It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down to do a recap with y’all and I am excited to share all the news! Also, I tried to play a pun game the other night with some friends, and I am horrible at pun making, like outright horrendous. We all have our talents, I guess mine is sucking at making up puns. What a shame.
Basically, I wanted to talk a little bit about some of the fun things I’ll be doing this summer, goals I have for blogging, and how I’m coping with the realization that I will be a senior in college next year. Hint hint: not well. It’s all good, hopefully the summer away from Chapel Hill will get me ready for my last year and for the real world! Keep reading for more info about my life and where I’m going for the summer!
Internship in San Diego, CA
SURPRISE! I’ll be spending the summer doing research in San Diego, CA. After weeks of contemplation about the best next steps, I decided to spend the summer on the west coast. Exploring research at one of the best research institutions in the world is an incredible experience. I did a whole post about applying to summer internships, so be sure to look into all of the programs that you can apply for before the fall rolls around so you know what to do way in advance of deadlines and due dates!
I’ll be in California so that also gives me a great opportunity to travel while I’m there. I am very much trying to plan a weekend trip to L.A. It’s about 2 hours from San Diego and I wouldn’t mind taking a quick day trip away from San Diego and maybe even venturing to Disney Land as well! If you’re from the West Coast and have any recommendations for restaurants, things to see and do, etc. PLEASE email me or leave a comment down below! I am all for trying new things and exploring, so I’m looking for all the recs!
If you’re at all interested in my first time near the Pacific, I have several posts scheduled periodically during my time there and I’ll be sure to keep you updated, so subscribe to our Youtube channel and be sure to sign up to get email notifications for all our new blog posts, as well as some possible vlogs that will document my weekends there! I am super excited to get some great Instagram content as well because for some reason I get some great content when I’m on vacation or in a new place.
Weekly Content
Summertime gives us the best stats because we have such a diverse selection of posts. It’ll be nice to sit down and decide how to fine tune the blog content. I want to know whether to focus on life updates, prepping for college posts, or how I live life: including updated morning routines, daily food diaries, etc.
Our current posting schedule is once every blue moon. Ha. Every semester we go through the same pattern, but this time I’m planning out and writing posts around two weeks in advance. I have posts drafted and tentatively scheduled for every Sunday and Wednesday until September which is incredible. There are so many things to write, but I want to make sure that I can keep up with it and still churn out quality content that I love!
Learning Photography
My major goal for the summer is to learn all about photography because I am at a level that is below amateur. I kind of just click and hope that it comes out okay! I’ve been pretty successful at this approach, but I’d like to become faster in adjusting for lighting in manual mode and really playing with my aesthetic when it comes to shooting. I love a good bright shot and everyone knows that I -LOVE- a great mural.
My first enhancement will be by picking up a new lens. I’ll be purchasing the “nifty fifty” or the 50mm f1.8g lens for my DSLR. This lens provides the perfect bokeh effects and is perfect for portrait photography which is great for blog photos and product shots!A ton of my favorite bloggers have raved about this lens and I am so excited to finally own it!
Top| Shorts[similar style] | Sandals[alternative style]| Bag | Sunnies
Scheduling Senior Year Trips!
I’ve been on this travel kick ever since I planned and went on my amazing trip to Washington D.C.! Several trips should be planned out before the start of the school year. I want to take advantage of all my free breaks to travel around especially while I’m still an undergrad! Currently, I am thinking Atlanta/Athens or New York City over fall break where I can potentially coax my little to tour me around because she’s from New Jersey and much more familiar with the area than me!
Winter Break is a bit more tricky depending on if I travel back to Louisiana for Christmas! I would love to stop in New Orleans for a bit and get some pictures and explore the city more! I may find a way to do both, but I think it would be so cool to travel with Hannah, and our friend Chloe to Nashville or Charleston after Christmas for a couple of days! Spring break and After Graduation are my next two trips to plan; my brother and I are both graduating in the spring and so we are taking a huge celebratory family vacation! It’ll likely be something tropical, so I was thinking a cruise would be great for our family vacation and maybe Austin, TX for spring break!
Clearly, I have the travel bug! These are just a couple of places that are on my immediate travel list. My dream vacation right now is definitely Barcelona, Spain! I’d also like to visit Seattle, San Francisco, and Hawaii soon as well!
Studying For the GRE & Starting Graduate School Applications!
This is the more realistic and less glamorous part of my pre-senior year prep! I am applying to graduate school in the next cycle, so a lot of my preparation will involve studying for and taking the GRE, asking my PIs and professors for recommendation letters, and prepping for essay writing and interviews. I am 110% done with school post-finals week, but excited to start thinking about next steps. Several of my scheduled posts this summer are focused around graduate school prep, #hype.
So, that was my rather long life update! Hopefully, you enjoyed learning a little bit more about me and what plans I have for the summer and the next year. I’m excited to be moving on, but also not trying to wish my year away and definitely wanting to make the most of it! What are your summer plans? Let me know in the comments, I love hearing from y’all!
xoxo,
