It Is Time…

It is time to write the last post in my blog (at least as a part of my Social Media course). It is time to say good bye to all my viewers and readers (at least as a student blogger). It is time to say an enormous THANK YOU to all the people who were with me during this adventure, who supported me, who inspired me, who viewed or read my blog, who commented on my posts, who told me that they actually did what I wrote about and this made them feel better.

In the beginning, I asked myself why people blog, what is the reason behind that: do they just want to share their opinion, to find listeners of their voice, to find supporters of their beliefs and causes? Now, when I do not need to blog any more, I felt somehow strange and sad about that because I found the greatest reason why anyone would blog, a reason I also understood in the end. By blogging people influence other people’s lives in one way or another, but they do influence them, their actions, and their behavior. And I also felt that once when I read a blog of a friend of mine. It is truly amazing how a person can be affected by the words of another, let alone it is a stranger.

So, it is that time when we all become very sensitive, and emotional, and sentimental, and sad, and depressed, and nostalgic because we are approaching the end of……... my blogging. Ok, ok, that was a joke. We are close to the end of our lovable AUBG time. We experience some things for the last time, but just in AUBG, which still means a lot.

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

Things I Am Going To Miss About My AUBG Time

“Every end is a new beginning”, they say. But nobody tells you how hard the new beginning would be or how painful the end might be. Just a few more weeks and we will be on the finish line. The AUBG era will be over very soon: true happiness for some, real disaster for others. I am somewhere in the middle, because my emotional personality, for sure, would cause me a whole mountain of mixed feelings which will be more in number than the days left.

Looking back, some 3-4 years ago, I can claim that I have been happy. I would change some things, I would modify others, but I would definitely keep the people around me, without whom AUBG would not be the same. Looking back, I remember many places, events, experiences, and people I am going to miss. And they are many more than I can actually recall.

I will miss carefree days I had, despite the projects, and papers, and classes.

I will miss sleeping till noon because my class starts at 12.30.

I will miss going out on a Tuesday, even though I have a small quiz the next day.

I will miss eating at Bakalov at 3 am because dances at Underground are so exhausting.

I will miss taking a nap after a long night out.

I will miss family lunches at DIVA, where we need to roll on the road after instead of walk.

I will miss the serious discussions of important issues on the alley toward Bachinovo Park.

I will miss being a student and not in the part of the unemployed or looking for a job people.

I will miss the lazy Friday afternoons on the terrace drinking beer.

And finally, I will miss my friends, no matter if they are an hour away from. If I can’t knock on their door in the next 5 minutes, then they are away.

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

AUBG One Last Time: The Birthday

It is interesting when you expect the unexpected and when you don’t know that what you expect is actually what you did not expect at all. It is exciting when you know people well enough to be able to guess what they intent to do. It is thrilling when your friends hijack you at your birthday and you are blindfolded for God knows how long. It is moving when you hear them singing:

Source: http://en.paperblog.com/happy-birthday-courtney-ford-572126/

I opened my eyes in the darkness and saw little lamps illuminating the lake and 10 pairs of sparkling eyes, clapping hands, and smiling faces. I saw joy and I felt happiness. I saw people and I felt love.

They were there in the cold night FOR ME. They were there to say happy birthday in their unusual and amazing way. They were there to see the smile on my face and the tears in my eyes.

Yes, my friends surprised me for my birthday by taking me out to Bachinovo Park with a lovely, colorful, and delicious cake, with small red heart-shaped candles, and with beer. I would anticipate anything, but yet, they exceeded my expectations. They do it every year and still it is as surprising and wonderful as the first one. And this is not going to be the last time they do it, but it is going to be the last time they do it at AUBG. So, people, I am making a point here: with the right people, your college life can turn into an amusement park.

I am a person who values relationships, but more importantly who values people. Thank you, AUBG, for introducing these admirable and adorable people in my life. THANK YOU, people, for always being there for me.

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

Source: Personal archive

Famous College Kids in Movies

Inspired by the previous post, I thought that there are many college students protagonists in various movies that are worth mentioning and remembering, for they have played a fundamental role in developing and getting mature in the lives of many of us. Here is a short list of some characters that we often associate with the actors that played them.

Jason Matthew Biggs playing Jim Levenstein in American Pie 2 - a continuation of the college student’s funny misfortunes in a sexual aspect.

Russell Crowe playing John Nash Jr. in A Beautiful Mind – an ordinary student with extraordinary knowledge who develops the Game Theory at Princeton University.

Jim Sturgess playing Ben Campbell in 21 – a senior math major at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is accepted at Harvard Medical School but is unable to pay the tuition and joins a blackjack team lead by a professor to earn the needed money.

Channing Tatum playing Greg Jenko in 21 Jump Street – a police officer who has to go back to school undercover to prevent the outbreak of a new synthetic drug and arrest the bad guy behind the scheme.

Anna Kendrick playing Beca Mitchell in Pitch Perfect– a freshman who wants to pursue a music career and upon entering college, she joins the female a cappella group the Barden Bellas.

Katie Holmes playing the President’s daughter Samantha MacKenzie in First Daughter – she enrolls in college and falls in love with another college student who does not accept her as the president’s daughter, but rather sees through her character. Eventually, he turns out to be a member of the President’s bodyguards sent undercover to protect her.

Reese Witherspoon playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde – a sorority girl who in order to get back her boyfriend follows him to Law School.

Famous College Students

Hey, everyone! This week I want to introduce to your attention several popular people who became famous during their years in college. I know how busy everyone is at the end of the semester with all the papers and projects, but come on, there is always something to complain about. Let’s be more realistic and recall that real life is yet to come and overwhelm us. That is why I wanted to show you people who follow their professional endeavor very persistently and at the same time study. Yes, those people are at our age and the fact that we see THEM on TV does not mean that we were not born under a lucky star.

Hannah Dakota Fanning, mostly known as Dakota Fanning, is a famous American actress whose professional film career starts at an early age. She was born in 1994 and today at the fragile age of 20, she can brag with quite a rich filmography. Currently, Fanning is a junior at the New York University, doing an individualized study. Some of her more popular movies are I am Sam, Man on Fire, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and The Runaways.

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress and model. Similar to Dakota Fanning, she starts her career at the age of 9, playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter Series. Strongly trying to neglect her popularity, she enrolled at Brown University, but then stuck between studies and professional work, she transferred to Oxford for her junior year. However, Emma moved back to Brown University and is graduating this May.

Alexander Ludwig is a Canadian actor, singer, and model. He was born in 1992 and is 21 now. He stars in the Hunger Games movie as Cato, the male tribute from District 2 who fights Peeta and Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) in the final scene. Alexander is a junior at the University of Southern California majoring in Theater and is a member of a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity which is one of the most exclusive university fraternities famous for their wild parties.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He was born in 1984 and became not just extremely popular, but extremely rich while still in college for creating Facebook. A student at Harvard University, he was very good at computer science. In his sophomore year, Zuckerberg dropped out of the university to complete his project. 

Lessons I Learnt in College

Following up on my previous post Lessons Learnt in College, I would like to share with you MY lessons learnt. Or at least some of them. Enjoy!!!

• Find wonderful people, make them good friends of yours, and keep them for a lifetime.
• Be open-minded for new experiences. 
• Go through new things you think you are not good at.
• Better late than never.
• Socialize no matter how shy you are.
• Participate in clubs even if you join them in your last year.
• Developing yourself through extracurricular, socializing, and friends is more important than studying.
• Remember your old friends.
• Do not go to live off campus. 
• Do not worry if you do not have a plan for the future.
• Make things that make you happy!

Source: http://bitterwithoutglitter.blogspot.com/2014/02/10-things-that-make-me-happy.html

Lessons Learnt in College

Life is the largest and most comprehensive book a person can ever read. What is more, people don’t just read, they look, watch, feel, imagine, and experience. We are learning throughout our whole life and we all take different lessons from the many stages and from the many things we go through. What I am specifically talking about here is that college can be a great life school and we have all learnt our lessons or will learn them. This is one of the those precious periods in lives when we meet a lot of new people, make friends, grow, develop more skills, become more mature. College can give us some of the best moments and unforgettable memories. And from all those experiences we can learn a lot. That is why what is following is a small list of things we have learnt in college, some useful for our future, some useful to us as individuals and how we build our character. Go through it and see what you haven’t learnt yet.

Maybe it is worth remembering something.

1.       Advocating for yourself 

2.       Be a good time manager

3.       The power of perseverance

4.       Taking responsibility

5.       Good conflict resolution skills

6.       Good communication

7.       Dealing boredom

8.       Managing finance and debt

9.       Social networking

10.   Understanding true autonomy

11.   Appreciating vacation

12.   Every person has a story to tell

13.   Never forget your day ‘ones’

14.   Some will not see the same vision you see

15.   It is ok not to have a plan but remember to network

16.   Taking risks is important but a contingency plan

17.   Everything happens for a reason

18.   Cancelled classes are like celebrating you birthday

I hope that you already know a lot of these lessons, especially the seniors, but if not now is the time to catch up on them