Yes, this is the THIRD recap blog post I’m doing, but hey, a lot happened this year! And after a long semester of churning that logical left brain, I’ve been dying to exercise more of my more creative right brain. I definitely start to get worn out if I don’t balance out the two. Every test I take tells me I use both sides equally, so it makes sense! This year was full of traveling with my dance team and my family and as my brother noticed, I have a lot of pictures on my computer!
One of my favorite trips this year was to Nashville, TN, which I had never been to before. It’s such a cute, small city with some gorgeous university campuses and is ALL about the brunch scene. We didn’t get any of their famous biscuits and chicken since the brunch places were packed to the brim and we were on a tight schedule, but I will definitely be back to experience. We made friends with THE BEST liaison ever who since has travelled extensively to be at more of our competitions and has pretty much become part of the family. I think it’s about time to buy him an extra UVA di Shaan quarterzip! Credits to Bosley Jarrett Photography for those amazing first four pictures!
Another yearly favorite is traveling to Virginia Beach with the team. We have now made it a tradition to go to the beach after our competition, even if it’s dark out by the time we get there! Something that was new this time was that we pit-stopped in Richmond, which actually marks the first time I was in Richmond ever! That’s another place that I definitely to go back to! That first and last dude is my partner in crime!
During the semester, I spent a lot of time not in that building below but near it on Engineers Way. My entire apartment went to the A.O.E. semiformal which was SUPER fun!! And of course, more shenanigans with the Bhangra team. I got to start off the summer with Beach Week with them in South Carolina which was the first time I’ve ever been to a beach week! As someone who LOVES the ocean & boogie boarding (need to learn how to surf one day), I had THE best time since the house we rented had a pool and we spent two days at the beach before it got rainy.
My uncle from India was visiting for the summer so we made sure to take him to some fun nearby spots on the weekends! We went to Harpers Ferry, Annapolis and then took a longer trip up to Niagara Falls! A huge thank you to my dad for making sure I was in a couple of these!
The ones below are from Niagara Falls!
At the end of September, both me and a close friend turned 21! We celebrated our birthdays together at our apartment and then a few weeks after we split a glass of white wine at Pippin Hill Vineyard to celebrate! This was my first ever time at a vineyard and it was so cool going out to one that I’ve only ever seen in other blog posts! The view of the mountain is INCREDIBLE and the wine was top notch too! Everyone dressed up and we made the most of our 30 minutes there before the vineyard closed for a wedding (big shocker right?!).
Here’s a huge block of day to day iPhone pictures. And really, this is where it all started for me. At UVA, I really wish I could carry around my camera because there’s not a day that goes by that I’m not amazed by the beauty of some spot around Grounds. I try to capture as much of those pictures on my phone as possible because I know I’ll want to look back at them after I graduate (I’m such a sap, I know…). I actually love this grid below because it captures more of that not so picture perfect moments from my day to day life this fall semester. It was one of my toughest semesters by far both academically & socially, but I’m glad to have made it through and to have pictures of the hustle & the highlights! Sorry, not sorry for all the Rotunda pictures!
I might actually add to the end of this blog post even after I publish it so that it’s an accurate reflection of the end of 2016! I actually didn’t bring my camera back to UVA after Thanksgiving break before coming back home for Winter Break, but I fully intend to use it to capture every day at home, no matter how “normal” or “insignificant.” The pictures from below were taken the day after I came home since I dressed up to go to a corporate office Holiday Party! I have worked at Ace Info Solutions for the past two summers and always enjoy being called back to go to their extremely fancy holiday party. I always love being able to catch up with my coworkers and this year I super dressed up! Funny enough, me and my best friend ended up wearing pretty much the same thing we did four years ago at prom & honestly if you look at the #throwback on Instagram, not much has changed!
All in all, as tough as this past semester at UVA was, I look back at all these memories that I have from the entirety of 2016 and remind myself that from here on out, I won’t mark events as belonging to one semester or another. Maybe it’ll be by huge milestones, or it’ll be by the year, but either way, I’m glad I have the pictures to document the good memories. I hope that as I graduate and start living on my own, I will take even more time to document all of the moments, no matter how small or big with a camera by my side!
