

Debating Bioethics in French : I have such imposter syndrome about my French, because somehow I can ease my way through debating bioethical topics and come out with an A, but every movie I watch in French has to be on .7 speed and I still have to look up every other word. Unironically, I loved this class. I feel like my spoken and improvisational French improved so much, and it was taught by the most amazing and inspiring professor who I hope to keep in contact with. I didn’t even know what bioethics was in in English, and now I’m ready when a random person on the streets of France wants to have a lengthy and well-sourced discussion on assisted suicide laws, genetic engineering of human cells, the ethics of surrogacy, health insurance systems, or AI in healthcare.

LGBTI Politics : A 400 level political science class taught by another amazing professor. I has pages of writing due every class and an ungodly amount of extremely difficult readings, but this was one of the most informative and thought-provoking classes I have ever taken, and I legitimately enjoyed it, and its many 10+ page essays.

Finite Mathematics : I survived, and now I never have to take a another math class again. Thank god.

Also taken this semester, 19th Century French Literature, LGBT Communities, and Social Research. School kept me busy, but honestly not too busy.

I was so stressed and unnecessarily anxious about school and grades and classes through middle and high school. When I got to college I realized how unsustainably horrible I was at managing my time and workload, and I learned through a lot of trial and error what works for me and what doesn’t. I’m a triple major, I’m graduating in seven semesters, and I still work part-time while in school. Not to mention cooking all my own meals, making time for exercise, the gym, friends, fun, going out, and free time. And a 4.0 GPA. If I didn’t have a good system I would’ve literally died by now. I’d love to write a blog post about productivity and organization and time management sometime (When I have the time for it! lol) but for now I’ll just say this semester was productive as hell. I was doing so much at once, and my days were packed. But I was doing all things I love, which made it absolutely fulfilling and worthwhile.

Which brings me to another addition of this semester. COPE! or Counseling Outreach Peer Education. After a couple essay questions and an interview, I was selected to join this amazing initiative that was created to facilitate a connections between the student body and and the University of Miami Counseling Center. COPE’s goal is to create educational and interactive programming to reduce mental health stigma on campus, and being a part of it was one of my favorite parts about this year. I had the privilege to do lots of outreach work on campus and foster meaningful change on campus. It feels so fulfilling to do something I enjoy and know that I’m helping other people too. And when I say I met the most incredible people in this organization, I mean it. Truly, every single human I’ve connected with in this space is just the most genuine, smart, established and just coolest person. I’ve made great friends and I cannot wait to get back and see everyone this fall.

There were other productive things this year as well. I got a job in our Admissions Department doing some clerical work, and honestly really enjoyed it. I was remote most days but in office about once a week, and it was a nice, calm, little additon to my weeks (and wallet).

I also got really into cooking this year. I’ve always been good at it, growing up helping my mom in the kitchen. But never really enjoyed it until now. My college house was so nice and had a beautiful kitchen I loved being in. That, and buying all my own groceries was so inspiring and I started to really take pleasure in making my meals everyday. My roommates were also big cooking people, and I would pick up new recipes and ideas from them all the time.

The gym was also a huge part of my routine. I could walk to ours from my house, and would get there pretty much everyday. I’ve been lifting since high school, but never to the level of this year. One of my best friends and roommate is currently in the procecess of getting her personal training license, and we would go together, or run into each other there all the time, and it was my favorite. I got to benefit from all her gym and training expertise (perks on top of her friendship). The gym was so enjoyable for me, and I feel like I made much progress this year. I guess they’re all right, consitency is key.

Speaking of that, I’ve also gotten into running. That’s right. Like every other 20 year old who all of a sudden started made a hobby out of something they always swore they hated, I too now own a running belt and a pair of On Cloud running shoes. This was never really part of the plan, but here we are. My all roommates trained for a the Miami Half Marathon all fall, and seeing them absolutely kill it was so inspiring it got me excited too. Mia Booth (roommate and top favorite humans of mine) actually ended up running the Half with literally 10 hours of notice, then ran it in under 2 hours. Literal superhuman. A friend of her’s with a blog actually wrote a story about that which you can read here! Anyways, I try to get out for runs pretty often now and though I sort of hate it in the moment, it’s becoming something I actually enjoy incorporating into my life.

PLACES

This blog might just be becoming a love letter to Miami, but how can I help it? One year was all it took for me to fall in love with this place. Some of my favorite places:

CAMPUS

HOME

I have to include one anecdote about casita because it’s one of my favorite memories of this year.

So, Miami celebrated it’s 100th year this spring and threw a MASSIVE centennial party for it. They had all the donors and alumni coming, and they pulled out all the stops. An entire carnival with rides, fireworks, an orchestra and live performances, free catered food stands, dessert trucks, sand sculptures, you name it. Everyone went (free food) and it was hectic but fun. All semester we had been talking about doing a neighbor meet up sort of thing so we could meet the other college kids on the block. Eventually we had a block party planned for after the centennial. The idea was to spend some time at each neighbors’s house, with four different houses on the same block, around fourty minutes at each house. We thought it was going to be chill. Our neighbors and some of their friends. After getting back from campus, we started to realize that a lot of people knew about out block party. Like, a lot of people. Everyone told someone else, who told someone else, who told someone else. One of the houses texted us and said they had a leak and weren’t going to be able to host. They definitely just found out how big it go before we did. We were rationalizing it, how many people could’ve really heard about it? Then some mutual friends started texting us, saying they probably couldn’t come to our little neighbor thing because there’s some big house parties tonight they’re going to instead… and it was our house. Crazy! We had a collective moment where we were like whatever happens happens and we walked to the first house of the night to gauge how many people would come to ours next (we were the second house of three). Immediately we realized we were ill-prepared (though no fault of our own). This house had a guy they had paid to dj. They had free pizza. A bar set up with tons of alcohol. Signs showing you where the bathroom is. Clearly a well prepared for house party. We spent about 15 minutes there, then raced back to our house to prep before everyone walked to our house. We decided to lock down the house and have everyone in the backyard only in attempt for minimal damage. We raided our fridge for any alchol we were willing to sacrifice to the masses. We cursed how healthy our household was when we realized we literally didn’t even own a bag of chips to put out on the bar for people to eat. Massaged kale at the house party anyone? We set up a massive game of stack cup and hoped for the best. Then everyone just showed up, and our backyard was PACKED. A friend brought a massive speaker and wedged it into our porch roof and started playing music, and everyone started playing. The four of us had a moment where were like, okay, hell yeah, I think we just did this. And honestly? The party was a lot of fun. We had all sorts of different people from all the different schools, everyone was great, and it just a good time.

That is, until the cops rolled up!!! I saw the blue and red lights and immediately went to go find my roommates becuase I wasn’t twenty-one at the time. They talked to the cops (thank you!) who actually ended up being pretty chill and just told us we had to be quiet. We got everyone to file out and they just moved along to the next house of the night (which was literally two houses away and probably did nothing to fix the sound levels lol). And that was it! We took a celebratory picture in our Ring camera and followed everyone to the next house. All in all, it was a great night. Of course, people ended up coming into the house, but all in all, one bathroom with minimal vomit, a broken nightlight, and a ton of dirt tracked in was a small price to pay for the memory.

OUT n ABOUT

I discovered too many new markets, beaches, cafes, restaurants, thrift shops, events, venues, islands, neighborhoods, stores, and parks this year to name. It’s one of my favorite parts of living in a big city. There is always more to discover. You won’t catch me at the same coffee shop twice when there’s one zillion new options. I know I’ve only covered a little bit of it and that’s such an exiting thought too. From taco shops with clubs in the back to massive art conventions to the most gorgeous gardens, Miami’s got it all.

BEACH

Can’t write this recap without an ode to the beach. I grew up a two minute walk from the beach and haven’t strayed far from the ocean yet. San Diego and Miami both have such beautiful beaches. Miami beaches have turquoise blue water, which is very different from the Jersey beach I grew up on, and makes me feel like I’m always on vacation. My favorite beach in Miami, Key Biscayne, is lovely, and I was there often. A year-round tan makes my heart happy.

I have a tradition of having ihop pancakes every year on my birthday, and I had my 21st ones on the beach this year 🙂

PEOPLE

I met some of most beautiful souls this year and I could not be more grateful for that. I came into Miami knowing literally no one, and left with some friends that will be stuck in my life forever. Every single person I became friends with this year has become so special to me and I can’t wait to watch them go off and make their dreams come true.

A specific shoutout to Sab, Sara, and Mia who started out as strangers and ended up being my closest friends for the year. We made our house such a home and I have so many memories that I will cherish forever. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of roommates and I’m so happy our paths intertwined. I will greatly miss our chopped dinners, Netflix documentary nights, resturant dinners, birthday celebrations, fridge magnet sayings, shared trauma of window stalkers, sharing of closets, game nights with friends, unintended house parties, farmer’s market trips, campus characters, Salt & Straw ice cream runs, seshes and baseball milkshakes, and Trader Joe’s grocery runs. Thank you for being fellow activity people and please come visit me.

and PLANS

All in all, junior year was my best year of college thus far. I wandered around campus a couple of days before I left and felt such a sense of sadness that I was leaving, and that’s when it hit me that I haven’t gone back to a university after a year there. I had to remind myself I still had an entire year left here, plenty of time for more adventures. So that’s exciting. I cannot wait to drive back down and be in the same city, at the same university, ready for another school year of brand new experiences.

I’ll be in a new house, with new people, and taking new classes with new professors, doing a new internship, learning new things, going out to new places, and making new friends. What a beautiful thought!

I’m home for the summer, spending time with my family. Coming home as a college student is a complex experience, and it’s something I’d love to write a blog essay about when I have time. It’s amazing, and much needed, and also kinda hard for me, and I know everyone has a different point of view about it. I’ll head back down to Miami mid-August, and I’m so excited, though I’ve been having a good summer so far.

One thing about having roommates that are all graduating is that I might have gotten a bit overly caught up in their senior mindset. Watching them figure out their post-grad plans and create their lives after college was inspiring and also a massive reality check.

I’m trying to get more serious about what I want to do once I get my degree, and it’s proving harder than I already knew it would be. Get my Master’s? Teach English in France? Research grants? Peace Corps? Corporate? Academia? Non-profits? Drop everything and travel for a year? The options are endless and all appealing, but none of them are easy. I’m not sure what’s the best fit for me. I think maybe that’s just the rest of my existence. Especially post-grad, the world is your oyster. I can take any path I want. Or I could try 210 different paths until I find one I like. Then do that for a few years until I no longer like it and move onto the 211th path. As of right now, the plan is to finish working the summer season on the Jersey Shore, pack my life into my Honda Civic once more, and take path I-95 back down to Miami.