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.
School starts on Tuesday, and I have a lot of emotions. I’m excited to see all my friends and grow deeper in my friendships with them. I’m actually a little bit nervous about all the events and things that are going on this weekend. In fact, let me give you my schedule.
Fri: Go to the bookstore, the financial aid office, and go to a club meeting event.
Sat: Help my roommate move in, move-in/greet new students, have a quick hang out with friends, go to a club meeting, and attend a friend’s party.
Sun: Church, and I’ve volunteered to help with a party a club is hosting!
Not to mention – I need to mentally prepare myself to start school again. Classes haven’t even started but already my time is getting filled. All these events are amazing, but we need to prioritize rest and time alone.
I feel good about being back in Virginia. It’s nice to be surrounded by natural beauty. My dorm is super far away on its own section of Grounds, but I feel like the separation will help my dorm build community with one another and help us all to become closer.
On reflecting on my summer, though, I feel like it was the most boring summer of my life. Not for lack of activity, but for lack of community. I saw friends from home but sporadically, and if I’m not connected to the people I’m surrounded by, I feel a sense of lack. I still had an amazing internship, but I just didn’t feel rooted in community.
High points were trying new restaurants in NYC. But low points were not being consistent in what I set out to do this summer – exercise, be intentional in prayer and Bible time, etc. Plus the routineless part of summer made me feel there were no points of readjusting and centering myself towards my goals and priorities. When I go with the flow of myself, it often doesn’t end well.
In some ways, I’m happy to be back. To have a big giant desk of my own. To be surrounded by the friends I’ve made here. To be surrounded by the beauty of Virginia. In other ways, I know that the world is going to make the culture of busyness seem appealing, seem desirable. But if I continue in that way, I will be burnt out before I’ve even started to reach my goals.
In my journal, I’ve been writing notes to self lately. And I just want to kind of do one here. Note to self: Rest and alone time is necessary in your schedule. Taking a break should not induce shame, but rather stir up some pride. That you have decided to give yourself a much-deserved break and to take care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
I want to ask people – and I’m sure that there are people in the world that are like this – are you curious about God? Not in a “Why would God allow suffering on earth?” Not in that kind of way. But like, aren’t you curious about God’s true character. Or his thoughts? Or even his favorite things?
I don’t think you have to be religious to wonder. To think about God. I actually wish people would separate God from the religious connotation. Because it’s often a bad one. And I get why that is. But don’t you wonder why God thinks about? That is a random question, but it often comes to mind.
Also, another life update! I’m a Media Studies major and a Computer Science minor. I was a double major but that path would stop me from taking all the wonderful classes UVA has to offer like Dostoevsky, the Philosophy of Religion (can you tell I’ve been dreaming of this class?!), The Good Place (based on the TV show).
In my deep soul – I would be an English major and a Religious Studies and Bioethics minor. Maybe I’d become a lawyer. Or a journalist. Or one of those columnists who write about religion. I have no clue. It’s not that I don’t think those paths are incredible to pursue. They are. But I want a job in media and I want to have some decent technical skills. I’m super interested in all the English classes UVA has, but I will definitely take one before my time is up here.
On the note of classes, I am taking 14 credits which sounds small. But when you think about a 4 credit class, and three 3 credit classes, you realize in order to survive, you should probably take a simple one-credit class you will actually enjoy.
I think those are all the updates I want to make. Thank you for reading!
Signing off,
Gigi
What’s going on in your life? Let me know down below in the comments.
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