Speaker: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast by the hosts and guests may or may not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Miami University.

Speaker: Freshman year I came in undecided.

Speaker: I'm finance, entrepreneurship, anthropology.

Speaker: I'm a senior architecture student.

Speaker: I'm involved in the blockchain club here.

Speaker: I'm very passionate about studying abroad.

Speaker: Classes are going great.

Speaker: And then obviously very involved with my sorority.

Speaker: I'm thriving.

Meredith Aliff 

Hi, I'm Meredith Aliff. And this is major insight. This is the podcast where we talk college life with amazing students about how to find your place and purpose on campus.

Graduating college is a profound milestone that can bring a huge swing of conflicting emotions. On one hand, there's the undeniable sense of pride that comes with the culmination of years of hard work and sleepless nights, and of accolades earned and accomplishments achieved. But there's also the bittersweet feelings of bidding farewell to the familiar halls that have felt like home and to all the friends who have become like family. So on this episode, we are joined again by Maya Mehlman, a graduating senior who's going to help us reflect back on four amazing years, we'll talk about bonds forged, of memories made, about life lessons learned and so much more. Because graduation is not just about the diploma. It's also about embracing the exciting change and growth that helps us step boldly into the next chapter of life.

Meredith Aliff 

And so I am back with Miss Maya Mehlman,

Maya Mehlman 

Hey guys!

Meredith Aliff 

The senior superstar Miss Maya Mehlman, and we are just going to have a little conversation about the last four years of our lives. How do you feel about that?

Maya Mehlman 

I'm a little scared. I was just telling Gianna, I was like, I'm not a very emotional person. But we'll see. I actually am an extremely emotional person, but I don't like showing it.

Meredith Aliff 

I've been getting emotional recently.

Maya Mehlman 

I've been getting emotional too and like, we just had our senior goodbye for our sorority last night. And I ... they almost got me, but like, I don't like crying in public. We'll see?

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah. Especially in a big group like that. I totally get it. Well, we have the Kleenex here, just in case. We do actually have a box of tissues for reference, people listening. In between us right now. Ready. Ready for us shall we need them, but let's just jump right into it.

Maya Mehlman 

Let's just do it. Rip off the band aid

Meredith Aliff 

So this has been just the craziest for years. I think one thing that a lot of people try to do when they come into college is follow exactly their plan, or their idea of what they want their college experience to be. What are the good and bad of that?

Maya Mehlman 

Well, the thing is, we could sit here and all day be like, don't have a plan, like everything will just fall into place. But obviously people are going to come in with a plan. Like everyone's going to think like, oh, I'm that one person that can stick to a plan. I don't think there's any like pros or cons of having a plan. I just think it's a thing. But you do have to keep an open mind and be like things are going to change along the way. I was very fortunate in that I came in and as a media major. And that never changed. I don't know about you, but ...

Maya Mehlman 

You did. Okay. So that's just like an example of: just to be prepared for things to change. And that's okay. Because you're experiencing all these new things for the first time, that you just have to keep an open mind and be like, "Oh, maybe I don't like doing this one thing as much as I thought I did. And I'm going to explore this other option." And that's also what's amazing about, you know, Miami or any liberal arts school is that you have that chance to explore all these different fields and figure out "okay, maybe I don't want to do media, maybe I want to be neurosurgeon." It could happen, I don't know.

Meredith Aliff 

I did change my major.

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah, absolutely. I agree. I think I did change my major. But ... there ... it is important to have a plan, it's important to come in with at least some sort of way to always propel yourself forward. You can't just sit in the same spot. So... and that's even the case, you know, as a senior trying to figure out postgrad things, like, I've been talking to my family and their biggest thing is like, "just keep having a plan to move forward. Don't get to sit still," like, if you aren't sure what you want to do, you don't have to be sure of what you want to do, but keep taking steps in the forward direction,

Maya Mehlman 

Right. And it's also the people that you meet, too, like the people that you meet not to sound cheesy, very much change your life too. I obviously, I've been on this podcast before and I've talked about how I've studied abroad. I wouldn't have done any of that, if it wasn't for like the girls that I met in my sorority, who were like, when I was on the fence about studying abroad, they were like "you can always make up a day in college. You can't always make up a night in Barcelona," or whatever. It's everything around you impacts your next step.

Meredith Aliff 

Was there anything during your college experience that was completely out of left field unexpected, unplanned, that ended up having kind of a big impact on your experience?

Maya Mehlman 

We're gonna have to cut this out. But COVID.

Meredith Aliff 

I mean, we could say that. It is a big part of our experience. It was the first two years of our college experience.

Maya Mehlman 

I mean, yeah, and I guess at this point, it is a moot point, because we're (knock on wood) way beyond COVID. But I will say like, as much as it did suck, I think it did shape my college experience. And you know what? I am so happy with how my college experience turned out. So I don't really know if I would like go back in time and make that not happen. Because if it didn't happen, then who would know if I meet the people and do the things that I ended up doing?

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah, I've been kind of going off of that. Because obviously, it's impossible to ignore that, that factor in our college experience, as people that came in during that time. And it's just so funny to look back at how I literally thought my life was over when I lost the end of my high school experience. And I didn't get to have my senior year, right. I feel like we, as coming in as college freshmen in the middle of all of that was probably the best thing that could have happened because we didn't know what we were missing yet. Like we came in to college. And we were like Ne ne ne, like all doe eyed, like not really sure what to expect. And we didn't get any of it taken away from us like these other upperclassmen had.

Maya Mehlman 

But it was also a good like, transition period, I guess, because we really got to focus on our academics because there really wasn't much else to do.

Meredith Aliff 

Absolutely.

Maya Mehlman 

Wait. I don't even remember what the question was, what

Meredith Aliff 

It was unexpected things. Something out of left field ...

Maya Mehlman 

Okay, so I ... something out of left field. This isn't like super crazy, but I took like a chem class last year. And, like, even all throughout my college experience. I've taken like these... My freshman year, I took like a botany class. I took a geography class with a lab. And while like, yeah, sure, I would never like go into that field of study. Like, it was so fun to learn about those different things. And having the opportunity to ...  in that botany class, we just learned about like different trees. And we got to walk around campus, and go on the different trails that Miami had, which was super cool, because I didn't even know that we had trails at the time. But then, I was also in like a rock climbing course that I adored. And we went on the challenge course that we have in like Peffer Park, which has like this whole outdoor ropes course and an outdoor wall. And it was just like ... it's those kinds of experiences where you're like, I fall in love with this place more and more every single day, like even four years later. Because I'm like learning new things. And it's handing me all these new opportunities.

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah, and you can just dive deeper into your campus as well through experiences like that, like, you don't have to make the most of your classes. And you can just show up to get the attendance points. But you can also actually learn what's happening and take advantage of walking around your campus and seeing Peffer Park and getting to rock climb on your college campus. Because not everybody takes advantage of their college like that. And I stand by that's why people don't enjoy college. The people that decide that college is not for them. I think it's because they didn't give it a good enough chance.

Maya Mehlman 

They didn't give it the old college try. And like Never would I ever have thought that I would be working on a podcast for three years in my college experience. But I mean, this also speaks to the professor's here that like came up to me and were like, "Hey, someone emailed us about this opportunity, we think you would be cool for it." Which is kind of what you're saying too, like, if you do throw yourself into classes, and you do throw yourself into those experiences, your professors have connections, and they will guide you on their behalf. And this experience, especially, has taught me so much about like what I want to do in the future and has helped me gain so many skills that I can now use to go into the workforce and like kind of what job vibe I'm looking for.

Meredith Aliff 

Absolutely. I think biggest thing out of left field for me is Major Insight. Easily. Like, I had changed my major. I thought I was done with that part, and I had taken this class, this podcast class, after I had already decided I was changing my major. And I was like shoot, that was super fun. Like, I really liked that. I liked the editing. I liked the recording, going out and getting audio from all over campus. I thought it was so cool. But I'd already made the decision to switch, and I stand by my decision. I think speech pathology is way more for me than journalism. But I made the connection with the professor in that class. He reached out to me about the major insight opportunity. And it was completely unexpected. I never thought that I would be the host of a podcast in college, ever. And here I am two years later. And like one of the best things that I could have ever decided to do in college, or ever tried to do in college. And, yeah, it's just been the most rewarding and wholesome experience. And I've loved meeting all of the people and doing the interviews and hearing all the different stories. And I never ever expected that to happen. But now here we are. And I'm finishing out my senior year, as my second year as host, which as just been fantastic.

Maya Mehlman 

And you have to pass the torch pass the touch soon. How do you feel about that?

Meredith Aliff 

Oh, well, you know.

Meredith Aliff 

Obviously, we could look back and talk about all of these amazing things and all the things that went right during our college experience. Is there anything that you would go back and do differently?

Maya Mehlman 

I don't think so. I'm very much the type of person to believe that everything happens for a reason. And while sure certain events might have happened in college that sucked and felt like the world was falling apart, and everything was not going the way that it was supposed to go. I'm happy where I am now. I love my life now. So I don't think I wouldn't want to go back and change anything, because I wouldn't want anything to be different.

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah. 100%. I think I'm right there with you. And my initial response to that question was going to be studying more for a test that I knew I needed to study more for, and I didn't. But at the end of the day, when you look back at your college experience, like, I don't even know what test I would be talking about. Because that's not the memorable part. It's not about the test grade. It's not, I mean, it's kind of about the class grade as a whole, because that's what college is about. But to go back and just be like, Oh, I wish I would have studied more. Like, I still passed the class, I still made it through, I still got the GPA at the end of my college experience that I wanted to have at the end of my college experience. And that's genuinely The only thing I can even think of that I would have done differently. Other than that, because everything else I... Good or bad has shaped what my experience has been.

Maya Mehlman 

And that's the other thing too. It's like college ... While yes, you come here to get a diploma. It's so much more than the academics and I'm not even talking about like going out and partying. It's about joining extracurriculars, joining clubs. I mean, you're an acapella. I work on this. It's about all the other experiences that you have to, like, mold you and the people that you meet along the way that mold you into the person that you're going to become. And also of course, finding that like work-life balance and also having to figure out how to be adult-ish, like, Junior year was so hard. Yes, the classes I was taking in junior year were a little harder than classes I had taken previously. But it was my first time living in apartment. I had to figure out a laundry schedule. I had to figure out how to cook for myself.

Bills pay. Oh, my God, electric bills!

Maya Mehlman 

Unfortubaley that is not something that goes away. And like figuring out the whole like moving in and out of apartments. Signing a lease, finding roommates, learning how to like live with people. I mean, sure, we were living in dorms, but like living in an apartment is completely different than living in a dorm. And it's just all those like, baby micro steps along the way that like kind of do teach you how to be a little bit more adult. I am still freaking out to go into the real world. I feel like there is a lot that I have still yet to learn. But I do think I've come a ... I know that I have come an extremely long way since little baby Maya stepped on campus as a freshman.

Meredith Aliff 

100% I agree, I think ... and those are honestly some of the biggest lessons that I've taken away from college is how to be on my own and live on my own. And it is hard to navigate living with your friends sometimes, and having to have like, responsibility talks about like keeping the place clean, but also wanting to like have really good friendships with your friends, and like it's been very interesting to navigate living with people that you've been so close to during this experience and now you're with them all the time in a different way.

Maya Mehlman 

Because it's just like college does, for worse or for better, bring out this side of people. Either you come to college, you throw yourself into the experience and you thrive. Or there's people that sit and wait for it to happen to them: And that's like a big piece of advice, like, it's not going to happen to you. Like, you have to go out and look for it and make those connections. And then the opportunities will start coming. But they're not going to happen if you just like, sit around and you're like, Oh, I'm waiting. But do you ever think about, four years ago, not even that first day of college, but just like your first year of college and being like, I was so naive. Do you ever think about that?

Meredith Aliff 

Oh my gosh, all the time. Kind of the inspiration for this episode is that we were having a conversation. And I said that I had a Snapchat memory show up on my phone of me sitting in my freshman year dorm room. Just like being goofy. I don't even know what I was doing. Maybe a vlog, who knows. But I just looked at the girl on the screen. And I was like, I don't even know who that little girl was, like, the amount of things that I have gone through from that video to right now to go back and watch, literally just three years ago, is unreal to me. Like, yeah, that girl had no clue what was going on.

Maya Mehlman 

And people have asked me like, Would you do it again? And to be completely honest, I don't think I would like I love loved LOVE my college experience. I had the most amazing four years of my life. Well, hopefully not. Hopefully the best is yet to come. I had the most incredible time here. And I have met the most incredible people that I know will stay in my life. Shout out to Green Machine. That's my house. But I don't think I would go through all of it again. It was so tiring. Even thinking about some of the things that I did. I'm like, I have no idea how little Maya had the stamina? What about you? Would you do it again?

Meredith Aliff 

Oh my gosh, that's tough. Um, I'm gonna also say no, for the reason that I wouldn't want it to have gone any different way. So if I did it again, there would be something that would go differently. And I think that the way that it went for me, for the four years, is exactly how it was supposed to. But like you said, it can get really tiring. And that kind of leads me into thinking about senior-itis is so real. First of all,

Maya Mehlman 

Yeah, we need to talk about that.

Meredith Aliff 

Because I actually can't handle the fact that I have three exams next week. And I'm like, it's fine. I'm gonna be so fine. Like, don't even worry.

Maya Mehlman 

But it's not even ... my friends and I were just talking about this. It's not even like senior-itis. But it's also the stress of finding a job. Like, I don't even want to, like, go out on weekends anymore. All I want to do is sit on my couch with my friends and watch a movie, like, I'm so tired all the time. And I'm mentally exhausted. And my parents are asking me ... love you guys. My parents are asking me, "What are your plans? When do you want to move out? What are we doing graduation weekend?" I'm like, respectfully Shut up. Like, I am not there. I actually said to my mom, I was like, I'm not there. You have to like stop asking me, and she's like, okay, but you have to be there, like you don't understand. And we actually implemented this new rule in my house before spring break n-- whenever anyone brought up graduation, post college living situations, we all shut it down like it was the plan. You don't want to talk about it. But there was a switch after spring break where we started slowly talking about it and it does hit like a point in the conversation where we're, like, okay, we're done. But like, we do have to ...,

Meredith Aliff 

It sounds like trauma. Like really slowly start reintroducing it into your life.

Maya Mehlman 

I mean, it's just something so overstimulating that I'm like ... because I don't even know what the real world looks like. Like, I don't even ... I don't know where I'm gonna be. I don't know what job I'm gonna have. I got some offers, but it's not like... not offers. I've got (knock on wood, honestly). I've gotten some options. But I don't know what it's like to live in a big girl city. And I don't know what it's like to be surrounded by people that are not college students. And that's the part that scares me the most.

Meredith Aliff 

Yeah and I think that probably scares a lot of people. My roommates have talked about that. College... Like, I don't want anybody to come in to college with the assumption that college is real life because it is actually a simulation. It's not real.

Maya Mehlman 

I was actually going to just say it's a simulation!

Meredith Aliff 

Like, it's not actually real life. You have so little responsibility and so much freedom and that literally is never going to happen to you again and your entire life. And it is a simulation. However, it does teach you important things, but like, I wouldn't say that I'm leaving, like with all the knowledge that I need to take on the adult world, like, I'm ready to start it but I've got more learning to do once I'm there because this is not real life, like, this isn't the real world yet. We're still not quite there.

Maya Mehlman 

Everything is still like semi being given to us. And this is a funny little anecdote, I was actually cleaning out my closet. Yesterday, I was Spring Cleaning, wanted to donate some clothes. And I'm like, I have so many sweatpants and sweatshirts, because that's what I go to class, right? And I'm like ...

Meredith Aliff 

What am I gonna wear?

Maya Mehlman 

What am I gonna wear?!

Meredith Aliff 

No, actually, though,

Maya Mehlman 

What am I gonna? I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to go shopping for, like, a real world wardrobe, but like with what money? With what money?

Meredith Aliff 

I just got offered... I'm taking a gap year before graduate school, to go try out the real world for a sec. So I'm going back home, but I got offered a job as a teacher's aide for a preschool class, which is, like, right up my alley. I cannot wait. But I'm like, I can't wear leggings and a sweatshirt for school class every day. I called my grandma. She's a Maxxinista as we call it, she loves TJ Maxx or loves her some, TJ Maxx, and I called her I was like, Mama, like, I got the job, whatever. And she was like, we have to go to TJ Maxx and get you so many cute teacher outfits. I'm like, You're so right. But yeah, I don't I don't have the wardrobe. Look at what's i'm wearig right now.

Maya Mehlman 

Just so listeners know, she is currently wearing floral pajama pants and a navy sweatshirt. it kind of coordinates.

Meredith Aliff 

And my makeup from last night.

Maya Mehlman 

Okay. Wow! Way to out yourself.

Meredith Aliff 

Hey, I woke up and it still look cute. So I just left it on.

Maya Mehlman 

I at least took off my makeup. But that's the extend of if it.

Meredith Aliff 

Well you're better than me. I never take it off. It's the worst. I'm literally the worst. I'll leave mascara on for like four days.

Maya Mehlman 

I don't know like which part is worse: The having to get ready. And like doing your makeup putting your clothes on. Or the having to get ready for bed when you have to get undressed, put on the pajamas and take off the makeup. When like all you want... like my bed is staring at me, and I'm like I just want to get in bed right now.

Meredith Aliff 

Actually, perfect segue because I was going to ask you about this. I don't know if you remember. But you were having a chat with our new incoming hosts the lovely Miss Maggie.

Maya Mehlman 

Hello, Miss Maggie.

Meredith Aliff 

She's listening to us in there. But you were having a conversation with her. And you said, "I love visiting my parents but my bed is in Oxford?" Do you want to talk a little bit about that. And maybe when this place really started to feel like home for you?

Maya Mehlman 

When did campus start to feel like home? It always has. I guess, like, when I kind of... I shouldn't say it always has. I think when I hit my sophomore year, and because that's when I really started to like settle into college. That's when like, I met all of my best friends, I really started to fall into a groove I had just gotten into my sorority, I was joining all these clubs, I was really figuring it out with my major. And I was just like happy here. And then even more so when we moved into our apartment/houses. Because now I like really had my own space. And I had my own room that I could escape to. I could make my own meals. And like I had my own routine. Yeah. And it's like when I go home to Arizona, I love hanging out with my parents, I love seeing my dogs, but I'm on their schedule when I'm at home. And we were actually just talking about this when we were talking about like after college plans of like where I'm going to live. And my mom and I were both like, love each other the mostest. But we know I can't live at home, like, I can be at home for a little while. But I can not be at home for an extended period of time just because it's not my life. Like I go home and I'm living my parent's life. And it actually makes me sick to my stomach thinking that someone's gonna live in my house next year. They actually just came to like, look at it. And I was like, Nope,

Meredith Aliff 

I know. I know

Maya Mehlman 

But yeah, It's just kind of always felt like home and I ...while I'm saying that Miami is absolutely perfect in every single way possible. I think that goes for any college that you go to or any, you know, place that you end up. It's who you surround yourself with, what routine that you create for yourself. And I know I'm going to be fine in the real world. I think what scares me the most is that I'm going to have to start playing a new routine.

Meredith Aliff 

Oh my gosh, yeah. Yeah,

Maya Mehlman 

I'm so sorry to have to do this. I need to use the bathroom. Can we like pause? Can we... okay, I'm so sorry.

Meredith Aliff 

Time out.

Meredith Aliff 

Okay, well, that maybe seems like the perfect time for us all to take a break. So let's leave it there for a minute. But keep listening because even though graduation is almost upon us, it's not over yet. We'll continue this conversation that reflects back on our entire college experience. That's next time on Major Insight.