9 Things I Learned from Staying in a Cabin for 48 Hours for No Reason

In case you were wondering what it's like to go on what is an essential "stay-cation" in your hometown, literally 5 minutes away from the Chipotle you used to always go to before one was built closer to your house.

1. You will have neighbors, even if you're staying at the cabin in May before Memorial Day and it's a rainy weekend during which no one in their right mind thinks to go "camping."

Somewhere, not really in the middle of nowhere, but still

2. Usually the aforementioned neighbors will not make themselves known until you want to go to sleep.

Us, not amused

3. You'd be surprised how bold these deer can be.

I didn't get a picture of the deer, but one walked on THAT VERY PATCH OF DIRT right before our eyes

4. Wood paneling is still (very much) a thing.

It was EVERYWHERE

5. S'mores taste better when your brother makes sure you come outside and make them with everyone else instead of staying inside for fear of mosquitoes (and other creepy crawlies).

6. The only pictures you should be taking are with a Polaroid or Polaroid-ish camera, for #aesthetic reasons. I made that rule up, but I also broke it a few times. It's cool.

7. Don't go in rivers barefoot, there's sewage in rivers, it's a thing, trust me. But I mean, if you're fearless, you do you, boo.

8. Your sister will ask you to watch "Fight Club" with her, reminding you throughout the day that you have plans to do so, and then promptly fall asleep 20 minutes into the movie, but that is no reason not to do it anyway.

9. You could probably do it again because it wasn't actually *that* bad, and the excuse to play board games with your family even if you think you're too old for them is a good enough reason to come back.

Gotta love my fave weirdos

Is Anyone Out There?

If you're reading this right now, I want to extend a virtual hug to you for sticking around even though I am the literal worst. The last time I wrote for this platform was in 2015, for New Year's. That's awful, if I say I have a blog, I should damn well write for it! So that's why I'm here today, because even though I have so much school and extracurricular work to do I'm actually dying a little bit more everyday, the guilt for neglecting Slow Lane was eating at me just a tad more.

So yeah, here we are.

I'm currently 3 weeks away from the official end of my first year of college. Which is CRAZZZYYY. It's insane how fast this year has gone by, and what I've managed to accomplish in the span of 9 months. I've joined a music sorority, become a staff writer for a campus art/fashion/photography magazine called ROCKET, and gotten involved with various miscellaneous things around campus that I never would've believed I could do a year ago. I've taken classes that have pushed me to intellectual, musical, and physical limits, which scared me at first, but now excites me when I can accomplish something I doubted I could in the beginning. Just as an example, one of my classes is Intro to Stage Lighting, which I stupidly thought would be easy. Instead of being easy, I've put in more labor hours than I've ever done in my entire life, and got over my intense fear of heights in the process. Even though it's the most intense class I'm taking, I've learned the most from it. Even if I'll never really admit it.

This year, I've also made some really great friends. The sisters in my music sorority, Nu Kappa Epsilon (NKE for short),  are astounding, wonderful, glorious people that I'm so lucky to know, and I couldn't be more grateful to them for creating a place and an organization that's allowed us all to feel comfortable being our 100% true selves. It was weird, at first, because I was new and didn't really know anyone, but slowly and surely I was able to connect with so many of the sisters. I have my "family" that I love, and people who aren't part of the fam that I also greatly appreciate for how welcoming and friendly and genuine they are. I'm so, so glad I found at least one little corner of my school to which I know I can always come back.

My fam, the greatest there ever was

The WHOLE NKE fam, <3 (less-than-three)

(Most of) my pledge class, fabulous as ever

In addition to NKE, my hallmates have been absolutely amazing. I live in one of the smallest freshmen dorms on campus, and as a result, nearly all of us have gotten to know each other pretty well. I didn't realize that was abnormal until I talked to people from other dorms who didn't even know the names of everyone on their floor, let alone their entire building. So I'm glad I've had this random, wonderful  bunch of weirdos to live with and get to know better. Every single one of them, even the ones I don't speak to as often, has contributed something pretty great to the dorm dynamic, and being a person who can appreciate a heartwarming communal atmosphere every once in a while, I couldn't have gotten luckier with my dorm arrangement. Next year is really going to be hard, not being around them as much. But I'm glad we had this year. <3

You know friends are good friends when they get burgers with you for your birthday when your birthday is during finals

Snowed in, watching Broad City, stealing my dill chips, it's casual

Fancy dinners for fancy people (*jokes*)

A complicated arrangement in which the loser of  a Yu-Gi-Oh battle would also lose a game of Assasins. Idek. 

But yeah, as the year winds down, the work sure as hell doesn't. I'm going on my fourth hell week in a row. That's a month of non-stop ridiculousness that I've only barely gotten through. Just this past weekend, I pulled an all-nighter from Sunday to Monday trying to finish a paper for one of my classes, and even though it was cool to be able to take a shower at 7 AM but not have to wake up for it, I hadn't been that tired since graduation season. Actually that might be a lie, it was probably earlier this school year, but I try to block painful memories. Anyway, I'm just excited for the summer. For me, it officially starts May 4th, and I don't have to be back at school until the end of August. Somehow I feel like I'm cheating the system, with a break that long. But I mean, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, amiright?

As for next year, I have a few plans up my sleeve. I intend to rush a social Greek sorority, which will be stressful but fun. I'll also be the Features Editor for ROCKET, which will also be stressful, but I'm going to try my hardest to make it worth it. I don't know if I'll become a big and take a little for NKE during the fall, but I definitely will by the springtime. (Don't hold me to that, though, I feel like I don't yet know what I'm getting myself into....) Also! I did a piece for ROCKET about people who do shows for the campus radio station, and it fascinated me. I'm very intrigued, and I kind of want to try it out, even if I'm limited to playing only songs my parents will know because they'll be my only 2 loyal listeners. I'm cool with that. I just want to get involved, but we'll see. My goals for next year are to do well academically, and get super involved with extracurricular activities, like I was in high school. I don't know how to not be busy, what can I say? ;P

Pathways from the Wren towards my ***bright*** future

I'd end this post here, but I feel like my legions of loyal readers will be disappointed if I don't arbitrarily state my favorite songs at the moment. So here's a ~*brief*~ list.

Carry You - Phillip Larue
Barcelona - George Ezra
Slow Dancing - Two Worlds
Elizabeth Taylor - Clare Maguire
(Girl We Got A) Good Thing - Weezer
All Downhill from Here - The Summer Set (their entire new album, Stories for Monday, is amazing btw)
When Did Your Heart Go Missing? - Rooney (an oldie but a goodie)
Chronic (The Knocks High in Harajuku Remix) - Phoebe Ryan (I quite literally cannot stop myself from dancing to this, it's such a good remix)
Tilted - Christine and the Queens
Where You Are - Hillsong Young & Free (Sometimes Christian Rock has deceptively good beats also I didn't know this was a Christian song until just now)
Loch Lomond - Peter Hollens (an a cappella group on campus sings this as a senior goodbye song and it's absolutely stunning)
Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root
Come and Get It - John Newman
Can't Sleep Love - Pentatonix
WHERE THE HELL ARE MY FRIENDS - LANY (they capitalized it like that, not me. But I agree)
The entire new 1975 album, which I will review in full at a later time, but oh my GOD it is so GOOD (link is one of my favorite songs from it)
Post-Breakup Sex - The Vaccines
Teenage Idol - The Vaccines
Virgins - Death from Above 1979 (Sam, if you're reading this, I only know this band bc of you, so thanks)
White is Red - Death from Above 1979
All My Friends - Snakehips, Tinashe, Chance the Rapper
River - Leon Bridges
Gold - Kiiara
The Rules for Lovers - Richard Walters
Leave a Trace - CHVRCHES
Lemon Eyes - Meg Myers
All I Wanna Say - Lontalius

I'll stop here, for real now. Although I haven't recommended songs in so long, I could honestly keep going and make this ridiculously long post even more ridiculous. But I digress.

The important thing is...
 I'M BACK AND BETTER THAN EVER*

 (*overstatement, but like, whatever)

The Day We Thought We Were Irish-Italian

Yesterday, my friends and I went to a shopping center/downtown to celebrate the birthday of one of these said friends. Her birthday happens to fall on St. Patrick's Day, so naturally, this town center was having a St. Patrick's Day festival, complete with shamrock clothing, green wigs, and so much beer you could smell it in the air. We're underage, so of course, we didn't drink, but we definitely took advantage of the free cotton candy. Anyway, that's not entirely why I'm writing this post. I'm also writing to recount the day we had, because it was by far one of the most fun days I've had in a while. It was so nice to get a little dressed up for once, and spend some time outdoors window-shopping with my friends. We are so swamped with school work and extracurricular responsibilities, we hardly ever have time to just have fun together anymore. But yesterday, we made it an unsaid point to talk about anything other than school. We walked around with our hair blowing maniacally in the wind and took an unnecessary amount of pictures, had lunch at the insanely posh Vapiano's Italian restaurant, looked around at Anthropologie and cried at how expensive everything was while also taking advantage of their free Mason Jar Iced Tea (I took the jar home, by the way), tried on purple lipstick and green eyeliner at Sephora, and  got some ridiculously delicious gelato. The weather was beautiful, the crowd was just the right amount of cheerful, and they blocked off the roads within the town center so we walked in the street, which made me feel totally badass. I was so grateful to be there with some of my favorite people, and I really wish there was a way to ditch school completely and just have moments like these forever. :)


PS. - We originally thought the huge Irish flag hanging from the stage thing in the middle of the town center was an Italian flag, until we realized it was St. Patrick's Day in two days and that we are incredibly stupid. That, and the fact that the only food we ate that day was Italian, is why we thought we were Irish-Italian for the day.

Vogue-ing out in front of a flag mural

Lunch (which was homemade and delicious and expensive)

Looking fierce with her new round sunglasses (c'est adorable!)

Caught lusting after unattainable clothes 

Lost but unwilling to admit it ;)

Staring dreamily at the theater marquee