Happy Belated New Year and Holidays,

A few selected members of my family, cousin and siblings

First and foremost, welcome to my new followers! Thank you for the likes, follows, and comments. Surpassing 7,000 views is exciting. Cannot wait to see what this new year of writing and research brings!

Second, I apologize for the lack of post in the past weeks, moving, finals, and the holidays. I traveled away from Boston for two weeks to spend time home in Fayetteville, North Carolina. It was warm and full of some well needed relaxation. During this time, I took a break from research and social media focusing on applications and being with my siblings. Yes, you read it right, applications. I am currently looking for a second part-time job for some extra money to save for future travel adventures (ESSENCE MUSIC FESTIVAL), an internship with the African American Museum of Boston, and graduate schools. Yes, again, you read it right, graduate school applications. It is a new year and there is a lot of unexpected changes.

Graduate School

I am officially a graduate school drop-out, but that sounds extremely negative. I am transferring, seeking to pursue my studies elsewhere, in other words I have left Simmons. I realized by October that Simmons was not the place for me. I am not putting down the school, it is a great university with a prestigious academic reputation, but there were no scholars who focused on African American history and a lack of diversity. Coming from Messiah College, where I focused so much on diversity affairs, it felt strange being at Simmons and with no one to actually mentor me in my area of history, I knew it was not the place for me. Originally, I thought there were at least two professors in this field at Simmons who focused on my area of history; however, one only focuses on the Atlantic slave trade and the other professor only holds an interest in black history. So, I am back to square one. I will be applying to three to four schools, including a PhD program at the USC!!! Amazing schools with amazing programs.

NYU Columbia USC

There were a few more schools on the list that were removed. Graduate school application fees are expensive…

Boston and Other Shenanigans

If you remember, I moved to Boston back in August and I am not going to lie, adjusting to this city was harder than I expected it to be. I was not homesick, yet I knew I would not be in the city for long. My objective—get your degree and leave. Just because you do not like the city does not mean you compromise your education, unless your education proves to be something other than you imagined. The people are nice, the transportation systems are not bad, but this cold culture and cold weather. I am simply not a lover of Boston. I have my friends and I have grown comfortable with the city, although this cold is testing me, but I plan on leaving in August. Where? It all depends on where I am accepted, but I know this is my final year in Boston. I need my sweet tea, Krispy Kreme, but most importantly I want to return back to the South. I have been in the Northeast for way too long.

Boston came two moves, yes I moved twice since August. I am enjoying my new place and my roommates. Lesson learned about using Craiglist and recommendation from friends. The move, or rather I should say the need to move came during finals. I was able to find a place within two days before returning home, thank you Lord. So when I left I would return to my new place and start this new year. I finished the semester with A’s in all my classes and said farewell to Simmons. I was going to continue taking a few classes, but graduate school credit does not tend to transfer, it was expensive, and there were no classes that would help me in African American history. Hopefully an internship will serve as an academic venue. Other than that, I will continue to write, do research, and fill my day with yoga and reading.

Lifestyle Improvements, New Year Resolutions

1. Write more…one blog a week and journal daily: I always tell myself whether it is work, academic writing, or anything in life–do what you love. I love to write and this blog has granted me the ability to allow my research to reach greater audiences. Through multiple friendships from this blog and college, a friend launched her business creating tea-stained page journals for tea-stained women and men. She is an incredible, powerful, fearless woman. As a result of her daily musings and journals, I have been encouraged to write more and to share my journey, my own daily musings, even if they are only for me. I cannot wait to look back and read what I thought or said throughout the years. I also hope she will customize a journal for me featuring Rachel Flowers on the front, but I must write through a couple of journals first before I purchase a new one. One I picked up in Russia, the other in Northern Ireland.

More information of Vagabroad Journals is here. You can purchase journals here .

2. Read More…This will not be a hard one. I love to read, but I want to be a more well-rounded reader. I tend to stick to books written by African Americans or pertaining to African American history. I need to read outside of my comfort zone. Slowly, but surely I will; therefore, I will try to read a classic novel once a month starting with William Faulkner.
3. Eat more….healthy food: Going home, we always talk about those who passed away and I neglected to realize the correlation between my relatives’ deaths and heart disease. Many have died from heart attacks at relatively young ages and dealing with chest pain myself, I need to be cautious of what I eat and work out more. I walk daily; however, I have used that excuse to justify not exercising, so I will start up some paid yoga classes as oppose to yoga in front of a Netflix movie.

Those are my three main lifestyle improvements others include going out a couple of times a week, meet new people, try something new, sleep well, travel, save money, eat out less, remove old baggage, and keep in touch with old friends.

Hope your New Year has started well! Looking forward in resuming my research!

Until the next post,

Christina