embracing 22.

Yesterday, March 21st, was my birthday and I turned 22. For awhile, I thought 22 seemed old. I mean, everyone tells you that after turning 21, it's pretty much all downhill after that. What other birthday milestones do you have to look forward to? None, really. Just ones that make you feel even older; 30, 40, 50...I don't even want to go past that. But, to be honest (and maybe this is a part of getting older) I know that I am still young and I still have a lot of new and exciting adventures ahead of me. Therefore I'm trying to stay positive and embrace this new age and all of the new things it will bring with it. This also may have to do with the fact that 21 was a solid age/year for me which is why I got the idea to start a tradition and try to think of at least 5-10 things that I loved or was excited about or something positive that happened within the last year to me and post them on this blog once a year around my birthday. So, here's the list for 21:

1) I spent the remainder of my time in London while I was abroad for a semester as a 21-year-old -- Now I know it may seem depressing to some that I didn't have a huge American bash as a newly minted legal drinker but you know what? I still had a really good time going out with my friends there and I wouldn't want it any other way.

2) I finally got to go to Paris -- London was a city that I sort of accidentally fell in love with. I never had had a pre-obsession with it like I did with NYC (see number 3) and Paris. My last name is French, I have a tattoo on the inside of my left wrist in French (vie d'amour which means love life) and I used to study French in middle and high school aka I have an obsession. When I finally booked the trip and left for Paris in early April last year I was elated. I think I teared up a bit when I first laid eyes on the Eiffel Tower. Just being able to be in that city was incredible and like most places I visited when I was abroad I hope to get back there someday soon.

3) I landed my first internship in NYC -- Since I was about 5 years old and knew that NYC existed I immediately became entranced by the lights, noise, the hustle and bustle. Once I went to NYC for the first time at the age of 15 it just fueled my desire for it even more. It was also a big factor in my decision to attend Marist, since I knew I would be at more of an advantage for career/internship opportunities in NYC. Needless to say, when I got my internship with Gita Group for the fall semester of 2010, I was ecstatic.

4) My mom got a job -- Unfortunately my mom became a statistic of the recession and was laid off in March of 2009. After a year of struggle, getting unemployment checks and applying day in and day out to jobs and barely getting any interviews she was finally hired in August of 2010.

5) I landed my second internship in NYC with Glamour magazine -- Sounds unreal right? It still seems unreal to me even though I have been interning here since January. This was one of those opportunities that pretty much fell into my lap through connections at Marist and I jumped at the chance to be here in the PR department. It has been a great learning experience thus far and I look forward to finishing up strong here in May.

6) I was able to visit my family in Texas -- My mom's sister lives out in Austin, TX with her husband, two daughters and their daughter's two kids. My one cousin Kristen had had her son Benjamin in November 2009 and as he was already a year old I was itching to get out there to meet him and of course see everyone else. I had not been to Texas since I had gone with my parents when I was about 12 years old or so. Thanks to my summer jobs, on a spur of the moment decision I booked a ticket for myself to head out there for a week in January and I'm really glad that I did.

7) I entered my senior year of college -- Why am I excited by this? Well I'm kind of half excited about this, some days I am fully excited but most days just half. Like I have said before in previous posts, part of me is going to be sad to leave my life at Marist but the other part of me is super excited to move on. This has truly been the most challenging, rewarding and fun year of my college career so I think it will be the perfect way to end my time at Marist.

8) I learned SO MUCH about myself -- Please bear with me, this is going to get cheesy/corny/lame/all of the above but I really can't say this in a 'cool' way. 21 kind of did a 180 to me and I really snapped out of  my shell. Don't get me wrong I wasn't some super-shy weirdo girl from the age of 1-20 but (and I think this had a lot to do with going abroad) this year really shifted me forward. I feel more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have in my entire life and it feels really good and I hope I can keep up this good attitude/confidence for the rest of my life.

Can't wait to see what 22 will bring!