Sweet days in my life at UVA

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 didn’t really have a huge plan for this post, except wanting to memorialize the last few days I had at school and really of my third year of college (yikes, it feels weird to say that). So without further ado, I just wanted to take you down some sweet days in my life. Hopefully, you’ll get a little peek into my world and when you comment down below, I’ll get a little peek into yours!

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Wednesday May 5, 2021

I’ll start with the iconic photo symbolizing the living arrangements of my third year. It was a little bit of a cloudy start on Wednesday morning, but things brightened up considerably by the afternoon. I had class at 9 to review a final project with my professor, and another student also attended this optional class. It was actually kind of a wonderful time.

I then had a meeting with my discipler but I totally didn’t take any pictures, so I have no idea where we met this day, but it was our last meeting discussing summer plans and the fact that I was going to be (and now am a fourth year, ugh big yikes). 

P.S. My wallpaper is a lyric from Edge of the World by Citizen. I’m obsessed with their latest album but this song takes the cake for me.

I went back home – kind of in a tizzy. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to try to make one of my classes in person. But then I did. So I ended up doing my drama class outside.

THIS WAS THE BEST CONCLUSION TO A CLASS I HAVE EVER EXPERIENCED. Wow, it sounds like I’m shouting. I promise, I’m not but I totally should be. Let me explain. My drama class was a Script Analysis class, so we read plays and then discussed them. For the conclusion of this course, our professor made a play out of our Zoom chat comments and then had us perform them. It was hilarious and exhilarating and awesome. Such a killer way to *mic drop* for a class.

I then purchased a favorite Starbucks drink – iced chocolate chai latte with soy milk and cinnamon topping. Ahhhmazzing! 

I then went to my Contemporary Essay class in person and enjoyed Krispy Kreme, but I have no photos of that ever taking place. If there are no photos, did it actually even happen? Questions that our generation gets to ponder today – yay!

My last class of the day was Sociology of the Family – and someone who I once saw a viral tweet from Charlotte Broukhim Zoomed into our class and spoke. This tells me two things – one, my professor has Twitter fingers, and two, that I may need to widen the circle of people I follow on Twitter.

I then walked to work with donuts in hand, made my last intern dinner and my fellow cook announced that she was resigning *tears*. I wasn’t super shocked, but it was really sad. Saying goodbye is a luxury these days. After we went from an abrupt world shutdown to waving goodbye as we were moving out, it’s a bittersweet thing to have the luxury of saying goodbye.

Sad moping aside, we made bruschetta chicken and then I walked home.

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Thursday May 6, 2021

I went on my last hike on the O-Hill trails as a member of Hereford Residential College. So yes, I forced myself to be up at the ugly hour of 6:45 to prepare myself for a hike extraordinaire. The views were stunning. I did a little bit of packing before class. 

My last class of the year was Dostoevsky. The chat was the liveliest I had seen it ALL semester long, and it was again bittersweet. I wish I got to meet some people in that class in person *wink wink* Big side note: winking was a big deal in Crime and Punishment. Seriously, if I had a penny for every time Porfiry winked, I wouldn’t be rich, but you get the point.

The cool thing about having a calendar is that you can see all the things you did/went to in a day, even if you have since forgotten. So I went to in person office hours to see my English professor. Smart guy, but wow, he sure knows how to be surprising. 

I went to him to ask how to figure out what you’re good at. I feel like I’m biased towards things I like, etc. But then our conversation really maneuvered around to what I see myself doing in my life – podcast producer, chaplain – not too distinct career paths right. LOL. Anyway, my professor declared (maybe this is a strong word) that he could see me in university administration. Well, boy was I ever shocked. It led to a lot of conversations with other people, and I’ve now coined it the Matt Weber track. Matt Weber is assistant to the president of UVA. He thought he was going to be a guy on Sesame Street (he is actually funny) but ended up in higher education in Charlottesville. Cool guy, wild story. 

I got a smoothie on my way to work. Got some iced green tea after my last book club with my fellow cook *more tears*. I then randomly went to the last Afternoon Prayer under the Ginkgo tree. We just shared about being more present and how this space brings that in us. 

I then walked over to Newcomb Theater for the only in person event all year for IV – Fourth Year Share! I will be writing a later post on what I learned, but it was so sweet to celebrate the graduating class and an awesome way to end off the last day of classes!

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Friday May 7, 2o21

I will just give you my snapshots for this day. 

I woke up, went on a run with a (new) friend, had breakfast, and then walked over to my last Vintage Lunch. *even more tears* Man, I am just emotional these days. LOL – I’m truly fine but life’s just, you know it, bittersweet. 

You may want to start a word counter for bittersweet. 

We had an incredible lunch – Cane’s chicken with fresh fruit, chips and salad. Then I met a friend who I literally had not met up with AT ALL this semester at an art gallery. Highly recommend going to UVA’s Ruffin Art Gallery if you are a student. It was so cool! Students were displaying their final projects. I actually bumped into a few acquaintances – kind of wild to have that happen in a COVID world. 

Later on in the evening, I went to my professor’s home – yes it’s the same English professor – for dinner. Which was incredible. Kale, grilled chicken, sweet potato, shrimp. It was a decadent meal with good conversation. I later on visited a hallmate before she left for her time on the AT (2 weeks-ish) and had that goodbye.

Wrap up of the weekend/beginning of week – went thrifting with a friend, had a chat with another friend that was super heartbreaking, packed, met up with some people from my small group as a goodbye, listened to really sweet piano music played by a cute dude (all I want is a meet cute!), did an exam in a garden (highly recommend), went to the UVa bookstore, and had a spontaneous dinner + worship night (which I absolutely ~loved~)! Definitely some sweet days in my life for sure!!

There is a time jump only because I love Wednesdays and this next one was packed!

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Wednesday May 12, 2021

In the morning I woke up and headed out to Bodo’s to get breakfast with a friend. Bodo’s is a Cville thing but essentially when you find a good, quality cheap bagel place, it’s the place to go. I got a bagel with turkey, mayo, avocado, and tomato. So darn good!

I had lunch with my boss’s boss’s boss about post-grad ideas and hearing his wisdom on discerning vocation. This dude recommends books like no other. And I appreciate it! I did some work at work, hence my desk photo. 

I then held a prayer meeting at the UVA chapel, and she was stunning. They made her all shining and new and they did an awesome job!

I went to set up a dinner for a club I’m in and the food was incredible. If you’re ever in Charlottesville, go to Luce. It’s a pasta place off the downtown mall and it’s so good! I spent three hours in that garden, getting to know people, celebrating this semester and just enjoying the resting place that is that garden. 

And those are some sweet days in my life at UVA.

I hope this was somewhat enjoyable and maybe satisfied your curiosity for what my life is like at school! I will return to you, gentle readers, with a life update. I haven’t done that in half a minute but like any life transition, there is much to process and discuss. See you soon, friend!

Signing off, 

Gigi

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