This past weekend was my first without the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Spring Convention. If you're wondering what that is, it's a conference held on Columbia University's campus every March and November.

Columbia University invites high school students from all across the country who are interested in journalism and broadcasting to partake in a weekend full of seminars and classes on multiple subjects within the field.

I was a part of my high school's newspaper, The Southerner, for three years and every year we would go to the Spring Conference in March. We'd typically travel to NYC per Amtrak train that Wednesday and stay until Saturday when the conference came to a close.

The three years I was able to attend the conference as a student were some of the best experiences of my life. I got to explore and fall in love with a new city, as well as learning more about journalism and writing through the lens of a reporter.

I thought that, since this past weekend was my first without all the glamour and fast-paced hysteria of New York, I'd catalog what I did this weekend alongside what I experienced the first year I went to the convention.

Thursday night in NYC:

1. Jimmy Fallon monologue show with my sister at Rockefeller Center.

2. Top of the Empire State Building and I got stellar pictures of the city lit up at nighttime.

Thursday night @ LU:

1. Dance practice for the Hip Hop team I'm a part of. We spent time getting a routine ready for Spring Weekend in April.

2. Ordered Domino's and hung out with my boyfriend for a quiet night in.

Friday night in NYC:

1. Stardust diner where the waiters sing to you. They also have a killer grilled cheese sandwich and fries.

2. A trip to the Carlos Bakery NY location. The cupcakes are even more "to die for" than you'd expect.

Friday night @ LU:

1. Relay for Life commenced at four that afternoon and we ended up raising tens of thousands of dollars for cancer research within the following 12 hours!

2. I rewatched Princess Diaries for the thousandth time since it's come out. And I also found out Whitney Houston was a producer for the movie - you learn something new every day!

Saturday in NYC:

1. I went to go see the exterior of Juilliard's campus. This was when I still wanted to go to college for dance.

2. We also went to the 9/11 memorial, which was one of the most powerful experiences I've had in New York thus far. If you get a chance to go while you're in NYC, you won't regret it!

Saturday @ LU:

1. I started rewatching Gilmore Girls for the fourth time. What can I say? I enjoy the copious amounts of coffee, wit, and books in the show.

2. I also worked on homework and crossed a lot off my to-do list. This may not seem that great or adventurous of a Saturday, but I'm an introvert who likes her nights inside and crossing things off her to-do lists.

While my life at college may not seem all that adventurous when stacked up against one whirlwind weekend in NYC, I love my life at Longwood. I get to hang out and live super close to an awesome group of new friends and you never know what the next day will be like.

While my weekends at the CSPA conference were always meticulously scheduled (and I thoroughly enjoyed them), sometimes you just need a weekend to relax or embark on unknown, unplanned adventure.