Happy weekend, everyone! It’s Friday night – or midnight, to be exact – and here I am, sitting in my bed (already in my pajamas, too!) and waiting for my laundry to dry. This past week has been really hectic, so I’m more than relieved to finally be able to relax and do absolutely nothing! Out of boredom, I decided to go through some things I’ve collected and made for a couple of years now, and I thought I might as well share some of them here in my blog. 

I’ve always liked the idea of collecting stuff – I collect stamps and novels, sentimental memorabilia from various activities I participated in and places I went to, polaroid pictures, pieces of articles and quotations I find interesting, and the list goes on. Or in other words, I’m basically a junk collector. But to be fair, I find it to be such a nice way to look back and see what I have accomplished in my life so far. Also, being halfway across the world away, I like to have some memories from home that I can fit inside a suitcase.

So here it goes. Enjoy, folks!

A journal my little brother gave me when he and my mom visited me this summer!

A polaroid picture of my mom and little brother that I took at the apartment room I stayed at this summer.

A booking confirmation print-out that I kept. We went on a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard and it was super fun! The place was especially pretty in the summer.

An entire page dedicated to Lean In, an extremely thought-provoking and inspiring book I read this summer. All of the images, believe it or not, I took from a single Lush catalog!

A cork board of random stuff I have in my dorm room. I made the three panels that say EXPLORE (above the board) just before I left for college. I cut out some pictures from a couple of National Geographic issues I had. Now, let’s see what’s on the board: a sample essay given by my English teacher in the 10th grade; he’s probably one of the best teachers I’ve ever had so far. And next to it is an article published by The Student Globe, written by yours truly. 🙂 I’ve also got some Beatles-themed magnets and CareerLAB event schedule right there. Ugh, what to do next summer?

Some clipboards with stuff I find interesting on each of them! They’re taken from the Rookie Yearbook and National Geographic. And yep, that’s the one and only Audrey Hepburn right there! Also, polaroid pictures of some bits of high school. Good times with even better people. I’m glad I will see some of them when I go back home this winter break.

The Beatles box I bought during my first trip to the US six years ago. I put so many collectibles from the trip inside it! It was also probably when I started to collect random, yet worth-keeping, things.

What’s inside my Beatles box that was previously shown: a postcard from The Duck and Bunny, one of my favorite restaurants on College Hill; a gift from a Vietnamese roommate of mine during the super awesome two-week Young Leaders Winter School at Trinity College, University of Melbourne; an admission ticket to the Blanco Art Museum in Ubud, Bali, perhaps the most interesting museum I have been in Indonesia so far; a cute little alpaca I got from The World Scholars Cup in Thailand, a fun and enriching experience with my high school debate mates!