Answering questions about life in post grad
Hey friends, sorry for being MIA last week. I’ve been traveling and hosting people at home, so things were a bit busy. Things have now died down, and here I am back with my thoughts. I figured I’d ramble today because I was unsure whether or not I should tell you about my travels or … Continue reading this winter & the languishing
New Year’s is without a doubt my favorite holiday. Everyone gathered together to welcome in the new year. It’s filled with celebration and reflection, and it’s an all around good time. I don’t think I’ve ever actually been sad on New Year’s. If the year before was a bad one, then good riddance! And if … Continue reading 2023: New Year, New Me
Israel with its sun beaming down hotter than I’ve ever felt before. Graduation where President Ryan talked about leaving a light for when we’d return home. Dozens of rejections lining my inbox. The rejection I kind of blacked out during right outside a coffee shop. Singing worship songs at 2am because none of us wanted … Continue reading What I Learned in 2022
Hello friends! I was initially going to post a life update (but not much has changed for me, although there may be some things on the horizon), so I’m going to share with you my favorite books of 2022. I can’t believe I haven’t done this in years past, I do have a series called … Continue reading Top 10 Books of 2022
I have been debating writing this blog post. It feels a tad somber for this season of winter joy and yet, it’s perfect. What better time to talk about feeling barren than winter? When outside, the yellow leaves cover the ground and the wind bites with a chill and the feelings rise to the surface … Continue reading the winter season: barren like Hannah
One of my least favorite things in the world is decision making. It’s the reason I hate driving. It’s the reason I can’t have too many options. There’s something about making decisions that drives my brain into chaos. Every decision becomes a battle and I’ve always been scared to win the war. But I figure … Continue reading A Helpful Guide to Decision Making
What Do we Collectively Value? What types of jobs are most valued in our society? Another way of asking this question is who is being paid more and why? We love the CEO but resent the barista. Or we praise the administrator and forget the janitor. Tish Harrison Warren has this quote my former boss … Continue reading Innovation’s a Curse But Maintenance is Life
Lately, I’ve been missing Charlottesville. Not the classes or the late nights, but the city’s beauty. Even as the weather would begin to cool, Charlottesville would have a bright blue sky hanging over it. The green of the trees would turn into reds and oranges, and they’d fall with a gentle whisper of the wind. … Continue reading The Opposite of the Aesthetic Life: Acceptance
Hi friends! Sorry for going MIA on you these past few weeks. Life’s been weird and frankly, I got hit with writer’s block that this space got a little hard to return to. On Sunday, I curled up next to a fire in my backyard reading the third Mitford book while drinking a cup of … Continue reading little joys for all my days
A few weeks ago, I stumbled along Mrs. Modern Darcy, who shares her love for books and reading tips on her blog and podcast. She has a seasonal blog post titled What’s Saving My Life Right Now? all about the simple things that bring us joy and peace. I figured this would be a lovely … Continue reading What’s Saving My Life Right Now?
“It felt like waiting for something to happen. Which has to be the worst part of being young. So many of your decisions aren't yours; they're made by other people. Sometimes they're made badly by other people. Sometimes they're made by other people who have no idea what the consequences of those decisions might be. … Continue reading Life in the Waiting Room | quote series
This year, especially after graduating, I’ve been reading A TON. I’ve been reading instead of scrolling and sometimes instead of doing job applications. Reading has always been (even more so now) an escape for me. A haven away from the concerns of life. And though I’ve never wanted to become a book blogger, I love … Continue reading books + the things i’ve learned from them vol. 2
001. Mystery isn't as scary as we think it is. We can be tempted to run away from questions instead of towards them, but mystery can actually be an invitation into a hidden work within us. 002. Questions that we ask reveal deeper things that our hearts want to wrestle with. Every time I've had … Continue reading 22 Things I Learned Before I Turned 22
As of late, I’ve had three separate dreams where my teeth were falling out of my mouth. So I did what anyone would do. I Googled. Losing teeth usually means a variety of things: a big life change has occurred or will occur, you have lost something of monumental value, or you are having a … Continue reading A New Season: Losing Teeth and Entering Fall
Last weekend I returned to the place that used to be my home, a place where I had an apartment and a job and a much more formed life than I do now—Charlottesville. I don’t mean to sound overly bleak. It’s just that post-grad is a lot more uncertain than I realized and I’m still … Continue reading returning to the dear place I called home
I’ve always been drawn to the idea of staying rooted. I only started to notice this idea last September, when I got away for 24 hours (you can read about that lovely trip here) and I started praying to be deeply rooted in Christ. Two weeks ago, I was walking around downtown Montreal and saw … Continue reading The Pull of Staying Rooted
From May 24-June 1st, I was in Israel and it was wild (and real!). I wasn’t sure what to expect. We didn’t have an itinerary until we landed in Tel Aviv and honestly, while I was hopeful for a big spiritual experience, I was also aware that this could be just another trip. It was … Continue reading Israel, yes ’twas rael
It’s been a hot second since I’ve posted on the blog. Currently, I’m sitting on my cousin’s balcony in Montreal after a 10 day trip to Israel right after graduation. Wild!?!!! I know! I won't be returning to the States until mid June, so here’s to a summer of travel! (at least at the start) … Continue reading Fourth Year Reflection *cue tears*
“‘Do you want to leave soon?’ ‘No, I want enough time to be in love with everything…and I cry because everything is so beautiful and so short.’”Marina Keegan I did a thing. A thing I’m not even sure would ever happen. I graduated college! I’m officially a gal with her B.A. I’m an alum of … Continue reading I graduated-UVA 2022 graduation!
I’m writing this blog post right before graduation in May. Days later, I will walk across the Lawn in front of the Rotunda and officially graduate from the University of Virginia. The place I’ve spent a good chunk of the last four years. Where I’ve learned a lot in (but mostly out) of the classroom. … Continue reading Noticings of May
What is the story that you keep telling? My nonfiction creative writing professor asked this question to our class a few weeks ago. Immediately my mind was transported to the entries of free writes that we had been doing all semester. No matter the prompt or the minutes allotted to let thoughts become words on … Continue reading what happens when you choose love but it doesn’t choose you?
April 19, 2o22 This Tuesday in my life is an ordinary one, and yet, that’s what I’ll remember. What’ll stay with me will be the ordinary moments I paid attention to. Ultimately, that’s what truly matters. I woke up later than I usually would. This last stretch of the semester has me exhausted and just … Continue reading a tuesday in my ordinary college life
I didn’t really have a post ready to go for this week, so this week is kind of a mashup of some of the thoughts I’ve been thinking and things I’ve been loving. It’ll be a mishmash so just join me in the wild adventure of my brain. Just thoughts on pain, letting go, abundance, … Continue reading 12 thoughts: from pain to abundance
If you do anything, take a soul sabbath. I highly recommend~ A soul sabbath is time set apart to be in silence with God and yourself. I went to a farm in Crozet, VA in order to get away and reflect on life. I didn’t have any clear expectations. Just time to sit in silence. … Continue reading soul sabbath for good soil
The best pieces of music build up to the crescendo—the highest point, the loudest sound in a song. And that’s kind of our twenties. It’s the time we’ve spent our whole lives waiting for. Past the early childhood and the teenage years, we can now embrace all that life has to offer without any serious … Continue reading the age of milestones, or not.
Well, folks, we are back. And by we, I mean me! Yes, I sometimes speak about myself in the plural. It’s not any less weird than someone speaking about themselves in the third person. I did this last spring and of course, it’s a recurring series on the blog, so I could not resist doing … Continue reading books and songs of spring 2022
This past week was spring break! Considering that I went home the weekend before, I spent my week in Richmond! For spring break, I did a very similar justice program that I did in Charlottesville in 2020 (and we ALL know how that went). This week was A LOT better. A smaller crew of people, … Continue reading justice in Richmond: spring break edition
A year ago, I started The Next Right Thing Journal. It has been an AMAZING tool to keep me reflective over the course of weeks and months as opposed to my daily journal (which I love). Every month requires a quote, and so today I share with you the quotes I’ve loved for 2021 (and … Continue reading quotes I’ve loved for the past year
February 2022 was a wild month. And yet was the most ordinary of moments—walking to class, going to work, eating food. February moments - Seek Jessica Navin’s spiritual warfare, passport appointment, watching the Duke game, having lunches with coworkers/bosses, interviews for fellows programs I’ve applied for. Last year in December, I put together a list … Continue reading February 2022: chaotic and sweet
I feel weird, friends. Part of it is exhaustion from lack of sleep (like every college student ever) and part of it is that I have mixed emotions writing this post. I want to share with you my life. Especially since it’s my last semester, but there’s so much in the air and so much shrouded from mystery, even from myself, that I’m not sure how helpful or enjoyable this blog post will be. But here’s a reminder: you don’t need to create something for a purpose. Sometimes the purpose is the act of creation itself.
I started off my Friday by going to work at 8am-ish. I got there around 8:07, so I call that a success. Set up the study center with coffee and cleaning out the room and setting up the kitchen for baking and other miscellaneous things my job as a Hospitality Intern requires. I had some fruit, pretzels, and baked goods for breakfast. Aided in some baking and then hopped over to Vintage Lunch for a discussion on Howard Thurman and some delicious food. It was the first gorgeous day in a hot minute.
If you haven’t heard, if you haven’t seen the V-Day decor, Valentine’s Day is coming on up. She is making her presence known among us. Never before have I been intrigued (and slightly appalled) at the appearance of all the signs of her coming—the cold winter days and the cuddly couples, the teddy bears whose eyes seem to follow you around as you enter every single store and the love songs that play on repeat.
This week’s a little weird—I was planning on writing a different post than this one, but I wasn’t feeling it and also it’s been so long since I’ve done a life update. You may (or may not care about) the particularities of my life but I hope you stick around for some introspection.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the last quiet winter series post. *cue sad tears* While this series is coming to an end, I want to share with you some things that you can choose to begin. (How’s that for a paradox?) It’s winter and I think we need some rituals and rhythms to get us into this season. While there’s spring cleaning and driving around to find the prettiest fall leaves, there is much of winter that’s routine. Winter is full of bursts of snow and gifts, good or bad. It isn’t a season known for its steadfastness. The only exception is the cold. That brutal winter cold. So here are some suggestions of rituals and rhythms you can incorporate if winter is getting a tad dull.
The transition from fall to winter is always hard. While some romanticize winter with its peaceful, snow white appearance, the bitter chill hits as you step outside the door. You bundle up in vain, your scarf, hat and gloves doing nothing to shield you from the winter air. With the quiet winter series, I want to take a chance to slow down in winter, not for the purpose of hibernating (although that’s tempting) but to reflect.
I’ve got to admit winter is my least favorite season. I’m partial to summer for her warmth, her endless blue skies, her way of drawing us outdoors. Winter keeps us hidden in our homes, huddled under thick blankets, waiting for the chill to pass. As a New Yorker, you’d think I’d be used to such unbearable weather. But alas, I escaped to Virginia (for a short while) and the mountains beckon me south.
The very special part of new years are resolutions. But this year, I’ve decided to set aside the resolutions in favor of some intentions. I LOVE resolutions and goal-setting, but I want 2022 to build in me some foundational habits that I want to carry forth in my life. I’ve been introduced through various books and podcasts to this idea of a Rule of Life. It’s a set of standards by which you are using to measure your life against.
Whoop whoop! We’ve somehow come to the end of the wild ride that was 2021. I spent some time earlier today (the 30th) reflecting on 2021 by looking back at my Next Right Thing Guided Journal. Highly recommend doing this! Grab some journaling prompts that are floating around the Internet these days, and reflect on what happened in 2021.
Hey friends! This post is a tad later than in years past, but in between taking time off the blog for finals and being sick and other posts that were more time sensitive needing to take priority, this fourth year first semester reflection was pushed back a little. But alas, we have arrived. If you like reflecting and looking back, or in this case, looking at someone else's reflection, then this post is for you. It may be one of my favorite posts to write, but it happens so seasonally that I never get to celebrate it in the way I want to. So much of this blog is built up on sharing my reflections on my college journey and experience, and I feel so lucky and grateful to share it with you all. Thanks for reading!
Hey friends! Happy after Christmas day! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, eating delicious food and relishing in one another’s company. Today is a big day on the blog - my 3rd year blog anniversary. I know, right?!
Hey friends! Hope you all are doing well! Feel free to let me know down below 👇 what good and bad things are happening in your life. I always love hearing from you!! Today, I figured I’d share my daily college happenings to you especially since this week was my last full week of my last fall semester of college EVER! (Big yikes! *hyperventilating noises*)
Much of this blog is about!) or planning (either school work, or blog posts, or my thesis project, etc.). I figured I would share with you my process for reflecting and planning, especially since it’s only evolved over the course of this year and with COVID, I needed a new system that would allow me to be flexible AND consistent. So here's my time reflecting and planning!
This blog post is about the space in the mornings and in the evenings that we make to do things that set us up either for the day or for rest from the day. When we have the time to intentionally pursue the things that align with our values, we feel grounded and rooted. We are able to emerge from these spaces and launch forward into whatever is next. This blog post is about my morning and night routine and some musings in between. Take what you can and hopefully you’ll be able to reflect on how you want to intentionally use these spaces in your days.
Hey friends! Hope you all are doing well, enjoying this season that has been fall. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and it’s honestly been such a wild time preparing for this mini break. November is almost over (how?!) and I figured it was time to consider the transition from fall to winter. I am super excited for it, even though I don’t like the cold. I’ve got some fun ideas for the blog during my winter break (my last one eek!) and so I welcome the chill. To kick off our transition, I wanted to share with you all what I’ve learned in fall 2021. Hope this inspires you to take some time to reflect on this season of life and what’s to come as we enjoy the holidays and time spent together getting cozy and warm.
Ladies and gents, we’re back again with this series, books & songs. I honestly thought this was going to be some one time post I did in quarantine, and now books & songs is a series here on the blog, bringing to you songs I’m listening to and books I’ve been reading. It’s a really sweet time marker for me, and it’s just a fun post to write and get creative with, especially after the busy few weeks I’ve been having. These books are a memento of time, and these songs are a clue into my musical taste buds (and to some extent, my emotional state).
Well hello friends! It’s a late night here in Cville and I am definitely behind on work, but a blog post is due for you. I constructed a content calendar for the rest of the semester (which is like 5 weeks), but tonight I am just answering a few questions. So here’s yet another questions from the web blog post. Hope it’s your kind of ~vibe~.
I recently started doing a Sunday Summary every week on my Instagram, and it’s kind of similar to the weekend reflection guide I posted last year, so I wanted to bring it back again with new questions and a new rhythm in my life. I want to invite you to ponder your own life and look reflectively on your experience and your thoughts.
There’s a good chunk of entertainment directed to young adults, and although it looks glamorous onscreen, the lives of young adults play by different rules in reality. It’s expectations bumping up against reality. I went to high school thinking it would at least be as fun as High School Musical, and I was sorely disappointed (I mean who doesn’t like High School Musical?!). Our 20s are such a significant part of our lives but it’s easy to let what’s on screen dictate our day to day decisions and lead us into lies about our stage of life. So here’s to debunking the lies young adults believe~
The weekend of October 1-3 was beach retreat. It involved hopping into a car for a 5 hour long drive down from Charlottesville, VA to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The lead up to that weekend had been A LOT. I had been gone for the two weekends before - one weekend home in NYC, and the next away at a different retreat that I wrote about in my last post. While I knew that the weekend was going to be fun and filled with all sorts of beauty, I didn’t expect much spiritually.
College is absolutely hectic right now. Midterm season is crushing me and my sleep schedule is a choose-your-own-adventure of 7 hours, 5 hours, or 3 hours. Needless to say, I’m kind of exhausted but in a week, I should be great. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. In an effort to memorialize a retreat I have, I invite you to go a little bit down memory lane with me. I hope that this will remind you to get away and listen closely to the stories others are telling you. And make sure you ponder your own.
The trees are shaking off what is dead to make room for the living. This is a weird one. That statement isn’t quite true yet. The trees are still green. Fall hasn’t begun to touch their edges. They are clinging to the last vestiges of summer while we wait in eager anticipation of cooler days and cozy nights.
But in the transition between winter to spring, this is what happens. The trees begin to shake off what is dead to make room for the living. The brown leaves of decay lie on concrete, and slowly but surely, we see new life spring up in the form of bright, green leaves. There are two tales here and one tree.
We spent a lot of our days on autopilot. If you’ve read one of the many books on habits during quarantine, you know that most of our decisions are unconscious ones. And yet the more recognized moments are the ones we put on social media. They are the public celebrations and joys of doing life alongside other humans. There is something beautiful to all the good life seems to offer, but it’s the unseen moments that make up this other part of life we’re not always so keen on exploring.
And friends, we are back with the days in the life posts. These are simple posts to write and yet complicated to put together and here we are back at it again (with the white Vans). This is a weekend-ish in the life. This means I am blogging my Friday and Saturday. I ended up sharing my Sunday on Instagram, so follow me on there for more day to day content.
Fourth year is here. It’s no longer upon me. It has solemnly arrived, whether or not I was ready for it. Are you ready for it? *Taylor Swift eerily plays in the background*
Welcome to the year I thought would never come - fourth year! And my fourth year dorm tour! Whoop whoop!
Currently in Charlottesville in the midst of my move in day weekend (Monday-Tuesday), and I’m bringing to you this post - what I’ve learned this summer. This was COVID summer round 2. Did I make a lot of changes? Not really. But did I learn things? Yep. Let’s discuss.
If you were ever to meet me in real life, you’d come to slowly find out that I love sci-fi. Not necessarily the Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica-sci-fi, but YA sci-fi and more specifically, Fringe. Fringe is my favorite TV show ever. I’ve always loved Olivia Dunham and I think it's an incredibly fun, thought-provoking show. It’s been a while since I’ve last binged the series on the whole, but it is on Amazon Prime if you’re interested.
Actually, it’s just me. I’ve been waiting for this one. I’m about to head back to school so I wanted to give you my books and songs for summer 2021. I started this series not really thinking it was going to be a series, but here we are! I love music and I love books, so the combo was absolutely necessary. Plus, you, the reader, get to know a little bit more about me. If you want me to learn more about you, comment down below!!
Today I scrolled on Twitter. That’s not the most interesting thing ever, but that’s one of the things I did today. I saw on Twitter trending that self-made, this idea of self-sufficency, women were being celebrated. Just also stumbled onto this Twitter thread about people working 9-5 and feeling like they had no hobbies. These two separate posts on Twitter led me to a conclusion- Our culture truly glorifies self-sufficiency but then everyone wonders why they feel so isolated.
Maybe summer is a weird season for a college student, but I’m sort of in this journey of uncertainty. As a college senior in the midst of a pandemic, I am excited, confused and slightly terrified for what lies ahead. For a second there, the pandemic seemed to be turning a corner. But given the way the tides have turned, I’m starting to regret my optimism. I’m confused as to what I should expect a few weeks from now when I start classes again. I’m even more uncertain about what I expect in less than a year from now - when I graduate.
This summer has been a little bit of a quiet whirlwind - if that makes sense. I’ve been spending a lot of time with my family and working at my ~remote~ internship, which keeps me productive enough while still having plenty of time to pursue my own goals. If only I'd hit my goals.
While the US has made strides towards inclusivity in some arenas, arguably health is not one of them. There is a particular narrative for health and that standard is impossible for some people to meet, specifically those who are excluded due to illness or disability. The thing about beauty standards is that the number is so low to meet them and they ignore those who can never even come close to the opportunity of meeting them (never mind how some standards are toxic). In the same way, those with chronic illnesses or disabilities (visible or invisible) cannot meet health standards in the same way.
Currently it’s July and it feels like the offseason of my life. I don’t feel the heavy burden of stress and a million things to do like I do during the school year. It’s the perfect time to lounge outside while finishing a good book (That Sounds Fun by Annie F. Downs).
For as long as I can remember, we’ve been fed this idea that 5am morning routines are what make millionaires millionaires. That productivity giants all have one thing in common-this unique gift of waking up early and crack the day while the rest of us snore a few more hours only to wake up exhausted, desperately needing a jolt of caffeine.
For the past few weeks life has been a little rough lately. I haven’t been super in touch with myself, my habits, and fell off a routine into a deep hole of binging TV shows. Although I’m glad I finally finished the 12 Monkeys (highly recommend if you love sci-fi and you’re not too sensitive about the pandemic thing), I really need to get my life back on track. So while I’ve been navigating how best to do that, I thought I would share with you what I’ve been trying to do to get back to feeling like my best self again.
If you frequent the Internet, you know that the trend of being THAT GIRL exploded all over Tik Tok and made its way to Youtube. That Girl is the aesthetically healthy, has-her-life-together girl. While some people loved the trend of that girl, others found it too rooted in aesthetics of a particular class. That Girl has a connotation that can exclude some people from fitting into the trend. That said, in a healthy context, when That Girl is taken to mean a woman’s healthy version of herself, I believe that girl is actually a beautiful thing to encourage and to have trending. The thing about That Girl is behind being a healthy person, there is so much hard, deep work that needs to be done to actually be well.
I love the certain end. A period at the end of a sentence. Or an exclamation point. Something to mark the end of a story. Or of a chapter. A pause. A space to take a breath. Actually, what I really love is a nice wrapped bow. Perfectly tied up in string. I like the clarity that endings can sometimes bring. Sometimes being the key word of the last sentence.
This past weekend I was lucky enough to take a trip to Vermont for my cousin’s high school graduation. I was lucky enough that in the midst of school, I could take some time to get away and celebrate my cousin’s accomplishments while also seeing different scenery for a little bit. NYC to Vermont is a little over 5 hours driving distance. New York is a huge state and we spent a ~long~ time on the road. We left on Wednesday morning June 9 and returned Saturday evening June 12. It was a decent length trip to Vermont.
Every year on the last day of classes, IV has this thing called Fourth Year Share. That’s exactly what happens. Fourth years share what they’-ve learned from their college experience. Due to a beautiful concert my first year, I didn’t get to attend that fourth year share and thus did not collect any material from that experience. However, these last two years I have attended and have written notes on what people have shared. I am not going to share what fourth years have said but I will give the gist of it and I hope it will be of some help to all of you.
So here’s the post you’ve all been waiting for, or at least the post I keep referencing in my last few previous posts - my reflection on my third year of college. This one is hard to write, and maybe that’s why I was sort of putting it off. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to write it but writing it means I have to come face to face with the fact that I technically am a college senior (or as TJ would love us to say fourth year). And that’s wild to me. I started this blog in the winter of my first year, and being so near to the end - whew! I’m just not ready to confront that fact quite yet. But this post needs to be written.
I have just finished How I Met Your Mother this week and it’s been weighing on my mind - stained glass and broken parts. There’s a flawed logic in HIMYM. Not everyone’s story gets wrapped up so wholly. Sometimes we’re left with are questions and fragments of memories. I think that’s the thing about consuming TV shows and movies and novels - somewhere along the way, you start thinking life has perfect beginnings, ends, and middles. That everything always gets wrapped up in a tight little bow. Maybe I need a break from consuming for a while. A little detox. Detoxing the idea that things will have conclusions and give me closure.
I’m currently in the middle of reading The Winding Path of Transformation for the second time. The first time I read it was first semester of second year. It was transformational like the title states. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but I’ve never written a whole post about it. It’s one of those books you stumble onto, and you wonder how you stumble onto a little diamond hiding out in the rough.
Back in March, I wrote a post on journaling prompts and I gave you 5 questions to write about during your week in order to be more intentional and reflective on where you are in life. I wanted to do another one of these because journaling is such a good way to process ideas and turn thoughts into an action plan. It’s also great when you feel overwhelmed with your emotions but don’t necessarily feel like unloading on someone when you are full of emotion.
Hey friends! These last few weeks have been so hectic and chaotic - filled with a lot of moving and exams and activities that I haven’t had the chance to sit down and catch you up on my life - so here’s my life update!
Welcome back to Studying Life with Gigi! Due to moving back home to NYC, traveling fatigue, and adjusting to a relatively new environment, the blog has been a bit quiet lately. Finals and moving and saying goodbye to friends took tons of time and mental energy, so I didn’t have it in me to keep the blogging going. But now that I’m trying to figure out my summer 2021 routine and plan out the next few months, things seem to be steady enough to type away at my laptop again about a few good sweet days in my life.
I mentioned a few blog posts ago that I’ve been loving my Next Right Thing Guided Journal. I truly recommend it if you ever need some questions and guidance to help you journal. And of course, I have tons of blog posts on journaling. But for me, I’ve been noticing this theme of returning grief. I wrote about grief a while back in this post. And while that was super helpful to get off my chest, it doesn’t feel quite finished.
As someone who has wanted to start a blog and then started it, I love writing. I love putting words on a page and making the thoughts in my head coherent. But academic writing has always been the sort of writing that was draining instead of life giving. I have loved all of my English teachers immensely. They’ve boosted my love for literature and I don’t fault them for my troubles with academic writing.
While the initial New Year’s buzz is fun and exciting, launching off a new year with whole new possibilities, those possibilities are improbable to become reality if we don’t stop and reflect on what progress we’re actually making. If something isn’t working for you, change it. It’s that simple. I want to take it a step further. If you made a New Year’s Resolution but now feel out of alignment with that goal despite many attempts to accomplish it, change your goal. I’ll go first.
As you all know (or can tell), I love a regular day in the life post. These are so simple to write as a college gal going through paper ~szn~ and it’s sweet for my past self to look back on. I definitely will get back to writing the deeper questions type posts when school dies down and I come up for air. It’s actually been a hot minute since I’ve done a deep dive post and I’m definitely missing it.
This weekend, I went home to New York City. I know, travel in the time of COVID is controversial. It’s important to be safe and not contribute to spreading COVID by reckless outings. But since my parents were planning to come to me, I figured it would be safer for me to come to them. I took a test before traveling and I made sure to travel safely.
There weren't a lot of pictures so bear with me as I describe my Friday. I woke up at 7:30 because I have my Sociology of the Family at 8:00, and this Friday I had a debate on whether or not marriage makes women happier and healthier. Since I was on the pro side, we went first. I think it went super well. My partner and I were super in sync even with the technology hiccups. Because Zoom, you know?
This is the story of how I decided seeking solitude in isolation was a good idea. UVA has been doing Break Days for students’ mental health and because we no longer have a week of spring break off from school due to the pandemic. For my break days, I told myself that I would not want to do work or make it a catch up day. It’s tempting to use the day off as a way to get back on track with classes or even get ahead, for overachievers. But the way I see it - these break days are few and in between. I want to use them wisely and maybe challenge myself in how I spend my free time.
If you’ve been here awhile on the blog, then you know my love for journaling. I consider reflection and stillness to be an important part of life in order to truly learn from the past and be present in what is to come. I decided a 5 day journaling prompt challenge would be in order. I want you to save this post and keep it with you as you go through your 5 days.
I am not a poetry gal by any means. I love fiction and short stories and sometimes essays, but I am not drawn to the art that is poetry. Nevertheless I bring to you a Richard Siken quote - a first in my quote series. About change.
For the first time in a long time, I’ve been struggling with what to say. It’s not so much that I have nothing to say but that I have no aim. Usually there’s a topic floating around my brain that I just want to share, so I do. But this time, I feel like I’m at a loss for words. Maybe it’s because there’s so much I want to share. Or that the world keeps changing so quickly that my brain hasn’t quite processed fully.
Last week I thought I was sure of my class selections, and then yesterday, I made the switch again. I refuse to take classes that I can’t balance well alongside my other ones. Today we’re bringing back the series of books & songs with books and songs at the beginning of spring 2021. At the end of my first week of classes and being back at UVa, Ms. Hayley Williams released her second solo album. I didn’t see it coming, but I’m not mad about it. (Actually, it would be kind of nice to have a new Paramore record. Just saying.) So that inspired this post! Here are some things I’ve been reading and listening to lately.
Given some reading I’ve done, The Defining Decade by Dr. Meg Jay, a lot of my conversations with friends have circled around how our upbringing informs our relationships. I’ve been lucky to have been going on walks with friends and getting to have conversations about on these sorts of things. It’s intensely personal but getting … Continue reading Our upbringing informs our relationships in a remarkable way
I’m back in Cville and classes have started up again! Here’s my first day of third year second semester. Woah, that was a mouthful, or a typeful. Anyways, I just wanted to show you a little day in my life. I have a few of these on the blog now, and I feel like the blog has become a place to write this all day and get a little snapshot of my life, especially when I look back on my college life.
Hey friends! As January nears its end and February picks up on a Monday, I wanted to write an New Year's Resolutions reflection guide. It’s a new year (yay 2021!), so it’s important to track your progress and get down to the core of your feelings. Maybe January has been a month where you fell back into the bad habits you ended 2020 with. Or maybe January has been a month of slow growth in the right direction. In order to move forward, you’ve got to assess where you’ve been. Do you like how you’ve been doing?
Everyone has that show that they love. For some it’s Friends. However, for others it’s the Office (for reasons I still don’t understand). For me, it’s How I Met Your Mother. Ted Mosby tells his kids the long, long, super long story of how he met their mother. The show has incredible storytelling features and is set in New York City (my hometown), and to the joyful displays when it means to be friends and do life together.
After a week of being in class again, I just wanted to update you all on a month and some change - the end of December and some of January. Just some thoughts, not a true life update but just a check in of sorts
We’re back again with the series of books and songs - this time during winter break. Funny enough, Taylor Swift released another album(!) and so she inspired another post where I must rave about my favorites from evermore. I definitely love evermore more than folklore. It has a sadder, lyrical vibe that I just flow with more.
Good riddance! 2020 is finally over and we’re so lucky to come out the other side. This time of year is when there seems to be the most hope. After the delight of the holiday season, we get to look forward. No more time spent looking at the past and all the wayward things of 2020. We get to usher in 2021 and we get to set our intentions for the type of year it’s going to be, and create some New Year's Resolutions.
I took a little mini break from the blog for the holidays and honestly, to relax and not think about being on my computer. But I’m back! 2020 has been a weird, strange, crazy year and we’re almost at the end. Congratulations! You’ve made it through!!
Hey friends! I know this holiday gift guide post is coming on a different day than usual, but I figured that the earlier that I got it out, the better. I only just finished up my Christmas shopping and I realize a lot of people are mostly shopping online to avoid potentially getting sick.
Hey friends! It’s finally that time of year - a time to reflect on the past semester and relay to you all what I’ve learned. I actually had some trouble writing this post for some reason. This semester was different than what I thought my third year would be. Given how much a pandemic factored into my experience, I’d say that I made the best of this semester.
What are we collecting? For my final art project of the semester, I wandered into my mother’s old sewing studio. Most of the random assortments of fabrics had been moved and the equipment no longer cluttered the floor. Strangely, a different collection remained.
Hey friends! I thought I’d take you through a week in my life - not down to the minute - but the moments that I captured on camera and what they mean to me. Also, just giving you questions to reflect on as time passes by. I hope that as much as you live in the moment, you also live with discerning eyes, eyes that hold this moment eagerly and reflect in order to do the next moment better.
Given the fact that I’m coming down to my last few days of my fall 2020 semester, I wanted to capture a weekend in my life in order to look back and reflect on it in later times.
2020 has been rough. *ahem* That’s an understatement. 2020 has been one hell of a year. With COVID going all across the country, lockdowns, doing work/school from home, not to mention the general uncertainty, it’s a strange time to enter the holiday season. School is currently wrapping up for me. I have 2 more weeks of classes and then a week of exams before I get to fully rest up and recover from the 14 weeks of Fall 2020.
I am up late on a Monday night because I got locked out of my room, which spurred a wonderful conversation but I truly lost track of time, and so here we are and it’s almost 1 am. Oops. Given the uncertainty of the state of the U.S., I wanted this post to be more chill - exploratory and fun. I honestly had my emotions swing from low to high today and so, I felt like giving that range of emotion vs music.
Every night, surrounded by twinkle lights, I flip the pages of my journal to a blank one and begin writing. Some days my pen scrawls back and forth across the page, moving slower than my mind can think. Other times my pen is still, eager awaiting my thoughts to formulate an idea, any idea.
I’m in the pivotal stretch of life. Actually, arguably all of life is pivotal because everything hits hard in the present moment. Anyway, aside from that tangent, I turned 20 in August. Hooray!! I have now entered my 20s in the middle of a global pandemic and will be graduating college in 2022. If I’m being honest, I’m a little overwhelmed, stressed out, and just nervous for what’s to come. But lucky for me, I came across The Defining Decade after seeing 2 people I follow on Instagram read it.
In my first year of college, I used to be really bad at this. Cultivating boundaries. Relaxing when I needed to. Doing work when I was supposed to. Having time to eat and take walks and chat with friends and study. We are all really bad at this. Cultivating boundaries. When was the last time you didn’t feel guilty for sitting on the couch? For watching TV without the looming fear of your work week? When was the last time you didn’t dread Sunday? You didn’t frantically check your email to get ahead? You didn’t wish your weekend was longer?
Hey friends! Given the busyness of the semester (can you believe it’s already the 7th week of the semester!), I didn’t have it in me to write a well thought out post this week. If you have any blog post ideas, feel free to send them my way! My life has been pretty okay. I think I’m still experiencing some ear pain from the first presidential debate, and I’m feeling a little tired today. I spent ~lots~ of time with friends this weekend and though that’s nice, I really need to hunker down for the week.
3rd year and honestly my whole college experience has not been what I wanted. I thought it would be full of adventure and I will feel more secure and certain in my future and friend groups and that’s just not what happened. In fact, COVID hit and made it even more difficult to connect with people and just to be a student, trying to learn and study and grow.
I decided to do a Sunday day in the life of college because each day is different, and I honestly never know what it’s gonna be like by the time the end of the day comes. I also figure that when I look back on my college experience, it would be nice to have some days in my life for remembrance’s sake. I’ll probably end up doing a few of these this semester.
Welcome to my 3rd year dorm tour! The dorm tour that should’ve occurred in August but COVID’s been turning this year upside down. It’s ~finally~ here!! Woooo!!! Maybe I’m the only one excited because when I look back on my college years, I won’t have to use my faulty memory to remember what my room looked like and how I decorated it. So ultimately I write for posterity.
So, I’m finally back in Charlottesville. I was supposed to write a post updating you all on the fact that UVA pushed back its move in date and that’s why I didn’t have a dorm tour for August. This post isn’t a dorm tour because, well, my dorm isn’t quite ready.
As a college student, I’ve had no choice. I’ve had to figure out this whole time management. In between classes, 3 organizations, this blog, friends, my mental health, and whatever else you can think of, I have to do homework, study, and enjoy my time at UVA. I have a long list of tips to … Continue reading How to Improve Time Management as a College Student
Life in quarantine hasn’t been great.
Lately I’ve been hit with some disappointment about my 3rd year and being at home for so long. My mood has been so low that sometimes I don’t really have the desire or energy to do anything.
Lately, I’ve been chewing on the idea that I want to live a good life. Not a great one. Not one with tons of fireworks and dramatic flair. Just a good one. With good people. Good food. A good time all around.
Even for the few days August has arrived, she has come with a heat all on her own. She leads many to porches and backyards, eager for a breeze and fighting off the mosquitos that are desperate to take their land back
I love reading books and I love listening to music. For the most part, I try to stick to reflection, intentional living, and college posts on the blog. But every once in a while, I’ll get super into something and I want to share it. I’ve decided to start a new series: books & songs.
Most of your choices you never even think about. They’re automatic. You reach for your phone when you first wake up. You head to the kitchen and make coffee (or tea - if you have taste lol).
The uncertainty of this time feels scary and out of control.
*cue thunderstorms in the background*
I’m not trying to be dramatic, but especially since the world’s gone upside down, it’s so hard to make any decisions. I keep checking my email, waiting for something to change. Waiting for news that’s supposed to come.
It's been a hot minute since I've written a life update. Given that I'm still in quarantine, you have to wonder what the heck I have to update you on. Well, there are plenty of things that have changed. I finished Zoom University online for the spring semester, getting the best grades I've seen since I started at UVA. I have since had about a month to relax and work on my own side projects. As of now, I have started summer online classes, taking Media Ethics, Podcrash, Writing for Television, and Multimedia Production. I'm only taking two classes at once and I am also doing an internship, learning about dialogue and how to navigate difficult conversations with people who are in conflict with one another.
Maybe some people aren’t like this, but I spend a lot of time in the past, some time in the future, and not nearly enough time in the present.
Life these days is shaping up to make me even more like this. Dreaming of classes full of students, off campus trips downtown, and weekends away from Cville. Dreaming backwards.
I have been journaling for the past 5 years. It’s been a WILD journey. I wasn’t consistent at first, but I grew to love it, made it a New Year’s Resolution to do it everyday, and now it’s a part of my everyday life. There’s definitely a lot that I have learned from journaling and … Continue reading What I’ve Learned From Journaling
This year I hopped onto one of the hottest trends. I got an iPhone and swiftly fell into the world of podcasts. I’m honestly terrible at finding new music for myself to listen to - I like what I like, why would I want to change? - and so, when I get tired of listening to my music, I really like to listen to someone else speak on a variety of things - Faith, love, life, etc.
In quarantine, we have an opportunity to live differently than before. We have the option to do less or to live at a less hurried pace. Even for those with children and work right now, every day doesn’t have to be a sprint. We can choose the pace at which we live in order to add more peace into our lives.
I often feel a sense of dread when people ask me about the future. I’m not some genie or fortune teller, eager to tell stories of the upcoming year with ease and laughter. I am the girl who is more afraid of the unknown than I am afraid of most things.
The black men and women being slaughtered at the hands of the people who are supposed to protect them, and the hundreds of years of oppression that have kept black people burdened and shackled to lives born out of systemic injustice.
Often as I walk around Grounds to go to class or head off to the library, my headphones are tuned in to my latest obsession at the moment - podcasts.
In quarantine, we have the opportunity to examine the state of our lives before all the upheaval and how we want to move and act when things return to normal.
College. The time of your life. Where you meet your best friends, where you have your late night adventures. Where you figure the next few years of your life.
In the dull moments, where life gets repetitive and things are just not exciting, like quarantine right now, it’s easy to wish time away and hope it would all end.
Right before my big trip back to Virginia for spring semester began, I was overcome with emotion. I had traveled to school on my own before. I had been apart from my parents for many months.
My generation has a new addiction. With shiny smart phones, fancy laptops, and all the other technological dreams we could ever need, our instant gratification problem has lent itself to the destination addiction.
In this extra time found in the confines of our homes, we enter one of two tendencies - the sense to be uber productive or to veg out and completely cut off the outside world. Some are trying to rebuild their routines so it fits this new reality.
This last month has been so strange and it has taught me a lot as our lives turn into the quarantine rhythm. At the beginning of the month, I was so excited about spring break and I had one more week to get through in order to get to rest.
Life is a mess. It is filled to the brim with the beautiful, the boring, and the broken. The things that break us.
Our feet hit the floor one morning without a single clue that when our head returns to the pillow our hearts will be fragile once more. Things breaking, that’s normal. And it’s sad that that is our reality, but it is. It hurts.
In this time of Facetime calls and working from home, we are disrupted from our regular routines. All the plans we had made are erased and swept away as the Coronavirus sweeps across the nation.
While we are all feeling the effects of COVID-19 or the Coronavirus, we need to take precautions seriously. Since my university shut down classes and extended spring break for a period of time, this is a great time to begin practicing social distancing.
So with my life update, I updated it mentioning how I had to go home given the shutdown of UVA, and the school saying how it decided to move classes online until further notice.
I started off the weekend in Charlottesville, and my parents had come to visit me. We took a lovely trip to Kroger, where I saw a funny display of a rabbit. I am always really impressed by the people who do these kinds of things.
It's spring break for UVA students, and I've been spending it by volunteering at middle schools, tutoring kids. It's the middle of the semester - spring 2020. Feelings - it's all going by so quickly.
Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot across the internet about books that have come out recently. To Hell with the Hustle and the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and Less is More.
Love is everywhere.
It’s in the embrace of friends, it’s in the first moment of holding hands, it’s in mother’s kiss to her son’s cheek. It’s been in the air before Valentine’s day and it won’t stop after.
A few months ago, I heard this story on Invisibilia. I’ve listened to a lot of podcasts but none like this before. None where the story returned to my mind, days and weeks later.
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of YA books. I know they are fiction but characters can feel so real - their mannerisms, their figures of speech. My imagination brings them to life.
Every now and again, you need to reset. You need to start over. When you feel like you’ve been living life doing the same things over and over, when you feel stressed out and overwhelmed, when you feel like your brain is a mess, you need a reset.
Hey friends! This blog post is about my past weekend spent in Indiana at the Kelley Business School for a case competition representing UVA.
Hey friends! I’ve recently been scrolling through the world wide web as one does, and I found some really interesting questions I wanted to ponder with you all. Instead of answering standard questions for you to learn a little more about me, I figured you all could get to know what I think and believe and learn more about me.
I have no idea what you have in store for me. I know that I’m going to Indiana the first weekend of school, but other than that, there’s a blank hole. And where’s uncertainty, in me, there is fear.
Guess what? It’s my favorite time of the year again. And yes, I am saying that after Christmas has passed.
Friends, this blog post is an exciting one! It’s been an entire year since the beginning of this blog, Studying Life with Gigi. And it has grown to a place I never could have imagined.
Currently I am at home, relaxing after finishing four final exams in Charlottesville. I took an Amtrak for 7 hours and ended up at home, here in New York.
This year has been a wild ride. It’s the end of the decade. It’s the 10th year anniversary to 2009, which had some amazing music. Did someone just mention Kelly Clarkson? Just me, okay.
These days, everyone is on social media, creating content, posting memes, or taking that dog filter selfie. Creating videos, taking pictures, and posting it to the Internet has become the norm, and not the anomaly.
Who am I? It’s such a loaded question - it’s so unfair to be asked. I know that I am more than the sum of certain characteristics - brown eyes, bookworm, there’s just more to me than these ideas in a composite form. But I don’t know who I am.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about the practice of vulnerability. I feel like all of my posts come from some journaling and reflecting I’ve been doing and this is one of them. I’ve been trying to figure out how to be more open to those I want to know me more.
This post is a little different from my usual. I just wanted to let you all in on the things I’ve been enjoying so you can enjoy them too! Welcome to my favorites! I won’t be doing this every month, but I definitely will be updating you guys as I go along, some things I’ve been enjoying and why.
After work a few days ago, I decided to watch a documentary on Netflix. It was about these 2 dudes called the Minimalists and how minimalism had changed their approach to life. Here’s what I discovered:
If you are a high school student looking for colleges, or someone who is thinking about a big move, you’ve stumbled across the right post. I’m in my second year at the University of Virginia, and I am from New York. I went from a big city to a small city, and from the North to the South.
One of my friends asked to interview me for her market research class as her team is developing a plan for a mindfulness center at UVA. We ended up having a conversation about the toxic UVA culture and what it means to find rest.
Day in the life: Weekend Day at UVA - Saturday. Doing homework, volunteering, fun activtites.
I feel being on the New York subway leads to some profound thinking. Because at the very least, it’s too loud for headphones. And what better way to spend your time as you sit in a steel machine catapulting you to different boroughs daily.
It's been a hot minute since I've really sat down to write down something substantial. I've looked at my to do list and I honestly either can't do things right now or have just finished them. So, here I am.
Welcome, future freshmen, or should I say first years, that have been scouring the internet, looking to find out what exactly they signed up for. Hello, I’m Gigi, and I will be giving you a report on what being a UVA student really means.
I actually did this activity for my freshman year and it was so good to look back on and it brought on all the types of memories. It’s also a good way to get out all of the intentions and the little things you want to remember.
Faith isn't easy. Despite the perception of burying your head in the sand and believing what you want, this world won't let you. There are mass shootings, millions of immigrants and refugees, the deterioration of the earth due to climate change, political corruption, and more.
The post you’ve all been waiting for. The dorm! Currently, as a UVA student, I decided to spend my second year at one of the Residential Colleges on Grounds. I live in Hereford, which has its focus on mindfulness, sustainability, and social awareness.
As a college sophomore, I feel it is fitting for me to write out the things I want to accomplish in the next 3 years. While this could have been done as a first-year (or in my freshmen year), I think learning all the things I could have done helped me create a bucket list that both honors UVA and myself.
It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done one of these. So, here it is - a life update. I have moved back to Charlottesville. I came on Monday and Wednesday, I fully moved into my dorm. The process was a lot, and I will most likely go more in-depth into it in my dorm tour.
In my recent post, 15 things you should do before you go to college, one of the things on my list was having goals for next semester. So, here are my goals for the second-year first semester.
One moment I woke up to use the bathroom at 5 in the morning. The next moment I stood horrified at the figure before me - my cousin had arrived home from her night shift at work. For me, this is the thing.
For you, it may be the way your smile doesn’t quite reach your face after a long vacation with family. Or it’s all the picture-perfect photos on your wall. When your room has been messy for a month. It’s going on a walk and finding out that you have dog poop on your shoe as you enter the house.
I started journaling in 2015, kind of on a whim. I’m not even sure why I started. I just remember that my aunt took me to the store and I saw this notebook I liked with “Trust in the Lord” on it. Although I went to church with my parents and attended Sunday school, I don’t think I believed in God. But I picked up that notebook, and my journey started.
I miss it. I look back on old blog posts where I’ve shown you a little peek into my life. The people who surrounded me, the fun activities I was up to, or even where I was walking that day. I have plenty of blog posts that detail a day in my life or a … Continue reading Documenting Your Life ft. a book crawl in NYC
Hello friends! Light a candle, grab a blanket, set the ambiance and get ready for a cozy girl chat. I have a lot on my brain lately, and I figured a chat would be in order. Wow, I have many thoughts so please stick with me as I ramble blog style. 001. Embodiment Lately I’ve … Continue reading Candle-lit cozy girl chat