About The Blog

We all experience that split second of panic when we’re driving, reach a freeway exit and have no idea which way we’re supposed to go. Our journeys have brought us this far. The hundreds of miles of cruising have left our cars with piles of junk food wrappers and empty coffee cups. Every song at this point sounds the same because all we can hear is the chatter of new possibilities. That split second determines if we end up where we need to go efficiently or if we are going to need to aimlessly drive down the highway for twenty more miles, just to turn around and feel the same indecision all over again. This freeway exit with many different exits represents every freshman student entering college.
Their car is filled with the people who support them most and all of their belongings for the next several months. Everyone travels from different places, packing his or her own individual baggage, but we all have gotten off at an exit headed for Pittsburgh. No one these days can get anywhere without a GPS, Google Maps, or Waze. Our guardians have guided us this far, telling us which exits to take on the highway that is the entirety of our lives. Then suddenly mostly everything is up to us. Which exits should we take? Where are we supposed to eat? How do I even do my laundry? Do I have to clean up by myself? Life gets hard, and honestly, none of us know how to navigate it entirely by ourselves.
That is where we come in. We are going to be the GPS that navigates undergraduate life at the University of Pittsburgh-- figuratively and literally. We will help navigate your lives with advice, words of wisdom, and stories we all have. All of these combined will help students figure out which exits to take, hopefully helping them to gain confidence in their own driving abilities along the way. That split second on the freeway where you have no idea which exit to take will come in many different forms. Unlike a normal GPS’ fickle design that is difficult to read, often unsure of the direction to go itself, we will never reroute our readers. We will be here to offer up advice. We will be vulnerable, and most importantly we will be honest. Nothing will be confusing about the advice we are giving.
That is not to say no mistakes will be made on the journey. Even we take detours sometimes, for that is inevitable in all walks of life. Mistakes are essential for human growth. In this blog, we will be very candid about the mistakes we have made in our past, but we will not dwell on the tragedies. Instead, we will dive into what those mistakes have taught us.
On every road, we will aim to be the map—a map of positive and healthy choices to enhance the college experience here at the University of Pittsburgh. We hope readers will look to us as their go-to when times are tough, for what is a map with no one to read it?