The Falk Awards always provides a great ending to the school year, giving the theatre department a chance to celebrate its students and all of the accomplishments accumulated throughout the year.
If I had to sum up my junior year at UT in two words, they would be growth and persistence. This year provided many challenges, both physically and mentally with a lot of hard work and persistence I proved to myself that I was able to overcome the challenges I needed to in ways that were not a detriment to my mental health and well-being. Part of this growth was learning to prioritize the things in my schedule so that I could make sure that my time and energy was being used in the most effective and meaningful way possible. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to step back from certain things such as my job working in the Office of Admissions and my role as a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, two groups of people who will always hold a special place in my heart. However, this opened up my schedule and allowed
for me to accomplish so much with the Alpha Psi Omega chapter, begin cantering again at a local parish, add on a vocal ensemble to my schedule, and gave me the chance to put all of my remaining time and energy into my classes and two wonderful mainstage productions at UT.
It is incredibly strange to think that this time next year I will have graduated college (as long as everything goes according to plan...) and officially be boots on the ground in the real world, but I am actually really looking forward to it (and not in a "I already have senioritis" kind of way). Before I begin thinking too much about next year, let me share with everyone my plans for the summer because I have an incredible adventure ahead.
First, as previously announced, I will be spending a week in Washington D.C., first visiting some family members I haven't seen in a while and then attending the American Committee on Foreign Relations Young Leaders Initiative through the immense generosity of the Tampa Bay Area Committee on Foreign Relations who is sponsoring my travels to the YLI.
Next, I will be finally spending some time across the pond in Zagreb, Croatia. For those who do not know, learning Croatian as my second foreign language was one of my "quarantine projects" from 2020 and has been something that I have continued to work on over the past two years. As I learned on my exchange year, though, immersion is the best way to actually learn a foreign language so when the opportunity came to travel to Zagreb and take a three-week language intensive at the Croaticum, I jumped on the chance! I am looking forward to seeing my Croatian friends while I am there and hopefully making many new ones as well. And yes, despite the intense language preparation I've been doing...I am fully prepared to get over there and not understand a lick of the language at first (key phrase: "at first"; hopefully, I understand a little bit more by the end of my stay).
Finally, since I am just a couple of borders away, I am going to finally be able to visit my German friends and host-families again! The last time I saw just some of them was March 2020 when I was quickly swept back to the United States after the global lock-down was announced, but some of them I haven't seen since July 2019 so I am very excited to spend some time with them again (and also make sure I haven't completely forgotten my German).
I'm sure some of you are asking yourselves: "Why is she writing this? She's going to jinx it all!" In fact, it is something that came to my mind as I was typing this all out and was getting ready to post it, but I think it is still important to make plans and share them with people. I believe that everything happens for a reason, so if these plans (while I would REALLY REALLY like for them to happen) are not what ends up happening due to unimaginable, unforeseen circumstances then I will just have to trust that I will still have an amazing summer no matter what.
All this to say, I am greatly looking forward to this upcoming, final chapter at the University of Tampa and the upcoming events of the summer. I will do my best to update you all as they happen, but I believe it's important to live in the moment so if I'm a little behind on posting because I am busy taking a Croatian language course or catching up (in-person) with my German friends you might just have to wait a while.
Thank you to everyone who made this past year so incredibly special and to everyone who is helping to make this summer such a memorable one!
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