1cm+: First Days of Life at Smith

Hi everyone!! I am super excited to be at Smith.. this is my 6th day here and it's so perfect. I love Northampton even if I'm going to go a little broke.. Northampton does not cater well to college students because it's not really a college town but an artsy little hipster town! The people at Smith are all so sweet and so wonderful. I literally step outside and look a bit lost and someone is already asking if they can help me or walk me to my destination. I've set up my room a bit and I'm excited for this upcoming year to challenge, grow, and become just a really cool 21st century woman!

I just met my roommate today and I know we won't be close friends but I hope we can get along and be okay this year...that'll be in another post.

I don't know if you follow my various instagram accounts but here are some snapshots of my room!!! Life has been hectic and I haven't had a quiet minute to blog. I am so excited to blog come September though all about what college life is really like. 

Smith and Me. 

The new photo wall. It looks a LOT cooler than the one I left at home. 

Me and my new house! 

Ev is kind of like my favorite person.... she's so awesome and we might room together next year <3

Jenga night! 

Can we take a minute to appreciate the view from the Japanese Tea Hut? It's not called Paradise Pond for no reason..

The botanic garden has a cacti section. 

Where is Ferguson. I miss you. But I have a new ivy plant hanging out in my room. 

Alfonso and YJ Take Random Boston Bus Station

Hi everyone! I just landed in Boston!!!!! WOOO. I am pumped. I am a bit tired but am well fed and have all my luggage. Compared to my last trip to Northampton, MA, it's so easy. This time I'm going from the airport right in Boston and taking the Peter Pan bus to the lovely town where Smith is located. It's really difficult to get to Northampton (got to transfer from Boston airport to regular Boston to Springfield to Northampton..) so I'm here at this random bus station in Boston until 10 am. 

Alfonso is kind of saving the day.. Not only is he connecting to the wifi at this random bus terminal, he is recharging my phone and letting me listen to jazz and blog... so he's kind of the perfect companion lol. He doesn't even complain and is so low maintenance! 

So I just wanted to talk about the little layout update and the new schedule! Do you guys like the new little banner under Lost in Wonderland? It's still a work in progress. I just wanted a definite schedule in order to keep myself on track. The number of posts during 2014 has been truly appalling and I apologize dearly. I think the new tactic will be short but sweet and often. I think I'll write one long, "insightful" post per week and give little updates. I like the response "Weekly Epiphanies" had!! 

If there are any other post series you guys would like to see, please comment! And now I'll explain a bit about what these "cutesy" titles mean.

Monday Epiphanies: Why not start the week with fun mementos and little things I learned from the past week? They will be like the state of the union posts but every week and very short! 

Yoga Tuesdays: You guys already know this one!! This one will be the long, insightful post about feminism or some other current events issue. I am so excited to take some college courses that teach you how to think more intuitively and grow your perspective about the world! 

Ramblings on a Thursday: Hahaha, I think this title might be my favorite. I'm going to try to publish a short story every week, very ambitious haha. Some of them might be like 100 word quick rights, or a character description. I'm sorry I'm so horrible at ending projects.. I just don't know how to end things in a satisfying way. I keep reading old things I've written and feel sad when I reach an abrupt ending. Of course I might publish some longer pieces on the way but Ramblings on a Thursday really focuses on short, mostly unedited writes.

TV Fridays: Welllll haha. Adventure Time airs Thursday and Steven Universe is apparently picking up again!! If I find some more shows I like, I will definitely review them. I think I'm going to try to pick moments I especially liked because AV Club beats me on analysis by a long shot.... even if I don't always agree with their ratings and whatnot.

Sunday Fashion: I always wanted to be in charge of a fashion blog and that just never panned out. I don't think I have enough content for an entire fashion blog... but I think I could manage to take one nice outfit picture per week! This is also mainly for my good haha. 

With that I depart! I have to go board the next bus anyway pretty soon! Oh goodness, the next time we talk, I will be at Smith College!!!! 

Icm+: The Woes of Packing

Beautiful outing with beautiful friends.

Hi everyone! I'm back in sunny California where the weather is actually gross and foggy in the morning. I've been saying my goodbyes and surprisingly, it hasn't been that sad. Maybe it's due to technology or the yearning for freedom, but I haven't cried and leaving doesn't seem so permanent. Leaving for college doesn't seem so real yet... it helps that a lot of my friends are on the East Coast and that a thing called Facebook exists. The reason I'm not sad is because I don't think I'll be severed from the people I actually care about. Of course I won't talk to old friends every day (that's ridiculous, we are busy people) but I can chat once in a while and drop by in December and the friendship lives on.

Somehow with the invention of social media, there is that expectation to talk everyday but that's really impossible. I'm kind of excited to keep in touch but also have that opportunity to meet new people.

And here is the 1cm+ of the day: packing. I usually like packing but packing has consumed and taken over my life and made it absolutely miserable. I own a lot more clothing than I expected and well.. I had a glorious image of packing in my head before the actual process started. I was going to create a time lapse video or a series of very cool, edited photos. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT, packing sucks, a lot. So I think this would be best done with a few tips, a few memorable quotes from my mother, and a photo montage showing you my pain. I'm not done yet but the finally packed up luggage will be shared on my instagram for this blog. 

TIPS

Early in the game. 

1. Do not take garbage. 

Hahaha, I don't mean this in the sense of actual garbage but just clothes that you've only ever worn once. No you will not wear it more when you go off to a place far, far away. Do not bring too many sentimental notebooks or heavy photo frames. You are not going in the wilderness (unless you are..), you are fully capable of buying new essentials once you get there. College packing is also the perfect time to empty out your wardrobe of things you never liked. Do not bring books... books are heavy and it's not like you're going to be cooped up in your dorm room reading your favorite YA books.. (jokes, I don't read YA..)

2. Be creative!
My dad ordered those vacuum seal space saving bags late so I had to make my own! This is just one example of my t-shirts being stuffed into my own space saving bags. 

So if you order a lot of clothes off the internet, they all come in nice little plastic packaging. All this packaging has one single hole on the side. I just taped it down after stuffing with masking tape. Once it's sealed tightly, I sat on it lol. All the air left and I had my own vacuum sealed bag! 

The space bags are supposed to come tomorrow so I'm saving those for outerwear and other things that can't just be stuffed easily. 

Here are some more examples! 

 

The skirt collection

Pants were kind of difficult to stuff but it is definitely possible. 

the sweaters! 

Little remnants of summer! 

I haven't decided on which bags I want to bring yet... 

The left showcases some dresses! And the right photo is of the outerwear I plan on taking!! 

I did not take a picture of my shoes but here we go as listed:

+Rainboots

+Sparkly blue boots

+Brown fuzzy boots

+Flat black sandals

+Tall black sandals (heeled)

+Leather oxfords

+Sperry's 

+Running shoes (YES!)

+Shower shoes 

I am ditching the Uggs everyone. 

So that's that! Here are some memorable quotes from my mother everyone.

"You look like you're moving out of the house."

"I am, mom."

"Your room looks like a moving center."

"Erm, it kind of is, mom."

"Why in the world do you need so many shoes?"

"Shoes run the world."

Ignore my feet... the top four photos are variations on the same dress. I used a lot of the same clothes but I feel like the mood and tone of each outfit is very different! That's what I love about fashion. Subtle, minor changes like a bag/shoes/coat are essential. Clothing is so versatile and fun to play around with! 

The suitcase count is at 4. 

Okay so now for a real treat! I know my fashion blog never took off and maybe it's still something that could happen in the future but for now.. here are some variations of outfits that I made. I know the photos are quite . . . basic haha. No fancy backgrounds, you can barely see my face in a lot of them.. but here are some representations of average clothing I wear! 

Weekly Epiphanies

This a short, random, spontaneous post on what I've noticed and learned throughout this week.

+ Chinese is hard. Chinese is kicking my butt. I hate you, grammar. 

+ Watching movies until 3 am when you know you have to wake up before 8 am is a bad idea

+ Even bad movies seem fantastic when watching at 3 am.

+ Some people upload movies onto Youtube without sound. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT? I couldn't watch Ten Things I Hate About You and was sad. That movie may be my favorite. 

+ Mosquitoes are the worst. I have bites everywhere and it's slowly killing me.

+ There is nothing more frustrating than having \800 on your bus card when the bus fare is \900. (Apparently the smallest amount that you can load onto your bus card is \1000)

+ I have a newfound obsession with dance. Um did you just spend the last 2 days watching dance movies until 4 am? Hmm hmm? Haha, I have watched all the Step Up movies and some others. Dirty Dancing will always remain a classic. 

+ I freaked out when I momentarily forgot my cactus's name. It's Ferguson, by the way.

+ I miss Alfonso the macbook dearly, too dearly, where are you my love?

+ Hair dyeing/ highlighting is a powerful experience. 

+ Shopping is endless. The ironic part is that I packed up a lot of my clothes so I don't have anything to wear to class... that struggle. 

+ Creme puffs are happiness.

+ I miss San Francisco so much. I'm ready to go home! 

1cm+: A Girl's Quest to Understand College

Last year I bought a book in Korea called 1cm+. It was a really cutely animated self help book aimed at finding the extra 1cm in our lives in order to bring happiness and hope. The things it suggested weren't complicated such as go climb a mountain or spend three years wandering a new city. They were simple suggestions like put your smartphone down more, differences in male and female thinking, how to find a good love haha. It's a very Murakami-esque idea to find the beauty in the small things instead of expecting huge miracles to always fill your happiness meter. 

That's kind of how I view college. College isn't a time to develop completely new skills. I'm not looking to learn something earth-shattering by attending Smith but rather that extra 1cm+ in my life in order to appreciate what is around me and develop more ability to be empathetic, rational, and patient. The little tweaks in attitude and mindset help set a path of prosperity, happiness, and fulfillment. 

Already I feel a lens on life just by being more aware of food stability, feminism, and the problems with government involvement in certain industries. 

This journey is sort of like a fill in the number coloring book. So much of it has already been colored by 17 years of being alive. I'm attending a liberal arts college in order to see the blank spots and fill them up with a new perspective, idea, and story. 

Look out for future 1cm+ tags to see little snippets of what I'm learning in college in order to have that extra the ability to see two sides of an argument and make bad situations into good memories.

Read on for the quintessential horror: the college roommate. 

Sick is Ick

Korea deems this one day of medication. I
used to think it was very cute but now.... ergh.

I couldn't have said that any better. Maybe this prolonged sickness has resulted in some new poetry skills! (hehe, just kidding). I felt that it was time for a post but I hate to be starting August like this.

I've been taking my medication and trying to get better from my common cold. Being sick really is a downer and I hope all of you guys are taking preventive measures to avoid it. 

I haven't been able to do much since something is always hurting. I even had to skip one of my classes. I hate skipping class but there was no way that I could function and be productive. 

Look, look, it moves! Although it's a bit weird...

My life has calmed down a bit but just thinking about my schedule when I get home is giving me a headache. 

I just wanted to update you all a little about what was going on in my life. The weather isn't as hot anymore which is a relief. It's very windy and kind of cold and rainy... 

Look out for:

+ Epic Packing Post

+ Review of why EVERYONE should read Whistling Vivaldi

+ Roommate post 

peace.