I'm just about halfway through the second semester of my sophomore year which is absolutely crazy to me because it feels like just yesterday I packed up my car and drove back from winter break. I know I said that last semester was the best but I'm not even halfway through this one & it's already giving the first semester a run for its money.
I love blogging and pride myself on being able to run this website and balance my schoolwork but I would be lying if I said that blogging has been on the back burner these last few months. It's not that I'm uninspired because it's quite the opposite actually. I have so many blog post ideas that I want to share with you all but it's just difficult for me to find extended periods of time to sit down and write. I'm the type of person that has to sit down and write an entire post in one sitting or else I lose my train of thought and when I come back to edit it the next day, I have no idea where to continue. I'm the same way with essays and speeches for my classes.
That being said, I'm sitting down today to recap a couple high points of my semester thus far. I think it's pretty safe to say that I haven't really stopped moving since I arrived back in Columbia in January and I am perfectly ok with that. I love being busy and I thrive when I constantly have something to look forward to so this semester has been good to me in more ways than one.
If you're new around here (welcome! I'm so happy you've decided to stop by!) then you don't know that I am a current sophomore at the University of South Carolina studying Elementary Education with my end goal of becoming an elementary school teacher after graduating.
This semester I was placed in a kindergarten classroom and I love getting to spend time observing these sweet kiddos every Tuesday morning. I was welcomed into their classroom with open arms and they always have the biggest smiles on their faces (even at 8am in the morning, color me impressed) which makes me so excited to have a classroom of my own in just over two years.
T W E N T I E T H B I R T H D A Y
On January 27th I turned 20 (read my post about that HERE) and so far it's off to a good start! A bunch of my friends here at Carolina all got together a few days before my birthday to hang out and help me bid farewell to my teens and hello to my roaring twenties!
B I R T H D A Y B R U N C H
On my actual birthday, January 27th, my best friends & my little and I went out to brunch at my favorite spot here in Columbia, The Gourmet Shop. I'm so grateful to have found the best group of friends who are willing to set aside studying to celebrate 20 years of life with me in the best way possible: brunch.
C L A S S E S
This semester I'm enrolled in five courses; Social Advocacy & Ethical Life (basically speech & debate), Marine Science Oceans & Society, Nature & Management of Elementary Classrooms, Schools in Communities, and Basic Concepts of Elementary Mathematics II. Three out of the five courses I'm taking are education courses which are super interesting and my marine science class is what I elected to take to satisfy my last science course requirement for my degree program and my speech class is taking care of the speech credit that I need to complete in order to graduate.
W E E K E N D A D V E N T U R E S
South Carolina has been treating me with some beautiful days that have allowed me to study out back on the patio, play soccer with my friends, and watch the sunsets over campus from one of our favorite spots. Whenever people ask me why I chose to come to school in the South so far away from my home, I just send them a picture of the sunset with the 72º sticker on the photo.
V A L E N T I N E S D A Y
As much as I wish I could say that I had super fun & exciting plans for Valentine's Day this year, I did not. Instead, I consumed an unspeakable amount of sugar and easily ate double my body weight in lobster mac-n-cheese that the house served for dinner that night. Then, I was in my pajamas by 8pm and watching movies with my gal pals. Fancy Valentine's Day plans? Never heard of them.
A T L A N T A
A few weekends ago I traveled down to Atlanta, Georgia with Sophie (my freshman year roommate) (do I even need to tell y'all she was my roommate last year? I feel like you all know her by now...). This was my first time in Atlanta and I LOVED it! It was so nice to get out of Columbia for a weekend and get to explore new places and treat myself to wayyy too much yummy food. #WorthIt. I wrote an entire post about my weekend trip to Atlanta which you can read HERE, if you're interested!
S W E E T C A R O L I N E
Sweet Caroline is a philanthropy event that my specific chapter puts on here at The University of South Carolina. We partner with Be The Match and help people join the National Bone Marrow Registry to potentially save a life one day. One of my best friends, Maddie, is our chapter's VP of Philanthropy and I am SO proud of her for organizing the event this year!
D A N C E M A R A T H O N
This past Saturday was USC's Dance Marathon and my second year participating. I wrote a post all about what Dance Marathon means to me last year (which you can read HERE) and was so excited to help contribute to the $1,038,156 raised this year for Palmetto Health Children's Hospital. While I wasn't able to stay for the full 14 hours due to midterms and big assignments that I have due this week, my heart is still so full and the short amount of time I spent at main event left me with the biggest smile on my face the rest of the day while I was studying.
Thanks for reading about my crazy life.
xoxo,
Ri