Charger Blogger Looks Forward to Spring Semester

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the blog! For those who are just joining us: Hi! I’m Beatrice, a nutritional sciences major (B.S.) at the University of New Haven with a concentration in the pre-medical sciences. Outside of school, I’m an artist, gym person, baker, older sister, researcher, and, obviously, a blogger. In fact, I’ve been blogging for the school for about...four months now? Give or take?

Author, squinting at a calendar: “Yeah, four months. Ish.”

And, needless to say, I have had the time of my life doing so.

Aside from the fact that I genuinely enjoy writing, my goal is to provide students and faculty with a transparent and real-time insight into what the daily life of a student looks like on campus. This can vary from studying methods, self care, how to establish a good sleep schedule, or even my newest oatmeal recipe. Of course, any articles that pertain to sensitive topics will always include a content warning at the very beginning, as I do not want anyone to suffer emotionally or mentally from my entries. I am here to share my experience, not to damage others’.

If you’d like to catch up on some past entries, here is a list of quick links that will take you to them:

• Preparing for Finals
• Why Nutrition?
• Chronic Illness, & My Experience
• Facing Fears, Embracing Growth

As you can see, there’s not quite one area that I truly focus on within these blogs. All of them come from my personal experiences and the lessons that I’ve learned so far (despite being only nineteen years old), and it’s a hope of mine that people may be able to take away something from those experiences, even if one of them may involve baking cookies to support me through an all nighter or crying my heart out to Taylor Swift.

Man, I love being a teenager. I also occasionally despise it, lol, but that’s besides the point.

I hope you, my audience, are able to find warmth and a place of comfort in my writing. Again, this blog isn’t aimed at telling you how to live your life or that you must study or eat a certain way. It’s meant to encourage you to live your life, and to embrace the happiness, sadness, anger, frustration, and vulnerability that comes along with that.

Now that I’ve finished my (slightly-longer-than-expected) introduction, here is our blog forecast for the remainder of the semester:

1. A lot more research articles.
• I’ll admit it: I’m a nerd. Not even a basic nerd. I’m a nerd nerd. Similar to how the Earth is definitely round (coughs no shade flat Earthers coughs), I’m definitely that type of person who reads research articles for kicks. The only thing is, now I’m going to be doing more independent research into topics such as the gut microbiome, nutrition, metabolism, diet and exercise, and, frankly, anything I find intriguing. Additionally, to soothe any nerves, there will be a works cited provided as I am not a pirate.
2. More sustainable and attainable recipes.
• I study nutrition. I am quite literally a food ‘nut’ (haha, you see what I did there).
• Okay, I’ll stop. I’m sorry.
• Moving on, I’d like to provide students with easy, sustainable, nutrient-dense, and tasty recipes that they can incorporate into their everyday lives. In college, it can definitely be tricky to figure out what foods work with you and your schedule, but once you do, many doors can be opened. Aside from providing the instructions and ingredients, I’ll make sure to drop some of the health benefits tied to the recipe and what the specific macro and micronutrients within it do (i.e. vitamin C aids in collagen production, which can increase skin elasticity).
3. What’s the word on the street?
• I don’t know if anyone thought of Sesame Street when reading this, but please know that I did. As a naturally chatty person, I’d like to integrate more conversation and interviews with the folks here on campus. How do students like to study? What’s their morning routine? How about professors? How many cups of coffee is in their diet? What advice do they have for students? Well, folks, only time, talking, and more coffee will tell.

Ah, yes, I forgot to mention. Quick side note – for those who are new, I have a crippling caffeine addiction, and it will be quite common to see things such as:

• Author, on her third cup of coffee walking into the wrong classroom: “I – what is going on?”
• Author, making an espresso: “Dude, pineapple pizza isn’t real. If it is, it shouldn’t exist.” (Note that the author is half-Sicilian and doesn’t tend to tolerate bad Americanized Sicilian things, i.e. pronouncing bruschetta (bru-sket-ta) as bru-she-tta, or worse, bru-she-te, like machete. C’mon now, be civil).

And:

• Author, scoring a coffee-cup-trashcan goal: “DID YOU SEE THAT????”

Just something to keep in mind.

Coming back into focus, while these will be my goal entries, please expect a good chunk of personal-life blogs in the interim. There will probably be a lot of AW YEAH LET’S GOOOO and also why is life so horrible? I’ll also give you a look at what I am doing in between all the research, recipes, and interviews that I will be writing about. I want to have fun with this blog, just like the other aspects of my life, and I hope you all buckle up for the ride: there will be plenty of loopty-loops.

I hope everyone is settling into the new semester, as I am, and that everyone is staying very, very warm in this wintry weather.

Welcome back, everyone. If anyone has questions, comments, or just needs to let some stuff out, feel free to email me at BGlav1@unh.newhaven.edu or my personal email, beatriceg2022@gmail.com.

Sending all the love, and plenty of peace, love, and peanut butter,
Beatrice

Beatrice Glaviano ’26 is a nutrition sciences major at the University of New Haven.