Free For All Friday | I'm Terrified

College is every teenager's dream. It's the first time in their life they get to live away from their parents and finally get the chance to be independent. They're free to party, sleep, and eat however they want. But of course I can't be like most teenagers. Instead of being excited I'm terrified.

Tomorrow I move into college and it's the biggest change I've ever been through. I'll go from a quiet, small household to a dorm full of energetic teenagers. Weekends will no longer consist of me alone in my room watching Netflix... well I mean it might but the likelihood of that happening is far less. And while these immediate changes like sharing a bathroom and a bedroom are significant, the most terrifying thing is that this is where life begins. From here on out I have to begin building up my "career" in fact, I can begin referring to my academics as part of this so called "career." I have to plan my classes, volunteer work, internships, jobs, everything around this career, so that it helps me in the future.

I had a graduation party a couple days ago. A couple family friends came over as a sort of good bye and as they were leaving, they told me how excited they were to, hopefully one day, see my name in the news or a fancy research magazine. Let's be honest, if I'm going down the medical field the only way I'm going to be showcased like that is if I do something spectacular, something worthy of Grey's Anatomy. It's an expectation, an expectation to be successful. While most children (usually Indian or Asian) are pressured to do well academically and continually forced and nagged to sit down and study, I never had that. Throughout high school I was self-motivated enough to manage my study habits on my own and as a result I've grown a reputation. I'm the "perfect" child everyone else gets compared to, and trust me it's not as good as it sounds. I've set the bar high for myself, perhaps a little too high. I've started the race of life at a full on sprint and I'm terrified I'm going to burn out before reaching the finish line. I'm terrified I'm not going to live up to the expectations and goals other people have set for me. And honestly I'm most terrified I'm not going to live up to my own expectations.

I just wanted to get some of my thoughts out there about college. I have no doubt they're going to be an exciting four years, but I'm equally terrified and anxious. Maybe you guys feel the same way, or have any experiences you want to share, I'd love to hear about them! 

Free For All Friday | Social Media

Don't get me wrong, I love social media as much as the next person. As a blogger it's a great way to connect and network with other bloggers, authors and publicists, and as a person it's a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. But I feel like our generation is becoming more and more dependent on social media, to the point where the number of likes we get dictates how we see ourselves.

I recently went on vacation with a couple of family friends and noticed this rising dependence on social media, particularly Instagram. These middle schoolers and high schoolers spent so much of their time thinking of poses and captions, even missing out on the fun of water handball to go take pictures specifically for Instagram on the beach.

These kids have a formula. They know exactly what types of pictures people like and exactly what time is best for "maximizing likes." When social media is used to boost self-esteem it's not a problem, but when it begins to do the opposite it starts becoming a concern. Ideally social media is a platform for connecting, gives us a way to talk to people we normally wouldn't be able to. But it also gives us a better way to compare one another.

One hundred likes versus fifty likes has absolutely no significance. It doesn't mean you're prettier or more popular, because let's be real neither of those words has any meaning. Likes are a result of luck and chance; that someone happened to scroll past your picture and pushed a button.

With all this technology, it's so easy to blur the lines between digital and real. It's a growing side effect of all these wonderful platforms and a problem I think needs to be addressed.

But maybe I'm the only person who thinks this is a problem? What do you guys think? Let me know in the comments below! 

Free For All Friday | Feminism

After my ethics class, feminism has been a recent topic of interest to me.  I have friends on both sides of the spectrum, those who believe that patriarchy affects everything and everyone, and those who believe that feminism is only relevant in third-world countries.

From an American standpoint, I can see the arguments of feminism made and I know there are still ways to go before we reach equality, but from an Indian standpoint I can tell you how much has changed. 

I recently had several relatives over and I could just see how much things have changed. In India, the norm for a woman is essentially to serve her man. She has to cook, clean, take care of the kids and in return the man makes the money. It's a full-blown patriarchy. We've moved to a point where women can have low position jobs, but the mind set is still the same. Women can't talk back to the head of the house, they can't argue or express any type of differing opinion. Men are entitled.

Being a woman in America in the 21st century is quite incredible, comparing it to the circumstances I would have been in. I don't know if it's the effects of a different country, a different time period, or maybe it's just my family but I'm not confined. I can argue and express my opinions. I can hold jobs other than being a schoolteacher. I can do so much more. And while there's still room for improvement, there's still so much to celebrate in regards to women's rights. 

Free For All Friday | High School Graduation

Unfortunately this week I was unable to post a Tuesday Talks because of an important milestone called graduation. This Tuesday I graduated from high school and I have to say, it's a very bittersweet experience. 

First there's the actual ceremony, which is usually fairly tedious. The graduates walk into the auditorium/gym to the beat of the famous graduation song, and then we all sit down. A long line of speakers typically follows. These individuals are usually the valedictorian, salutatorian, superintendent, principal, etc. Then is the arduous process of calling each individual person up and handing them their diploma. Overall, it's nothing spectacular, but it's an emotional time for parents and students alike. 

Afterwards is usually when the emotions hit their peak. We've turned our tassels and thrown our caps,  officially becoming college freshman and high school alumni. Weaving in and out of the gaggle of people, we try to find our friends and family, those that have supported us. We take pictures with our fellow classmates and it's then that we realize how finite high school is. We realize that our four years together are coming to a close. And while we're excited about our futures, there are clouds of nostalgia just threatening to creep in.  

I know I'll see my friends again, so it wasn't really a goodbye. But it's still something I think is worth sharing. 

Free For All Friday | Group Work

Group work is a cause of constant stress for me. Unfortunately for me, I'm a perfectionist and fairly over-bearing, especially when it comes to group work, so people either hate me in their group or love having me.

Essentially I'm the one who ends up doing most, if not all of the work.

I understand people have their own schedules and work on their own time, just as I do, and I understand when emergencies come up, but I don't understand the art of procrastination when someone else is depending on you.

I work with people I can trust, those who I know will get their work down. I've had the unfortunate event of someone blowing me off before a ten-page lab report is due, and now the very thought of group work sets me into anxiety, particularly those with a reputation of not doing work.

It's one thing not doing an individual assignment because you don't want to, and it's a completely different thing to not do a group assignment just to spite someone.

Am I the only one who feels this way about group work? I like getting my assignments out of the way as soon as I can and I'm not a fan on depending on someone especially someone who's not dependable.

Free For All Friday | Bored

I am so bored. It's been about three weeks since finals and graduation, and I have nothing to do. I still have volunteering and work every couple of days, but without the constant flurry of homework, tests and quizzes my life feels empty.

My internal clock wakes up by eight am, not even giving me the luxury to sleep in. A cycle of eating, reading and Netflixing continues throughout the day until I hit the point where I'm bored of doing even those. And while I am mildly active (running/fast-walking on my treadmill everyday/ every couple of days), the Saloni-shaped crater in my bed cares to disagree.

This boredom has brought with it it's twin side-kicks: tiredness and laziness. I'm too tired and too lazy to do anything productive (laundry, chores, reading, etc.), but not doing anything productive bores me, which makes me tired and lazy. It's a monstrous cycle. In fact, even though it's only 10 PM, I think I'll stop this post here and go to bed. 

Free For All Friday | Prom Antics

Today's the day millions of girls all over the world dream about. It's the day that is showcased in TV shows and movies to be "the best day of your life." It's prom.

If there's anything you should know about me it's that I hate unnecessary antics. And to me, there's nothing more unnecessary then spending hundreds of dollars on one night, an overrated, extremely fancy school dance. 

First there's the promposal. If you're a couple, you already know you're going to prom together so why do you need to make a big deal about it. Why do you have to plan a flash mob and force everyone to practice the dance multiple times? It seems like an unnecessary waste of time and effort. I know I seem like a cynic, but I promise I'm not. I just think promposals should be saved for those who aren't expecting it. 

Secondly there's the dress. Thankfully my dress shopping wasn't extensive. But I've heard the stories. You buy a two hundred dollar dress, then you have to spend another hundred getting it tailored so you don't trip and fall over the ridiculously long hem. Then you have to shop for all the accessories: the necklaces, earrings, makeup, shoes, etc. AND you have to make sure they perfectly match your dress. It's just too much. And if you're taking a date, forget it. They have to get you a corsage, and their tie/shirt has to perfectly match your dress. I honestly don't care if your tie is three shades greener than my dress. It makes no difference to me. 

Then there's the day of prom; the hair appointments, the nail appointments, the hours getting ready, and then the ridiculous number of pictures.

Prom never felt like a big deal for me. My high school goal isn't to be prom queen, it's to graduate as a valedictorian. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but prom queen has never been in my agenda. I'm also quite bitter since I'm missing BEA to attend prom, and while I'll try to have a good time, prom is not my scene so who knows what will happen. 

Snapshot Saturday, if it's on time, will probably showcase my time at prom. 

Do you guys have any prom stories? Good ones? Bad ones? Let me know in the comments below! 

Free For All Friday | Unphotogenic Pictures

Hey guys, so for this Free For All Friday, I want to talk about something very near and dear to my heart: unphotogenic photos.

If you're reading this and thinking "Man I'm the most photogenic person", trust me, I've got you beat.

I would say that I'm a fairly average looking person, not extreme either way, but for some reason photos have a way of warping all of my features into an unrecognizable and laughable face.

For those of you who are fortunate enough to not know what the term means, "unphotogenic" is essentially when someone doesn't photograph well and all their pictures turn out weird.

There are several classic things that usually never fail to happen whenever a picture of me is taken:

1. Half-Closed Eyes

I'm known for having quite large eyes, and while most of the time it's a fantastic feature, my blink timing is off and when the camera's click goes off, my eye is usually in mid blink and the camera never fails to catch that moment.

2. The Chandler Smile

Also known as the forced and painful smile. While my regular smile is fairly average, when a camera is placed in front of me, it instantly turns into a forced and unnatural smile. And I honestly have no idea why. The traditional "cheese" doesn't really work for me.

3. Awkward Poses

I'm not sure if this has anything to with being inherently unphotogenic, but when someone tells me to stand for a picture I never know what to do with myself. Am I supposed to strike a pose? Put my hands on my hips? Regardless of what I do, I feel dumb.

So from this post, I have basically come to the realization that I probably won't be a model, which I am perfectly content with, but am I the only unphotogenic person out there? Let me know in the comments below if you guys have any unflattering consequences of cameras. 

Free For All Friday | Finals

Hey guys, I know I haven't written a Free For All Friday post in a while, but I've been furiously studying for finals, and now that they're over, here I am.

As a high school senior, these were some of my last finals...well until college starts again. And I wanted to give those of you who still have finals left some tips and tricks to get through the week.

Tip #1: Don't wait until the last minute. 

I know this is a bit cliché, but don't wait until the day before the final to open your textbook for the first time. I'm not saying you have to start studying two weeks in advance, but at least start looking over the material beforehand so it's not completely foreign the night before.

Tip #2: Take lots of breaks. 

Contrary to popular belief, finals week isn't a constant repeat of studying and sleeping. You're allowed to take breaks. You can go on YouTube, or on Netflix. In fact, it'll probably be beneficially for you to take a few breaks and let your mind relax from the constant stream of information. In fact right before my calc final I went to a book signing by Kiera Cass and still did well on the final.

Tip #3: Don't overstress. 

I know in the moment these tests may seem like a big deal but, speaking as someone who strived so hard to attain a 4.0, one B isn't going to ruin your life. It may hurt your pride, but you're not going to be rejected from college because of one bad grade. The education system is just a game, all you have to do is learn to play it.

These are just a few of the things I've learned over the years, comment below some of your experiences with finals, or with tests in general! 

Free For All Friday | Weird/Funny Situations I've Been In

Hello everyone and welcome to another (on time) post of Free For All Friday!

Today I want to talk about some weird and funny situations I've been lucky to witness.


1. Elevator Woman

Once my friend and I were standing in an elevator, waiting for the doors to close. As they begin closing, a fairly rotund women hurries into the elevator and before the doors can detect her presence, they close on her, before quickly reopening. As a middle-aged Southern woman, rather than cursing in pain, she let out an "Oh my! That's gonna bruise." while rubbing her sides. By this point I was faking some vigorous coughing to cover my laughter.

2. Sprite Torpedo

Speedbumps are a pain. Unless someone is acting like an unprecedented fountain. As we pull away from the parking lot, all of us anticipate the large speed bump. All except one, who, instead, takes a large swig of Sprite. Knowing this couldn't end well, I dive into the seat across from me just has the fountain of Sprite erupts from him, spraying everything within a three foot radius of him.

3. Dumb Students

Sometimes you have to talk to a professor. It's not a big deal, you go to their office, talk to them and leave. But of course things can't be that simple for me. My friend and I go to a professor's office, find that he's not there and wait somewhere down the hall. We situate ourselves in front of a door, the door that, we later find out, he uses to come in. He sees us, says hi and continues onwards to his office. Us, too confused to do anything, just say hi and get back to our work. A few minutes later he comes out and says that someone told him that two girls came looking for him and if we needed to talk to him. Mortified, I made up some excuse how we were just finishing our math homework and would come as soon as we finished the problem.

There are so many more, and I'll probably do a part 2 to this post, but these are just some funny stories I have, though they were much funnier when they happened. Do you guys have any funny stories? Share them in the comments below! 

Free For All Friday | Senioritis

Welcome to another weekly Friday post, I know I forgot to post last week, but the reason is exactly what we'll be talking about today:  the dreaded senioritis.

For those of you that don't know, the official definition of Senioritis from the urban dictionary is:

A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletics shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude.

Though that you know, I'm saddened to share you with that I have been diagnosed with it a couple weeks ago. I got through most of second semester, but once all decisions were released, it was all downhill from there.

It's gotten to the point where even updating my blog feels like work. In all honestly I've been bingewatching Parks and Rec for the last couple weeks...thankfully I haven't really had homework or tests to worry about. But once finals come around it'll take some real effort to push through.

What about you guys? Do you have any senioritis-induced stories? Share them below! 

Free For All Fridays | College Decisions

Ok I know it's Saturday, but I wanted to post this yesterday and I didn't have time to, so it's Free For All Friday on Saturday!

Welcome to another post of Free For All Friday, today we're going to be discussing college decisions. If you're not one of the many seniors going through the arduous process of college application, let me give you the low down. This week is basically the week of death, AKA the week that college decisions come out. Many of them have already been released, however a few major ones are left (All of the Ivy Leagues).

I have applied to a total of seventeen schools. I know that seems like a lot but most of these applications have stemmed from paranoia, paranoia that is completely justified. All my life people have led me to believe that with the right GPA and the right test scores and the right amount of extracurriculars I would get into any college I wanted to, from Harvard to Hopkins. Let me first rid you of this belief: no amount of hard-work and motivation can guarantee you a spot in your dream school.

College admissions is a combination of chance and statistics. As education is increasingly becoming a business, colleges are adjusting their acceptances in order to maximize their profit. For example, one college I applied to (whose name I will not disclose) wait-listed me. This college isn't particularly hard to get into, especially not for someone with my stats (straight A student, good SAT score, yada yada yada). However the number of accepted students that actually end up attending is fairly low, so in order to increase that number they accepted students more likely to attend rather than those actually qualified.

Other colleges don't offer acceptances based on needs (though they might say they are need-blind). Essentially college admissions is a coin toss, if you get lucky that's great, but if you don't that doesn't say anything about you. It doesn't mean you're a bad student or you don't deserve that college. It simply means that the cards were not in your favor, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Anyone who's going through this process: good luck and remember, admissions isn't everything. You can still do everything from a lesser-known school: medical school, graduate school, everything. You can still get to where you want to go, I promise.

Share some stories in the comments below! Have you had any bad experiences with college admissions? I want to hear about them! Let's bond over our experiences. 

Free For All Friday | Writing Classes

Welcome to the first post of Friday Free For All, a weekly discussion where I pick a random topic to discuss on my blog! 

Today's discussion is going to be focused on writing classes. 

I've taken quite a few writing classes and as a result have written many papers, research papers, "feely" papers, prompt papers, etc. But the subjectivity of a writing class really deters me from loving the subject. 

Are papers graded on content? On grammar? On whether the teacher likes you or not? If I get an A, is it because my paper is actually good or it because the teacher just likes me enough to push my grade up to an A. Consequently, if I get a B, was my content bad or did the teacher just not accept and agree with my opinions. 

Honestly, this is one of the reasons I prefer subjects like math and science. There is one answer, and you're either right or wrong. There not that much room for subjectivity.

Last year, I had an English teacher whose grading system was incredibly confusing. Upon returning our papers, she's make comments about how fantastic our writing was and then we would be presented with a B. If my writing was fantastic, why didn't I get an A? Within the paper, there would be no commentary on any objective things I could improve: grammar, sentence structure, content, etc. That leads me to believe she just didn't agree with my topic, which is mildly annoying. 

I love writing, but the fact that someone else should judge my writing and grade it based on their subjectivity is mildly annoying. 

Do you guys experience the same things with your writing teachers, or is it just me? Let me know in the comments below!