To Infinity and Beyond: university

2016

New Beginnings

Hello and welcome back everyone! It has been a bit since I have tip-tapped on my blog. How have you all been? A lot of things have changed since the last post, and I cannot wait to share the news with you.

As you all know, the school year has finally started and everyone is back in school again. Some of you have dreaded this moment. Whilst the rest of you (and I) could not wait to begin school again, whether it's high school or university. I have yet to start school, and there is a reason why...I'M GOING TO SCHOOL IN ENGLAND! I never thought I could do it, but here I am. A week away from living in the place I've always dreamed of living.

Let me start by saying again, that I never actually thought that I would be able to follow through with a dream this big. There were so many factors that played a role in the situation that made me think I'd never make it; Finances and emotional support. When you move to another country, you will need to have at least thousands of dollars saved up. You have to factor in a visa, the health surcharges, rent for a few months, food, transportation, and much more.

I was absolutely blessed to be able to get approved for a federal loan. So I can tell you first hand that if you have a dream, no matter how big, you can achieve it. Honestly. Take it from me, a teenage girl who always talked about being able to travel on her blog, and after some time, actually being able to travel. If you believe, you can achieve. As cheesy as that sounds, it's really true.

I will be attending Kingston University, and I am so excited to see what this adventure has in store for me. New friends, new experiences, and maybe a love interest? Ooh la la

With travel, there comes the sad part; leaving all your friends behind. I work at a Forever21 near my home, and in my time working there (almost 2 months), I have managed to make friends with many people. Although I will be leaving friends behind, I have many friends overseas that I am beyond excited about getting to finally meet (you know who you are<3). There is so much diversity where I am going, so the opportunity to meet people from all over the world is inevitable.

Now I want to know, how many of you are in the same boat as I am? I would love to know. And who knows, maybe I'll meet some of you guys some day.

I hope you all are doing tremendously well and have a great day, or night, wherever you lovely people are.

Until next time!

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, by Unknown

2016

Hello, April

Hello everyone! It's been a while, hasn't it? Almost 2 months since I last wrote a blog post. In case you haven't noticed, my life really doesn't consist of anything very exciting or interesting enough for me to blog about right now. But boy do I have a blog post for you today. Quite a few things have happened since my last post, one of which is something that I cannot wait to share with you all.

School has been a huge pain in my butt this past week. Spring Break could have been longer. Speaking of Spring Break, I had an absolute smashing time. If you want to know what I did for my Spring Break, make sure you check out my "Spring Breakers" post. Ever since coming back from break, it seems as if every class I have has kicked it into full gear. The work just keeps piling on, making me put everything off even longer because I just have no motivation to start anything. I know that's bad, but I'm just so stressed and I just can't find it in my heart (or brain) to do anything yet. But something that I can look forward to is that there are only about 5-6 weeks left until school is over.

As we all know, summer is approaching well and fast. And I think I can vouch for a lot of people by saying it is crunch time to getting that summer body we've always wanted before we start hitting the beach. I'm not sure I've said this before, but I am the absolute worst when it comes to working out. You can't get me to stick to going to the gym and working out constantly even if my life depended on it (let's just hope it doesn't have to resolve to that). But one thing I can actually say that I'm really proud of is that I have taken the liberty of taking Pilates and Piyo classes at the multipurpose facility on campus (it also helps that the walk to the facility literally takes 2 minutes). Even though it's technically a form of 'exercise', I really don't think of it that way. I actually really like these classes and they actually work. I've gotten more toned and I just feel better all around. I would 100% recommend these types of classes to those of you who are in the same boat as me or to anyone who's just looking for something new to do.

Now here is the moment of exciting news that I know you all have been dying to know. In one of my past blog posts, I had mentioned applying to a school in the U.K., Kingston University. Here's the big new...THEY GAVE ME AN OFFER! I cannot even begin to explain how thrilled I was when I found out they actually wanted me to attend their school. The only catch is that they accepted me under a conditional offer, meaning that in order for them to fully accept me, my grades need to be at least a C+ or above by the end of this semester. I'm not going to lie, I am a little worried. I haven't been doing all that great this semester and I'm scared that this opportunity is going to slip through my fingers because I messed up my grades. But because I want this so much and this has been my dream for years, I need to get my life together and push through these last few weeks in full power mode. I don't even want to think about what would happen if I didn't get all the way in. But I have faith in myself. I have already emailed all my teachers about the situation and now all I have to do is do good and wait for my results.

Along with my grades, something else I need to get in line are my finances. It's going to cost quite a bit of money for me to make that big move overseas. I have made a campaign on gofundme that will help aid the costs, but I never have any luck with fundraisers. That's where all of you beautiful people come in. Now I know a lot of you out there are thinking something along the lines of "why would I give my money to some girl? What's in it for me?". Well let me tell you exactly what's in it for you. I have set up a reward/gift option on the campaign where as if you donate the certain amount, I will be sending you a gift personally from me. If that's not enough reason, then I don't know what else is. Also, you will get the satisfaction of helping a young woman fulfill and achieve her dream and goal. If you want to visit the campaign page, just click this link: gofundme.com/kingstonuniversity and you will be led to the main page. I have until September to reach my goal, but I have faith in you and I and I know we can get there.

Also, a little something on the side that I plan on doing when I do make that huge move overseas, is vlogging. Now me personally, I am absolutely obsessed with watching vlogs. Just getting to catch a glimpse of someone else's life and seeing what they get into on a day-to-day basis. I know a lot of you out there are just as obsessed with vloggers as I am. Just a few of my favorite vloggers are Joe Sugg, Gabriella Lindley, Lily Melrose, and Zoe Sugg. And that's only a select few. One day I can only hope to be as good of a vlogger as they are.

Step 1 to being a great vlogger: Buy a vlogging camera. (it's essential)

Although not much has gone on, I hope you all enjoyed my little insert. I also hope you all have a wonderful day!

c'est la vie

xoxo

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, by Unknown

friday

Life Goals

Hello everyone! It's been so long since I wrote a blog post that I think I forgot how to write one. So much has happened since my last post in December. I am settling into the flow of second semester, with a few problems, but I'll explain that later. But before I get into any of that, let me just start off by saying happy FriYAY. I have been waiting for this day ever since the beginning of the week, as does everyone else. The only downside to the weekend is that I have so much work piled up, it's ridiculous. There's no room for fun.

Classes are going fairly well so far, minus one class. I have Theatre, Comp 2, Material and Resources, Design Thinking II, and last and definitely least, studio. As you guys know, studio has always been the root of my stress. But this semester, they seemed to kick it up about 5 billion notches. So many projects with the shortest deadlines. There's no time to do anything and they don't really take in to consideration that we have other classes and other homework. We aren't robots(well most of us) that will do everything perfect, first try. Usually when we are given an assignment, yes it was slightly stressful, but I stuck through it. But today, I hit my breaking point. No matter what I did. this assignment was by far, for me, the hardest. Yet at the same time, it was so simple. No one would help me, nothing was going right. I got so stressed that I just cried. I did. I left the design building and called my mom, which made me feel a lot better. I just needed a break from studio before I really hurt myself, mentally or physically.

My mom emailed me a bunch of websites and videos that would help me out. So moral of this story, my mom is amazing. Since then, I have calmed down. But in the back of my mind, that project is still there.

Now onto a lighter note, I'm doing something very exciting for myself. You guys know how much I love travel. Over my Christmas break, I began to think about moving out of the country sooner than later. I've always wanted to go to school in the U.K. but I never had the opportunity. But this time, I told myself to actually do something for myself. I looked online for schools with Interior Design and I found 2 schools that I really liked; Leeds Becket University and Kingston University. I became absolutely obsessed with looking up these schools and looking at requirements. Kingston is the school that I am putting my hopes and dreams into. It's located in Kingston Upon Thames in London, a city that you know I love. Something I took upon myself was to email the actual design professor and tell him how much I loved the area and the school and he actually replied to me! He told me he appreciated my ambition and he directly referred me to the design admissions adviser. I filled out the application and I submitted it last night. It felt really good to finally submit it and the waiting process is so nerve wracking.

While I wait for them to process my application, I have until September to raise enough money to live and survive in England. I've made a savings account as an easier way to save money and I've been slowly putting money into it. But me alone, I won't be able to raise all the money without the help of my family and you guys. I made a gofundme account, www.gofundme.com/kingstonuni , to help aid the moving process and school. Its been almost a month and I have yet to raise any money, but I won't lose hope just yet. I set the goal at $30,000 just to have enough to fall back on, and I think with the help of all of you, I know I can achieve and raise even more than the set goal.

When you donate to the fundraiser, with each set amount, you get a gift from me! Here is a rundown of each gift you get when donate:

$5: A postcard and a shout out on social media

$10: All of the above plus a U.K. candy of your choice

$15: All of the above plus a handmade accessory of your choice (scrunchie, hair elastic, beanie, bracelet)

$25: All of the above plus a handwritten letter from yours truly :)

$30: All of the above plus a photograph of the area

$40: All of the above plus a $20 Visa Gift Card

$50: All of the above a Candy Gift Bag

$65: All of the above plus a Cookie-in-a-Jar recipe

$75: All of the above plus a T-shirt

$100: All of the above plus a Candle set

$150+: All of the above plus a Whatsapp life update conversation w/ me

If you want to donate, just click the link (www.gofundme.com/kingstonuni) and donate the amount you want. If you decide to donate any of the above amounts, you can tweet or email me the amount you paid and your address, and I will mail you your gift when the time comes! I am very excited to hear from you all and give back to you all.

Make sure you follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram so you can keep in touch with me and follow me on my journey. Also subscribe to my blog to keep up with updates and know when I post.

Thank you for reading and have a beautiful day everyone!

c'est la vie

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, by Unknown

advent

Wanderlust: Blogmas #4

Hello everybody(I have realized that I alternate between saying everyone and everybody)! I can't believe it's Friday night already. This week seemed to sneak past me quite quickly.

I feel like having a chat session with all of my fellow wanderlusts out there today. So if you haven't guessed it already, I'm going to talk about travel. As if I don't talk about it enough.

Wanderlust (n): a strong desire or impulse to wander or travel and explore the world.

I love to travel. You know that. I talk about traveling on Facebook, on Twitter, to my friends. I post throwback Thursdays of when I did travel...2 years ago. I guarantee everyone is getting sick of me rambling on and on about how much I love to travel and how I can't wait to travel the world like I want to. I don't blame them. It's basically all I talk about, besides boys. I can also talk about boys for a very long time.

I don't know when my love for travel started to blossom, but once it reached its full bloom, the desire to travel completely skyrocketed to the moon. I wanted to go everywhere. I wanted to work and raise the money to go everywhere. I would always go online and research all the places I wanted to visit. I would look up things to do, places to stay, places to eat, and places to shop. But that was all I could do...Look at a computer screen and long for the places I wish I was. When I was finally given the chance to actually fulfill my dreams, I jumped at that chance and held on tightly. During my sophomore year of high-school, I was nominated by one of my teachers to travel with the program People to People, since was one of the leaders. I was beyond elated when I found that out. I went to every meeting, and read and reread every checklist I had. I was counting down the days where I would finally be able to travel outside of the US for the first time.

The trip was absolutely amazing. It was hands down the best days of my life. During those 3 weeks, I traveled to Belgium, England, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and France. I took pictures, I ate snail, I made friends, and I met some of the most attractive males I have ever seen in my life.

For as long as I can remember, I've always been drawn to England. I don't know why, but it was just my number one place that I've always wanted to visit. During the trip, we only had 2 days to spend in England, but I made sure those 2 days were the best days out of all of them. For some reason, I feel at home in England. I have this deep connection with the country and I just feel so comfortable there.

When I came back home, I immediately knew that I just had to go back. No matter what it took and how long it took. For my senior year here at university, the only credit we need is an internship. No core classes, no labs. Just an internship. When I heard about that on the first week of design school, my heart jumped with happiness. For my internship, I have wholeheartedly decided that I want to go to London. This is something I really want to do so I am going to do everything in my power to keep my dream alive.

One day, just out of boredom and curiosity, I looked up interior design internships on reed.co.uk, and I was not disappointed. There were so many opportunities to choose from. I actually emailed a few of the internship firms just to see if any would actually answer. To my surprise, one firm actually did respond and they showed interest in me. I was thoroughly surprised and happy that they replied to me so quickly because at the bottom of the page where they give you the description of their firm, it said that they only reply to potential candidates. I sent them an email of a written CV/resume and they replied by asking me a bunch of questions like why I think I would be good for the roll, how long would I be able to work and when would I be able to work. If those questions didn't sound like "We like you and we are definitely considering you", then I don't know what will.

Unfortunately, because of how far away(but not far at all)my senior year is, they can't exactly hire me yet. But they said to contact them 6 months before I am able to intern, so I guess I still have some sort of chance. So from now until senior year, I am going to work my butt off to try and save up all the money I can to make the move to England. I've told a lot of people close to me how much this means to me and how badly I want to live there. They all basically said the same response: It's going to be difficult to transition and change. Every time I hear someone say that, it immediately puts me in a "Challenge me" mode. I don't know why, but I feel like they are telling me that I can't do it and that it'll be too hard or too much for me to handle. But I can reassure you all now, nothing is impossible. Sure, the transition process may be stressful at times. I'd have to apply for a visa, change banks, change cell services, and find a job. But I know that with the right mindset, I can do it.

At this point in my life, I feel like this is what I'm meant to be doing. I'm following my dreams. I'm going to become a successful Interior Designer with an amazing life, living in London. But for now, I am going to do my best in school. I'm going to start small and work my way up to the top. Something I can look forward to in the near future though, is my semester in Rome. For the design school, it is required in our curriculum to travel abroad to Italy for the second semester of our junior year. Italy is another place I have always wanted to visit. The people, the beautiful architecture, the culture. To prepare for that amazing semester in Italy, I am going to be taking Italian classes my sophomore year and the first semester of junior year. I feel like it would be so much easier to navigate my way around and meet people if I knew how to speak their language. Italian is another very beautiful language, in my opinion.

To tell you the truth, I honestly cannot wait to move out of the US. Not that I don't like it, because I absolutely love my country, but I just feel like I belong in Europe.

All of my fellow wanderlusts out there, I want you to tell me where in the world you would like to go. Or to all of my fellow travelers, what is your favorite place that you've gone?

I know today's post wasn't very festive at all, but I feel that as long as I make a post for all you beautiful people, then it'll be okay. Also, if you didn't know, you are now able to subscribe to my blog if you just scroll to the bottom of the page. All you have to do is enter your email address, then it takes you to a page where you have to put in the given code. After you confirm your email, you are set to sail. I know it sounds like a long process, but I promise you it will be worth it.

So now, to get back into the festive theme, here is today's advent calendar reveal!