So~Bee~Love

image from thatfirstyearblog.com Hello Friends!! I have been back home for a while now and over these past few weeks I've been getting asked the same question over and over again: "So, how was college?" My first instinct to this questions is to sit the person down and have an hour long conversation all about my thoughts and emotions on my first year but I usually just settle with "good" as a response. As a first generation student there were A LOT of things that I needed to adjust to in college that I never really thought about before hand. To be truthful it was very overwhelming. My anxiety was bad, my daily schedule was always full and I was completely on my own for the first time in 18 years. Not to mention I was in another state 4 hours away from home. Here are some of the things I dealt with and learned from in my first year at college. Homesickness Throughout my first year I experienced a lot of homesickness. Before college I had nev...

Wow, it's been a while since I've written anything. College was interesting ride and I'm so grateful for the experience and opportunity to be around amazing people and learn so many new things. But today I am not here to talk about that. I want to write about something that happened to me during college... "So I have a friend that is a Documentary studies major, which means she wants to make documentaries for her career. For her Intro to Photography class she has to take pictures of people in their natural habitats aka dorms. So after lunch my friend, another friend and I headed to his dorm for our photo shoot. My guy friend pulled out his guitar and started playing a song, my Doc Studies friend was quick to whip out her camera and start snapping pictures. Once she starts clicking she can't stop, she calls it being 'shutter happy'. Like trigger happy but with taking photos. Anyway we all get to singing a song and she turns the camera to me ...

Written on August 19th, 2016 Today marks two days until I move into college and the rest of my life changes..... Although the first line of this post may seem a bit dramatic, college is it's own different world with it's own set of rules and it's own culture. I deem myself very independent although I've never been away from my parents for longer than two weeks. I know how to clean and cook for myself, I understand and know what my responsibilities are. But for some reason I can't shake the nervous feeling I get when I think about college and moving out. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I'm moving out of state for college or the fact that I hardly know anyone. Maybe just the fact that I'll be a significant amount of distance away from everything I know. Although being far from home is exhilarating, it'll be great to have some freedom. But I think all my worries just boil down to change. i don't like change, people in ge...

wan·der·lust ˈwändərˌləst/ noun a strong desire to travel. The summer of graduation, essentially the first summer of my adult life? I am left with an overwhelming feeling of wanderlust. I feel like I am obligated to travel and experience the world around me. It doesn't help that in a social media driven world it is so easy for me compare with my peers and see that I don't lead much of a privileged life that allows me to travel to other countries. I only can live vicariously through Instagram posts and Snapchat stories. I am however taking it one day at a time and discovering that I don't have to travel to a far distant land to enjoy my summer. Of course traveling to a far and distant land is preferred but not necessary. Countless times I have pointed out on this blog the importance of discovering your own hometown and finding everything it has to offer. I recently just attended an event that was solely based around celebrating our to...

I am a freshly graduated high school student. I am 18 years old and I am scared. In a matter of months, I will be moving 200 miles away for college. I will be in a new environment with new people in a new town. Now, I am not scared because I'm moving and I'm not scared of meeting new people, I'm scared of failing. It is the fear of failing that I'm scared of. I've always dreamed of becoming successful and having money to be able to provide for my family. Now that I'm at this stage in life, I find myself overthinking every little detail about my future and every outcome of every scenario is horrible. I find myself second guessing my career path and if I'm truly going to suceed. I am planning on studying journalism. Writing is something I've always enjoyed doing. In elementary school I started a newsletter (5th grade). And I carried on this desire into middle school  (7th grade) where there would be biweekly distribution of a newsletter to all of...

At this point, it has been five days since I graduated high school, and to be honest it doesn't seem real. It doesn't seem real that a place where I have learned about myself and grown so much as a person, is a place I will never attend.  Over these last 12 years, I have been surrounded by the same people. Over the last 18 years, I have lived in the same house, same neighborhood. It amazes me that this large chapter of my life has now been closed.  It may seem cliche, but these past few years I've been wanting school to end so I can go to college but I never realized what leaving high school meant. Leaving high school means that I have to leave my friends behind. I have to leave my sister behind. I have to leave my parents.  Although college is new and exciting, it's an uncharted, new thing I've never truly experienced before. Sure I've been to cap during the summer, but that's only ever been a few weeks away from my family. I've also ne...

As you journey through your college process and figure out the do's and dont's of what to do there are many things, that are not told to you. Unless you are privileged enough to acquire a college counselor or someone who can help you every step of the way in the process I encourage you to do research and  ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS. Asking questions has probably been the most helpful thing. Just assuming something or trying to figure it out yourself is the difference between getting missing a deadline or gaining a wonderful  opportunity. With the college process there are many things that are important but the most important is getting financial aid. Unless you are super rich or have had a college fund since you were born, you need to be meticulous about applying to scholarships and filling out all the financial aid applications. As far as I know of there are two very important applications that need to be filled out for colleges to receive any type of aid. FAFSA and CSS...

So as of now I have been accepted. And rejected from colleges and universities. I applied to 8 schools; Emerson College, Syracuse University, Ithaca College, Hofstra University, Kutztown University, Shippensburg University, Temple University and Lebanon Valley College. I got accepted to all except for Syracuse University. Sadly I was rejected but I see it as a sign that I wasn't supposed to go there. But I also knew when applying that it was a reach school. A reach school meaning that I wasn't sure that I would get into it but there was still a chance. As I am reviewing my acceptances I am so proud of myself. I am trying not sound self absorbed but I always knew college was the end game and its always been one of my goals. During this college process, I have been pretty much on my own. I went to my school counselor here and there for simple questions but I applied on my own and did all the research on my own. And I got accepted (and rejected) all on my own, with the su...

During this lovely holiday break I have still been applying to colleges. On most applications schools will ask short response questions to get a sense of what kind of student you are. One of the schools I applied to asked me a question that took me by surprise. Not because it was challenging or confusing but the level of depth that the answer could hold, was astounding to me (also the fact that they only gave me a maximum of 200 words). "If you were to write the story of your life until now, what would you title it and why?" ​My Secret Life ​would be the title of my life up until now. As a person I feel that I am very bubbly and energetic, friendly and open-minded. I am always eager to learn new things and explore different places but as a person I also tend to hide some things I feel ashamed of or too embarrassed to talk about. I put up a facade for my friends to look at but I never reveal my whole self. Although I have some pretty amazing ...

Hello Readers! It is that time again where I update you on college and how the overall process is going. So far I have submitted 3 applications to universities and colleges. All of the ones i have submitted so far are in-state, I am planning on applying to few more in and out of state just to have a variety of viable options. As I have come to narrow down the list of colleges and universities I want to apply to, all things considered, it is not by any means an easy decision. There are thousands of universities within the United States. An overwhelming thing to think about when you are thinking  about continuing your education beyond high school and trying to find your perfect fit. Now I would like to ask for your help. I have found a scholarship that is willing to award $10,000 scholarship to a high school senior with a well written essay. Unfortunately there is a catch, each applicant must get a significant amount of recommendations to be one of the 500 people who's essays are...

This past month I was involved in an educational mentorship program called Exit Lancaster. This program is located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and it is based on five pillars; arts, career aspirations, community service, education and wellness. Together these pillars create a "winning life plan". The "plan" helps to provide the necessary tools for students to become successful in life. The program focuses on students in middle school, but as they continue their education the program follows them through high school. As a highschool senior in the program I was given the opportunity to be a mentor to the middle school students and upcoming freshman. I got to spend the month of July with an amazing group of kids and we got to end the summer semester with a trip to New York. Stemming from the southeast of Lancaster County where opportunity and exposure to the world are limited, Exit Lancaster tries to change that and offer something new. The arts pillar f...

   Internal Assessments or IA's as we like to call them, is a term that students in the IB program use. Internal Assessments are essentially a project that must completed by the student in the correct manner (aka in an organized way that is of the IB standards). By the third marking period (second semester), students are expected to complete these IA's for all the corresponding subjects. For me this includes all of my core subjects. This means that I must create and complete a project by myself without help from my teacher.  And in order to get an A it must be conducted by IB standards. For Biology I have not one but two IA's that I have to complete. For this class my IA is conducted almost like a science fair project (an experiment that you would usually conduct in primary school) but my research has to organized and precise. Which is easier said than done. Although we have a month and some days to create, conduct and complete the experiment with seven ot...

This College Journey is going great so far! I've found that it's not cheap and finding a scholarship is harder than you think. you would expect they would tell you these things in school, the one place you learn but they don't you find out for yourself! Hopefully I can shed some light on some gray areas of the college process. To re-establish for any new readers I am in my junior year of high school. College is now starting to become a real thing for me. So as the plan-ahead type of girl that I am I have set out on my college journey! I don't think many people my age plan ahead as much as I do but I can't think of living my life any other way. So knowing that college is a mere year and some months away I started looking online for scholarships, I still have some digging to do but here are some sites that I found that could be useful to you: ~ Fastweb.com ~ Scholarshipexperts.com ~ Scholarship.com ~ Prospect.net Most of these scholarships are geared t...

So a couple months ago I had the privilege of taking the PSAT. This is a wonderful test that the State gives to students in their Junior year to see how they would test on the real thing. The SAT or the Scholastic Assessment Test is a standardized college test used widely for college admissions in the United States. These tests are usually taken at the end of your Junior year or the beginning/end of your Senior year. This test has three parts Reading, Writing and Math, each of these sections can be anywhere from 200 to 800 points for a possible total score of 2400. If you are curious or want more information about this test click here . The PSAT or Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test is a less intense version of the real deal but nonetheless scored similarly with the same amount of questions. This test took three hours (I missed three periods out of my eight period schedule, I don't have a lunch so I have eight classes) and it had Math and Reading sections. In my op...

Here is another short but sweet Road to College post... So, lately I have found that after being in school for a month I already have gotten a steady routine and a substantial amount of homework. BUT being a college-prep student takes it's toll on you. The homework I receive is any where from 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This is only when I have a few assignments from my classes, if I have homework from all of my classes I can receive 3 to 5 hours of homework. So writing this blog may be challenging at times but its something fun I get to do when I'm not drowning in homework. Now something most people may or may not know about the general population of IB students is that sometimes we don't get all our homework in on time or we simply wait until the last minute to do something. Procrastination is what kills the work ethic of many IB students, at least where I live. Many of us have the mentality of thinking that we will "have time to study for the IB quiz later" or t...

Since I am in my junior year most of what I'm doing is going to set me up for college. For those of you who aren't as informed, when applying for college you must submit a transcript of your highschool which basically means that colleges get to stalk you & find out what you've been doing for the past two years. Since this is year one of college stalking I thought it would be a great idea to write about my journey of getting to college. Over the next two years every-other Thursday I will update you on what I've been doing to prepare for college.  So far this year I have managed to enroll myself into 5 college prep classes this school year. These classes include alot of homework (I'm talking 2 hours minimum to complete everything) and time management skills. I've also rejoined and signed up for clubs, being involved in your school shows colleges you are a well rounded student, the more involved the better! I'm currently applying to be a part of th...