Goodbye Freshman Year
Today I take my very last final and pack up and move out of my freshman dorm room. It's so crazy how I'm already a fourth of the way through college and that the year is coming to a close. Sophomore year, here I come! Although I did have a really hard time adjusting to college itself, I had a blast at JMU. I experienced so many great things and met so many outstanding people and without them, my year wouldn't have been half as great as it was.
Freshman year is a hard adjustment for anyone and I was no exception. I started off living in a completely different dorm than I do now, for starters. I moved out of the Village in November and into a Bluestone dorm. It couldn't have been a better decision. Not only did I live with a fantastic roommate but I also lived on a floor full of the most energetic, unique, and charismatic girls you could ever meet. They were all so welcoming when I moved in late last semester and it'll be so strange not seeing them everyday!
I also started off the year in a completely opposite field of study than what I am in now. In the fall I was studying math and education, and as much as I still love and respect both of those fields of study so much, I decided that communications and public relations was much more fitting. Next semester, I will start on my comm journey by taking a few intro courses and then I will apply to my major in the winter. I'm hoping these classes will start me off on a journey towards my dream job, being a director of PR for a big fashion brand. I hope to one day live in a big city like Chicago or New York (at least for a few years).
In September, I also joined Alpha Delta Pi. I was really nervous about joining a sorority and honestly, I almost didn't. I didn't know if I would find the perfect one for me or if it would all be worth it. I'm so happy to decided to go through with recruitment because it not only took me out of my comfort zone but also introduced me to 230 wonderful ladies! This year ADPi raised money for Ronald McDonald House by selling pizza, playing baseball, and flag football. We also had fun parties such as christmas cocktail, formal, Mallard Ball, Black Diamond Ball, and re-live New Year's. To a few of those, I did debut the glitter pants that I love so much!We attended philanthropy events for the Panhellenic community as well. We went to the apple orchard, the pumpkin patch, the Charlottesville Ronald McDonald House and Massanutten together too. I met my best friends through this sisterhood and leaving them for 4 months is just about the saddest thing I can think of.
Throughout the year, blogging really was taken to the next level. I *tried to* blog everyday and for the most part succeeded minus and handful of days here and there when school got too crazy. I worked with so many companies this year -- Scout by Bungalow, ASOS, KJP, Leigh Deux, Carolina Dandy, Suave, Panera Bread, and Lauren James to name a few. I reformatted the blog this past January and am looking forward to expanding my coding and CSS knowledge this summer. I have so many great photo ideas and am planning to take pictures one to two times a week this summer to bring everyone a lot of content. Throughout the year I also shared a lot of InstaLives. Everyone seemed to really enjoy them so I will most definitely continue to go live this summer.
As for next year, I will be returning to James Madison University in the fall and am honestly super excited to come back. I came to JMU with a clouded mindset with the intention of transferring. I have decided to come back in 4 months. I debated on living in the sorority house next year but am partial to a little privacy so decided against it. I will be living in an apartment with one of my ADPi sisters and two of her friends. Don't worry, I already have a Pinterest board started full of apartment ideas! I'm looking forward to expanding my circle of friends this fall by joining a few clubs and maybe the entrepreneur fraternity (I'm not quite sure about that one yet). I have already decided to attend more football games in the fall and am challenging myself to try to expand my comfort zone a little further than I did this year.
