February 2018

7:00am *alarm goes off*

1. Jesus Christ my eyes are swollen shut, I need, like, 10 more minutes of sleep.

2. Ugh no I don’t, I HAVE to wash my hair today, it’s been long enough.

3. I’m smelling ripe.

Pretty much everyone hates the new Snapchat update. You don’t even have to use Snapchat to know this--so many users have been sharing their displeasure on social media. I have yet to update the app, so while I’m not suffering from the new version it did get me thinking about what it even means to update something.

Well, the semester has kicked off and is in full swing. Students are having "midterms" (which, as all UVA students know, are not at all confined to the middle of the term), people are freaking out trying to come up with summer plans, and we have a bunch of stuff to share with you all!

In everyone’s college career, there comes a time when people start to reflect on how they’ve spent the last few years. Where were the places and who were the people they’ll want to remember twenty years from now? People recall all the parties they went to where they met some of the most interesting characters, or all the hours they’ve spent sitting in the library cramming for an exam.

The beginning of the semester is exciting. We get to come back to Charlottesville to see friends we’ve been missing, we start new and (hopefully) interesting classes, and we all feel invigorated to rock this semester. But all that can also drain us of our energy. Before we know it, we’re a month into classes and feel drowned with work and February weather. During times of change or transition, I always feel a disruption in my mental health, and I never need to look any further than the start of a new course load or the new year for these feelings to resurface.

If you’re on any sort of social media, you’ve likely seen the hashtag #MeToo posted by someone you know. The number of people who have posted, tagged, and tweeted the phrase has been staggering, and with this comes the shocking realization that so many people face harassment and assault.