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. The bed frame had some loose screws and I didn’t finish decorating the way I want to.
I’m not going to be spoiling the dorm tour, but I will say my room is going to be very colorful. At least, it’ll be very colorful for someone who only wears black, white, grey, and blue. Yes, I am definitely from New York City.
Move in day was definitely a full weekend. My parents and I traveled for 8 hours to Charlottesville, and then the next day, we bought some cleaning supplies and dorm necessities. Later on, we got 12 boxes of my stuff from storage and then hauled that up 3 flights of stairs. Where I live there aren’t any elevators and so now I have very sore arms. We then stuffed everything into my tiny shoebox of a room, unboxed it, and put things away.
After which, my mom had the grand idea to do laundry. (I was very exhausted so it wasn’t so ~grand~.) But we washed the bed sheets, my comforter, and a few pieces of clothing. We were SO TIRED that we went back to the hotel.
The next day we wiped down everything with Clorox and baby wipes. We set up my fridge and filled it with water (thanks Dad!) and then my parents left to take a walk around Grounds. I took this time to put everything in order and decorate what I could. I categorized each drawer (that feels like a weird word. Is that the right word?) – one for school supplies, one for masks and hand sanitizer, one for notebooks and folders. My dresser has a snack section, a shower/medicine section, and a miscellaneous printer paper and random things section. I did EVEN MORE LAUNDRY – just more clothes and fixed them up in my closet.
My parents helped make my bed – my mattress topper, bed cover, sheets and comforter and a thousand pillows (just 4, but they feel like a lot), and now that’s done.
I definitely need to clear out the top of my closet. It’s just very visibly messy, but for the most part, I’m happy with the state of my room.
Things feel normal here. Yes, students are wearing their masks, there is a ton of sanitizing and it’s quieter than usual, things feel normal. I know parents feel such controversy with allowing kids to go back to school. It’s risky being here, but being at home with nowhere to go and no space that was completely my own was detrimental to my daily rhythms, habits, not to mention my mental health.
It’s nice to feel a new beginning again instead of being stagnant. It’s lovely to see Virginia’s blue skies and big trees and Blue Ridge Mountains outside of my windows. Every moment here, I am grateful because it could all be over in a second.
Which would suck especially bad because my parents and I expended SO MUCH ENERGY, not to mention MONEY moving in. I am grateful for the chance to start over.
Rhythms I want to get back into – faith, fitness, friends, and finances. So basically my New Year’s Resolution and add 1. I think this year and next year people will be so grateful just to be alive that not reaching our goals won’t be so disappointing. Either that or some people will go so hard next year because life is so short, you can’t not do what you were made to do.
My faith goal is just my daily quiet time with some listening prayer and more prayer all around. Now that we wear masks on our faces, I can pray out loud outside and it won’t be weird! It’s the small things, folks. I also need to get back into my small group and make it a priority. I fell out of rhythm with it because of stress but now I have 0 excuses.
My fitness goal is to work out 3x a week. Probably Monday. Wednesday, and Friday – I have no excuses – my schedule is perfect but let’s see how consistent I actually am. I also want to take a walk around Grounds either with a friend or alone once a week.
My friend goal – this is hard. I don’t know how hanging out with friends will look this semester. Probably lots of picnics on the lawn, ice cream outside, something of that sort. Just a lot of time outdoors. At the very least once a week. I don’t want all of my social interaction to be on Zoom.
My finances goal is looser. I am just not at the point in my life where I am making any sort of consistent income, but I do want all of the money I earn from now on to be put towards student loans. I have a goal of moving abroad after college and I want nothing hindering me from saving money after I graduate. So when I start my internship this fall – I won’t spend a penny of that money, I will literally just use it to pay my loans. Look at me, a responsible college student. Who realizes I may not have a job after graduation due to a global pandemic and a bad economy – better to be safe than sorry.
So that’s what up in my life these days. Let me know what’s going on with yours down below.
Thanks for reading, friends!
Signing off,
Gigi
