I’m Going to Law School

For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to go to law school.

My first exposure to the law was when I got arrested... kidding.

No, my first exposure was when I was in 4th grade and I was cast in an all-girls theater production of Legally Blonde.

Cheesy, I know... But I played Warner, Elle Wood’s ex-boyfriend that she follows to Harvard Law.

After that, I shadowed my sister-in-law for a day when she was an assistant district attorney in the Bronx.

It was the COOLEST day of my entire life.

In the spring of my junior year at Wake, I took a journalism class, “Investigating Innocence.” This class taught me that lawyers are wordsmiths and storytellers. I learned that lawyers craft narratives to help the jury and the judge understand their case. My class worked with Wake Forest School of Law to craft a joint narrative about a case. I loved this class. I spent hours writing each day. At the end of the class, I learned the importance of illustrating one’s point in a legal case. I also realized that I was a very good storyteller. I created a narrative that advocated for the client. I described the setting, the timeline, the characters, all to help prove our client was innocent.

It all clicked.

I was an English and French double major who loved to write and tell stories. I knew at that moment exactly why I wanted to practice law, to continue to successfully articulate stories that could help prove someone innocent or help properly convey a purpose or goal of a client.

For the past five years I have been writing and documenting my life online on here on T&P. My writing has improved drastically since I was a high schooler and I have also matured tremendously academically, socially and mentally and my evolution is documented through my stories. I have become a very strong writer and communicator over the past five years. 

So here is the moment we have all been waiting for!

After months of studying for the LSAT, and one failed attempt (not on my part), and one actual test, I am going to law school!

I got my score after spring break, my highest score yet, my applications were already submitted and a week later I was accepted into my first law school.

On May 15, I submitted my deposit.

And

Here

It

Is

I am going to Hofstra Law School. 

I plan on focusing on international or business law.

I plan on studying abroad in Paris.

My dream is to continue to craft narratives as a lawyer. As I continue to learn and grow, my experiences at law school will help guide me to the type of law I would like to practice, as I am open to new ideas and experiences. My dream is to work on the legal team for a French fashion house one day!

Summer Elegance with Chicwish

I am in love with Chicwish.

Chicwish’s pieces are super feminine, classy and elegant.

All of the pieces scream Kate Middleton to me. All of the clothes on the website are perfect for a bridal shower, brunch or baby shower.

I was a bit skeptical at first because I haven’t heard much about this brand, but I am so pleasantly surprised.

This brand seems to be very similar to J.Crew in style but with a bit more feminine touch.

The quality is very nice as well.

(Scroll all the way to the bottom of this post to shop these outfits!)

Look at these adorable outfits that were sent to me from Chicwish! I’m in LOVE!

This dress is so comfortable with the elastic waist band. The fabric is very soft and not see through, it even has a lining.

I got two complements from ladies on this dress when we were taking pictures, even as I was walking to the car to do a quick change!

This outfit screams night out on the town in NYC to me!

Hopefully I can wear it at the end of the summer when bars start opening up in NY.

This dress is so sweet. I get total Blair Waldorf vibes from this dress paired with my amazon pearl headband.

Thanks Chicwish for these pieces and thanks for introducing me to a new brand that I love!

Shop here:

Wake Forest Class of 2020 Virtual Graduation

Monday, May 18th at 7pm, I graduated from Wake Forest University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

I graduated cum lade with a double major in English and French Studies.

The virtual graduation was short, 22 minutes to be exact.

My family gathered around me, socially distant, in my backyard, around my dad’s 18-inch laptop and we watched the livestream.

The video started with a very tear-jerking video montage of campus, empty and barren. The president of Wake spoke and then all the deans of the various schools within the university presented their candidates for degrees.

The president of the school announced that we had graduated, and that was it.

Our degrees were conferred.

Tears were steaming down my face. I sat in front of my family so they couldn’t see me, but they all knew how hurt and sad I was that I didn’t get to graduate on campus. This weekend was supposed to be a fun celebration with my entire family in North Carolina. Instead, we were sitting in my backyard in New York, socially distant, celebrating my achievements and life over the past four years.

I was so upset I didn’t even realize who had popped up on my screen, TINA FEY!

Tracy Morgan, Jimmy Kimmel, Carson Dailey and Chris Paul all spoke quick words of encouragement to the Wake Forest class of 2020.

 I was so shocked that I had to watch it again after my family had left.

It was such a sweet surprise.

I thought it was the perfect little celebration until we can celebrate again in person on campus.

My family and I had dinner catered in and a delicious black and gold custom cake.

My mom and I decorated the backyard with lots of black and gold decorations. We even dressed in black and gold. I refused to wear my cap and gown for the conferring of degrees celebration. I am keeping that until October.

10 minutes after the celebration, I received an email from Wake Alumni Network, welcoming us into the alumni family.

They couldn’t even wait a day, classic Wake.

So that’s it!

I have officially graduated from Wake Forest University! 

GO DEACS!

My college graduation was nothing like it was supposed to be.

It doesn’t feel real, and it won’t until October, but until then, I will try to not talk about my graduation, because I know you are all sick of hearing about it.

Thank you for all of your love, support and sweet comments during this very weird and difficult time, especially for us members of the class of 2020.

Stay tuned for my next post which will reveal which law school I have chosen!

My Favorite Things About Wake Forest University

The people. I have never met a smarter group of people. We are all nerds, who work hard and are diligent and get good grades. These people are also so loving and supportive. Wake is a bit competitive, but not really. Wake has the most well-rounded students. We all work hard but then are very social. At the end of the day, Wake has given me the most amazing friends and the most amazing support system. I am genuinely going to miss walking across the quad every day and saying hi to my friends. I have met my best friends for life, and I could not imagine a day without them!

The professors. Wake prides themselves on an 11-1 student to faculty ratio. All professors hold office hours. And all of my classes were taught by actual professors and not TAs. I have only had two bad professors at Wake. 

From freshman year, I knew that these professors at Wake would be supportive, loving and caring. Right before French class, in October of my freshman year, I got a text from my nephew telling me that my ex-boyfriend was in the hospital for a hockey accident. I immediately texted him, he didn’t answer, so I texted his brother and found out that he was illegally hit on the ice during the game and fell flat on his back onto the ice. He was in the ICU and the doctors were doing tests to see if he was paralyzed. This is the information I received right before I walked into French class. I was visibly distraught, and my French professor could tell. She asked me how I was, and my brain wasn’t even functioning in French. I told her what happened in English and she was so comforting and supportive. She told me to forget about the homework and the assignments for the weekend. She told me she was going to pray for him and his family. I thanked her and left. The following day, I received an email from her asking how I was and how he was doing. I was so pleasantly surprised to be receiving an email from her. That was the first example of kindness I had seen from the professors at Wake and that surely wasn’t the last. All of my professors go above and beyond to help and assist their students. 

I created a very close bond with Professor Barbour, my French professor that took the 2018 Dijon group abroad. She is like a cool aunt. She is so supportive and loving. I couldn’t have traveled all over France without her. 

The beautiful campus. Come on, name a prettier campus. In 2018, Architectural Digest named Wake one of “The 50 Most Beautiful Colleges in America.” We didn’t need a magazine to tell us. Wake is one of the most beautifully landscaped campuses. You can’t help fall in love with its beauty the minute you walk onto campus. I blacked out during my campus tour in 2015, I don’t know why, but I do remember thinking how beautiful the campus was, and how it was so picture perfect. Every season it looks beautiful. We have beautiful red and orange leaves in the fall, beautiful cherry blossoms and tulips. We also have the lush quad.

The academics. This is an obvious. Wake is ranked #27 in the nation for best college. Wake is no easy school. I worked very hard to get there, lots of sleepless nights, lots of extra circulars, but I am so proud that all my hard work brought me to Wake Forest. I was a total nerd in high school, but at Wake everyone is a nerd! Wake Forest is commonly known as Work Forest. For every semester that I took 15 credit hours, 15 hours of class a week, I studied and did homework for 30-45 hours a week. I have learned to think critically and analytically. My mind has been opened to new ideas and new perspectives. I loved my liberal arts education. I learned so much and I am so proud to be a Demon Deacon. 

The sports. GO DEACS! I am one of Wake’s biggest sports fans. I try to go to just about every soccer, football and basketball game. I pride myself on staying for the whole game and cheering on my Deacs the whole time. I love to deck myself out in black and gold and wave my gold pom-pom around! I cannot wait to cheer on the Deacs in NYC every weekend with the alumni association. 

The person that I have become. I have grown tremendously over the past four years at Wake. It is hard to put into words how much I have grown academically, socially, mentally, emotionally, and in maturity. I am way more confident than I was freshman year at Wake. I am confident to raise my hand in class and share my ideas without getting nervous. I am confident and able to ask for help. I am happy! Wake has made me such a well-rounded individual. I am very social. I am very independent, more so than freshman year. I think for myself and I do things for myself. I don’t feel like I have to call my parents every 5 minutes. I am just so proud and happy to be a Demon Deacon. Wake is the best school and I would spend the rest of my lifetime being a student at Wake if I could.

Graduation Feels

Monday, I (virtually) graduate from Wake Forest University.

As everyone has said, “this is not the spring semester any of us imagined.”

That’s 100% true.

As upsetting as this time is normally for graduates, it is even more upsetting right now during this pandemic. I knew I would be crying and sad that my time at Wake was over at graduation.

But I knew I also would have been happy and excited for the future.

I am a lot less happy than I thought I would be, but I also didn’t think there was going to be a pandemic mid 2020.

Banana Republic Factory dress (I'm linking similar dresses on my LiketoKnow.it page!) | Tory Burch pink bag | Tory Burch double pearl earrings | Jack Rogers sandals (use code: CABELIZABETH for 15% off your order at jackrogers.com) 

When the virus hit, and Wake decided to give us an extra week of spring break and evaluate if it was safe for us to come back, I was in disbelief.

When school got canceled and I had to go back home, I was angry.

I was sad for weeks. I missed, and still do miss, my friends and I am sad that I don’t get to experience any senior traditions.

Now, I am in the acceptance phase, for the most part. 

There are days when I am sad that my senior year was taken away from me.

There are other days that I am angry and don’t understand why this happened.

But overall, I am positive that this will all come to an end sooner or later.

And I am happy to be graduating from Wake Forest regardless if it will just be my parents and I sitting behind my computer screen at our dining room table.

 I moved out of Wake this past weekend. I was hysterical for the days leading up to move out, but I’m okay now.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get all of the last’s I wanted, and I will eventually in October, but I feel a little more closure that now I moved out.

I will feel even more closure on October 31st when I actually walk across the stage.

However, I do feel that I’ve had my time at Wake, and I am ready to move on.

Wake did what it needed to do for me and now I’m ready for my next adventure: law school!

So, thank you Wake for the most amazing 3.75 years on campus!
4 years still wouldn’t have been enough.

The Best Things To Do in Winston-Salem

Reminiscing about my life in Winston. I miss it so much! Maybe I will move there one day.

This post is for new admitted students or for students interested in applying to Wake or for friends of mine with more time left on campus!

Winston is such a cool city, so go explore it!

This is the outfit that I would wear to do some of these things in Winston.

Banana Republic jumpsuit | Baublebar white earrings | ASOS straw hat | BCBG brown wedges (similar)

Here are some of my favorite things to do in Winston:

1.          Walk around Reynolda House and gardens! It is a quick walk from campus that will transport you to a magical world of lush flowers and grass.

2.          Walk down 4th Street, the main street in downtown Winston. There are lots of restaurants and bars! Just go walk downtown and explore. 

3.          Go to a museum: SECCA, Reynolda Museum, SciWorks, Winston-Cup Museum, and the Children’s Museum. 

4.          EAT out! This is an obvious one to me.

5.          If you are of age, go to a brewery and play trivia! Wise Man Brewing is fun, so is Foothills!

6.          Again, if you are of age, go on a bar crawl! My friends and I LOVE Tate’s on Saturday nights, Earl's, Vintage Sofa, Recreation Billiards, Incendiary Brewery, the Tasting Room, and 6th and Vine.

7.          Go to brand new Wake Downtown! I’ve only been once, but it is beautiful. Great study spots. A beautiful grassy area out front. There are also classes that are taught here.

8.          Have a picnic Quarry Park. This place is stunning. I went in the fall. You can see the whole W-S skyline!

9.          Walk around downtown for the art gallery hop. The first Friday of every month, all the local galleries open at night on Trade Street, so you can go explore and see the pretty art. 

10.       Visit Salem Lake. I’ve never been, but I heard it’s a beautiful place to walk or run.

11.       Visit Old Salem. I have also never been. I wanted to go and then you know what happened... Old Salem is a historic part of  Winston, that is supposedly beautiful, with really pretty old houses and delicious traditional Moravian restaurants. 

12.       Tour Historic Bethbara. I have been here. We toured it in my First Year Seminar. It was the first Moravian settlement in Winston.

13.       Shop at the farmer’s market downtown. I’ve tried to do this but am usually too tired Saturday mornings to get up and go. 

14.       Attend a NC School of the Arts show downtown. The nutcracker is performed every year around Christmas! I’ve always wanted to go, but I’m usually back in New York for Christmas break during the performances.

15.       Hike Hanging Rock. I did this once. I’m not really an “outdoorsy” person, as you all know... but I definitely recommend going to Hanging Rock after class on Friday or during the weekend. It is a quick ride from campus and a really nice way to escape stressful campus life.

16.       Attend a sporting event. There are so many sporting events at Wake on campus: field hockey, track and field, and soccer. And off campus: basketball, football, hockey, tennis, baseball, which can all be attended via the Deacon One shuttle.

17.       Hike Pilot Mountain. A little further than Hanging Rock but a way prettier hike. I went this past year and our goal was to hike to the top of the summit, but we got completely lost and ended up taking a 7-mile hike and then realized we could just drive to the top...

18.       Go to a ball game at The Dash. Winston has a minor league baseball team! I’ve never been to one of their games, but I’ve always wanted to go. On Thursday’s, they do dollar beers!

I cannot wait to go back to Winston! Who wants to meet me there?