Hello everyone! So today was my first day of my second year of college and it was exciting. Busy, but exciting nonetheless!

I had three classes today, plus an institute class. Unfortunately, the institute class probably won't work out with my schedule so I dropped it for one that does!

My first class was Philosophy 101 and the professor is such a cute, sweet, older man! It's a pretty full class and so we spent most of the 75 minutes going through our "Who are you?" papers. I think I'll really enjoy this class. I've already read through half of our assigned reading and it's so fascinating! I feel like I'm already thinking on a deeper, philosophical, level.

My next class was Healthful Living 100 and the professor kept on repeating how the class was going to really depend on us. We're going to be doing a lot of reflections all semester and it's going to be about how the stuff we learn in class can be applied to our daily lives. I'm excited to learn about stress management the most, though. College, college, college.

My last class of the day was Native American Religions and I ran (okay, walked) all the way to the admissions office to drop it immediately after. I'm not saying it was a dull topic, I actually probably would have really enjoyed it. BUT, I didn't really feel comfortable/like the vibe the class was giving off. I was exhausted by then at only 12:40 (hey, the heat really drains a gal out) and I don't think I would be able to power through a lecture based class with no excitement, about a subject I, let's be honest, wouldn't ever consider taking if it hadn't been a pretty little 3 credits towards humanities. So, adios REL 203 - you will probably not be missed too much.

And, there's my schedule! I'm so happy I FINALLY have my license so I was able to leave immediately after and take a nice nap once I got home. But, I don't think I'll be taking more naps around that time because a long nap in the middle of the afternoon just isn't what it used to be. Haha. I'm nervous for parking in the morning because the parking lot was a MAD HOUSE (not exaggerating, it was nuts) and I'm still not completely confident with my parking skills... oops.

Overall, I think it's going to be a fun semester! I'm REALLY nervous for my classes tomorrow - Biology and Calculus, I have such a love-hate relationship with you both. But I have a security blanket (Arya) to power through it with me.

Until next time, I love you ALL so very much and I'm so thankful that you took the time to read this, haha. BYEEEEE.

     I'm not a love or relationship expert by any means, but I have been in a few relationships. From those relationships I have learned so much about how relationships should work, what I want from my future relationships, and even more about MYSELF. So far I've been in two serious relationships which I considered to be "toxic". DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A BASH-MY-EX-BOYFRIENDS POST. This is not to speak ill of my past relationships, or to further dwell on what went on within them. This is for all the girls (or guys) out there who have been through a toxic relationship or two and are stuck... just like I was. Stuck because they feel like they lost so much more than they gained from those relationships. Which is 100% false.
     So I put together a super short list of the main things toxic relationships have taught/given me.


1. Self Love
     This is number one because it is the MOST important. My past relationships taught me how to love MYSELF. When me and my ex-significant others would fight or break up, I would feel like the only person in the world who could ever love me was gone. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Then, one day, I realized that this person doesn't have to be (and isn't) the only person who loves me. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, if that person wasn't going to love me anymore then I was going to love myself. I started to actively do things that made me want to love myself MORE, things that made me happy, INSTEAD of doing those same things for my other half. I may not have learned this until after these relationships were over, but I learned. And I'm so much happier because of it.

    Hello everyone! Recently I filmed a video pertaining to three things you should and three things you shouldn't do in college! Each "tip" has seriously helped me so much during my first year of college and I've learned way more than I ever thought I could in less than 12 months! So, I'd like to help all of you out who are in college and share the 3 really important "Do's" and 3 really important "Don'ts" in college :)


1. Buy brand new textbooks
     Fortunately, I did my fair share of research before I started college and came across slugbooks.com. So I never had to overpay for my textbooks! Basically, you take the ISBN issued for each of your class textbooks, enter them on into the search bar in slugbooks, and slugbooks shows you all of the websites that sell or rent your textbooks - that way you can see where it's the cheapest! This was honestly such a lifesaver. My first semester I needed a math book which would have been well over $200 but thanks to slugbooks I was able to BUY it (not rent it) for NINETEEN DOLLARS. Check it out and save SO MUCH $$$.

2. Blow off class
    This should honestly be a no-brainer, but still every semester there's always those couple of people who HARDLY show up to class! You're PAYING for these classes, why would you not show up? Also, some teachers actually give attendance points which means EASY points just for showing up! So definitely, definitely, get your money's worth and attend class! Get those easy points and understand the lectures. From experience when I miss even one day of class I show up to the next one and it feels like I missed an entire week's worth of information. Don't put yourself so far behind!

3. Put off studying
     In high school, I hardly had to study. Only now am I realizing that high school was easy because we were taking things at such a slow pace... not in college. In college you only meet about twice a week (depending on the class) so everything you learn is at a faster pace (more reason to not miss class) and you're given double the information, sometimes more! So don't put off studying for the night before a big exam, that's so much information to try to remember! Instead, dedicate AT LEAST an hour after each class to go over the material and really, truly, study it. Everyday. By doing this you're more likely to actually LEARN the information vs. just memorizing it for a day and a half then brain-dumping it after the exam. Make things easy on yourself and learn the information the DAY its presented and keep studying it!

I'm working on TWO super exciting new posts:

• Modesty
• What Toxic Relationships Taught Me

     Back in middle school I'd constantly make bulletin posts on Myspace highlighting the best parts of my day or filling out a fun survey. SO, as I was scrolling through my tumblr dashboard I came across a survey and now I NEED to fill it out, haha. So this is just for fun, a blast from the past if you will. I'll probably do these occasionally (whenever I come across one) because I think they're so much fun and usually have some pretty interesting questions. So, here it is!

1. My Faith
     First and foremost, my faith is 100% everything I am. It is everything I need to be built on, and right now it's not where I want and need it to be. Yes, I am in love with Jesus Christ. Yes, I am in love with my church. But right now, I know I am not as close to Christ as I should be. Now, no one is ever as close to Christ as they should be - but I feel like before I can focus on a guy, or dating, or a relationship I need to put all my focus on one particular guy (Jesus Christ). I need to make frequent dates, spontaneous ones, even, to spend time with Him, and I need to strengthen our relationship in order for all the other relationships in my life to strengthen as well.
     Secondly, college guys aren't known for they're chivalry or their unfaltering love for Jesus Christ. And I have lots of things on my "non-negotiable" list and my #1 which is 100% NON-negotiable is that I want and need a guy who could never love me more than he loves Jesus Christ. I am not willing to spend time with guys who I KNOW cannot lead me toward Christ. And even if I find a guy out there who is capable of change, and capable of becoming a true man of God - HE isn't ready to date and has a better relationship to work on than one with me.

2. My personal goals and dreams
     While I am NOT one for putting aside my own hopes and dreams, I do know what it's like to love someone. And when you love someone you really don't see putting aside your hopes and dreams as a bad thing - you actually WANT to put aside your own dreams to create new ones you and you're significant other can work towards together. And I'm sorry, but putting aside all the things I want to accomplish for myself is not happening.
     At my age all the guys (worth dating) are leaving for their missions or returning from them. I see all these girls who are in serious relationships which are working towards marriage, or are already engaged or already married. And I do want that for myself, I do. But even more so, I want to live a life and have my OWN experiences. I want to be so full of good things and work toward good things and know that I achieved good things all on my own. So when I do find a guy worth dating, I won't feel as if all the good things in my life are because of him. I don't want my one and only good thing to lay in the hands of a person I'm merely dating.

3. My education
     Of all my hopes and dreams, my biggest is to finish my education - but also, to never stop learning. In a few weeks I will be entering my second year of college and right now, soaking in everything I learn and pushing myself to become a better student is everything to me. I want to get my bachelors degree and then my masters and hopefully, one day, a doctorates. And I obviously won't be single through all those years of school, but for now - I need to keep an eye on what I really, truly, want to achieve.
     Going to school doesn't hinder my love life, but it is 100% more important to me.

4. Traveling
     TRAVELING, TRAVELING, TRAVELING. I've been to FOUR states and ONE island. That's it. And even if you hardly know me, you will find out soon enough that I am so in love with London, England. It is my dream to travel Europe and to visit beautiful places and learn morsels of beautiful languages and to experience true culture. And one day, I want to do all these things with the love of my life. But before that, I want to do all those things by myself. I want to be alone for my first true traveling experience so that I can create my own stories. I saw this quote the other day that read "I want wings, not roots" and that seriously could not be more true. I don't need to root myself to places or people, right now. I want to be as free as I can be, and feel that way too.

5. Finding out who I am and becoming who I want to be
     My name is Vinissa, and some days I'm not happy with who I am. Not on a serious level, or a depressing level, but on a "I could be better" level. And everyday I work to better who I am. And some days, I don't even know out who I am. But at 19, I don't think I need to. I think I need to run head first into experiences and let myself soak in my circumstances and along the way I can pick up the little clues, and hints, leading me to the person I am; which I hope to be synonymous with the person I want to be. So before searching for a guy worth dating, or one who passes my non-negotiable list, I'm searching for myself. I'm creating a non-negotiable list for myself.



     And there's my list, 5 things more important to me than searching for a guy. And I'm sticking to it... but, should a guy who loves Jesus Christ, pushes me towards my dreams, cheers me on during the weeks I have huge exams or papers due, won't clip my wings, and gives me space to figure out who I am, yet never gives up on the person he knows I can/want to be, comes along - I'm all ears.