A Day in MY Life

Hi everyone! My name is Katelynn Gierlinger, but you can call me Kati! I am so excited to participate in this blog! I’ve never reached out to anyone outside of my country before. So, I guess I’ll start by telling you a little about myself:

            Well first off, I come from a family of five. Dad, Mom, older sister, and younger sister. Technically I am both a middle child and an eldest child. My older sister is only my half-sister, her biological father not being my own. So, I am my Momma’s middle daughter and my Daddy’s first. I grew up on our small family farm out in the middle of nowhere (according to my friends), which is situated on almost 300 acres of my grandfather land. I know our woods like the back of my hand and wouldn’t trade where I grew up for anything. We raised beef steers, chickens, and goats and always had a garden full of veggies. We also have the friendliest barn cats you’ll ever meet!

            Concerning where I currently “live” (I put this in quotes because I can’t quite call it home), I am a commuter to the College at Brockport. My suite is right next to campus and I share it with three other girls who also attend Brockport alongside me. We each have our own, small room, share a kitchen/living area, and have two bathrooms for each pair of us. My Green Cheek Conure, Fili, also lives with us! He’s the one in the picture. Don’t worry if he looks a little scruffy! He lost his friend this past year, a cockatiel named Angel, and now has a few stress and anxiety related issues. But other than that, he is happy, curious, and in charge!

            Because our campus is so close, I typically walk or bicycle to classes on most days. If I am running late or it is overly humid/the middle of winter, I take the college shuttle bus. I do have a vehicle here but use it only to go to town or visit my boyfriend (he attends RIT, half an hour away from me). I am also the only one out of my roommates who owns a car, so I try to help everyone carpool if needed.

            So, our professor provided these two prompts, “My home is” and “My family is”, and I guess I would fill them in like this:

My home is where I spent my childhood, where I met my best friends, and where I spent my time discovering the simple pleasures in life.

My family is who raised me right, who provided the best they could for me, and who taught me to be my best self.

So, that’s a little bit about my background and current setting, but here’s some more in-depth pieces of my personality:

            The best two words to describe myself would be passion and empathy. I am deeply passionate in almost everything I do, especially in fulfilling my dreams (ornithology for one, ethnoornithology for two). When I have a goal in life, I seek it out relentlessly, learn all I can, and take action. I also say I’m empathetic because of my sensitivity towards the stress and emotions others experience. This is both a help and a hindrance when it comes to being an environmental science major. It allows me to attempt to view both sides of a story, to “be in someone else’s shoes", and to attempt to understand a situation. But, it also can stir up some highly emotional moments frequently. Watching movies with me is a pain.

            A peek inside my daily life would look pretty average. I typically get up early, work out, attend classes, and do homework. I also work on campus at the night café and occasionally go out when I feel I need a break. My favorite food would probably be an egg roll (I love Asian cuisine) and my favorite candy is a plain old Hershey chocolate bar. My hobbies include numerous outdoor activities (kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, gardening, and lots more), tennis, volleyball, video-gaming, drawing, writing, and anything bird-related.

            And again, final two prompts, and then I’m finished:

I am tired from typing.

I wish there was more time in a day.

And the one thing that scares me the most is that I won’t be able to change the world in some way and be remembered…