College: Expectations vs. Reality

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and for that I would like to apologize. Life has been crazy, hectic, new, exciting, and weird. I’m writing this post while sitting on my college campus. COLLEGE. CAMPUS. 

     Who am I? Am I old enough for this? Am I ready to be an independent and responsible human? Honestly, I don’t feel ready. I don’t feel old enough. I don’t feel like how I thought I would feel going into college. 

    I feel homesick. I miss high school. I miss having a set routine. I miss home cooked dinners. I miss my family, my friends, and my own bathroom. I miss the old. 

    I’m not trying to make college sound bad, because it certainly isn’t. It’s fun and it’s exciting, but it’s new. Very new. I came here without really knowing anything. I know a few people that go to the same school as me which has helped, but I honestly feel like I was just thrown into a Hunger Games style arena and was just expected to know how to survive. I don’t know what I’m doing, I’m just figuring it all out. But I thought today I’d share a few expectation vs. reality stories with you. 

So I guess, per usual, I’ll just jump right into it. 

Expectation: It’s so easy to meet new people and make new friends. I’ve moved enough in my life to be able to understand how the whole “new friends” things works. I’ll be fine. 
Reality: There are the super nice people that are easy to talk to and easy to get along with, but there are also the people who have no interest (or seemingly no interest) in meeting or even talking to new people. I don’t know if these uninterested people have simply already found their best friends and future bridesmaids, or if they just have no interest in talking to new people. Regardless, I’ve become great friends with the people living in my hall and I’m forever thankful for them! 

Expectation: Taking an 8am will be so worth getting a class out of the way and having the afternoon to relax. I mean, waking up for high school really wasn’t that hard. 
Reality: An 8am class is literal death. Every night is basically a sleepover and getting to bed before 11pm is impossible when the people on your floor are awesome and fun to talk to. As I type this, my eyes are practically closing because I had an 8am this morning. Currently regretting signing up for this class. 

Expectation: The food will be gross and I really won’t have to worry about gaining the Freshman 15.
Reality: The food is amazing. there are so many options, and the bottomless soft serve ice cream with sprinkles is really killing me. Seriously though, the other night there were jalepeño poppers (ie deep friend jalepeños) and I about over dosed on them. So. Much. Good. Food. So. Many. Options. 

So college might not be what I was expecting, but it’s fun. I can already tell that it’s not going to be easy, but I’m taking classes that interest me beyond capacity. I honestly was questioning my major (strategic communications) but my classes have made me feel 110% better about the career that I want to go into (marketing and branding). 

So sometimes life is different than expected, but usually this difference is what teaches us new things and makes us appreciate the old and the so called “normality” of our past.

feminism

via

I mentioned this a few posts back, but I’ve been having a lot of boy complications lately. It’s mostly because I realized that they’re being jerks and I’ve been standing up for myself and it’s been leading to arguments and misunderstandings. I think boys are just so shocked whenever a girl actually stands up for themselves that they don’t know how to respond and they ultimately end up saying things that they hopefully don’t mean. 

Even though boys are stupid, I’m so thankful to be surrounded by awesome girl friends who have been so supportive and helpful. We’ve been joking around saying that, by standing up for myself, I’m becoming the ultimate feminist. And that got me thinking, what even is a feminist? I feel like,especially lately, there has been kind of a stigma around the word. 

So here’s an outline between what I believe an actual feminist is vs. the stigma surrounded feminist 

ACTUAL
-stands up for herself
-believes men and women are equal in every way
-let’s gentlemen be gentlemen if she wants to (open doors, pay for meals, etc.)
-doesn’t have anything against the color pink 
-wears a bra because she wants to not because she has to
-you, me, and every other girl out there (because what girl doesn’t think that women are equal to men??)

STIGMA
-hairy arm pits 
-smells like patchouli oil
-only homosexual 
-doesn’t believe in wearing bras 

Just because some people don’t really know the definition of “feminist” doesn’t mean that you should shy away from your beliefs or apologize for thinking men and women are equal. Both genders have a right to say what they think, be paid fairly for their job (not according to their gender), and have equal rights. The stigma surrounding feminism is dumb, untrue, and totally worth making fun of because it’s highly entertaining. 

Are you a feminist?
Do you stick up for yourself when a boy is being a cotton headed ninny muggins?

Thanks for reading! 
xox
chloe

behind the 'gram

Instagram is weird if you think about it. It’s kind of like a life highlight reel, mixed with a diary, mixed with a whole lot of filters and hashtags and captions. It’s weird to think that so much thought can go into one, seemingly, simple picture. It’s also sad how much time I spend on the planning of an Instagram post. I try to think about the color scheme, the framing, the subject matter, the filter, the lighting, the caption, the hashtags, and then if I should or shouldn’t push the photo to Twitter. So much goes into one picture. 

I was recently tagged by Jamie from The Fashion Newcomer to post never posted Instagrams, but I usually delete the pictures that don’t make the cut so that I can make room for new pictures. So I decided that I’d post a behind the ‘gram post. Now, I’ve done this kind of post before, but you all seem to enjoy them for the most part so here goes yet another one. I hope you enjoy.

Dang Clementine 
I had an independent study class second semester this past school year and I basically got to come up with my own projects for the class. One of my projects was to continue working on my calligraphy so I brought all my supplies to school. As I was writing I was also simultaneously eating a clementine that happened to be disgusting. Then, I was stuck with inspiration for what ti write. I initially just posted this picture to my snapchat (it’s chloeg1 if you want to see me embarrass myself) but I decided it was good enough to make the Instagram cut. 

Scotland Skyline
I went on a school trip to Scotland for spring break and it was absolutely amazing. One of the days we visited Edinburgh and my friends and I climbed to the top of the Gothic Rocket. We had to go up hundreds of steps via a seemingly never-ending circle staircase and by the time I got to the top all I wanted to do was sit down. But the view was so beautiful. As I took this picture I was so extremely worried that my phone was going to fly out of my hands because it was so windy, but I managed to capture this photo, keep my phone in my hands, and enjoy the scenery. Props to me for restraining my clumsy self. 

Poolside Lemonade 
My friends and I adventured to the pool a few days ago, and we decided to bring our own lunch (aka buy lunch from Whole Foods). One of my friends and I decided that we were in the mood for a trendy drink and Hubert’s Lemonade caught our eye. Right when we got to the pool, I made my friend take a picture of our Lemonades. I took at least seven pictures at different angles and different ways of holding the bottle before I settled with this one. It then took me forever to figure out which filter to use. 

Instagram is an art form, I’m telling you. I’d love to read your behind the ‘gram post, so feel free to post one of your own and leave a link to it in the comments!
Thanks for reading! 
xox
Chloe