Dear Nebo,

I love UGA because I never intended to go here. I love UGA because I spent just about every fall weekend away from Athens this October. I love UGA because I am leaving campus to study half way across the world this spring semester. I love UGA because I spent my first college summer far away from Athens in North Carolina and I’ll spend my last far away in Washington, D.C.

Okay, now let me explain. I grew up in southern California, spending my high school years wishing to go away to college—somewhere new and fascinating and different from everything and everywhere I knew. I was bent and determined on doing my own thing and seeing more of the world outside of California. With my family’s strong track record at the University of Georgia, I stubbornly denied the possibility of going to UGA. But while I was resolute on going elsewhere, UGA offered me a scholarship that made my out-of-state dreams possible and secured my status as a Georgia Bulldog. And ever since, the adventure that became my life here at UGA has fallen into place. I got involved right from the start and took all of 30 seconds to realize that I was doing my own thing after all.

Flash forward two years into the future. Waking up at the crack of dawn to represent black and red at College Game Day in a sea of purple and orange. Sitting through a hard loss on a rainy Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee. Spending one weekend about as far from southern California culture as possible: at the Georgia National Fair in Perry, enjoying peach cobbler and fried food like never before. I spent yet another beautiful October weekend picking cotton with my family down in Thomasville, Georgia. These moments make up my college experience—seeing new places and experiencing new cultures and adventures. Because the road trips filled with fun and joy every weekend made driving back to Athens on Sunday afternoons that much sweeter—because I was driving home. 

This coming spring semester tugs at me because I won’t be returning to Athens, but instead will be embarking on the biggest adventure yet: studying abroad in Florence, Italy. That’s not to say springtime in Athens won’t be very missed, because there’s only one thing better than spring in the Classic City—and that’s Athens in the fall. But I blame UGA for sending me away. Because my time at school so far has proven to me my desire to see the world and experience anything that is new and different, and I know I will keep on doing just that even after I walk under the arch and leave my time in Athens as a student.

I came to college with a wide array of interests and passions and have spent the better part of my time at UGA learning how to apply them to a career some day. I knew what I loved and what I was good at: writing, designing, reading, editing, learning and communicating about the things of love. It became very clear to me that Public Relations was the perfect, open-ended study for me to pursue. This semester, I would spend the mornings learning HTML and working on coding web apps, then spend the afternoons analyzing and learning about British literature. I love being a student at the University of Georgia, and I love studying Public Relations in the Grady College even more because I love preparing for a dynamic career where learning never stops.

I spent the summer after my freshman year of college in the mountains of North Carolina, serving as a camp counselor. My job was to lead my cabin and teach classes, but my purpose was to form relationships. And little did I realize that my time at camp taught me a lot about what I want to do later in life: use my job to fulfill a purpose. And UGA has already afforded me exciting opportunities for the future. This coming summer, I will be interning through the Honors in Washington internship program in the Communications Department at National Geographic in Washington, D.C. where I can continue to learn how to use my job to fulfill my purpose.

So why do I love UGA? Because it has taught me who I am and what I want in life. More importantly, it’s taught me how to take all of that and apply it to life away from Athens and UGA. This incredible school has instilled in me the passion of learning, the joy of adventuring and the confidence to go and pursue those passions and joys everywhere—and not just in Athens, Georgia. So why should you pick me for this scholarship? Because UGA has offered me the opportunities to go across the world to study in Italy and intern at the nation’s capital, but all of these opportunities cost money. Because with the help of resources like this scholarship, I can continue to grow and learn outside of UGA, so that graduation rolls around, I am more than ready to take on the next big adventure.

Sincerely,

Catherine

the moments of spontaneity

Recently, I have felt a lot like a kid trying to play adult. Managing school, work and life and doing "adult" things like cooking my own dinner and cleaning my house and what not vividly reminds me that I'm not going to be 20 years old forever.

It's those insane moments of spontaneity that remind me that right now, I am 20 years old, and I'm loving it. Last Wednesday night, my friend and roommate Maggie (who knows that I love two things a whole lot, 1. country music and 2. live concerts) asks me, "so how do you like Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley?" When I said, obviously, that I love them both, she goes, "well would you want to go see them in concert tomorrow night?" To which it took me all of 30 seconds to decide, what the heck, why not?

And without even thinking much about any logistics or coming up with a game plan, we decided to buy some tickets a friend was selling at the last minute and less than 24 hours later, us and two friends were on our way to Atlanta on a Thursday night to go enjoy ourselves a country concert!

If any moment reminds me I'm 20 still allowed to be spontaneous and impulsive, sometimes against my better judgment, it's this: walking out of class at 5pm with my backpack and cowboy boots in hand and hopping in my car in Athens only to arrive in Atlanta to see Dierks Bentley and the biggest badass in country music, Miranda Lambert a few hours later.

The Glorification of Busy.

Stop it. The glorification of busy. And business. And being busy. And being a busy body.

As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I believe I am one to think "the grass is much greener." Do I even need to finish the cliche phrase or do you find yourself thinking the same exact thing as often as I do?

What I mean by this is that when I am bored or lack things to do, I feel useless, purposeless and unfulfilled. I crave that full-force business that leaves me feeling drained and accomplished at the end of the day. Then there's the reverse--when I am so busy that I hardly feel like I have my stuff together, I feel useless, purposeless and--you guessed it--unfulfilled.

It's like no matter what end of the spectrum I find myself at, I feel anxiety over the other end. Ironic, right? So that is what I am trying to stop. I am trying to stop the glorification of busy in my life because at the end of the day, I do not want to feel purposeful by how much I accomplished in my waking hours. I want to feel purposeful and fulfilled by the grace of Jesus and nothing else. It's a huge feat to work on this and I don't think it is something that will ever quite be "fixed." Because I know I absolutely need to look for the stillness of Jesus in my everyday life.

What am I doing about it? This looking for stillness? Trying to take note of and be joyful and at peace in little moments throughout the day. Normally, that's really easy for me to say and not actually do but this time, it's different. This year at school, I am on my own cooking for myself entirely for the first time in my life. And I know a lot of kids my age who just throw some lean cuisines in the microwave or pick up takeout and call it a night. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but for the past month, I have reminded myself what a joy it is to set aside half an hour to cook something for myself (and then I send a picture of whatever I cooked to my mom hoping she is as proud of me as I am...). Same goes for when I prepare my coffee in the morning. When I catch myself thinking how much more convenient and time-efficient it would be to stick a ready-made and packaged Keurig cup in the machine and "voila, a cup of lukewarm coffiee!" because I am just soooo busy, I choose to enjoy the process of preparing my coffee grinds and making my own personal cup of joe just for myself.

When I get out of class and I have to walk half an hour in the heat to my car or my house, I embrace the time I have to be outside that I truly can't spend doing anything else because I actually do have to walk there to get home.

I'm not the first one to think of or to say "watch out for the little moments in life," but I have been looking for them and making myself aware of little moments of joy in mine. When I recognize these moments and seek Jesus through them, I am full of joy and at peace. So hey, it works.

Southern, Godly Hospitality

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

-Matthew 25: 34-40

Whenever I read this passage or scripture like this, I wonder what exactly hospitality looks like in our world today. I think to myself all the time that it is hard to feed the hungry and welcome the strangers in the same way that Jesus did and that Jesus wants for us to. I think of all the differences between that day and age and now and am convinced that there is no way to show that kind of hospitality these days.

Well, now I can bite my tongue. Because this weekend I realized how wrong that is-how wrong I have been to think that showing Jesus's love and hospitality in our normal lives is unattainable. Not because I learned what it meant to clothe and feed and house the needy--but because I was on the receiving end of such hospitality.

Coming from California all the way to Georgia in a school where 91% of the more than 35,000 students come from the state of Georgia. People are born and bred Bulldawg fans and wait their whole life to come to UGA. And then when they get here, oftentimes they go home for the weekends. On long weekends like this for Labor Day, it seems that not a soul hung around the Classic City. On the contrary, everyone gets out of town fast enough that they can eat home cooked meals, have their laundry done for them, shower and sleep in their own home and spend time with the family. Now I love my school and the beautiful state of Georgia and would never change a thing about my college experience, but weekends like these make it hard to be an out of stater. When weekends like these roll around, I itch to go home and be fed and  loved on by family just as much as the next person. I just never have the option.

I do have family down in south Georgia I visit a couple of times a semester and being close to them has truly been a blessing the past few years. But this year for Labor Day, everyone had big plans to go home or visit family or go somewhere and do something. It seemed every single UGA student did-except for me. By the end of the week though, I too was leaving Athens. I too was headed to a home and a family and a bed and a home-cooked meal like everyone else. One of my best friends invited me and a group of girls home for the weekend-an opportunity I literally jumped at. Her family fed me, gave me somewhere to sleep and watch Georgia football, hang out at the lake and enjoy time spent at home and away from school.

All weekend, I just couldn't get it out of my head. Jesus answered my prayer for somewhere to belong for the weekend and showed me that despite my convinced stubbornness that His hospitality is not revealed on a daily basis, His love is, in fact, everywhere. This is not the first time I have been invited and welcomed into the home of strangers for the night or for a weekend and fed and loved and I know it will not be the last, but my eyes were finally opened to the reason and the man behind it all. And for that, I am truly blessed, humbled and thankful.

just bein a townie

I'm reminded time and time again of what a cool town I live in. A town I get the chance to call home for at least four years of my life in Athens, Georgia. I've been back in Athens for three weeks now-adjusting to the crazy transition of college life and the weird out of body experience of what it feels like to be an...upperclassman.

These past few weeks, I've gotten to see Athens from all different angles.  I've experienced the age-old tradition of Bid Day, the culminating of sorority rush in a huge SEC school where Greek life and Milledge Avenue are a tradition and a part of life-or at least a part of my life. I saw a movie on a Monday night called The Spectacular Now that was filmed partly in Athens at our local, indie theatre called Ciné-one of many cool Athens venues and places I have been itching to scratch off my bucket list for years. 

I saw famous country star Rodney Atkins and a favorite local of mine, Emily Hearn, play a concert at the Georgia Theatre to benefit Children's Miracle Network, a branch of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Friday, I started my internship in the Public Information Office at City Hall in downtown Athens.

I drove to Clemson to tailgate and experience the start of Georgia football this season--my first away game since being in college. Walking around Clemson's campus with orange and purple crowds everywhere, while I enjoyed it, reminded me of how much more I love walking around Georgia's beautiful campus. We endured ESPN's College Game Day and tailgating for 8 hours in the heat and humidity, the pouring down rain, and the hopes and disappointments in our first game of the season.

At the end of the day when the Dawgs lost in a good fight, I was proud to be wearing red and black and happy to be heading back to the best college town on earth. Athens, I love you.

All the things

Here I am, back in good ole' Athens Georgia about to start classes tomorrow. Here I am wondering where the summer went, how time flew by. It seems to be that the days passed slow but the weeks then months were over in no time.

In the last month, I enjoyed playing tourist a couple of times in L.A--the times I am truly grateful and in awe of what surrounds the home I've grown up in. Friends and I visited the LACMA (a must see), experienced the dog beach with our puppy Toby, made the mistake of going to the Grove on a Saturday in July, went to Houston, Texas on a week-long mission trip with my church youth group and experienced Fiesta in Santa Barbara before heading to remote and outdoorsy Northern California for a few days before returning to the humid and wonderful state of Georgia. 

Before I even get started on the awesomeness of Houston, everyone in the L.A. area needs to experience Fiesta (Fiesta!). It's like Santa Barbara's best kept secret--even though the Old Spanish Days have been celebrated for 89 years now and visitors flock from all over the globe. It's such a fun, outdoor festival of culture, food and an equestrian parade complete with mariachi bands. They throw flowers and confetti at you and it's such a fun thing to do on a summer weekend!

Lastly, the mission trip to Houston was incredible. I can't say I am now in love with Texas but I am even more in love with the Lord and the work he is doing in places and in people. Houston is the 4th largest city in the United States (after NewYork City, Los Angeles and Chicago) and just like every other big city, struggles with homelessness and an abundance of other problems. Throughout the week, we served at various churches, homeless shelters, meal delivery programs, food shelters and food banks, addict outreach centers, government-subsidized housing sites and children's centers. We talked to homeless people on the street, we served meals, we played with kids. We served in all kinds of ways. But I would argue that we mostly served by loving on the people and the place through our actions and our prayers throughout the week and after. As an advisor, I got to oversee and watch my group of high schoolers step out of their comfort zones in an unfamiliar place, in unfamiliar situations, and grow because of it. I was so proud to see each one of them challenge themselves to see and listen to God revealing his Kingdom in the strangest of ways.

Partnering with Christian Student Ministries (CSM) to do God's work in one of many places that need his love and care was an experience I will never forget because I am still affected by it every day since we boarded our plane back to Los Angeles. I feel empowered and more purposeful in life because I desire to partake in God's work in whatever way, shape and form that may take for my future. In Houston,  I learned not to grow up, but be more about what it means to be a child. A child of God.

Athens, I love you.

Athens, Ga., has been called the birthplace of alternative rock and America’s best college town. That was yesterday. Sure, the town that spawned R.E.M. and the B-52s is still an indie-songsmith hub. And University of Georgia Bulldogs fans are as passionate as ever. But Athens’s historic downtown has rerouted some of that hipster-meets-rah-rah history into a hyperlocal entrepreneurial spirit that caters to the mature tastes of those who have moved in, come back or never left. The result is a renaissance for the area, which feels like your favorite, secret neighborhood, where iconic locales dovetail with new and resurrected music spaces, boutiques, lounges and restaurants, as well as a brewery set to open this fall.

Check out this slideshow from the New York Times! Athens, GA. A Downton Renaissance.