Hi Rollins family,
Dr. Meghan Harte Weyant, AVP of Student Affairs, recently shared a quote by Rumi: “live life as if everything is rigged in your favor.” There have been lots of good things that have happened to me since I’ve been in London. I got concert tickets to two of my favorite artists, I spend my weekends at markets, and I enjoy my classes. But there are also bad things that have happened in a short amount of time. The thought of studying for the GRE in addition to my classes here was becoming overwhelming, as well as the expectation to travel on the weekends to “make the most of my time in Europe.” I lost a prospective concert ticket from a resale website to one of my favorite artists’ sold-out show because I waited too long. Definitely learned my lesson of letting anxious feelings postpone myself from doing something I know will bring me joy. I began a search for another ticket after this disappointment that I kicked myself in the butt for. In addition, one of the artists that I was going to see cancelled his concert. Another incident I learned from was when I recklessly, as I do many things, took my laptop into the bathroom to listen to my Spotify music while I let my phone charge, and damaged the functionality of my laptop keyboard and mousepad. Also, for 24 hours, my phone was not responsive after having dying. Usually when my phone dies, it will say that it needs to be charged before it can be turned on; but the screen stayed black after holding the power button. I struggled with these technological problems ironically as a computer science major. Thankfully, it was my phone charger that was not functioning so I bought a new one at the local “Office Depot” called Currys, and an Apple Specialist at the nearest mall, Westfield, told me my laptop had a quick fix by replacing a ribbon inside. An expedited solution I did was to just buy an external mini keyboard and mouse. In a turn of events, I also found another resale ticket to the sold out concert I wanted to go to so badly and even scored a ticket to an album release concert for the artist I was already going to see. As I continue studying, I am less petrified by the GRE and my hopes of getting really high scores. After self-exploration, I came to terms that I rather explore within the United Kingdom or even London than outside because there is already so much to do here. Overall, I am continuing to live a stress-free, happy, and productive life; talk to loved ones; and do things that I enjoy. I’m a generally happy person and feel like I’ve been living by the Rumi quote even before having known it. When one door closes, there’s another one around the corner bound to open with better opportunities. This month has been good practice for staying mindful of my reactions and not focusing on the negative. Life is good and I am lucky.
With much love,
Carla Daza ‘20
