This is a lot later than I wanted. But I am in Greece now and this is the music I was listening to on the plane. My musical goal this semester is to listen to more diverse artists. Hopefully I can check out a Greek concert too.

Dancing Queen by ABBA

Mamma Mia, here I go again. Since I was going to Greece, I needed to do a little ode to ABBA and to the movie.

Like You Love Me by Tauren Wells

This funky little number was something I fell across randomly. It reminds me of “Classic” by MKTO. I think it’s just a cute song that is pretty uplifting.

Toxic by Britney Spears

I had this song stuck in my head for awhile and felt very inclined to add it to this playlist. To the girl nights getting ready to this song. I feel like everyone happens to know these lyrics. A good crowd pleaser.

One Day More by Les Miserables Cast

I just feel like this is how I am going to feel every day in Europe. Sang it all my way to Frankfurt.

Here’s to epic times and new memories in Europe. Wifi is spotty, but music will be accessed every day.

Happy Listening,

JLee

God has opened my eyes to a lot of things this year. None of it was anticipated. He was, is, and will be good to me. I have a feeling 2020 is going to be a good year. Thank you to the support of everyone listed and to the many more that know you should be on this list. Thank you Lord for your love and I pray my efforts and struggles in 2020 are for you and your glory.

Forgive me for this being a couple days late, with travel and finals I’ve now finally had the time to curate this playlist and post.

Into the Unknown by Panic at the Disco

Let’s talk about what a film Frozen 2 was. Of course it wasn’t as great as the original, but I am definitely going to be watching it again when I go back home in a couple days. This song is catchy and will be stuck in your head for days, but only in the best way possible.

Rain Again Tomorrow by Epik High

Their Sleepless album was my top album of 2019. I didn’t realize how much I listened to it, until I saw my Spotify Wrapped (also let’s just talk about how much data Spotify has on its users…..scary). I think this is an album for every emotion and it deserves being listened to that much.

Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles

Return of the boy bands. I’m waiting for Justin Bieber’s album, but in the meantime, Harry will have to do. This is such a catchy song, right in time for the holidays.

Aint Nobody Know by Gen Hoshino

Here’s a funky little number I discovered on accident, and have been playing non stop since. Good for working off the pies we all ate during November.

I Will Praise You by Hillsong Worship

Here’s a reminder of why I’m here, and what I am living for. I will always praise the One who deserves the honor and glory.

I hope we can listen to better music, different music, and music that reminds us why we love in 2020.

Happy Listening,

JLee

Internships can be the best thing and the worst part of your college career. Going to a school where kids were getting internships freshman year, I was super overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start. 

I didn’t think I really needed an internship the first two years of college because of the program I was in, but while I was transitioning out of things, I got more and more connected to people and naturally got an internship. 

Where do I start?

First thing to think about is, what’s the end goal? In your 4 years of college, what is it that you want to make out of your experience? To some, it’s to get as many internships away from campus and just to absorb themselves into DC work culture, this means that they probably take some online classes, they live off campus, and they aren’t that involved on campus. The quality of the internship can vary from sitting at a desk answering phone calls and grabbing coffee while they are in a suit (yes, Hillterns, I’m talking to you). To others, they want meaningful internships where they are getting hands on experiences. These are usually your smaller organizations with a smaller staff that put you in a position to take what you want out of an internship. This translates to probably being involved in a few clubs that they care about and investing a lot of time and effort into those corresponding organizations. 

Then, there are students like me, who just want to figure out what work environment and culture I like, in different fields. I am involved pretty lightly in a lot of different clubs that fit my interests like WVAU, a student run Internet radio on my campus or like PRSSA that holds a lot of cool events for networking and PR students. I wanted to use my internships as a tool and really learn those transferable skills that I can use in the classroom but also in any other field. 

How to look for internships?

In my experience, you can apply to as many as you want, but if you don’t have a connection, then it’s pretty hard to get in. I found my first couple internships through my professors. Since I had a connection already, I was going under their recommendation so I didn’t even need to interview, I just got the internship. The second one that I will be starting over the summer, I also found through a professor. When there are guest speakers, LISTEN! They are the people who are willing to come into your class and talk to students, they are more likely to be interested in giving you internships if you reach out and show enough interest. The third one I will hopefully be starting in the fall is through a friend who recently graduated from my school and got a job at this organization. While my friend was in school, she also interned there for school credit and I remember her talking about her work experience and was really interested in the idea of it. 

How do I start making connections? 

Ask your professors. If I didn’t have Professor Talan as my professor my junior year (at this stage of my life), I wouldn’t have come across these opportunities. His mindset is very much, if you want something, work for it. For example, if you want to work at Nat Geo, stalk their Instagram, go to their events, reach out to alumni that work there. Just be aggressive. This is the grind that people are talking about. It’s not the glamorous suit wearing Instagram post, it’s the obsessive nature to get what you want. 

Do they really matter? 

Yes and no. It depends on what you want. You can be a far better candidate for jobs by filling that time up with leadership positions on campus and really getting involved in the community. DC work culture bleeds into the internship culture which leads to pompous students who are exhausted and overworked and not that happy. If you aren’t passionate about the internship and are just doing it to boost your resume, my advice is to find a club on campus that you care about and join the e-board there. If there isn’t a club yet, then make one. 

What should you look for? 

1. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

I only tolerated my location because it was a cool historic neighborhood and I THOUGHT it would be pretty accessible via public transportation. Oh, was I wrong. When timing your commute, NEVER time it from the fastest time it took you to get there. That’s a rookie mistake. Go to your internship a week before and time the commute where you aren’t rushing, you miss the bus, and you are walking some of it. That’s your true commute time. The fastest I’ve ever gotten to my internship is 36 minutes, and the longest it’s taken is 1.5 hours. My actual commute time is 47 minutes. I need to adjust my schedule to the 47 minutes. If I get lucky, I can grab a coffee on the way to work too. 

2. Just wait for your time

I was really nervous and stressed because all my friends were getting internships and I wasn’t having any luck. Do not fall into the comparison game. Your time will come. Learn to be genuinely happy for them in their victories so that they can reciprocate that during yours. 

3. Look at the opportunity cost

What are you gaining from this internship? What are you losing? While I was gaining knowledge from my internship this semester, I was also not able to hang out with my friends on campus as much. We had to compromise a lot. I was also sitting idle in a room looking at a computer screen for several hours at a time. To me, it was worth it because I have really great friends who understood my position, but think about what you are sacrificing to gain that internship. 

4. How are you defining success? 

What are you trying to prove and to whom? Just because you fill your resume with internships/part time jobs, it doesn’t guarantee anything. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get a job right out of college. If not for that, who are you trying to impress? If it’s not for your own self worth, then find something that brings you joy and invest your effort/time into that. Time isn’t cheap. 

5. Don’t be arrogant

Internships will teach you a lot more than just the technical skills required. Beggars can’t be choosers. Do the best in everything you do. Strive for excellence. If you’re asked to buy pizza for the staff, don’t forget the napkins. Double check, triple check your work for typos. Bring extra copies for the meetings so you can take notes too. Always have a pen on you. If you’re bosses can’t trust you to spell things correctly, how are they going to pay you for more responsibility? Don’t think that some work is beneath you to do. Keep your mind open and be willing enough to learn anything and everything

Internships are meant to supplement WHO you are. There’s a lot you can learn, but in the end, we all just need to learn how to be better people.

Good luck.

JLee

*When you are working every day, write down what you are doing so it’s easier to translate onto your resume. Thank you Anna Sol for this brilliant tip.

Not only have I been busy with school and a bit overwhelmed with life, I haven’t had that much content to write about. 

Today was the first time in over a month that I wasn’t working on a Sunday, so I really had the whole day to myself and was excited for what I was going to do with this coveted free time. 

I actually didn’t even sleep in, I naturally woke up and got ready pretty early. I grabbed some coffee from a place I would never have the time to go to normally, I stopped by this cake shop and got WAY too many sweets for one, and ended with lunch at a place I hadn’t been in a while, only to be reminded of why I haven’t been there in two years. 

As I came back to campus, I wanted to go see my friend, David, perform in my school’s symphony. I hadn’t been to a performance since I stepped foot on this campus so I thought, why not?

I went in a little early to find a good seat, and I began to feel a bit uneasy as I remember that even a few years ago it was me that was on that stage. I was starting to feel a weird mix of anxiety, nostalgia, and quite honestly, some stress because of the memories I had from playing in orchestras and bands. 

As I began to reminisce, I got this strange feeling listening to the chatter on stage. 

The sound of people tuning their instruments, warming their fingers up, and nervously talking about the piece strangely hit home for me. It brought me back to the days where I was standing behind a black curtain playing two lines from a piece for chair auditions. The days in the bitter cold where I begrudgingly stomped my way through the snow to get to rehearsal. Those days where my lips were cracking and I was playing a concert with a bloody reed (GROSS I KNOW). That buzz brought back 7 years of my life that I had forgotten about.

I sat in the audience for the first time with the roles reversed and I was really blown away. 

The oboist gave the “concert A” and, in that moment, I realized I missed playing. After 7 years of having put hours and tears into playing the oboe, I came into college not thinking I was talented enough or thinking that music wasn’t going to be my career and not wanting to invest more time into something that I didn’t think was going to benefit me. Honestly in my first two years of college I didn’t even think about music, I didn’t want to go back to playing, and truth be told, I didn’t have the time/lifestyle to do music. It wasn’t realistic at the time. 

I think ROTC is amazing, it opened up a lot of doors for me and I met some of my best friends through the program, but as much as I was gaining there was a lot that I was missing out on. When I joined the program I didn’t think about all the opportunities that I would miss because of the time commitment or even the availability in my brain to different organizations. ROTC took up my life and stopped me from doing a lot of other things. After not doing the program anymore, I just realized how much more to college there was than what I was getting. 

There are so many people I wouldn’t have met, things I wouldn’t have seen, opinions that I wouldn’t have been able to keep if I was still in the ROTC program. While I’m grateful, I also regret not having invested in everything else sooner. 

I regret not audiencing right after high school. Why did I let my fear of not being good enough to stop me from doing something I invested so much time in? I wasn’t even that good in high school, why did I think all of a sudden I wasn’t good enough. I regret not going to more concerts even when I wasn’t playing. The music community is so powerful and as weird as everyone is, they are good people. I regret not keeping in contact with my oboe teacher more after college, who did I think I was to not thank her for the years she poured into me? I regret so much. 

I sat in the audience and fell in love with music again. Seeing the conductor looked at his orchestra with the feeling of accomplishment, figuring out which pair of black slacks I was going to wear and striking the stage after the concert were all things I missed dearly. I missed the corky speech the conductor would give just as a reminder that they learned just as much from this piece as we did. That feeling of accomplishing something as a team, the emotional and physical connection, the thrill of playing the last movement is something that you can’t organically produce anywhere else. 

Music was such a big part of my life, I regret neglecting that so early. But I know I am not too late. I’m thankful that it came at this time. I wouldn’t have felt this level of appreciation during my freshman year. I had to have this feeling of it being too late but also right on time during my junior year to show me what I was missing. 

While I am scared that the practice rooms will be too overwhelming and learning to read music again will definitely cause me some headaches. I hope I can boldly start playing, humbly knowing I am NOT GOOD, but that’s okay. I want to learn and play without obligation. I just want to have fun. This is life, figuring out what brings you happiness. Understanding your choices and being okay with those choices is something I am learning every day. I hope that everyone can fall in love with something that they once loved again. 

I want to feel that kind of joy again. I am so thankful to my teacher, Lori, who taught me for 7 years. She patiently listened to my middle school/high school drama (God bless her soul). To my mom, who instilled a love of music in me so early. To my high school band teacher, Mr. Ruffert, I owe everything to you. Thank you for encouraging me and making me feel special even when I wasn’t in marching band (sorry). David, thank you for inviting me to this concert that reminded me how to fall in love with music again and to my dear friend Nathan, who in every season of my life has been there to enjoy music with me. 

Finally, thank you Kannilinkov for composing work that brought me to tears. 

Thank you Lord for bringing me this feeling of fulfillment after a semester of being lost in my way. I don’t know the reasonings for your plan, but days like today remind me that I don’t need to. You will fill me with joy in ways I cannot yet understand. Thank you for being so good to me. 

With gratitude,

JLee

Dear Man at Farmers Market, 

Thank you for affirming me on something I have been working on for so long. Every Wednesday, I make an effort to take a trip to see you my school’s farmers market. It’s nothing special, but I always walk away with something and feel so damn happy about it. Sometimes I’ll hold off on going grocery shopping at the store just because I know you are going to be there. Every week I step up to the counter and you ask me how I have been doing and how my classes are going. I always assumed you asked this to everyone because you are so nice or that you just forgot what classes I was taking because you would ask the same questions every week, without fail. Lo and behold, last week my debit card wasn’t working. We did the whole “let me pretend like I’ve had this issue a thousand times and I know exactly what to do” and rubbed my card with our thumbs about a hundred times, all just to fail getting my chip reader to work. I rarely hold cash on me so I grabbed the bag of mushrooms and onion, that I specially picked up, ready to go to the nearest bank and ask them to hurry and fix my card. That’s when you said “just pay me next week”. I looked at you in disbelief, but then you said “I see you here every week, you can just pay me next week. Unless it rains.” 

I had done it, something that I was working on for so long, I had done something so consistently that you trusted me enough to give your money I owed him, the following week. Now others might say you were just being nice or that’s part of the culture at farmers markets, but that just made me so relieved that someone noticed a very small effort of my consistency.

Thank you for noticing and see you next Wednesday.

Thank you for this reminder and thank you for your honeycrisp apples.

Your Biggest Fan,

JLee

*Granted, I realize that it’s easier to be consistent to things you like, but I ask you why are you trying to be consistent in things you don’t like. Analyze why it isn’t bringing you joy. Why is it hard for you to read the Bible consistently? Why is it hard for you to go to the gym consistency? Learn to find joy in things that are hard which will yield consistency. 

2019 is zooming by. We got a lot of new albums dropped the last week of October so here are my hits and tunes for the month of November.

Always by Rex Orange County

Could you believe the talent that stems from this 21 year old? He is killing the game. Recently, he announced a US/Europe tour, dropped an album, and released a new line of merch. “Pony”, his newest album is the heart and soul of optimism and childhood nostalgia. Listen on a rainy day or a day you wanna think back on good memories.

Selah by Kanye West

We can’t talk about new music without talking about the controversy that is Kanye West’s new album, Jesus is King. Depsite it not being up to par with his old music, I think it is worth a listen.

Emotions by Mariah Carey

Here’s a throwback that I heard in a CVS while running errands. Never gets old.

Y U Gotta B Like That by Audrey Mika

I actually saw her cover of another song on YouTube. I didn’t even know she had released an album, so I’ve been listening to her sweet voice on the way to class and when I’m enjoying some soup on a rainy day.

I know this list is pretty short (for now) but I wanted to get a list out regardless of the length. Stay tuned for a 2019’s best next month.

Until then happy listening~

JLee

1.Figure out what your body reacts to

My weight fluctuates pretty quickly. When I eat lots of sugar my body will tell me by acne flaring up and sluggish energy. When I eat greens my body tells me by detoxing my intestines internally. When I drink water my body tells me because I have more energy, less bloating, and my skin is a lot happier. When I eat carbs i see it instantly in my cheeks. Listen to your body. Take pictures of what you’re eating so you remember what made you felt good and what really didn’t. 

2. Get into a routine

Figure out a schedule the more routinely you live your life the happier your body is. Just like babies we put them on a schedule so their bodies get used to that and provide them with the proper energy they need for the day. Humans work better with consistency. I try to eat around the same time every day and sleep around the same time every night (midterms has been messing me up a little bit). 

3. You can treat yourself

Give yourself cheat items like pizza or a cookie that you can eat after a hard workout. You don’t need to deprive yourself of all things good in the world but know that you need to work hard to get things you like. My cheat items have recently been cookies but before it was Kettle Cooked Lays Jalapeño chips.

4. Find what things you like.

Some things I have found to actually like are brussels sprouts, green beans, broccoli, chickpeas and spinach. IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT DONT EAT IT. I don’t like celery, carrots (*gag*). Just try more foods and figure out what makes you feel good. 

Same thing goes for working out. I am not a fan of running, but I have recently been going to a cycling class. I like it enough that every Tuesday night I’m there and I always feel good after I go. There are plenty of things to do, just open your mind up to the possibilities. 

5. Drink water 

The stuff of life. Drink it. Drink it a lot.

6. Eat smaller portions

This is pretty hard for me when I’m stressed but something my mom taught was to use smaller bowls. You feel like you’ve eaten a lot because you eat everything on your plate/bowl, but in reality they are smaller portions.

7. Change takes time

If you work out consistently and are eating consistently healthy then you should see results soon but not immediately. Every time you go to the gym or choose the healthier option, you are making change.

8. Know that if you treat your body right you’ll start to feel more confident 

Life is not about being smaller but about being healthy. If you’re like me, that’s a big realization that will change your perspective. I wanted to be healthier as opposed to being skinny. That’s why when I’m eating things that are healthier and they are still things that I enjoy and not things that I am forcing myself to do for the sake of my appearance, it’s easier to do. 

College is a hard place to be healthy with a lot of temptation around. Stay disciplined, but stay happy

JLee