Happy Summer, Blue Hens!

Many of us are spending our summer days in vastly different ways. Some of us are working away at a job or internship, while others are jet setting around the world on vacation. Still others, like a good majority of college students, are probably exhausting their parents’ Netflix accounts.

During our summer break, it is very easy for us to get lackadaisical and waste away our days without doing anything productive. My friend tweeted just the other day that one of the ways she keeps track of what day it is during the summer is through her Instagram feed; if she sees a lot of pictures of guys, she knows it is Monday (thanks to #ManCrushMonday) and if there are a lot of old pictures, it is obviously Thursday, for #ThrowbackThursday. I could not help but laugh at how sad, yet true, this tweet was for many of us on summer break.

I’ll be the first to admit it: I love my downtime. I look forward to when I can catch up with my good friends Olivia Benson and Elliott Stabler of SVU while snuggling with my dog. However, I also love to be productive. The greatest feeling in the world is when I can cross items off my to-do list. During the school year, I have so many to-do lists to help me get everything done and stay focused.  For the first time ever, I decided to integrate a to-do list for my summer this year. The items on this list are more goal-oriented; they are things that I hope I can do this summer, ranging from practical to crazy. Below are just some of the ones that I hope I can accomplish this summer to make it a successful and memorable one:

The Future-Oriented:

-Update LinkedIn profile

-Look into creating personal website

-Network and make contacts at work events

The Enjoyable:

-Catch up on House of Cards, True Detective, and/or Chuck

-Cry while watching The Fault in our Stars in theaters

-Have fun and try to remember dances on stage at dance recital

Hannah on stage at her dance recital 

The Hopeful:

-Visit New York City and/or Washington, D.C

-Get tickets to see The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon

-Complete internship by learning a lot, but still having an enjoyable experience

I could go on and on with other goals on my to-do list. However, summer still is a time to have fun and relax before school starts back up. So this last item is probably the most important part of my to-do list that I hope to accomplish and one I hope you try and achieve, too:

-Try to find the happiest moment that perfectly sums up the summer break

I may or may not have already found that one moment. Regardless, I am still going to try and remember to have fun and enjoy my summer as much as I can to make sure I have that one pinnacle moment when school rolls back around in late August.

With that being said, I hope all you Blue Hens enjoy the rest of your summers as well and get ready for another exciting year to start!

~Hannah Tattersall

There are not many things that will make me want to get up at 5AM. Getting to go to Disney World? Duh. Watching the Royal Wedding live? Of course. Having to work University of Delaware Decision Days? Without a doubt, yes!

Now yoUDecide!

The past two weekends I had the very fortunate opportunity to showcase my love for our lovely university to admitted high school seniors during our Decision Day open houses. These are the days I absolutely love and remain some of my best memories so far. I love being one of the first faces people see, screaming at them saying, “Welcome to Delaware!” I love when families come up to me asking for directions to Gore Hall, when they are, in fact, right in front of it. I love getting free UDairy ice cream at the end of the day because they had extra. I even love waking up before the sun and already being exhausted by the time current students wake up for brunch.

From working at parking, to giving tours of the residence halls, seeing the prospective students trying to picture themselves here was such an eye-opening experience for me. It is so weird to think that just two short years ago, I was in the exact same place as them trying to decide where I should go to school. Reflecting back at how much I was wracking my brain trying to pick between Boston College and UD Honors, I honestly do not envy high school seniors at all. It’s such a stressful time! How do you know you are making the right decision? What if you pick the wrong school? What will people think of my decision? These are some of the many thoughts I remember going through when making my final decision. Looking back on it now, I honestly wish I could go back to my Decision Day and shake my younger-self silly! I wish I could tell myself to listen to my family when they told me not to stress over the decision. I wish I could tell myself that UD will turn out to be the perfect fit for me and never second-guess it. And, I wish I could tell myself to make the decision I knew all along and pay that deposit as soon as possible!

I remember I finally made my decision to come to Delaware right after Decision Day. However, I was worried that people would think the only reasons I picked it were because I wanted to be close to home and because my sisters went here. Yet, those aspects were just like icing on the cake. I made my decision because I loved it here. It’s as simple as that. Main Street made UD feel like a small, quaint town, almost like Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. The campus was gorgeous and really looked like the quintessential college campus. But, what really made UD stand out from the rest was the Honors Program. I loved the feeling that it was almost like a school within a school, with a small community of faculty and students that made my transition from a graduating class of 55 girls to a grade almost 100 times that seem less daunting. And I loved the fact that Honors would allow me to challenge myself in many different ways, from academics, to leadership roles, to just having the reputation as an Honors student. Simply put, the Honors environment just felt right.

Thankfully, the second I stepped on campus that Decision Day two years ago, I knew I was home. Hopefully, these past two weekends, even more seniors felt the same way! And so, to those lucky admitted seniors finally coming to the best decision they will ever make: Welcome Home!

~Hannah Tattersall

This past Sunday, movie lovers everywhere relished in the 86^th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. With the theme of the night of “Heroes in Hollywood,” the Oscars honored the year’s best in film. Some of the big winners of the night were 12 Years a Slave, with the Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for up and coming Lupita Nyong’o, Gravity, which earned director Alfonso Cuaron two awards for the night for Best Director and Film Editing, and Dallas Buyers Club, as its two leading men, Matthew McCounaghey and Jared Leto each took home the golden statue for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

However, what I personally love about the telecast besides all of the awards and the glitz and glamour that comes with “Hollywood’s Biggest Night,” are the moments we do not expect to happen. Read on for my top 3 favorite parts of the night:

3. Frozen Ices the Competition

If you know me at all, than you know how much I love Disney’s newest animated feature, Frozen. The entire movie, from the story, to the characters, to the music, call back to the classic Disney era that it is almost impossible not to get up and sing. So, when Idina Menzel came out to belt the show stopping “Let It Go,” I was in a “frozen fractal” heaven. To top it off, the film ended up winning Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song just moments later.

2. Most Quotable Acceptance Speeches

I am not going to lie; usually I love fast forwarding during acceptance speeches because they can drag on sometimes.  However, so many of the winners this year provided great speeches that had me laughing at times, while on the brink of tears at other times.  After winning Best Actress, Blue Jasmine’s Cate Blanchett told Julia Roberts to “hashtag suck it,” while Frozen composers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez fittingly sang a rhyming speech to commemorate their win. On the other hand, upon winning her award for Best Supporing Actress, Lupita Nyong’o reminded everyone that, “No matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.”  And with perhaps the most gracious speech of the night, Jared Leto covered all of the bases when he starts his speech by telling the inspiring tale of his mother, then mentioning the political crises in Ukraine and Venezuela, and ending with a dedication to all those who have lost the battle to AIDS.

1. Ellen Breaks Twitter

Seriously, how much do you wish you could be in this photo?

Through all of her hilarious gaffs throughout the show, from coming out in full Glinda attire after The Wizard of Oz tribute, to ordering pizza for the audience, Ellen proved again that she could pretty much get away with doing anything.  Her best moment of the night? She broke Twitter! It started out as a bit for Ellen to get a selfie with Meryl Streep to be the most retweeted photo of all time.  However, moments later they were joined by an all-star lineup of Oscar royalty, including Jennifer Lawrence, Brangelina, Kevin Spacey, and Bradley Cooper. Needless to say, the audiences everywhere were obsessed and the tweet currently has been retweeted almost 2.8 million times!

~Hannah Tattersall

Happy New Year, Blue Hens! I hope everyone has been having a great winter break so far; I know I have! From seeing old friends, to celebrating the holidays with family, from going to the movies, to exhausting my Netflix account, I have had a very relaxing and overly desired break. However, I am anxious to start back up next week for Winter Session as I will be taking a class every day, and with fondness I welcome back a stricter schedule in the coming weeks before starting spring semester.

While 2014 has just begun, 2013 is still visible in our rearview mirror. I may be in the minority here, but I am personally happy to see a new year begin. This past year was a memorable one. Over the last 365 days, I finished my first year of college,  held my first internship, traveled to Disney World with my family (again), and saw some of my favorite artists in concert. However, with all of those good memories come bad memories in the forms of broken promises, mistakes, losses and tragedies.  Yet, even with all of the unhappiness and sorrow we may feel looking back on 2013, we should not grieve, as so many people do.  Instead, we should remember our lessons learned from these mistakes and tragedies and live out this next year in the memory of what happened in 2013.

When the ball drops to ring in a New Year, it is as though the weight we have carried the past year drops too. I welcome 2014 with open arms; with this New Year comes great hope and a promise for a better year. It’s a new book that is just waiting to be written. New friendships will be made and new adventures will be taken. New memories will occur and new experiences will happen. Just like Hilary Swank’s character from Garry Marshall’s New Year’s Eve says, “That’s what New Year’s is all about. Getting another chance, a chance to forgive, to do better, to do more, to give more, to love more, and to stop worrying about what if and start embracing what will be.” Don’t worry about making (and inevitably breaking) New Year’s resolutions and promises. Instead, worry about living in the memory of those who didn’t get the chance to see 2014. Try something new every week. Do a random act of kindness. Start a journal. Travel to a new place. Learn a language. Don’t let another year go by where you look back and have a list of regrets. We got a fresh start this week; don’t waste it!

Have a Happy 2014!

~Hannah Tattersall