This past year of my life has been incredibly hectic for me. Last April, I decided I wanted to broaden my career options and change my major from apparel merchandising to marketing and technology management and minor in apparel merchandising. This required that I apply to the Kelley School of Business. I made an appointment to talk to an admission advisor and after a long discussion with her about the prerequisites I would have to take just to apply I realized that it would be a much more involved process than I had expected. Since I would be applying as a sophomore, I was forced to take almost all of the application prerequisites in one semester (my first semester sophomore year). I also needed to take another honors class required by the Hutton Honors College, so I was forced to take Honors Finite in addition to all of my other business prerequisite classes. It was one of the hardest semesters of my life, and really challenged my ability to focus and desire to be a business student. Thankfully, I was accepted in January. In order to finish my I-Core prerequisites in time to take I-Core next semester, I took another full, tough schedule of business classes last semester.
Because of my extremely busy academic year combined with extracurriculars, looking back I feel like this year has flown by. Constantly rushing around, I haven't had much time to "stop and smell the roses." I think one of the things I enjoyed most about being in Paris is being able to finally slow down and enjoy the beauty of the city. Finding hidden beauty around the city that wasn't necessarily a popular tourist destination was one of my favorite things to in my free time. For example, one day I decided to blog in the backyard garden of Paris American Academy right when the sun was about to set. I was able to capture one of my favorite pictures of the trip when the sun was shining down perfectly on the garden (below left). I also really enjoyed getting up close to the Eiffel Tower instead of the typical landscape view- I didn't realize the construction was so intricate. The criss-cross pattern of the iron was really interesting to me (below right). The ceiling of the Antwerp train station was also surprisingly beautiful (bottom). I considered this hidden beauty because usually when I think of train stations I do not think of beautiful architecture, but the train station in Antwerp surprised me with how detailed the windows and ceilings were. This was something I would not expect to see in America.
Because of this trip, I've really learned to appreciate popular beauty in tourist locations as well as hidden beauty. I hope that this can translate to my everyday life and I can learn to slow down and "smell the roses" more often!
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