Lauren Simenson

05 Oct 2016

Conforming to societal beauty standards just as valid as ignoring them

You know that feeling you get where you’re riding a roller coaster and you are teetering on the top of the big drop? That feeling where your muscles clench, and a swooping sensation of dread settles into the pit of your stomach? I had that same feeling of tense regret last Thursday when I found myself lying on a table, staring into a bright light, with a strip of hot wax waiting to be ripped off my face. And like being on that roller coaster, just waiting for it to go over the edge, it was far too late to turn back.

28 Sep 2016

Pet companionship is the purr-fect stress reliever

When I was little, my mom had a little Yorkshire terrier, Jessie, the last survivor of the two yorkies she had before my brother and I were born, her babies before her real babies if you will. When Jessie finally died, after a horrific ear infection, which is a story for a different time, my mom said that Jessie would be the last animal we would ever have in the house. And she was right, for a time.

21 Sep 2016

As summer fades, the sunny state of mind does not

As the sweltering heat of August gave way to an even warmer September, I was in a continual state of sweatiness that had nothing to do with the weather. Typically, I do not dread the beginning of school, especially now when I love the classes I am enrolled in. Lately, however, I have come to dread the question, “So how was your summer?”

04 May 2016

Lauren Abroad: he end of the journey

A cue that my semester abroad had come to an end was the sizable amount of legroom that I enjoyed on my flight home. After many cheap flights on tiny European flights, I was very excited to fly home with Delta. How could I ever have thought that Delta flights were cramped?

29 Apr 2016

Lauren in Ireland

Since the time I last wrote about my experiences in Berlin, I have traveled to four more cities in Germany, all over Northern Ireland, Dublin, and Nice, France. And now,with four days left in Europe, I plan to see as much of Amsterdam as I am able before I board a plane for a final flight back the to United States.

14 Apr 2016

Lauren in Berlin: A city caught between two worlds

Berlin is a shining glass mecca of modern buildings with colorful graffiti carefully applied to any surface paint can get to. Along with the buildings, the people of Berlin even match their city, their loud and colorful clothes with plenty of metal glint in the city’s warm April weather.

06 Apr 2016

Lauren in the Netherlands: The influence of the United States on countries around the world

Another week, another new country to explore with new sights, new sounds, and language. The new sights are usually the first things I notice. I look up and all I see are voluminous scarves in varying shades of plaid with perfectly windswept hair being blown in the breeze. The people of Utrecht, a city in the Netherlands that you have probably never heard of, are tall, perfectly fit, and can usually be found riding bicycles. It is also the first European city where I feel I do not stick out as much as I have in other European cities because I am within the same height zone as the people of Utrecht!

10 Mar 2016

Lauren in Paris: French food for the soul

When I think of Paris I tend to think of food first. I think of chefs in tall white toques that have studiously learned classic French techniques in culinary schools whose names I cannot even pretend to pronounce properly. Then, I’ll think of duck; even before I consider French desserts and pastries.

02 Mar 2016

Lauren in London: Beauty is in the eye of the traveler

London is exactly what I thought it would be, but grimier. Which is not a complaint actually, just a reminder that this is an authentic living and working city with millions of people swarming around it every day, year after year. It was difficult for me not to become too taken over by the sheer amount of history that seems to be oozing out of the city of London and the country of England itself.

18 Feb 2016

While the first days of studying abroad can be exhausting, it's well worth it

Deciding to commit to the International Traveling Classroom program was easy for me. When you know you want to travel, deciding to just go and do it is the best and simplest part, and those early days when I was accepted was the best feeling; a combination of elation over not having to park on campus for a whole semester, and the feeling of disbelief about the opportunity I have to see so much of Europe.