Hello hello! It’s me again! Your lovely, summer Banter Blogger! I hope your summers have been treating you well. Summers can be relaxing, but they also can be super duper stressful if you’re working on research, in an internship, a job, etc. So, just because the academic year is not in swing, it doesn’t mean you can’t do some self care! My personal favorite form of self care is skin care. I LOVE skin care!
I tend to rub and pick my face when I’m thinking, stressed, or even just bored. I noticed this my first year at Bryn Mawr, so I decided to do a little bit of research about how I should be treating my skin, and I developed a little routine that I do once a week. I have a normal routine I do, but this extensive one I do once a week on a Sunday, and I call it “Self-Care Sunday.” It’s nice to relax, treat yourself a little, and unwind before the dreaded Monday dawns.
So, the following are my Self-Care Sunday must haves and dos!

• Play your favorite song. There is nothing better than jamming out to your favorite song and dancing like absolutely no one is watching.
• Drink water! This seems like a no-brainer, but this is something that is super duper important. Summers are hot and sticky, and you’ll be losing lots of fluid. Take care of yourself by drinking water. Your body and stress levels will thank you! If you’re like me and you hate the taste of water (I know, I know…), put some fruit or tablets into them to mask the taste! My personal favorite fruit infusion is lemon ^_^
• Wear a cooling eye mask. You’re losing water, right? So, that means your face is going to get puffy, including your undereyes. So, I recommend buying a cooling eye mask that you can put into the refrigerator, so when you wake up and you’re drinking coffee, you can wear it and forget it’s there while it does it’s magic. You’ll feel refreshed and wonderful.
• Do a face mask. Whether it is a clay mask or a sheet mask, treat your skin! The air pollutants, stress, tugging, makeup and sun are a lot for our skin to handle. It deserves a little bit of extra love and care!
• Stick to a normal skin care routine. We as people like routine, and so does our skin! Stick to a normal routine that benefits your skin, and do it on the Sunday! Taking care of your skin and taking the time for yourself can make the world of difference, in my opinion. Take the time to figure out what your skin likes, what it doesn’t like. Consult online blogs, your friends, an esthetician, but most importantly, listen to your skin!

Here is a little vlog with me doing all of the above on a Sunday to show you how it’s done: (https://www.youtube.com/embed/hV2F0hG-PPU)

This week’s music recommendation is “You, Again”, (Instrumental) by so soo bin. (All lowercase!) I hope this week (and this summer) brings you joy, bliss, and plenty of time to take the time for yourself.

If you’ve taken a look at my “Get to know me!” section of my blog recently, you might have noticed some things that are missing. The Acabellas and Greasepaint Productions are no longer there, and that’s because I’ve stepped down from my roles as Music Director and Board Member, respectively. If I have emailed you recently, you will have noticed that they have been removed from my email signature, as well.  But why? They are both things I love and appreciate, and they have been integral to my college experience … why would I step down?

Conducting the Acabellas at the annual Extreme Keys Festival … I’ll miss it!

I am happy to let you, dear readers, know that the student body of Bryn Mawr College has recently elected myself and my good friend Serena Gonzalez as the future Traditions Mistresses to the college. This role holds a lot of responsibility, and it is something that we do not take lightly. But how did we get here? Why did I want to become a Traditions Mistress? Well, to find out, we have to do some time traveling my freshman year of high school.

Serena and I at this year’s May Day! Even though we were just elected, we still had lots to do!

My freshman year of high school, there was a student whom I admired greatly. Her name was Catherine Bunza. (She and I actually were in a show together, Stage Door.) She was smart, funny, incredibly motivated, but above all, kind. She was a huge role model for me throughout my first year.

Catherine and I during my Lantern Night!

Then, Catherine announced she would be attending this little school called Bryn Mawr College. I vividly remember her wearing a dark blue sweatshirt that said “MAWRTYR” on it many days we had rehearsal together or would see each other in the halls.

While I was back home in Ridgewood, I watched her post so many amazing things about BMC on Facebook and Instagram. And then, during my senior year of high school she was named the next Traditions Mistress of the college. Little did I know at the time, that would plant a seed of desire that would grow for three years. I visited Bryn Mawr my junior year, and I LOVED learning about the traditions on the very first tour I took.

Here’s a photo of me that’s hanging up in the Admissions Office – a few years ago I was a scared student touring, and now I’m telling students all about my favorite traditions while my face is LITERALLY on a wall inside the office building!

I remember my very first day at Bryn Mawr. I was tired from moving in, and I was feeling a little homesick. But then, I was ushered into Goodhart Theatre and sat there watching the president of the Alumnae Association welcome us into the personhood that was the legacy of Bryn Mawr College. And then, these two upperclassmen, Leah and Britt, introduced themselves as the Traditions Mistresses.

These two were SO COOL and put together. They lead us throughout the year through Parade Night, Lantern Night, WTF Week, and May Day. They were smart, funny, motivated, and kind. (Seeing a pattern?) (Also, as a fun fact, Leah is my HA on Pem West 2nd this year.) This year, Kayleigh and Annika are the Traditions Mistresses. They are, and say it with me this time, funny, motivated, and kind. That seed continued to grow and grow and grow.

I joined the Traditions Committee this year, and had made up my mind around December that I wanted to run for Traditions Mistress. I found out over a dinner celebration that Serena also wanted to run. We both screamed in excitement, while our good friends Owen and Jackie just looked at each other.

We made posters, Serena campaigned for the both of us while I was in the Spotlight show I previously wrote about, and we hoped for the best. We wanted it so badly, but as a political science major, I respect the theory of democracy. Whomever the student body wanted, that’s who would be elected, and I can’t change that. An election is an election.

Our posters! (Side note: I have found a love for graphic design making these posters.)

My mother will tell you that I have a bad habit of talking myself out of my possible successes. “I won’t get it,” “They won’t choose me,” “I should just quit, it won’t be good enough,” are my go-to phrases. It’s what I was texting her during the election period, which were the longest three days of my life.

And then, at around 11:02 pm on April 16, Serena and I got an email that we had received the majority of the votes, and we would be the college’s next Traditions Mistresses. I can confirm it was 11:02 pm, because we both immediately called each other at the exact same time as soon as the email reached our inbox. We both screamed (softly, because of dorm quiet hours,) and talked about how excited we were. (If you haven’t been able to tell, Serena and I do a lot of excited screaming together.)

Leah, Britt, Kayleigh and Annika have been incredible, fast friends and mentors to Serena and myself, already. Any questions we have they immediately answer. Our group chat we have made is full of anticipation, laughter, and love. Since there are only two Traditions Mistresses per academic year, the number of them is small. So, it makes it easier to connect with others and create a strong bond with each other.

It is still a little bit of a shock to me. It is an absolute honor and privilege to help facilitate traditions here at Bryn Mawr College. I do not take the responsibility lightly. I understand how special they are to so many generations of students, both former and current, and how much they mean to so many people. I know this, because traditions mean the world to me. I have named my lantern, I am best friends with my Rose from WTF Week, and I live for screaming songs during Step Sing. One of the most integral parts to Bryn Mawr are the traditions we have. Over a century of students have participated in these traditions, literally. That is incredibly unique and special, and no other school has that same community and bond that we have, which traditions helps to cultivate.

Here’s a photo of me in The Cloisters, where Lantern Night takes place.

(As a little fun fact, I am a tour guide at the college now, and the longest [and favorite] part of my tour has consistently been talking about the traditions we have here. All of my tour guides did such a great job of explaining them, and I am happy to repay the favor a few years later. I love seeing prospective students’ faces light up when I explain Lantern Night or Parade Night.)

I know some of the students of the Class of 2023 will be reading this. Baby Greens, I am so excited to lead you through your traditions, if you choose to participate in them. Traditions are one of my favorite parts of my Bryn Mawr journey, and I hope they will be to you too.

Here’s to you, 2023! See you soon! (This was taken at this year’s May Day!)

This week’s music recommendation is “Thumping” by Kim Min Seung from one of my favorite KDramas, “She was Pretty.” It’s my favorite song to walk to while its a sunny day on campus! I hope this week brings you joy, bliss, and the start of a new, fruitful journey.

I want to take you all back to a year ago. I was sitting with my Rose, Lydia, in New Dorm Dining Hall. I had a plate of red meat, and she had a plate of legumes and greens. I stifled a giggle, and she looked at me. She knew I was laughing about the difference in our diets. Me: a proud meat eater who ate some sort of animal in every meal. Lydia: a vegan who ate whole foods and lived a healthy lifestyle. I explained to her how I simply did not get it. She said maybe I should just try it. The stifled giggle became a belly laugh. Me? Not eating meat? Hilarious.

From a favorite shakes and sandwiches places of mine back home – it’s a Mac and Cheese fried patty with hamburger meat underneath!

I have Italian, Scotch-Irish, Pennsylvania Dutch and French roots: all of the cultural cuisines contain many animals to be consumed and enjoyed. I grew up doing so. St. Patrick’s Day? A giant slab of corned beef on the table. Oktoberfest? Spaetzle and sausage. For Christmas Eve, my family always celebrated with a typical Seven Fishes Dinner. I had no limits – I loved all of it. My mother’s Easter lamb rack is particularly delicious.

Me at home ready to dump the egg noodles into the beef stroganoff that we make from a family recipe!

Recently, however, my good friend (and fellow tour guide) Anna West decided to go vegan for a month. I watched her do so, still making my ham and cheese omelette for breakfast and chicken salad for dinner. She completed her month, and I still ate many animals.

After a Saturday tour shift, Anna talked to me and another fellow tour guide, Saskia, about being vegan. I am not quite sure about how we got onto this topic, but Anna asked us if we were willing to do a challenge.

That challenge? A month of being vegan.

Saskia and I looked at each other, and then looked at our brunch plates. There was milk, eggs, sausage, bacon, and yogurt. We looked at each other again, and then sealed our fate.

“Sure!” We both said. Anna smiled, and then it all began.

The day before the challenge began, Anna drove us to Ardmore (a nearby town which the Blue Bus stops at every Saturday,) and showed us what we could eat and what we could not eat. She showed us all the delicious vegan snacks and how to read labels. Of course, we could not go to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods every day, but it was a helpful learning experience.

A bacon cheeseburger, cheese fries and a chocolate milkshake from a burger place back home. Can’t have this anymore!

What we really needed to learn, however, was how to navigate the dining halls. Our normal meals had to completely change. We had to learn what was okay for us to eat, and what was not. Some things might be vegetarian, but they would not be vegan. Today, I went for some kimchi, and I saw on the label “vege,” not “vegan.” As it turns out, it contains anchovies.

Anna sends us a text every morning, and answers our frantic questions about what is vegan and what is not vegan. (Plain bagels are vegan, honey is not.) So far, Saskia and I are doing alright! One of us may have accidentally had some chicken today (Saskia…), but otherwise we are enjoying trying things that we would not have otherwise considered.

Thank you, Anna ^_^ (Should I tell her I don’t like avocados or…?)

New Dorm Dining Hall is rated “A” for providing for those who follow a vegan diet, and this is very helpful for my month-long adventure. The “RootED” bar that the dining hall is what I go to now. I can get beet salad, chipotle cauliflower, buffalo tofu, and so much more – all vegan (and plant based!)

From a specialty dinner at New Dorm Dining Hall that was all hummus based!

At Erdman Dining Hall, I cook tofu, broccoli, beans and edamame with soy sauce and throw on some chili powder at the stir fry stations. We are allowed to take the fresh fruit that the dining hall provides, and I find myself stealing many bananas. My family nickname of “monkey” is now starting to make a little more sense. (Bananas and peanut butter are my vice.) Erdman has a refrigerator by the coffee station that has dairy milk substitutes, as well. Almond, soy, etc. I tried the rice milk they had, and fell in love. It tastes so creamy – just like half and half!

My exhausting tech weeks used to be dairy milk filled… now they’re rice milk filled! And I’m staying awake without sacrificing the taste of coffee that I like ^_^

I am having so much fun exploring the dining halls and seeing what my next vegan meal will be. The best part? The Dining Services of Bryn Mawr make it so easy. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, you are still able to eat and eat well, both in a practical and delicious sense.

Anna, Saskia and I have plans to go to vegan restaurants in Philly to get some more delicious food and vegan inspiration. We did a dramatic reading in the dining hall of one of the menus, and my mouth was watering.

Bryn Mawr is helping me stay vegan for this month. And who knows? I may be joining Lydia and Anna in the ranks of the vegans. I certainly know that Bryn Mawr will help me eat well if I continue. I’ll keep you all updated.

This week’s music recommendation comes from what I listened to today while I was standing at the stir fry station making my tofu salad: “Trampoline” by SHAED. I hope this week brings you joy, bliss, and the start of something new.