When I was applying to schools, I told my parents and my college advisor that I refused to go to any school that had cold weather. At that point in my life, I was dreaming about attending a UC school like UCSB or UCSD. I wanted to experience living my college years by the beach so badly. 

Well, by the end of the application process and when I was down to choosing between my top two schools (the University of Colorado Boulder and Boston University) I could not have been further from my original dream. To be honest, I got flat out rejected from every UC school I applied to. 

Before I write any further into this blog post, I want to establish that I am in love with attending school in Boston. After attending 1.25 semesters physically there, I know that I 100% made the right choice and that I ended up where I needed to be. 

So one may ask, what is it like to experience America’s other coast as a college student? Well, I’m glad you asked.

It’s cold, like bone-chilling cold, especially from January to March. Sometimes, it rains sideways because of the chilling wind that is so strong that it could knock you down. There are certain places around BU’s campus (like in between Rich Hall and the west campus dining hall) that create wind tunnels. If you have made it this far in your life without knowing or experiencing a wind tunnel, consider yourself lucky. 

When I moved into my freshman dorm in January,  (I took a gap semester) the temperature was in the single digits. When I started realizing what I actually got myself into regarding Boston’s weather situation, I internally panicked. I remember the first few weeks before I met some good friends that eventually ended up becoming my future sophomore year roommates, I considered transferring and applying to UCSB because I thought that being in the warmth would make my college experience better.

I was so wrong! I learned after my first semester at BU that it's not the weather that makes your college experience great, it's about the individuals you meet along the way and the quality of your education.

Ironically, a lot of people I immediately bonded with at BU were California or West Coast kids too. We actually first bonded over being so cold some nights when we were walking through Allston to the frat houses in our skimpy going out clothes. 

My closest friends at school are all from New York State. It was so fun getting to know them and as we started spending all of our free time together, I started picking up some of their “East Coast slang.” If you ever hear me say “It’s so brick out” that means I’m freezing. “I’m so tight right now” means something is really bugging me and I can’t stop using the adjective “hella” to emphasize whatever I’m trying to communicate. 

In high school in California, electronic music dominated our AUX cords. Music festivals were/ are our idea of fun. But on the East Coast, you will rarely hear EDM music being played at functions. I’ve come to learn that the East Coast college kids love rap. Sometimes when I try and introduce my college friends, who are originally from the East Coast, to any of my favorite electronic songs, they look at me so strangely and just don’t get it. I save those songs for my West Coast friends. 

Wherever you go to school, you’ll probably pick up new habits and tendencies, but it humors me to think about the little things I do now that are a result of my East Coast experience. 

If you are wondering about the social scene in Boston or at a school on the East Coast where the winters are cold, start imagining your average college party taking place in a basement. Since it's too cold for outdoor parties from November to March, the most fun Friday nights will be taking place under a house. This was such a new concept to me when I first got to BU because basements aren’t really a big thing in California. 

Whenever a warmish day (50° weather and up) comes along, and they do come, don't worry, everyone in the city is just in a happy and good mood. This past semester there was one Monday in February where it was in the high 50s/ low 60s and everyone was out and about doing homework outside by the BU beach. I was wearing a dress to class for the first time that semester and the nice weather gave my friends and me an excuse to darty on a Monday. When days like that do come along, and you haven’t seen the sun for a few days on end, they are sweeter and more enjoyable because you know what it's like for it to be cold and cloudy. 

Someone who goes to school somewhere where it's warm may argue that they are having a better experience because every day is like that one warm day in February. But I disagree because having nice weather all the time takes away one’s ability to really appreciate a nice day when they are given one. Also, before I attended school at BU, I would wear my ski jacket out at night when it was in the 60s. Now, I look back and laugh at myself for that because when it starts pushing 60° I want to be wearing the least amount of clothes possible. 

I feel like going to college on the East Coast after growing up in Southern California my whole life was one of the most challenging things I have gotten myself into. Although, I proudly like to think that because I moved across the country to experience something new, I am physically and mentally tougher and I don’t get as cold as easily! Also, being around people from the East Coast has given me an interesting perspective and I can’t wait to stay on this side of the country after college is over for a little while before I head back to California. 

Don’t be scared of the East Coast’s weather, you get used to it. 

​I’ve lost track of how many weeks in we are in deep of the stay at home order. I’ve been bored in the house and I’m in the house bored (if you watch Tik Tok you definitely know what that means.) Although, instead of focusing on everything I am not and can not be doing, I want to dedicate this blog post towards everything I have been doing, and you can too, at home in quarantine. 
One thing that I have been doing to keep myself busy is journaling. If you are one of my close friends, probably the only people who actually read this blog, you know that I’ve been keeping a journal since the end of high school. It essentially serves the purpose as a place where I can quite literally dump everything and anything on my mind. I do my best to keep it positive but sometimes getting something off of my chest and onto paper is very therapeutic and helps with my chronic issue of overthinking. Also, I do this thing that I came up with called “flashbulb memories,” which is essentially a short story that I write in my journal. Any moment that I experience that makes me think, I want to remember this feeling for the rest of my life, I try and write down as soon as I can with all the little details that made the experience so sweet. I do this because I don’t want to forget what it feels like to be 19 and each “flashbulb memory” that I document is a little receipt of a moment that might have been gone forever. 

Since we are living through a major historical event right now, anything we write down in quarantine is documentation of ourselves living through what one day is going to be in the textbooks. Not that it is really the same thing, but I sometimes wonder if Anne Frank ever thought her journal would be good enough to be published as a major piece of historical evidence for the historical event she lived through.  It’s interesting to read back on my past journal entries that I wrote at the beginning of quarantine versus now. If I had a favorite entry from the chapter of my journal called “quarantine” it would be one that I wrote in week 4 of the stay at home order, 

My goal is to be able to ollie, which is probably the most basic skating trick in the game, by the end of quarantine. Even though no one is physically here to show me how to do what I’m trying to learn, so many of my guy friends have been very quick to swipe up on anything I post about my skateboarding journey and give me their opinions and tips to make my ollie better. Thanks, guys. Also, shout out Mike for FaceTiming me and doing the ollie over and over again so I could see how it is properly done. This was a few weeks ago and at this point in quarantine, I’m able to skate around my town when running errands. 

The other day I had to go pick something up from across town, and my sister was using the car, so I decided to take my skateboard to run my errand. This was probably one of the best days I have had all of quarantine. When I was on my board I passed a group of band kids practicing in a front yard while sitting 6 ft apart; it brought a smile to my face. Then when I was riding down another street, I passed some kids and a young girl, who was probably in middle school, riding a skateboard in her front yard. We immediately locked eyes and said what’s up and I knew right away that that girl was going to grow up to be a really cool girl. I had to walk my board up the hill so I could get to where I was trying to go, not going to lie it was really hot and it tired me out. Although when I was heading home, I was able to ride down a hill with the perfect incline where I wasn’t going too fast but was still picking up a decent amount of speed so I could cruise. The feeling of riding down that hill was so thrilling and was the first time I really felt free in quarantine. I’m hoping to continue this hobby of mine so I can start riding down Comm Ave. to class when we return to school in September. So many times before quarantine was a thing, I wished I would’ve been able to ride to class so I couldn’t be late. 

Anyways, quarantine is a perfect time to pick up any hobbies you have been interested in but never had the time to really get into until now. Carpe Diem my friends! By the way, that was a reference to “Dead Poets Society” an amazing movie with Robert Williams that I really recommend and think you should watch in quarantine. :) If anyone actually reads these posts, I would love to hear what my reader (s) have been doing to keep themselves busy during quarantine in the comments! ​

One thing that I’ve learned about myself during quarantine is that I absolutely love Tik Tok. Hear me out on this one; I think that this specific app’s algorithm is unlike any others. It has led me into countless hours of endless scrolling of content that I actually am so interested in.

Some people who might not use Tik Tok all the time may think that it is just a corner of the internet where their friends and teenage girls who wear crop tops make cringey dances, but after using the app more and more, its algorithm picks up on what you view and like the most. Your “for you page” on the app shows you content that it thinks you may like.

So the other night, I was scrolling through my for you page and came across this really dope girl who is in her twenties and is a freelance photographer. This girl is sharing her secrets that she has learned from the industry and how she personally plans/ executes her own photoshoots. That Tuesday morning, at 1:30 A.M., I felt like I struck gold.

So, with all this time I have on my hands, I decided to do exactly what this girl does when she plans out her shoots.

First, I started brainstorming interesting locations for where I could take pictures at during quarantine. My mind immediately went to the poppy fields in SoCal because right now they are in bloom and are so so beautiful. From that point, I started bookmarking every single photo I saw that was taken at the poppy fields that came up in my Instagram feed of my friends and influencers who also had the same idea.

Second, I picked who I wanted my models to be. Because we are in quarantine, my sisters came to mind first, and then I asked my friend Emily to drive out there on her own (because social distancing is on all of our minds these days).
Then, I hit up Pinterest and pinned every single photo I could find that had anything to do with a photoshoot in a flower field. One tip to this process that I found very helpful when narrowing my search, which I learned from the Tik Tok video, is that if you type “flower field photoshoot editorial”, the keyword being “editorial” in the search bar, Pinterest shows you photographs that are aesthetically pleasing that have been published and featured in established magazines. 

Once I pinned all my inspiration for all aspects of the shoot (poses, make-up, hair, outfit ideas, etc...), I got on Adobe Spark and started making mood boards. Shout out to BU for providing their students with free access to all Adobe Products. This is how they turned out…
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