An Introduction to Me

Leonela in Prague before the pandemic, taken by my iPhone X on selfie mode

About Me

My name is Leonela and I am a student at Princeton University. I study history, gender and sexuality studies, European Cultural Studies, and Latin American studies. I am a figure skater on the Princeton University Figure Skating Team and have been a captain on the P. U. Synchronized Skating Team. I've skated for almost my whole life. I also LOVE coffee and eating. Good food is one of my love languages. I'm also a virgo, which explains why I can be so type A sometimes.

Some of My Favorite Things

1. Yoga

I know that I said I am a figure skater but I LOVE yoga. I practice almost everyday. The university has an amazing yoga community and so does the surrounding town. Fun fact, I've run into multiple professors and graduate students and administrators at yoga.

2. Figure skating

I am not Canadian but I am from Cleveland, Ohio and most children figure skate and play hockey and it just stuck for me. I've been skating since I was 3 and cannot image life without it, in any way. I still skate with some of my close friends on campus!


*This photo is from my time on the synchro team during my first year (academic year 2018-2019). It is also currently featured on the Princeton University Figure Skating Club (PUFSC) front page. Here is the direct URL to the photo: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/30bade_711c69fbe3f04a4da98383f44ecc3f1a~mv2_d_5472_3648_s_4_2.jpg/v1/fill/w_1300,h_996,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01/30bade_711c69fbe3f04a4da98383f44ecc3f1a~mv2_d_5472_3648_s_4_2.jpg
Here is the URL to the web page from directly which the photo is taken: "https://pufigureskatingclub.wixsite.com/pufsc"

3. Reading

This is why I think I am a history major. I've always loved reading. Like just eaten books, as my parents would always say. It just makes sense for me.

Media Recommendations

This came about because all of my friends are always asking me about what I am currently watching, or listening to or reading or just the media that I am currently choosing to engage with. So here it is as of 16 September 2021.

Podcasts

1. Today in Focus by the Guardian

This is one of my favorite podcasts because it's not American so I really like the different takes that it has about the world, current events, politics. My absolute favorite episodes have been when they covered Pegasus, which is Israeli software used to hack devices of many notable politicians.
*The link referenced above takes you directly to the Guardian's Today in Focus webpage. Here is the direct URL: https://www.theguardian.com/news/series/todayinfocus

2. The Daily - New York Times

This is another great news podcast that I listen to also every day. Really good, really interesting but I'm not that much of a fan of the host's voice.
*The link referenced above takes you directly to the New York Times's The Daily column page. Here is the direct URL: https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily

3. Something Was Wrong

My absolute favorite non-news podcast at the minute. It tells stories about people who have learned really crazy things about people they thought they knew. This season is about a woman, named Danielle and a man, named Kenji, whose lives get intertwined because of this guy named Ardee, who pretended to be a wealthy British national. It's crazy and it's even crazier that these things happen in real life.
*The link referenced above takes you directly to Something was Wrong's episode webpage. Here is the direct URL: https://somethingwaswrong.com/episodes/

Here's a vibe song just to mix things up :)
*This song comes from the Youtube Audio library and is copyright free. Here's the copy license for this song that allows me to easily use it in this assignment:
Cheveux de Ange by Amarià
https://soundcloud.com/amariamusique
Creative Commons -- Attribution 3.0 Unported -- CC BY 3,0
Free Download/Stream: https://bit.ly/3zNUzKh
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/YV3A4aE8YQ8

Movies/TV

1. Derry Girls

On Netflix. Really funny. Just about high school students in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s. Just actually make me crack up.

2. Las Chicas del Cable

Netflix Original in Spanish. One of the first times that Netflix actually created non-English content. Everything but the last season is absolutely amazing. You just don't need whatever that last season was.

3. Love Actually

Actually one of my favorite movies to ever actually been created. I've watched it every Christmas since I can remember and I watch it whenever I need to just feel good or cry which is quite often. Absolutely wonderful. Early 2000s British rom-coms are some of the best things to actually ever exist.

Things I Want to Read

Being honest about this, this is both a list of things that I want to read, for pleasure, for this upcoming semester.

1. beautiful world, where are you - Sally Rooney

I love anything and everything that Sally Rooney has ever written. This book of hers came out last week and I know I KNOW that this book will be absolutely wonderful.

2. The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett

This is a book that I also want to read. It's about two identical twin sisters whose lives departure when one of them goes out of their home town and pass as white while the other twin remains at home in her Black community.

A Definitive Ranking of Princeton Coffee Shops

  1. Coffee Club. Simply the best coffee shop in town -- unfortunately only for people with Princeton prox access. They're also the cheapest and very non-judgmental coffee makers.
  2. Small World Coffee A classic but Coffee Club is easier to get to as a student.
  3. Starbucks You get what you expect every time. Consistency counts for something.
  4. Rojo's Roastery Hit or miss. The coffee can either be great or not so great. Fun for a change.
  5. Sakrid Not the biggest fan. Depends on the barista who makes you order. Relatively expensive for an already pricey town.
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