I first heard of “Her Campus at UVA” in a Facebook post. A girl by the name of Nicole Patterson had posted looking for girls to join a “PR/Event Planning” team and it got my attention. By this time spring of my 1st year, I had joined the Vietnamese Student Association, the Asian Student Union, and finished the Asian/Pacific American Leadership Training Institute, aka all things “Asian.” They call it a bubble for a reason: you can easily get stuck in it. I wanted out, I needed out, and I found it through Her Campus, a young, budding, CIO that at the time had only been writing articles about the serious struggle it is of being a college woman (it’s hard, it really is). Two other girls and I struggled to give the HC Events and PR team a foundation, but we did it. We were the first members of the PR/Events Planning team and boy… talk about “Started from the bottom now we here.”
This is supposed to be a blog about the content of the survival kit, me going on and on about how awesome the products inside are – and they are definitely awesome, I’ll get to that real soon. But looking back, the survival kits were so much more than just things to get me through exams. Her Campus was my very own UVA survival kit. It gave me an outlet when physics got too darn stressful, or when orgo practice problems just weren’t happening. I LIVED for our Sunday meetings my 3rd year just so I could get out of my apartment and have an actual social life. I got to work with different and amazing groups of girls all four years, building the PR team to where it’s at now. I’ve had the fortune of snagging some of the awesome giveaways HC sent us in each survival kit box to survive my own finals. I took the chance to burst out of that “Asian” bubble to work with girls of diverse backgrounds and I’ve learned SO much from them and their leadership styles, it’s amazing really. Kudos to Morgan Klausner, Sarah Kaylor, and Lucy Wu carrying on the HC Events and PR team legacy, and Claire King, Sydney Umeri, and Selin Ulkuatam for leading the Writing team.
Alright I suppose now we can get to the “good” stuff. I’m a loser and forgot to take pictures so I’ll awkwardly have to get stock photos on the internet (see below) but I swear Her Campus never fails when it comes to the survival kits.
1. Brappz
Okay it’s insane. I got two little brappz wire thingies right, and I’m thinking to myself what. the. heck. are. these. One’s pink and one’s yellow and the yellow is considerably longer than the pink one. I open the tiny little booklet and you can use them roughly 22 different ways!!!! You can use them for jewelry, bra straps, shoelaces, etc…. I used them as a cool retro bracelet and it WORKED.
2. Camelbak Forge
I’m so happy- my first ever camelback… everyone has those UVA blue colored ones and I’ve just always been too lazy/ poor to pay 20$ for a water bottle when I can just get one for free somewhere, but now I can definitely say I see the hype. It’s leak-proof, which I can’t say the same for some of my other bottles, and it does a great job of keeping my water cold. There’s a button you can press for shorter drinking (it’ll close as soon as your finger lifts up) AND you can leave the drinking spout open if you plan on drinking from it repeatedly. It’s super neat and I loveee it!
3. Monthly Gift tampons
No one likes a period. No. One. And during exams too? I don’t know how it can get even worse. I’m opposed to calling it a gift but I suppose it’s as if Mother Nature is rewarding you for not being pregnant?
So get this. Monthly gift is a period box. You know how you have makeup boxes, international snack boxes, nail polish boxes, etc etc? Well for $10 a month, you can get your very own period box, customized with high quality tampons, pads, liners, and of course, chocolate to alleviate your period. I think it’s genius if you ask me. We only got to try the tampons, but hey if it gets the job done, that’s all I ask for.
4. Pure Silk Shaving Cream
The problem with spring semester is that the weather is so nice that it’s time to crack out the shorts and dresses. But exam season is so ratchet, therefore I really really don’t want to shave. Everyone is so entranced in their work anyways so who’s going to notice? But when I do, Pure Silk is totally the brand to go to. Even before I got this from Her Campus I used only Pure Silk, because you can actually get a can of this for a little over a dollar at Walmart and it’s actual cream, not a gel. I love the scent for sure, and I love the feeling of soft, moisturized and smooth legs after!
5. Spots
…. Is coming soon! The website lists it as “Spots is a home-sharing app that enables college students to travel on a budget or simply make new friends in town! Using Spots, you can find other students who are offering their living space at an affordable price. You can also list your own “Spot” as an easy way to make some extra cash and meet new people. Just identify your location, name a competitive price, and wait for a request from a fellow student! The app allows fast booking times through an easy-to-navigate map interface, intuitive profile pages, and a swift and reliable payment method.” Sounds neat to me! I’m waiting for it to arrive so I can use it in my horribly planned, spontaneous, big-girl travels.
6. Vera Bradley
Vera Bradley has frequented our past 2-3 survival kits now so it’s always awesome to open up the box to see what they sent us. I didn’t personally get the wallet or the double id holder, but the ladies who did win it through our study break were stoked. As always, thank you Vera Bradley!
To my last Her Campus article ever written, but not read, thanks for a great time. Make sure you check out HC UVA’s articles and study breaks, and future awesome events to come.
HCXO- Victoria