It's Fall!?

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald 

It's honestly hard to believe that it's the end of September already. Not that I mind; pretty much all of my friends love autumn just as much as I do, and we've had quite a bit of fun contemplating pumpkin spice lattes and crunchy leaves. 

Salem is the perfect place for fall, really. 

The Square out front of campus has hay bale displays set up with fake leaves, and the ground is covered with real ones. It's exciting. It's cute. I love it.

You know what else is crazy? The fact that I get to see my family in 3 weeks. I guess you could say that I'm pretty excited (just maaaaaybe). Going from seeing them all day, every day to only over FaceTime has been a weird transition... but it's going to be fun showing them around Old Salem, especially since Mom is the only one who's ever actually been here.

Lately I've been thinking about everything that was going on this time last year: I was starting to applying to colleges, settling into senior year, dreading the last few weeks of 90+ degree California weather. Now, there's already talk about the future Salem Class of 2019, and I can't help but think of how crazy it is that I applied a year ago already.... what? Slow down. 

I think the beginning of fall always reminds me of how quickly time passes. A year ago, my today was a daydream, and that's absolutely fascinating. The other side of my brain is already wondering what the next year is going to be like... But maybe I should take this all one day at a time...Maybe. 

Now, I believe there is some homework calling my name. 

Keep not settling,

My First Month at Salem!

Wow.

Let me just say, this past month has been nothing short of fantastic.
Stressful? Sometimes. Challenging? Of course. Fun? Too much.

I've always been the "calendar" type of person. In order to function, I have to know what's coming next. What's due tomorrow? Next week? However, being here at Salem has taught me an important lesson about taking each day one at a time. There's so much to absorb around here.

Now that classes are well underway and I've almost perfected my schedule, I'm pretty dang happy.

If there's one thing I do a lot here, it's highlight....

One of my favorite parts of Salem is our Big/Little tradition, where first-years are paired up with a junior "mentor" of sorts... My big is one of the most amazing people I've met here so far. We're so much the same person, it's actually scary. I've never met someone so in love with Taylor Swift.

Speaking of which, this is how she "officially" asked me to be her little... Yes, she embarrassed the crap out of me by making me put together a puzzle in the middle of the refectory... Yes, it took me a lot longer then it should've. But I was sick, ok!?

Bottom line is, she's lovely.

Did I mention I highlight a lot?

Shoutout to Utang, the Real MVP... ahem, I mean class of 2018's Fall Fest chair.

As much as I genuinely do enjoy studying and participating in the academic side of life here at Salem, I think my favorite part is being constantly surrounded by groups of smart, talented, open-minded people. Between "study" groups and Cards Against Humanity, I don't think I've ever laughed so much.

This week brings Fall Fest.... If I'm still alive (read: if I'm not too exhausted) I will report back promptly. In the meantime, I'm celebrating a 4-day week.

Keep not settling,

Crazy Busy.

This week has been crazy, to say the least. My desk is pretty much always cluttered with textbooks, notebooks, pens, highlighters... you name it. If it's school related, you can probably find it on my desk. Even though I like to keep busy, these past few days have been... a lot.

Saturday and Sunday saw a collective 12 hours of studying in the student center. From readings to project proposals to analysis questions, it was all there. I'm almost certain that the cafe staff thought I was just going to move in. What with food, wifi, and a boat load of homework, I didn't really have an excuse to be anywhere else! Weeks like these definitely make me appreciate sleep when I do eventually get it. There's nothing sweeter than catching up on the missing zzz's over the weekend. Even though it's only Tuesday, I'm already looking forward to crawling out of bed at a socially unacceptable hour on Saturday. 

Insanity is coming over me. And I'm not even close to midterms yet. 

Criminal Minds has been keeping me company lately -- you can probably see an episode playing on my laptop in the picture above (no shame). Now that it's on Netflix, I'm watching from the very beginning. Should I be ashamed that this is my fifth or so day watching and I'm already at the end of Season 2? Oops. I promise, it's not distracting! 

In other exciting news, the Honors kids at here at Salem got the opportunity to participate in a discussion and lunch with the author of The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, Heidi Durrow. TGWFFTS was assigned to us as summer reading, and I actually just finished writing a short essay about one of my favorite themes. 

I definitely came away with some extra knowledge that increases my appreciation for the novel. Heidi's explanations of where her mind was (or wasn't) when she wrote TGWFFTS were seriously interesting. I always love learning about the actual writing process that different authors use, but actually getting to hear about it in person... that's cool. 

Keep not settling,

Why "Keep Not Settling" Exists + PLAYLIST

Since getting to school, I've come across many people with questions about Keep Not Settling, whether it be about how often I write, what I write about, or -- most often -- why I decided to start blogging. I'm not always the most prepared for those questions. To be honest, I hadn't really thought about the real reasons why I started Keep Not Settling. 

In my very first post I explained that I've always loved writing, and that's absolutely true. I've also been a fan of reading blogs for a couple of years now. 

After taking some time to think about my Keep Not Settling, I think I've come up with a definitive answer, at least for now: I blog because I like sharing certain aspects of my life with people I care about. I also blog because it's relaxing and gives me the chance to think about things that aren't even relatively related to Political Science or math. I blog for my friends and family back home who might not otherwise know the details about what happens here at Salem. The more I write for Keep Not Settling, the more excited I get about it.  

In a way, blogging is the one thing I have here at Salem that is 100% mine. It's not a room to share with two other people; not a rigorous class discussion on the difference between classical realism and neorealism. Although I certainly love spending my days with amazing friends here at school, I've also always been a fan of my own company. That makes me sound like a loner, but it's true. And for right now, Keep Not Settling is my way of claiming personal space -- even if that space is entirely virtual. 

So, I blog for my sanity.

Instead of just ending my post there like any normal person would do, I've decided to include something fun (I think.)

Here's a quick playlist of 11 songs I've been listening to on hardcore repeat lately.  I'll include the list down below just incase you don't have access to Spotify. There's all kinds of artists, from Maroon 5 to Danielle Bradbery.

I hope you enjoy! 

Keep not settling,

Playlist: 

1. Maps -- Maroon 5 
2. Unbelievers -- Vampire Weekend
3. Take It or Leave It -- Matt Wertz 
4. Hey Y'all -- Cole Swindell 
5. Dance Hall - Danielle Bradbery 
6. Buzzcut Season -- Lorde 
7. It Was Always You -- Maroon 5 
8. Hold My Heart -- Sara Bareilles 
9. Out Of My League -- Fitz & the Tantrums 
10. Give Me Love (Cover) -- Michael Jade 
11. Once in a Lifetime -- Landon Austen 

A Quick Update!

I feel like it's been a while since I've done a straightforward post like this, and I thought that maybe if I waited a few weeks there would be lots to say about how life is going here in Winston-Salem... 

Funny though, as soon as I sat down to write this, every inspirational thought inside  my head just went away. Maybe there's too much to tell, maybe there's not enough. On a day to day basis, I do a lot of the same things: I go to class between 8:30 and 12:20, I eat, I do homework, I see people. Sounds interesting, I know. 

And I promise, it really is. 

See, I think the problem with writing an "update" sort of post I have a tendency to set a certain routine and follow it until the last possible second. My M-W-F and T-R routines are already set. Seriously, I can even tell you that while I'm waiting for class between 9:20 and 10:00 on M-W-F, I kick my math homework to the curb and grab a snack as I'm heading out the door.

The bottom line is, I'm very happy that the crazy Orientation schedule is out of the way. It's much less stressful to have a basic outline of how my day goes... That's not to say that things don't change, but for the last two weeks, there's been a pattern developing. I like it... a lot. 

Besides setting a routine, one of greatest parts of actually settling into school is the opportunity to meet people in other classes. While I do have my fair share of first year friends, I've also gotten to hang out with sophomores and upperclassmen.. I am particularly close with quite a few juniors, some of which have already saved my day a few times! 

I feel like there should be more to report on, but the "important" things on the front of my mind can be read in the New York Times. 

Keep not settling,

My Life In Instagram Photos #2

It's been about a month since my last "My Life in Instagram Photos" post, and I got great feedback on that one. I'm thinking about making this a monthly thing!

August was a great month in Instagram-land, and I'm sure you know why. I had such a hard time picking pictures to post, since there were so many great potential shots. Take a look at a few that made the cut:

Top Left: The giant SALEM wall in the Student Center. I'd seen a few pictures of this on the college's instagram page in the past, but I never realized how huge it was until I walked into the café for the first time. I'm minority obsessed with the crest... I wish I could paint that on my wall. 

Top Right: A humble picture of the outside of my residence hall, Strong honors house. 

Bottom Left: On the lower level of the Student Center there's a window with a perfect little nook that I took over for an hour one afternoon to read. The view is adorable! Mind you, I haven't had the time to read leisurely since then, but maybe one of these days I'll get around to it (emphasis on the maybe). 

Bottom Right: The entire process of putting my dorm room together was interesting to say the least. It took many hours and included several visits from my mom after move-in day to finish putting up my decorations, but I'm so happy with how it turned out. See my last post for a bigger view. 

Keep not settling,

My First-Year Dorm!

I wanted to wait to post this until I was settled into my dorm and everything was in its place. Now that we've been here a few nights, I think it's the perfect time to show you where I'm living for the next 9-ish months (before it gets too messy... ahem.)

Before (After spending a few minutes re-arranging the furniture in the room). Pretty straightforward, as you can see.

The best part about lofting the bed was that everything I need for the whole year fits underneath it. All of the tubs and crates fit perfectly! P.S., the memory foam mattress topper makes all the difference in the world. My bed here almost feels exactly like mine at home.

Mom and I went out to eat the Tuesday night before move-in when I was stressed about furniture placement. Mom, being the creative schemer she is, came up with the idea of cutting some curtains to hide away what's underneath the lofted bed. I think it looks perfect!

All of my decorations are hung, and the clamp-on bedside table I DIY-ed before leaving home works wonders. My bedding is Lilly Pulitzer for Garnet Hill.

I could talk forever about how frustrating it was trying to find a hutch that wasn't too long for my desk. I do love the one I found, and it's turned out to be a worthwhile investment even just a week and a few days into school. 

Without a doubt, the most useful thing on my desk is my monitor. One of my parents' main concerns was that I'm used to working on a 27" iMac at home, but my laptop is a 13" screen. Thanks to them and an HDMI cord, I still have access to a 27" screen when I need it! Plus, I'm definitely not complaining about wide-screen Netflix while I'm studying... But that's besides the point.

All in all, I'm so happy with how my dorm has turned out. It's pink, it's functional, it's definitely Brie. 

Keep not settling,

P.S., you'd never guess that my "closet" is underneath my bed, huh? Another genius idea brought to you by my mom, a tension rod, and 50 pink hangers.