19 Facts on my 19th

Hi y'all, so todays the day, my favorite day of the year, I'm not sure if it's an only child thing or what, but I absolutely adore August 6th, which if you haven't guessed yet is my birthday! So cheers to 19 years on this beautiful earth. I could not have asked for better friends and family to spend it with. Yes, there have been ups and downs, but there is no day I look more forward to then my birthday when I get to celebrate another year with the people I love most.  This year to celebrate and share with all of you, I will be sharing 19 facts about myself that you may or may not know, but that I think make me who I am or are just fun facts about my dorky self.

1. I'm an only child and I love being an only child.
2. I have 2 dogs, Stuart Nelson and Winston Marcel (they are my siblings).
3. I could not survive in life without macaroni and cheese. I could eat it for every meal.
4. My all time favorite meal is macaroni and milk with butter ,salt and pepper, it was my grandmas favorite meal when I was growing up and now it is mine.
5. I have an obsession with FLAMINGOS.
6.  Family is EVERYTHING to me.
7. For the longest time I wanted to be a Forensic Scientist.
8. Fashion makes me happy, it is my vice.
9. Anything pink or gold, count me in.
10. Dark chocolate is my weakness. 
11. I live for warm weather and beach days, I could never not live on the water, but Fall has my heart. I am a sucker for sweater weather, hot coco, bonfires and burnt colors.
12. My full name is Mackenzie Landis Merriman, my middle name is my grandmas maiden name. I take great pride in having such a unique middle name and being able to keep the name in the family.
13. My favorite movie is, Stand by me.
14. My favorite TV series of all time is Sex and the City ( I aspire to be Carrie Bradshaw)
15. My dream car is a Jeep wrangler
16. The best destination I've ever been to was Greece (I plan on going back)
17. My current favorite color to paint my nails is coral
18. When I was younger I only  dressED as animals for halloween ( ex. chicken, skunk, chipmunk, cheetah)
19. My go to breakfast choice is sausage egg and cheese on a croissant

xx mack

Transferring: From a Setter to a Ram

Change can be scary. I've never been one to really like change, it has always been something that causes me stress and anxiety. In the same sense, change can be good. It opens up new doors, it allows you to embark on new journeys and have new experiences, although it might take a few adjustments, it can be just what you need. Everyone makes mistakes, we can't always get things right the first time, no matter how much we want to or how hard we try.

After less than a semester at Pace University, I realized I loved the city and all it had to offer me but the school was not for me. I missed sports and the social aspect of a community. Living directly in the city at a school with little to no campus restricted me from experiencing a traditional college experience. Making friends became difficult because nobody had time to hangout, everyone was go go go, and always running on city time. I even understood this, since I went to school full time and had a 3 day a week internship, there was always so little time and so much to do, however; I still left time open to be a normal college student who wanted to hangout and/or go out with friends on the weekends. I am so glad that I spent my first year at Pace, I do not in any way regret my decision to attend Pace for a year. I think Pace offered me great opportunities that I may not have experienced at another college or university. I was able to be apart of an amazing club called Profashionals which I will miss dearly, this club provided me with great opportunities and open a lot of doors for me in the fashion field within a short amount of time and I am very grateful to have been able to be apart of this club. I will use all the skills and networking opportunities I gained because of this club in all my future endeavors and I look forward to being apart of something similar at Fordham.

Since, I love the city so much and have a special place in my heart for it, I have decided to stay nice and close by jumping boroughs next semester. With that being said, I will being attending Fordham University in the Bronx this coming Fall. I could not be happier with my decision to apply to Fordham. It took me a while to admit that Fordham was my dream school but once I did I never looked back. Even as a senior in high school I had always loved Fordham, I had even visited and showed a lot of interest in the school. I spent most of my weekends at Pace visiting my friends at Fordham. Every weekend I was there I realized more and more that I was having a better time, that I was enjoying myself, making friends and that I didn't want to go back to Pace at the end of the weekend, that I wanted to stay at Fordham. This was a red flag. I went to Fordham's sporting events, their homecoming weekend and their spring weekend, these are things Pace doesn't  have but were so much fun I could not image a college experience without them. Another red flag. The final red flag; one of my best friends had come to visit me at Pace for the weekend, soon after winter break and had told me that she was thinking about transferring, thats when I realized that it was okay if I wanted to transfer, it happens and people do it all the time. I had not told anyone yet that I wanted to transfer, but it had been months since this idea popped into my head. With in a week I told my mom I wanted to apply to Fordham for the Fall semester she was shocked because I had not hinted to anything like this at all. Simply because I didn't want to admit that something was missing that I wasn't completely happy with my choice to attend Pace, after all I cried when I was accepted to Pace I thought that was the place I would spend the next 4 years, I thought Pace was my dream school. The way I look at it though is Fordham will be able to give me everything Pace has and more. I will only be a 20 min train ride away from the city, which still allows me access to internship opportunities and all the city perks, but now I will also get an actual campus with sports, more of a social life and a traditional college experience. Fordham can fill the void.

Now you're probably wondering why Fordham wasn't in the picture before, I said I was interested in the school, why didn't I look at Fordham when applying to colleges? This is because I was rejected from Fordham. Yes it happens!!! But, I'm still alive it wasn't the end of the world and now I am about to spend the next 3 years there. Just because you can't get in to your dream school/ top school right out of high school doesn't mean it is a definite no, do well your first semester or first year of college and apply again, it is much easier to get in as a transfer student if you can prove that you can handle college with good grades and campus involvement.

I never thought I would be transferring one year into my college experience let alone at all, but here I am and I can not be more excited to be a Ram! I can tell already I'm happier and more at ease with my decision. This process has been a lot of work and brought me lots of stress as well as caused me lots of tears with the anticipation of finding out if Fordham would be my home for the next 3 years, but I am happy to say it was all worth it. For anyone thinking about transferring, don't feel like its wrong or like it isn't normal, do what is best for you. Even if you're unsure apply anyways you can always turn down your acceptance, but you cant go back and apply once due dates have passed.

If you are thinking about transferring, or already know you want to transfer and have any questions that I didn't answer in this post comment and I would be more than happy to answer them.

#GoRams!

xx mack

Disclaimer: Just because Pace was not for me, doesn't mean it can't be for you! If you are interested in what Pace has to offer or want to live in the city Pace is a great school and I would highly recommend giving it a visit.