After one week of being home, I am finally able to write and reflect on my freshman year of college. I think it took me so long because I didn’t want to admit it was actually over. I knew I loved Boston when I visited as a high school student, but I never realized how much I would grow to love the city. I found just how much I loved Boston during my last week when I started bawling alone while on a walk because I realized I wasn’t going to be able to walk around The Commons in the summer. In such a short time, Boston became my home. I became immune to the sirens and construction. I became accustomed to using public transportation and walking everywhere. I became used to walking 10 minutes to go shopping. And I even became acclimated to the cold weather (even though I did miss the Texas sun). I still remember my first snow day when I sat in bed mesmerized by snowflakes and my roommates thought I was an idiot because they grew up in places where it snowed all the time. In Texas, we had snow days when there was a little “ice” on the road. I thought Boston culture was “wicked”. Get it, wicked? Like what people in Boston say. Anyways… I especially loved the Celtics fandom. There would be NBA players casually walking around my campus (and if you know me, you know I was in HEAVEN) because they would occasionally practice in our gym. I, unfortunately, did not get the Red Sox hype. Sorry not sorry, but baseball is the most boring sport to watch in my opinion. Sorry to all of you baseball players and lovers but I am definitely still a basketball girl. I also got to experience some fun concerts, like the love of my life Miguel, at the House of Blues. They were definitely not like Austin concerts but still so fun. But what made all of these memories amazing were the friends that I have met this past year.
My first year of college was incredible. I have met the most AMAZING people that I know will be my lifelong friends. These beautiful human beings put up with my good and bad days and made sure to write down and video all the stupid crap I would say. I’m not joking, there’s a list and a long compilation video of it. But those videos alone could be a whole other blog post. First of all, I was so lucky to have the most amazing suite ever. Living with 7 other girls isn’t so bad when you live with some of the greatest people. Piano Row suite 1105 will never be forgotten. I’m going to miss the walking in on my suitemates Michelle and Quinn blasting Brockhampton and making music videos. Or peeping into Faith’s room for her never failing advice or for using her microwave because I was too cheap to buy one. I’m going to miss when Cacau and Juliette would play their Brazilian music before going out and we would all gather in the kitchen to catch up after our long weeks. Or when I could go to Britt to ask for outfit advice and then end up talking for hours about life. And of course, I will miss my roommate Maddie who put up with my craziness. She even made a “gold star chart” for me to reward me for doing good things (like cleaning my room) and punish me by taking stars away if I did something bad. You can ask Maddie more about that. I can think of 905 reasons why I love her, there are too many reasons to list. I am so lucky to have a friend like her, she deserves a million gold stars.
Another huge part of my first year at Emerson was my soccer team and other athlete friends. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I don’t know how I would have survived without them. Moving across the country was much easier with the help of my teammates. I gained an automatic family who accepted me for who I am. They even put up with me when I said I was going to wear sports goggles during a game to protect my eyelash extensions. I loved my eyelash extensions so, so much and I would do anything to protect them I even bought the goggles on Amazon and everything, I was really going to wear them. Here’s proof.
I have met friends from California, New York, Vermont (Or is it Virginia Tray?), the Netherlands (I’m going to miss you so much, Joris), London (Yes, I’ll even miss the one and only David Kemp), Brazil… basically from all over the world. Which was absolutely CRAZY to me because I’m used to meeting people from other cities in Texas or in another county in Austin. One of my favorite aspects of meeting people from all over is that I have gotten to learn their mannerisms, cultures, personalities, and tendencies. Take my soccer team, for example, if you ask 5 different people to say “water” they will all pronounce it differently. I’ve heard “wuh-ter”, “wah-ter”, “woh-ter”… I’m not making this up. I didn’t realize how where you live can change the way you act, but it has taught me a lot about people and myself.
I also have been inspired by so many people encounter daily. I am constantly surrounded by the most driven people I have ever met in my life who have accomplished so much already. I also was so blessed to have people around me that were so supportive of my dreams and encourage me every day. This year, I had the opportunity to do things that I never would have imagined that I would have been able to do in a million years. This year I got to act in a few of my friends’ films, which is something I have always secretly wanted to do. Not going to lie, I did try out for one of those Disney Channel auditions that they advertise on the radio when I was 12. Obviously, that did not work out, so getting to act in short films lived out my 12-year old self’s dreams. I recently got to work behind the scenes for a Netflix special and go backstage while it was being filmed at a nearby theater. I was sitting right next to Netflix executives..like WHAT. How crazy is that? It was so hard to keep my cool but I think I was professional enough. I also still can’t believe the moment when I “bumped into Olivia Culpo in the bathroom” when I totally planned to run into her. My favorite memory of all was going to New York Fashion Week with my best friend Nick (who I could write a whole essay on about how much I love him). It was so cool to have the opportunity to live out my dreams, go to one of the fashion hubs, and get to meet so many amazing people. I actually am planning to go again in September!
One thing I did think I would do differently was post more. I know it may not have looked like I was doing a lot but a lot of the work was behind the scenes. I have been working really hard to change my brand and take it to another level. That is one thing I love so much about Emerson, it didn’t even feel like school. I would be simultaneously taking notes for class and for my blog. I was even able to schedule meetings with my teachers and ask them for advice about my brand. I am sorry I haven’t done as much but I promise that a lot more is coming soon. But I did want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me. All of the random texts of encouragement, phone calls, and more have impacted me more than you know. I am so excited for where this crazy journey is going to take me and I can’t wait to share it with you all as I move from Austin to Boston again in August!
