Before I left for college, I received my fill of well-meaning adages. People told me to work hard, play hard; stay up on schoolwork; prepare for the underwhelming dining hall food.
I was reading a book this summer and from all of it, one line stuck clearly with me: “Yes, everyone else thinks they are just as special as you do.”
Nearing finals week last spring, I was chugging three to four cups of coffee every few hours to function each day and stay awake until the birds began to chirp as I waked from Clemons to my dorm.
If someone were to say to you, “I’m disturbed, I’m depressed, I’m inadequate, I got it all”, your first inclination would certainly not be to laugh.
The deafening silence of Alderman Library was only momentarily interrupted by the ruffle of pages or a singular cough people let out here and there.
Last Monday, I found myself once again in tears, standing in a driveway, unable to take back the damage my 2000 Chevy Suburban had caused.
“Athena, come on, we’re at the front of the line,” my friends complained while I was scrambling to find the nearest exit.
“Hey girl! How was your French test?” I greeted my friend, running into her on Central Grounds.
A warm breeze blew across the mountain top, as college students and families sat on picnic blankets, laughing in the sunset with wine glasses in hand.
A great friend of mine from high school recently set off to spend two years overseas serving in London as a Mormon missionary.
It’s been almost exactly one month since I officially earned the title of “second year” yet it feels like it’s been only a few days.
Everyone told us we were making an utterly terrible decision.
1. The Hawaiian shirt It may not be the most original costume out there, but chances are you either own a short-sleeved pastel button down with an all over palm-tree-and-coconut motif, or have borrowed one at some point from your downstairs neighbor.
I’d never really seen anything quite like it. Imagine hundreds of people, dozens of dogs and babies, tons of deliciously enticing smells and the creeping sense that there isn’t enough money in the world to satisfy all of your cravings.
“Thank you!” I yelled to the bus driver as I stepped off the bus and began my walk to the AFC.
Guys and girls alike have at one point had to walk somewhere on their own. We do it all the time so we don’t think much of it.
At the end of summer, my twin sister and I woke early for a sunrise paddle on the beach. Though we both enjoy being out there early, it’s generally something I prefer to do with my own friends.
This semester, I signed up for an 8 a.m. Organic Chemistry class — by choice.
When my dad travels, he travels logically and efficiently. He makes sure my sister has her charger, I have my headphones and my mother has her glasses.
I began my second year at U.Va. rather unceremoniously by hauling my suitcases up the foutr flights of stairs in Lambeth.
