Happy (belated) Holidays!

This is my overdue Christmas blog post! I went home to Chicago for this winter break and am staying in my Dad’s apartment in Aurora. Yes, the drive was 12 hours (sigh). This year, we actually spent the holiday downtown in Chicago. Surprisingly, it wasn’t swarming with people like I thought it would be! We did a bunch of fun things like shop around in the Water Tower Place, go out to Christmas Eve dinner at Rosebud, and then went to the Bull’s game on Christmas day! Besides the Bull’s losing miserably, my Christmas was a very happy one. It is a rarity for my family to be in the same location for any duration of time, so I try to enjoy it when I can. As usual, I took many pictures!

The holidays are not over yet because the best is still to come! My 20th birthday is quickly approaching on January 2nd, so until then I plan to be lazy with no work or school obligations!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

5 months ago  #ud #Delaware #universityofdelaware #University of Delaware #UniversityofDelware #udel #UDBloggers #udblogs #merrychristmas #happyholidays  2 notes

Why I chose UD!

Being from Illinois, I feel as though I get questioned a lot about why I came to Delaware. Why Delaware? Why did you come here? Why would you move 800 miles away from home? Honestly, I get a little annoyed of being asked this all the time, but now I feel like I finally have the platform to answer it. 

I knew that I didn’t want to stay close to home. My sister went far away to school and loved it so it made me feel like I could go far away and succeed too. I think I always wanted to go to school on the East coast, it was just a matter of where. I knew I needed some things in a college, it was just a matter of finding them. I wanted a medium sized school, which just doesn’t exist in the Midwest. Also, I wanted my college to be bigger than my large high school, yet didn’t feel so large that I was lost within it. I wanted there to be access to stores, shops, malls, restaurants, and “outside life” besides the campus life! I wanted to be close to some major cities, be around kids like me, live on a pretty campus, get a good education, and go to a fun school with a good reputation. 

Luckily, I found Delaware, and I got in! I honestly didn’t think I would, but when I got my acceptance letter I knew I would come here. I think I decided to come here finally because of how beautiful the campus is how happy the kids looked here all wearing their yellow and blue, and how perfect the size of the school was. 

If I could talk to a prospective freshman who is in between Delaware and another college, I think I would say that if you want an amazingly fun and rewarding experience, come to UD and see why everyone loves it so much here! 

1 year ago  #ud #delaware #universityofdelaware #udel #bluehens #blueandyellow #udblogs #bloggers #whyichoseUD #college  1 note

April

This week has been pretty busy. I had two exams this week and then two next week as well, I am trying to keep my grades up and finish the semester strong. This month of April is an important one for many reasons, for one, I find out where I am living next year within the next couple weeks and I am so nervous! Also, I have to start planning my classes for the Fall and then edit them according to how they fill up. 

I have decided to apply for an Advertising minor after I have the 28 credits needed to apply, which will be after this semester. I think it’s going to be a good contrast to my History major which will require a lot of writing and reading. Next semester I get to take really different classes which I enjoy because it makes the work loads different. 

Lastly, this month of April is a big one for the Class of 2016!!! Today, my friend is hosting a potential freshman and shows her around, eats meals with her, and she stays in the dorms with us tonight. On top of that, tomorrow is UDDecision Day! I will be working at the Social Media Table throughout the day and talking to all the families who come out to see our campus (and tweet/facebook about it), I’m excited! 

1 year ago  #UD #UDel #UniversityofDelaware #Delaware #UDDecisionDay #Classof2016 #April #UDBlogs  2 notes

Day Trip: Everglades

Hello from Florida! Today my mom and I took a little day trip to the Everglades. We are staying with my Grandparents who live in Naples, so the drive wasn’t that far (about 40 minutes). It had rained in the morning, which cooled everything off a bit, so the weather was great.                                                                                                                                  

Everglades City itself is quite desolate, and as my Mom kept saying it’s “off the grid.” There were many mobile homes, small shacks and restaurants, and large areas of untouched land. There were so many trees and parts of the city had dirt roads. It was very cool to literally be on a small island, by the end of the day I could have navigated the island by myself!                                                                                                                       

After we drove around getting a feel for the area, we found our desired airboat tour spot called Speedy’s. I’ve never been on an airboat, so I was a little nervous! There were two other women on the boat with us, (who ironically were also from Illinois!). The airboat starts off slowly but soon speeds up greatly! We were speeding through the maze of the grasslands and drifting back and forth, it was very cool! Our driver and guide, Lyle, told us that the salt water from the Gulf comes into the Everglades during the winter which sometimes drives the alligators away for these months, which is why we didn’t see many of them. I got some great pictures of a large bird who was sitting on a nearby bridge along with some pictures of all the trees on the swamp.                                            

Overall, it was a great day, I was pleasantly surprised with how thrilling the airboat was. I would definitely recommend anyone who is thinking about visiting the Everglades to go! You can bring your own canoe or boat, take airplane tours, and find good places to eat. We ate at a great little cuban restaurant called the Havana Café, and I’m sure all the food on the island is great.                                                                                                              

Here are some pictures of the day! 

1 year ago  #winterbreak #ud #udblogs #florida #everglades #daytrip #airboat