Living Large

  The bold songs represent the start of each spring month. My spotify: olivia_srednicka https://open.spotify.com/user/14w7tqgl6tw0rfnrtg23tczby?si=1Sguhk7cSY2rKPgEPiIJSw 1. "Fake Denim" by Quinn XCII 2. "If It Ain't Me" by Dualists Lipa 3. "Plastic Hearts" by Miley Cyrus 4. "B Team" by Marianas Trench  5. "No Such Thing" by John Mayer 6. "Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day 7. "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas 8. "Waves" by Dean Lewis 9. "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" by Ms. Lauryn Hill 10. "Leave The Door Open" by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic 11. "Hey Goodbye" by Quinn XCII 12. "Look How Far We've Come" by Quinn XCII 13. "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield  14. "Hold On" by Justin Bieber 15. "CHICKEN TENDERS" by Clinton Kane 16. "Jericho" by Andrew Ripp 17. "Angels" by Tom Walker 18. "Good Exam...

As my junior year of college draws to a close, three lessons stood out to me during this unpredictable year. First, I learned that friends will come and go. I’ve dealt with friends leaving me in the past in high school as well as creating a ton of new friends in college. However, this year made me realize friends can leave your life as quickly as they can enter it.    I’ve also always been such an open and vulnerable individual with others. Even when I first meet new individuals, I tend to reveal more about myself than others. I’ve been taught that vulnerability brings people closer, so I am quick to spark up a conversation. However, I want to be mindful of who I spend my time and energy with, so I’d rather get to know others quickly in order to see if I can form a fruitful bond with them.     However, after seeing some people’s truest colors, I learned that being so open can sometimes result in pain as your vulnerability can be used against you. This is the ris...

The bold songs represent the start of each winter month. My spotify: olivia_srednicka https://open.spotify.com/user/14w7tqgl6tw0rfnrtg23tczby?si=1Sguhk7cSY2rKPgEPiIJSw 1. "Religion" by Colton Avery 2.  "Hey Lovely" by Chance Pena 3. "Rush-Acoustic" by The Brook & The Bluff 4. "Morning Light (ft. Alicia Keys)" by Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys 5. "Paris" by Magic Man 6. "Myself" by Bazzi 7. "Star" by Bazzi 8. "Soarin" by Bazzi 9. "Stay Next to Me (with Chelsea Cutler)" by Quinn XCII, Chelsea Cutler 10. "The Way You Look Tonight" by Frank Sinatra 11. "Love Me Like a Friend" by Fly by Midnight 12. "broken" by lovelytheband 13. "Goosebumps" by Bastille, Kenny Beats 14. "Merry Xmas Everybody - For Nest Audio Sessions" by Bastille 15. "I Hope" by Gabby Barrett 16. "my ex's best friend (with blackbear)" by Machine Gun Kelly, bl...

There are things that I simply cannot wrap my head around. How is it that you can go to sleep in one country and wake up the next morning in another? People travel all the time. They don’t as much in this COVID-19 era, but pre-covid, travel was normalized, and people flew often. However, airplanes still absolutely fascinate me. I especially love sitting by the window seat because nothing beats its view.    As the plane peels off the ground, one second, I’m at eye level with people and a moment later, they appear microscopic.    What else really fascinates me is how we all only have one life. After we die, that’s it. I think about how many people will come after me a little more than I should. I think about heaven a lot too, whether it really exists, and whether there really is a life everlasting. We will really never know until our time is up, but then it’s too late. The amount of time, people, and inventions that will come after me terrify me. They’re all reminders ...

  How to Ace the Interview   Interviews are an inevitable part of life. Whether you are interviewing for your first summer job, first college internship, or changing career paths in life, you won’t be able to escape the interview phase of the recruiting process. I recently went through a lot of interviews before finally landing my summer internship, so I wanted to share some tips and tricks to help you ace them and land your dream role.   1)   Research the Company    Before the interview, you should know exactly why you want to work at the company for which you are interviewing. A job recruiter wants to know that you took the time to thoroughly do your research about wanting to choose them and not some other similar firm. This is a time where you want to show off all your knowledge about the firm. The more specific you can get with your research, the more informed and eager you will appear during your interview.    2)  Research the Interviewe...

A few weeks ago marked the anniversary or “blogiversary” of my first blog post on “Living Large.” Therefore, I wanted to provide some context for my blog’s name and give credit to those who inspired me.    In the summer of 2019, I visited my friend Siena at her home in New Jersey. As always, we had a packed weekend planned with lots of fun activities. Siena is the type of friend whose energy will always lift up the spirits in any room she enters. Visiting her family that weekend made me understand where she gets her excitement and passion from. Her family members brought the same light into conversations as she did. Simply from talking with them, I saw how much they craved adventure like her.    Something that caught my eye during my visit, was this wooden plaque above one of the doors in their house. It read “Live Large.” I have definitely heard of this simple saying before, but Siena’s mom explained how deeply the saying resonated with her and how she wanted to ins...

  The bold songs represent the start of each fall month. My spotify: olivia_srednicka https://open.spotify.com/user/14w7tqgl6tw0rfnrtg23tczby?si=1Sguhk7cSY2rKPgEPiIJSw 1) "Memories" by Thutmose 2) "Winnebago (ft. Quinn XCII & Daniel Wilson)" by Gryffin, Quinn XCII, Daniel Wilson 3) "Up Up & Away" by Kid Cudi 4) "Scarlet Paintings" by Milky Chance  5) "Simple As" by Kid Cudi  6) "Me You" by Russ  7) "Rollercoasters" by Bleachers  8) "Golden" by Harry Styles 9) "Walk on Water (ft.  Beyoncé )" by Eminem,  Beyoncé 10) "Hot Rod" by Dayglow 11) "Dynamite" by BTS 12) "EARFQUAKE" by Tyler, The Creator 13) "Rainbow" by Kacey Musgraves 14) "Mariposa" by Peach the Rascals 15) "Hallucinogenics" by Matt Meason 16) "Heart is Full" by Jon Bellion 17) "Go Easy" by Matt Maeson 18) "OMG What's Happening" by Ava Max...

  “How lucky I am to have something that ma kes saying goodbye so hard.” – Winnie the Pooh   Recently I was fortunate enough to spend two months in Poland. Many people wondered how I was able to surpass the COVID-19 restrictions, and the reason is that I have a dual citizenship because both of my parents were born in Poland.   My entire family with the exception of a handful of people are still living in Poland. Despite the significant distance across the globe, I formed very deep connections with many of these family members and have been lucky to have spent almost three years of my life in Poland thus far. Ever since I was five years old, my sister and I have spent the entirety of our summer vacations in Poland with my aunt. However, this past summer marked the first time since 2005 that I was unable to visit this family due to the increase of COVID-19 cases spiking across the globe.    After finding out the entirety of my fall semester of college was moved on...

The bold songs represent the start of each summer month. My spotify: olivia_srednicka https://open.spotify.com/user/14w7tqgl6tw0rfnrtg23tczby?si=1Sguhk7cSY2rKPgEPiIJSw 1)    “Beautiful” by Kygo, Sandro Cavazza  2)   “Be Your Friend” by Vigiland, Alexander Tidebrink 3)   “Are You Happy” by Bipolar Sunshine 4)  “New Orleans” by Parachute 5)    “Better Days” by OneRepublic 6)    “Ur So F**kInG cOoL” by Tones and I 7)    “Old Me” by 5 Seconds of Summer 8)   “Forever Young” by John De Sohn, LIAMOO 9)    “All For Love” by Raaban Tungevaag, Richard Smitt 10)  “Love & War In Your Twenties” by Jordy Searcy 11)    “Fly Me To The Moon” by Frank Sinatra 12)  “Hang On” by NEEDTOBREATHE 13)  “More Than Fish” by Mason Harms 14)   “Brother (ft. Gavin DeGraw)” by NEEDTOBREATHE, Gavin DeGraw 15)   “It Would Be You” by Ben Rector 16)   “Survival (ft. Drew & Ellie Holocomb)” by NEEDTOB...