Little Alexx Blog

Being in Chicago last week was weight off my shoulders and a relaxing time for me. Last week, my parents, brother and I went to the windy city to check out colleges for him and graduate schools for me. We started off the trip by first traveling to Northwestern University, about 35 minutes away from the city. Being in Missouri and Arkansas for the past few months, I haven’t been in a big city like Chicago in a fat minute.

I wouldn’t really call myself a city girl, nor would I call myself a country girl. I’m more of a chameleon, fitting into whatever environment I am in. While Northwestern was really beautiful and had some fantastic programs that Nicholas really loved, my heart leapt in my chest as we drove further into the city. When I get overwhelmed with emotion, be that angry or happy or sad, I cry. So, I was able to break away from the group, and my parents (I’m almost 21 and still asking my parent’s permission to do things???) I felt very at home. And of course cried. I actually couldn’t control my tear ducts and they were streaming down my face while I walked around campus. I can’t exactly describe to you the feeling I get when I am on college campuses. It’s just a sense of home, like I have been waiting for my whole life to be here for my whole life. The people walking around probably thought I was crazy because I couldn’t stop smiling and my eyes were shiny with tears. I felt very very comfortable there, as it reminded me of my sweet sweet University of Arkansas.

A few facts of the University of Chicago: 

John D. Rockefeller was the founder of the Hyde Park campus of the University of Chicago in 1890.

While built by Baptists, it started out as non denominational at first, allowing women and minorities to attend while other Universities at the time did not.

The architectural style of the buildings on campus are copies of the buildings at Oxford and Cambridge, fully embracing the gothic style.

The John D. Rockefeller Chapel is a secular chapel that is used for graduations, concerts, meetings, weddings, ect; There are nothing religious in the building, although there are many traditional attributes, such as pews and emblems located on the arches of the vaulted ceilings, as well as the actual shape of the building, in a traditional cathedral style of a cross. However, the emblems are depictions of the elements of the earth and universe….. earth, air, water, fire, bird, beast, fish, sun, moon, star, tree, flower, and humanity. The Chapel also bears the shields of major world universities in homage, including Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, Bologna, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.

“Crescat scientia, vita excolatur…..Let knowledge increase so that life can be enriched.”

“It is my desire that at last the sum of One Million Five hundred Thousand Dollars ($1.500,000) be used for the erection and furnishing of a University Chapel. As the spirit of religion should penetrate and control the University so that building which represents religion ought to be the central and dominate feature of the University group.The Chapel may appropriately embody those architectural ideals from which the other buildings, now so beautifully harmonious, have taken their spirit, so that all the other buildings on the campus will seem to have caught their inspiration from the Chapel and in turn will seem to be contribution of their worthiest to the Chapel. In this way the group of University buildings, with the Chapel centrally located and dominant in its architecture, may proclaim that the University in its ideal, is dominated by the spirit of religion, all its departments are inspired by the religious feeling, and all its work is directed to the highest end.” -John D. Rockefeller, December 13, 1910

Chicago….. I used to wish I could live in a big city, a place that never sleeps, never slows down. Being from a place where shops close at 9 pm, I thought the fact that places were open till 2 am was just the coolest thing since sliced bread. You should have seen my amazement when I moved to college. Being in Fayetteville the past two years has done good for me. I have been a state away from my family, but close enough to come home when I need to. I have been in a spot that has had enough going on for suit my creative needs but also a small town feel to make me feel safe and at home. Fayetteville has been good to me. Branson helped raise me, Fayetteville has helped grow me and repair my heart and soul, and I am thrilled to see where I will be in two years from now for graduate school.

I was literally having a conversation yesterday about growth. Who I want to be, is not who I am right now. When we were younger, it hurt to grow. I remember coming home in 5th grade and my legs would ache and ache. That summer, I was the tallest kid in my class… Then everyone caught up and I was then surrounded by giants. It still hurt though. Growth comes with a little pain and uncomfortable feelings. If I were to never have felt the pain, I would have forever stayed a kid. (In some ways I have.) I have had to feel hurt and heartbreak, had to move outside of my comfort zone to get to who I am today. This is what life is. I accept the fact I will continue to grow and learn to become who I want to be, the better version of myself. What are you doing today to become the better version of YOURSELF? Are YOU accepting your life as it is now, or striving everyday to become the best YOU?

Nick and I at the edge of the Navy Pier… How is he almost 18????????????

It was weird seeing Nicholas on a college visit. I was at home the other day and watched him drive away to work and had to think for a minute, wait, isn’t he like, 12?? How does he have his own car and a job? Where is time going? This time next year, he will be packing everything up like I did and moving to college to be on his own for the first time…. Was I this young when I moved out? I suppose I was. I guess the older I get, the younger everyone else around me is. The day has come where I have officially started aging.

Today’s Mantra: 

“I AM creating my life with each thought, word, choice, and action.”

Love with your newly awoken heart. It’s worth it.

blessings, a