By: Lauren Brose ’15

I interviewed for this blogging position before the Fall 2014 semester started. At that time, Trojans 360 wasn’t even called Trojans 360 — Andrea, our supervisor, was thinking of names as she was mapping out our initiatives. Before there were a team of writers it was only me and Kelly. Andrea was discussing with USC Student Affairs about forming a new lifestyle blog that discussed topics pertinent to the college experience. More importantly, we were asked to shed light on the USC experience. This is where Kelly and I came in. We hoped that by incorporating our stories to these topics, students will be able to resonate with what we had to say. Although we all at times may feel small in a student body as large as USC’s, it’s important to understand you’re never alone. I truly hope that our content has accomplished what we aimed to do!

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

Finding a job nowadays is a full-time job within itself and just because we have USC on our resumes doesn’t mean getting hired is as simple as filling out a job application. As much as I’d love to say all major companies handpick graduates from USC, that simply isn’t true. USC is a great university to learn, grow and emerge into the working world from for a number of reasons; however, getting a high-paying job handed to you as you receive your diploma at graduation is not one of them. There is good reasoning behind why some grads are receiving offers of employment.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

This year, my primary focus is my happiness. The first step to achieving this is by making your needs a top priority. A lot goes into your overall health and wellness and I feel that a blog post dedicated to this topic is long overdue. I am all about finding that inner-bliss and through these habits— many of which I have personally adopted over the past year— I can attest to what I’m saying. A healthy lifestyle is exactly that: a lifestyle.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

Everyone said I was crazy for getting a cat and it was totally unexpected of me. I’ve always wanted to have a pet and raise a kitten or puppy at a young age. I considered waiting off until the end of my last semester, but I thought about my upcoming summer. I thought the perfect time to get a pet was when I finish school and have to transition to the rest of my entire life aka the real world. So a week after spring graduation, I got King George.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

We all have our opinions on 2015. If I could put mine into one word, it’d be tumultuous because 1) the word tumultuous cracks me up and I love using it and 2) my year was a riot. My entire attitude about my year and how I see 2016 going can be accurately illustrated in this GIF below. Last year, I wrote a post on resolutions that are possible to achieve. It included self-improvement goals such as loving yourself, trying new things and treating your body like a temple. These are objectives I believe we all should be achieving even after college. But right now, during your glorious college years, your new year’s resolutions should be focused on ways to enhance your USC experience. I came up with 10 solid ones I wish I had someone tell me take on when I was still a student at USC.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

It all started when my dad got his first teaching job in Oahu back in the 70′s. He was 22 and had $2,000 to his name. The simple life was all that interested him and the surf in Hawaii was spectacular enough to make my dad move out there for a year. He suggested that his mother check out Hawaii for herself. She fell in love instantly and today, over 30 years later, my grandma and her husband retired from teaching and live in Hawaii permanently. Naturally, I escape the Southern California “cold” (in my defense, it was pretty cold the days leading up to my departure) and spend my Christmas’s in Hawaii. This isn’t the most traditional form of Christmas considering Hawaii is the polar (pun totally intended) opposite of how Christmas is normally imagined.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

I’m bad luck when it comes to getting sick. Two weeks ago, I took the initiative and got a flu shot mainly because I knew it’d make my mom happy. 48 hours later I was checking myself into the emergency room so I can get hooked up to an IV because I had a bad reaction to the vaccine. Accompanied by a dead arm that reminded me of the days when I got into fights with my older brother, I had a migraine headache, fever and a bacterial infection where the shot was administered. After a week of taking antibiotics, I was free from illness. This only lasted me a week at best. So here I am, sniffling, as I sit here writing this blog post because now I have been blessed with the common cold.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

Last year I wrote a blog post highlighting all of the cool, interesting electives that I wish I was able to take during my time at USC. To be honest, my course load was so packed with classes required for graduation, I didn’t get a chance to take advantage of the great electives USC offers. Even though my time here as a student has come to an end, I hope to live vicariously through all my friends who are still here! If you’re looking at your courses right now and realize you have 2 leftover units our tuition includes, check out these classes! They’re currently being offered this upcoming Spring!

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

It’s hard to keep up with everything that’s going on–– especially with pre-Thanksgiving exams and project due dates to worry about. This week, like all weeks if we’re honest, a lot happened. Here’s a handful of stuff that’s going on right now. Instead of splashing this post with the darkness that touches many parts of the world, I tried to keep a balance.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

According to a Daily Trojan article released November 17, “the Academic Senate unanimously passed a proposal to defer Greek recruitment for freshmen to the spring semester and require transfer students to wait until they have obtained a USC GPA before participating in the process.”

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

Chris Felner—stage name “Felly”— doesn’t enjoy school. The 20-year-old from Trumbull, Connecticut, admits he’s never been totally captivated in his classes because he feels it hinders his ability to create. The technicalities with pitch, tone, specific chords and notes being played isn’t a calculated process for Chris. Instead, he feels the music and goes what what makes sense to him. That’s what’s worked for him since he started to write music at the fleeting age of 14.

By: Lauren Brose ‘15

It’s 1:29 AM on a Monday night and I am wide awake. While I can simply turn off my lights and sleep, I have zero desire to do so. In some form, being a night hawk (I prefer “night hawk” over “night owl” because let’s face it hawks are awesome) has never been a choice of mine. For as long as I can remember, I thrived best after dark…