AS FAR AS I KNOW IT

5 Tips on Making Friends in College

Hi everyone!

As you can probably tell from the title, today I will be giving some tips on how to make friends in college. I am a very introverted person so I was extremely nervous when my freshman year came around. As many people are afraid that they don’t know anyone, I used this to my advantaged. Because no one knew me, I could be whoever I wanted. College was a fresh start for me and I took full advantage, and I encourage you all to do the same.

This was my chance to be outgoing, join the clubs I was always afraid to, and finally just be free from all the superficial high school stereotypes, cliques, etc. College was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. So whether you had no friends in high school, or all the friends in the world, read along for my tips on how to make friends in college, because trust me, college is nothing like high school.

1. Join a club..or many clubs

This one may sound typical but it really is the best and easiest way to meet new people. Many schools will have an Activities Fair where students can talk to representatives from all the clubs on campus and see if they’re interested. There are tons of clubs in college, so you are bound to find one you like! Whether it is student government, sports, or a club for your major, there is something for you! I can (and maybe will) write an entire post on the benefits of joining a club. A group of people with a common interest? Tell me that’s not the perfect place to start a friendship.

2. Leave your door propped open

This is an excellent way for you and your roommate to get to know the rest of the students on your floor. It shows that you are open and willing to meet new people. My freshman year my whole floor decorated door props and then we had contest to see who had there door open the most. I had people stop in my room on the first day and they ended up staying and talking to my roommates for hours! We are still friends with them two years later.

Leaving your door open is also great for those like me who are kind of shy. I won’t usually be the one to go up and introduce myself to new people, but by leaving my door open, it showed that I was inviting and wanted to interact with others. This is such a simple way to allow yourself to meet friends.

3. Go to school events (i.e. football games, festivals, etc.)

College campuses usually have a lot of events going on, especially in the beginning of the year. Grab some people from your floor and walk to the football game together. The more you are out on campus, the more you will see the same people and begin to connect with them. If you just sit in your room all day there is a low chance of people getting to know you, and I’m sure you are great to know, so get out there and be seen!

4. Leave your past in the past, start fresh

A lot of these tips require physically getting out there and meeting people, but this one is more psychological. If you were the most popular kid in high school, let that go. Half of your college class was probably the most popular kid. And honestly, in college, no one cares about popularity. Just leave it behind, trust me. If you were bullied in high school, although that’s impossible to forget, you’re free now! College is a fresh start. Be confident in yourself and leave behind all the horrible people that ever put you down. Go to college with an open mind about others, and more importantly, about yourself. This is the next big step in your life, give yourself a chance to really explore without being held back by the past.

5. STAY ON CAMPUS!

Do. Not. Go. Home. Here’s why… So let’s say you and your bff, or even bf, from high school made plans to go back home the first weekend and see each other. So, you do. Meanwhile everyone is busy on campus making friends and connections. Next weekend, everyone is with their new friends and you feel like you missed out, so you go home again, and again. This is a vicious cycle that will only keep you from making connections on campus. I’ve seen this happen first hand. There are even studies on it. No matter how homesick you get, try to stick it out for at least the first couple of months.

These are my top 5 tips for making friends your first year in college. Overall, just be yourself and get out there! College is full of opportunities to meet new people so take advantage, and HAVE FUN 🙂 These are the best years of our lives!

xo Rickie

Greece 2015

Hi everyone!

As I’ve explained in some of my posts I have spent the last month in Greece visiting family. Today is my last day and it’s so bittersweet. I’m excited to go home and get ready to move back to school however it is so beautiful here and I never want to leave! I’ve been pretty heavy with the writing on my posts thus far so I figured today I’d just share some highlights from my trip via pictures. Enjoy!

Greece is extremely famous for it’s beautiful beaches! My first couple weeks here were very relaxed. I simply enjoyed my surroundings. A couple weeks into the trip my sister, Vissi, and my boyfriend, Bryan came to join my parents and I. Bryan brought his GoPro and we captured some cool pictures!

My sister baptized a baby boy during our trip. It was an amazing celebration!

Mt. Olympus is only about 30 minutes from our house. Here are some photos of our time there.

We even got to see a soccer game! We watched the Greek national youth team play Russia. We lost, by a lot, but we had a blast!

This summer, we visited the beautiful island of Chios for the first time.

In Chios, we visited the village of Pirgi. Here, the architecture is over 800 years old with very intricate designs. We were informed that Christopher Columbus once had a home here; it’s pictured below.

We went to Chios for the wedding of a friend. Everything was beautiful, especially the church!

On the weekends, we went out dancing.

And of course, my favorite activity of all was eating all of the delicious foods!

These are the highlights from my month in Greece. I hope to travel a lot more and continue to share my experiences. I recommend visiting this country to anyone who has the opportunity. What are some of your favorite places to travel? Better yet, what’s on your travel bucket list? Leave it in the comments below!

Until next time..

xo Rickie

July Favorites

Happy August!!

Today’s post is all about my favorite products from the month of July. These are some of my favorite posts to read and videos to watch so I thought I’d try it out myself. I haven’t really bought any new products since I have spent the month in Greece however here are the items I adored all month long!

Books

One of my favorite activities to do during the summer is read. For some reason I read more in the summer than I do all year round. My two favorite books this month were Paper Towns by John Green and Grey by E.L. James. I just finished Paper Towns and of the three Green books I have read, this is my favorite! I can’t wait to get home and see the movie. As for Grey, I loved the 50 Shades series when it first came out so another book from Christian’s point of view was pretty awesome. I mean we all wanted to know what was going on in that head of his, am I right?

Beauty

Bare Minerals Advanced Protection SPF 20 Moisturizer for Normal to Dry Skin

Since I’ve been here I have rarely put on foundation unless it was a special occasion (wedding, night out, etc.). I have been wearing this every single day. This moisturizer gives me life. I have mine in the shade sheer tint. I’ve never had very problematic skin other than a bit of redness on my cheeks and this product evens my skin tone out and gives me a nice sheer finish. Also, because the sun is so strong here I always make sure to wear SPF on my face.

Rimmel London Stay Matte Long Lasting Pressed Powder

Since the moisturizer is really all I’ve been wearing, I use this powder for when I want to tone down the sheer tint on my face. I use the shade nude beige and I think it does a great job mattifying my face. My only complaint is that the packaging is not great. However for the price of the powder, I overlook it.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate Moss in shade 08

I’m completely new to wearing lip color so I’ve been keeping it subtle. This is the perfect pink for me. I love this line of lipsticks and it’s so inexpensive! The formula really is long lasting and the color payoff is great.

Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lip Color in shade 650 Nude Embrace

I see so many people raving about this line of lipsticks by Maybelline and I totally see why! As the shade suggests this is a gorgeous, very wearable nude. I also love the matte packaging. Well done, Maybelline. Matte lipsticks can be very drying so I suggest exfoliating and moisturizing the lips before application.

Maybelline Brow Drama Sculpting Brow Mascara

I love this stuff! I am a very natural-makeup type of girl, especially in the summer months. Rarely have I filled in my brows since I’ve been here. I usually just put a bit of this tinted brow gel on and go on my way. I use the shade soft brown. They also have a clear shade for just setting the brows in place. This is a great drugstore find in my opinion!

Movie

Ok, so I’ve only watched one movie since I’ve been here in Greece however I loved it so I’m including it. Get Hard was hilarious! It kept me laughing throughout the entire movie, I’m a sucker for comedy films. Plus I love Kevin Hart; he just cracks me up.

Food

I thought this would be a fun category to add for this month since I am abroad. My favorite Greek food is of course the infamous gyro. What can I say I just can’t resist them. I also love my yiayia’s (grandma’s) keftedes, which are Greek meatballs.

That does it for this month’s favorites! I plan to add more categories in the future however I haven’t really experimented with a lot of products this month. What are some of your favorites for the month? Do we have any in common? Let me know in the comments!

I hope you enjoyed reading!

xo Rickie

What NOT to Bring to College

As July comes to an end many of us are experiencing the summer time blues, but not me! Back-to-school season is upon us and I couldn’t be more excited. Ever since I was in elementary school, school shopping was always my favorite. I carried this feeling through high school and now to college. The summer before college was probably the most excited I ever felt for school shopping.

With that being said, I may or may not have went a little overboard my freshman year. When it comes to packing I’m always the one who over does it, ask my roommates. Going into my first year of college I read article and article about what I should bring and eventually came to the conclusion that I needed everything. Boy, was I wrong. It only took me a few months to become annoyed with all of the clutter in my room.

I find that so many people talk about all of the items you will need in college, however there is little focus on what to leave at home. For this reason I bring to you my top 5 items to not to bring to college your freshman year. Enjoy!

1. Books that are not for your classes

For all my fellow bookworms out there this is a tough one. During the summer months I spend the majority of my time reading. So naturally, I figured I could do the same during my “free time” at school. WRONG. First of all, if your lucky enough to have any free time at all you will most likely want to sleep, meet new people, or just relax your mind and catch some Netflix. With all the reading you do for school, I found it almost impossible to find the motivation to read for leisure. If you think otherwise, your school will definitely have a library will hundreds of books for you to check out, so why not save some space and leave at least the majority of your books back home.

2. Most (if not all) of your t-shirts from high school

Ok, so unless you wear t-shirts 7 days a week, hear me out. I went to college with my basketball team t-shirts, my senior class t-shirts, and so on thinking that I would wear them to the gym, class, bed etc. However, as a freshman, you get like a million different t-shirts. Maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but I definitely got at least 10 t-shirts my freshman year. From orientation, to concerts, and other events, t-shirts are always being given to us. Anyways, I ended up having so many t-shirts lying around that they would not even fit in my drawers. Stick to your favorite three t-shirts and go from there.

3. All of your high-heels

I don’t know why but I thought bringing high heels to college was the best idea ever. Now that I think about it I don’t know what I was thinking. Besides presentations, there is never a day where I would wear them to class. As for the weekend life…I find that most people walk to wherever they go as opposed to driving, which can sometimes be over a mile away depending on the size of your campus, etc. So unless you’re on that supermodel status, heels aren’t really an option. My advice is to bring two pairs (black and neutral) for presentations, interviews, etc.

4. Dishes/Silverware

Lets be honest here, no one enjoys cleaning dishes. Even if you do, there is rarely time. I recommend buying plastic or paper plates as well as plastic silverware. I just makes life so much easier. The only exception would be plastic soup bowls/containers, which I totally recommend buying.

5. Knick Knacks

This is going to be a hard one for me this year, but I’m determined to do it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term “knick knacks”, they are basically just small items that are useless other than for decoration. For example, my desk my freshman year was covered in things like shells from Greece, key chains, perfumes, decorative shot glasses, and even a coke can with my name on it. Don’t get me wrong, it looked really cute, however I just wanted space. It’s not easy doing work in a cluttered area. Most of the time those objects served as distractions. I recommend bring maybe a picture frame or two but that’s it.

That does it for my top 5 items to leave at home your freshman year of college. I hope you found this helpful! Be sure to follow my blog for more 🙂

xo Rickie

“I really need new clothes” | A day of shopping in Greece

Hi Everyone! As many of you know I’ve spent the majority of my summer here in Greece. Oh how I wish I started my blog earlier because I have so much to share! For those of you who don’t know my dad was born in Larisa, Greece and came to the States when he was just eighteen years old. With that being said, many of my family members still live here and we come to visit as often as possible. A few years back my dad decided to buy a lot in Sotiritsa (a small beach town in the city of Larisa) and we now have our own home. That story could be a post in itself, however today I’m writing about my favorite hobby…shopping. It’s safe to say very few things can hold me back from shopping…not even the 110° F weather we had here today could stop me. This morning my aunt, mom, sister and I headed to the city to do some shopping before we head back to the U.S. next week. I’d say the day was a success over all.

The first store we visited was Calliope Italia. This is an Italian franchise store. They always have great deals! From here I bought a trench coat for only €14.99. I’m not sure what brought me to buy a jacket in such hot weather but it was just too cute to resist. Next, we visited Bershka a retail store owned by the Spanish Inditex group (they also own Zara and many more famous stores). I bought my new favorite shirt here! It’s a simple grey t-shirt that reads, “‘I really need new clothes’ -me every morning”. The shirt really couldn’t describe me any better. My sister also bought some really trendy “girlfriend” jeans! Check out the pictures below.

Next we walked into a store I was completely unfamiliar with called Dust + Cream. It is a Greek beauty franchise. It is pretty hard to keep me out of a beauty store however I was drawn into this particular store by the “Perfume Bar”. It was like the Yogurt City of beauty stores. You could literally fill a bottle with different scents and everything. They also sold make-up and different soaps with amazing scents. Here are some pictures:

Lastly, we visited my favorite store of all time…yes, I just made that claim. It is not a day of shopping in Europe unless you visit Zara. The closest Zara to me back home is in New York City, which isn’t very close so this is a luxury to me! The store is four floors high so I was one happy shopper.

Of course we had to stop and take a mirror pic.

At this point we were hot and hungry so we stopped and grabbed a bite to eat. I got souvlaki on a pita! Souvlaki is a popular Greek dish. It’s basically just a pork kebab. Of course we also had Greek salad. Everything was delicious!

The last store we hit for the day was Carrefour. This is very comparable to a Walmart. They sell just about everything. We just dropped by to get some plastic cups, plastic plates, and mouthwash. Yet, like most grocery shopping trips it ended with a full cart…

Finally, we headed back home, but not without stopping for coffee at my favorite coffee chain, Mikel Coffee Co.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our eventful shopping trip. Follow my blog for more 🙂

xo Rickie

I Have a Blog!

Welcome to my blog! I am Rickie, a college student from Western, Massachusetts. I come from a small-town and have always preferred to stay under the radar, yet I have always had a passion for social media, reading blogs, and watching vlogs. If someone were to tell me a couple of years ago that I would have my own blog I would have laughed in their face, but here I am now writing my first blog post.

As I left home for college two short years ago I was extremely shy and self-reserved. Although I still am a bit reserved, college has opened me up beyond belief! I went from the quiet girl in high school (not involved in anything but sports) to the vice president of my class, a peer mentor, and so much more while in college. I have developed so much self-confidence, independence, and knowledge thus far, that I just have to share it. I mean, hey, why not share my advice, ideas, and thoughts with others, right?

Although I am extremely new to the blogging world I have so many ideas and I can’t wait to share them! I’m just your average selfie-loving, beauty fanatic, foodie all wrapped in one. From the latest trends, to how to survive finals week, I plan to write about it! Thanks for reading and I welcome you to join me on this blogging journey.

xo Rickie

IG: @rickiexo

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