maysblog

Planning this Full Hearts, Full Hands retreat is one of the more challenging and most rewarding things I’ve ever done. It is giving me the coolest opportunity to talk to people and realize talents I didn’t even know they carried. My next door neighbor in the dorm is a photoshopping wizard–two girls across the hall, who are also in the business school, are great at planning logistics, and second hand connections across campus are proving absolutely invaluable when it comes to gathering feedback on past leadership/service/international experiences. Self-actualization is an understatement of the ways this is using all my past experiences and stretching my current abilities. I love it.

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So basically, this entire semester has been a funny place. I’ve met funny people, had some funny relationships, experienced funny emotions, and made some funny mistakes. The word “funny” in this context isn’t the laughing out loud sort, it is borderline awkward, a tad bit uncomfortable, and all around just doesn’t sit still. I remember the growing pains of yesteryear. I grew FOUR inches in one year; it became a daily ritual for my parents to literally pull my arms and legs away from my body to give the compounding a rest. Even though I have popped up an inch since starting college (I’ll gladly take one inch in four years instead of four inches in one!) the physical growing pains have yielded to the mental/emotional/psychological ones.

I think they call this “maturing.” Read the rest of this entry »

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There’s something completely invigorating about not knowing what tomorrow may hold.

People keep asking my summer plans, and while there are certainly options available, it’s so freeing to just. not. know. and continue taking life one step at a time.

On the one hand, I have 9 hours–would be only 6 if I didn’t willfully and knowingly skip a Management 211 test–to finish before I can enter upper level business. So, that could be practical, and there are several different ways I could get that done, whether it be online, in a classroom in Dallas or in a classroom in some other random, Texas community college where I could be a student by day and tourist by night. All of these have their appeal, yet for some reason I just want to back away from academia for a little while and get some organic perspectives–not all this canned, quick, textbook nonsense. Read the rest of this entry »

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Sometimes it’s easy to forget how lucky we are just to be walking around. We tend to stress about getting A’s in classes, when a B or even a C won’t be the end of the world, or worry about getting the perfect job when our backup is still pretty great. The things that we really need, like having a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, food in our stomachs, and our health we relegate to the bottom of our priority lists, only worrying about them if something goes wrong.

I had to worry about these things this weekend. Late Friday night, around 1:30 a.m., I received a text message from my mom: “Your dad’s having an appendectomy. Going to Fort Worth.” Immediately, I tried to call her, but couldn’t get a response. After trying several more times, I called my sister. All she could tell me was that my parents had to go to Fort Worth, but she didn’t really know anything. Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m starting to get sentimental.

Maybe this is a product of our family losing a loved one. Maybe this is a result of having to order my ring soon. Maybe it is because I will soon be leaving the country and I am beginning to realize and appreciate the comforts of home. Whatever it is, I have trouble admitting that it is coming to an end.

I took a walk across campus last night. As an upper level Business Major, I don’t get off West Campus much, however I do more than most due to my Dance minor status and Aggie Football job. But venturing in to the heart of main campus… that is a rarity.

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So, as most of you know, I am moving to Edinburgh, Scotland, in the fall. Hooray!….now what? Okay, get A&M independent study for credit forms—check. Make sure all the classes are cool with about eight different advisors—check. Ensure that I have a current passport—check. Get excited about Scotland—double check. Get visa—wait, what? I have to do…what exactly? Biometric finger scans?

That’s right, biometric finger scans. In order to stay in the UK for more than six weeks, whether to study, work, whatever, you need a visa. In order to obtain said visa, you need to get your application approved (we’ll get to that in a minute), then go to one of 29 biometric data collection points in the United States to provide a safer, more secure national document. Of course, you can’t find out where these mysterious biometric data collection points are located UNTIL you complete your visa application.

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It’s unreal to be packing up my dorm room, moving into upper level business classes with threes in their listing number and realizing that, at this time next year, the things I am up to my elbows organizing right now will have already come to pass.

Sitting in Reed Arena last night before Muster started, I had a flashback to Fish Camp, where they did something similar to show us how the tradition goes, and I remembered feeling completely disconnected from everyone around me. I didn’t necessarily mind the feeling, but it definitely gave meaning to the phrase “in a crowded room, yet all alone”–the thoughts of an outsider looking in. Read the rest of this entry »

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This weekend was the annual Texas A&M Football Letterman’s Golf Tournament, which is a weekend I look forward to every year.

My Dad and his buddies come in from all over (just like every home football game weekend) to “play golf” and reunite with old coaches, players and friends.

*I use the term “play golf” to highlight only the most important aspects of the game, which includes smoking cigars, drinking beer and driving golf carts.

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I really enjoyed reading Brittany’s post and it sparked the train of thought that brings me to what-I’m-’bout-to-say.

One of the things that most endears me to people–more so than constant, feigned happiness or perpetual dissatisfaction and complaining–is the ability to own emotions and be genuine about what’s going on. To simply be and to do so unabashedly is beautiful. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ever have those days, weeks, even months where you just don’t feel like yourself?

I think I’m there. And I know I’m not alone. Second semester, Junior year… we are all asking ourselves questions about the future, questions about our past, burning out, fearful of losing motivation, wondering, pondering, maybe even a little dissatisfied.

Gosh, this sounds super emo. I apologize now for the depressing post; considered by many to be one of the peppiest people they know, even I go through complacent periods.

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