Uncertain.

I’ve been having a lot of restless nights lately. I go to bed tired, but then I lie in bed wide awake. An anxious feeling consumes me. I am excited, nervous, scared shitless. Up until now, life has been a single staircase and I just took steps. But now, as I’m preparing to graduate college, I take my final step. But my final step to where? It doesn’t just stop. I see doors, I see another set of stairs, and another and another, I see slides and I see bikes and I see planes that can take me everywhere. I don’t know what I want to do or where I want to go and that terrifies me. I thought college was supposed to be the step I took to get to the step where I knew what the rest of my life would look like. But here I am, up at 2 am thinking about all the possibilities–and all the consequences. I guess that’s a beautiful thing though, right? This panic that I am so privileged to have? I get to dream about a world filled with opportunities and challenges, but soon I will be apart of it. It will be chaotic and messy, but an adventure all my own. This uncertainty is unsettling, but then again if I was completely certain what sort of nights would I have? What sort of dreams would I dream?

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Perfect Day For A Picnic

When the sun shines in Michigan, it is truly beautiful ..And speaking as a true Michigander- I do not take the nice weather for granted. Last week there was snow on the ground, but today my friends and I had a picnic under a perfect blue sky. We exchanged great food and even better stories. I always cherish the time I get to spend catching up with these lovely ladies!

Yay Me!! A Humble Brag (Not really….)

Today, I was a proud recipient of the William J. Hopp Endowed Scholarship. I was chosen for this award because of my “academic accomplishments and potential to succeed in the advertising profession.” The award was established by Mr. Tony Hopp, the Chairman and CEO of Campbell-Ewald agency. He established the scholarship to honor his father, William J. Hopp, who was the first one to encourage him to pursue advertising as a career.

I am trying to be as humble as possible, but I am just so happy! ..And I can’t lie- being recognized for doing great, is well, great!

Gardner’s 9 Intelligences

Last week in class we learned about Howard Gardner’s 9 intelligences. He believed that students posses different kinds of minds (intelligences), and that every individual has a unique blend of them.

He argued that the big challenge facing the deployment of human resources was ‘how to best take advantage of the uniqueness conferred on us as a species exhibiting several intelligences.’

Below are the 9 intelligences and a little bit about them-

1. Linguistic Intelligence- the capacity to use language to express what’s on your mind and to understand other people.
2. Logical/Mathematical- the capacity to understand the underlying principles of some kind of casual system, the way a scientist or a logician does.
3. Musical/ Rhythmic- the capacity to think in music; to be able to hear patterns, recognize them, and perhaps manipulate them.
4. Bodily/ Kinesthetic- the capacity to use your whole body or parts of your body to solve a problem, make something, or put on some kind of production.
5. Spatial Intelligence- the ability to represent the spatial world internally in your mind.
6. Naturalistic Intelligence- the ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) and sensitivity to other features of the natural world.
7. Intrapersonal Intelligence- having an understanding of yourself; knowing who you are, what you can do, how you react to things, which things to avoid, and which things to gravitate toward.
8. Interpersonal Intelligence- the ability to understand other people.
9. Existential Intelligence- the ability and proclivity to pose (and ponder) questions about life, death, and ultimate realities.

After we learned about the different intelligences, we were asked to rank them in order of our strongest to weakest. Doing this was a little harder than I anticipated, a lot of the intelligences embody many characteristics. Some of which I’m good at sometimes and other times not so much. Anyways, here is how I see myself (sort-of)..

1. Linguistic
2. Interpersonal
3. Naturalistic
4. Musical
5. Existential
6. Intrapersonal
7. Spatial
8. Bodily
9. Mathematic

After reading about Gardner and his intelligences, do you think everyone fits into these 9 types? Do you think there are more? Where do you see yourself? Are there some characteristics that are more important than others?

Why is studying abroad so important?

I recently applied for a position in the Office of Study Abroad at my university, I was really excited that the position opened up, and I really hope I get the job. For the interview, candidates were asked to prepare a verbal presentation, I wanted to share what I wrote for mine:

I believe everyone deserves to be inspired. A study abroad program through Michigan State University provides you with that opportunity. You are inspired everyday. By the people you meet, what you see on your walks to class, the different tastes and smells, as well as from your studies in class or at an internship.

You lose the ability to be inspired when you get into a routine, because your thoughts start to become routine. You don’t appreciate your surroundings, you don’t really pay attention to what you’re learning, and everything seems a little lackluster. It’s only after traveling; that you can appreciate the strangeness and beauty of each place you visit as well as your home.

By submerging yourself in another culture, you learn something new everyday—whether you realize it or not—you will come back a more knowledgeable and enriched human being.

Studying abroad is not an extended vacation. You really get to understand and appreciate both the good and bad aspects of the country you are living in. On a vacation, you tour local hot spots and visit museums, sample dishes that are the most well known, and spend the majority of your time with your family and friends—You just skim the surface.

When you study abroad, however, you have time to get lost and explore, you meet locals, you get to know your peers and professors, and you find secrets of the city that are even better than anything you’ve ever read about.

You also get to learn about the problems the country you are in is facing—economic and unemployment issues, poverty, crime—the stereotypes the people who live there might be predisposed to—not everyone in Spain loves bull fighting and drinks only Sangria—and how different this life is from the one you are accustomed to back at Michigan State.

You absorb so much in your time abroad, that you come back a well-rounded individual by default. I studied abroad in Santander, Spain last summer and the experience was invaluable.

The peers who take the journey abroad with you will end up being your best friends. Studying abroad is such a unique experience that it is hard to understand how quickly and deeply you bond with the other students unless you take the trip.

Traveling to and living in a different place gives you a new perspective on what is truly valuable. You come home looking at things differently, excited to share what you’ve seen and learned, and you are ready to take on the rest of the world.

So why is study abroad so important?

 From an academic standpoint, you have the chance to take incredible classes in amazing cities across the world, you get to bond with professors who are not only recognized and respected in their country, but well renowned internationally, and your time in a foreign country makes you much more marketable.

From a personal standpoint, every student’s experience is different, but you come home changed.  You learn to become a pioneer—adapting to unfamiliar situations, interacting with people of all different backgrounds, exploring new terrain, and overcoming fears.

Both aspects of the study abroad experience are equally valuable and if my time in Spain taught me anything it’s that in order to be successful and not live with any regret or remorse, you should always be willing to go on an adventure in order to learn more.