If I Knew Then..

As part of being a Global Ambassador one of the things I have to do is go and have a pre departure meeting with students leaving for New Zealand in February.
It saddened me that only four U of M students going to New Zealand next semester
but I am super excited and jealous of those that are preparing to go.
There was so much to say I could have talked their ears off.
Sadly, I only had an hour todo so.

I don’t regret a single thing about my abroad experience.
However, looking back almost a year later,
there are some things I would have done differently.
Here is my list for myself of things I wish someone had told me
(or maybe they did and I wish I wouldhave listened)

Don’t waste time crying about home-
this one was huge for me.
Anyone who I am close with knows how hard of a time I had abroad.
I spent more time than I should feeling bad over a boy.
That boy was obviously not worth my time and in the end it didn’t work out anyway.
I wish I would have not let my emotions get the best of me and
realized everyday that I was the lucky one, just for being in NZ.

You will change- don’t fight it.

It is inevitable that you will change while you are abroad.

And when you get back everyone else will be the exact same,

you will just see them in a new light.

Consume every single minute- even the crappy ones.

This one was big toward the end of our time in New Zealand.
The time I remember most was when we had just gotten back
from our 10 day travel around the south island and it rained for the next 8 days.
It was like a black cloud above Dunedin, we couldn’t even wash our clothes during that time.
It was miserable at the time but we somehow managed to laugh about it.

Minneapolis is boring.
Don't get me wrong I love this city, but come on.
Sometimes when I was abroad I would think about
how much fun my friends at home were having without me.
Again not always completely realizing that I was the lucky one.
Minneapolis in all fairness is pretty boring
compared to the amazing activities I was doing in New Zealand.

The troubles you have, you build them yourself.
New Zealand and being abroad was for the most part drama and trouble free.
Everyone was there to seize the day and live a free life.
There were no fights and no drama only a little frustration every once in awhile.
The troubles we had, we built in our heads from things going on at home.
It’s not worth it. Leave home at home.

Over all the best advice I wanted to give to those students

who were leaving for the most amazing five months of their lives,

is simply to live and be free. It’s the freest you will ever feel.

Even the bad isn’t so bad really.

Take it all in, breathe, enjoy the ride.

Because the time you spend there will be over in a flash,

and as my Grandma recently reminded me,

"Time doesn't wait for anyone."

Pity Party.

This is a pity party for myself and all my fellow college students. 

The next few weeks leading up to finals are the worst. 

Stress levels are to the max and I am running on an average of 3 hours of sleep per night. 

Only two more weeks of this. 

One day at a time. 

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

VS Fashion Show.

Not that I don’t appreciate a great body now and then.

But last night as I was watching the Victoria Secret Fashion Show,

I couldn’t help but notice how Twitter, Facebook, and even my own mind

was obsessing over the models bodies.

Sure they are stunning women,

but is that really what we are defining as beauty these days?

Their legs and arms hardly existed,

not to mention they had the rib cage of a malnourished fifteen-year-old.

I hope that women watching that show do not think that

that is what they need to look like to feel beautiful.

Living with 6 girls is sometimes, for the lack of a better world, chaotic.
Let’s face it that is a lot of hormones running through one small building.
Recently, with close friend eating issues,
one thing that’s been running through I think almost all of our minds
is weight and body image.
You would think that as seniors in college we would all be over that
and comfortable in our own skin.
Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’m not sure who is to blame for this;
the media, Hollywood, the fashion industry, our peers, ourselves?
It’s a never-ending question,
but who decided that looking like air was beautiful?