All posts by Sierra

To my readers who are incoming freshmen– this blog is especially for you! First, welcome. We’re very glad to have you. Some of you may be starting to dream about how you’ll decorate and organize your dorm. It’s all part of the fun of moving to a new place and making it feel like your own. With […]

A little less than four years ago, I said yes to WashU. I said yes to moving across the country to a state I knew nothing about. I said yes to too many coffee-fueled nights in the library to count. I said yes to brilliant classmates and new friends who’d become an extension of my […]

Confession time: I picked WashU for the school itself, not so much the location. In fact, if I could have picked up WashU and plunked it down smack-dab in the middle of a classic back-east college town, I probably would have. The thing is, living in St. Louis has ultimately been one of the best […]

It’s no secret—the food here is good. You know it, I know it, we all know it. We always rank high (sometimes #1) on the college websites for our food. What can I say? We have our priorities in order. It’s important to know you’re coming to a school that feeds you well. Maybe that […]

October is my favorite month. That’s saying a lot since my birthday is in July and I FREAKIN LOVE my birthday. I digress. October is my favorite month, and I think part of the reason for that comes from the way WashU has shaped what October means to me. Here are the things that make […]

Lots of things tell you how to live your life as a college student. Bed Bath and Beyond college shopping guides, moms, freshman floor meetings, online forums on college comparison websites, etc. This post is not that. If you used this post as a how-to manual for doing college, you’d be very sad very fast. It’s […]

This summer I’m working at the San Diego Zoo. The Zoo’s kinda my thing. When I was little I toddled around and pointed at the giraffes and the flamingos. When I was in high school I volunteered there. Now, after all these years, it’s become my place of employment. Even though the Zoo has come […]

Just a few weeks ago, I returned to the country I’d called home for 21 years after saying goodbye to the country I’d called home for five months. And, as strange as it sounds, I spent some time feeling homesick in my own homeland. Homesick for a place I’d known nothing about less than a […]

Last week I hit the one-month mark. I’ve been living and learning in Denmark for a whole month now. Believe it or not, that milestone doesn’t mean so much to me. Instead, it represents a hundred little milestones—thoughts, feelings, moments—that happened quietly, without much fanfare. These milestones—the ones that slip by so naturally and nonchalantly […]

I’m sharing an update from Copenhagen by way of a letter I wrote to the preschool class I work with at WashU. It’s honest and simple, and captures this first week with humor and clarity. Not your average study abroad blog, but very (unapologetically) me. Enjoy!

Every night, before I fall asleep, I say goodnight. Always. I can’t fall asleep if I don’t. Sometimes it’s me calling out softly to my roommates from behind my already-closed bedroom door. Sometimes it’s what I say to my mama before I hang up the phone. Sometimes it’s a quick text to a friend with […]

I’m writing this post from my gate at the airport. It’s the day before Thanksgiving and everyone in St. Louis has apparently also decided to spend the holiday elsewhere. Still, I managed to snag one of those comfy chairs with a built-in outlet, so I pretty much feel like the queen of the airport. Soon, […]

I am an empowered woman. I like to surround myself with empowered women. Consequently, last weekend was serious business, and a serious party.

Every once in a while, you’ll come across a tradition that’s inexplicably engrained in a university’s culture. Somehow or another, for all of us here at WashU fall has come to be understood as virtually synonymous with apple-picking season.

The first few weeks back on campus are always peppered with questions about how everyone spent their summers. It’s a fun question to ask, because just about everyone has a good story or two. WashU students are a crowd with a whole lot of agency—what I mean by that is they work hard to make […]

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone on the WashU campus who hasn’t experienced the magic of Ted Drewes. Ted Drewes is a WashU tradition, but more than that, it’s a St. Louis tradition. I firmly believe Ted Drewes is one of the first experiences that brings WashU students close to the St. Louis community. […]

Back-to-school is a time of year that really takes me back. It takes me back to the days of picking out a fresh box of crayons, lacing up some shiny new sneakers, and hitting the playground with renewed vivacity. Any twinge of sadness that accompanied saying goodbye to summer was always overshadowed by the exhilarating […]