This week we wanted to introduce some of our team members, and I had the opportunity to interview our Social Media Director, Abbey Fitzpatrick!
Abbey is a member of the class of 2023 and she is an International Relations major.
First off, Abbey discussed a little bit about why she chose to be an International Relations major. She said that when she came to the University of Rochester she was actually on a pre-med track and wanted to be a neurologist. One of her major motivations with this is that she personally wanted to help her family members and she also wanted to figure out how to help people with neurological conditions. However, when she got to college, she realized that she didn’t want to work in a hospital. Additionally, she took a political science class in her freshman year and fell in love.
When asked about some of her motivations for becoming an International Relations major, she mentioned how she used to watch History Channel documentaries with her dad and still remembers one that she watched with him on Mesopotamia. She also really wants to travel and hopes to study abroad sometime soon. She really wants to look beyond the U.S. and learn more about the world.
Abbey really enjoys reading and writing and also hopes to minor in legal studies, as she hopes to go to law school after graduating from the U of R.
I took some time to ask Abbey about why she decided to join Her Campus. She said that after I told her about Her Campus and the organization, she wanted to be more involved with it. She mentioned that while she had tried writing for other on-campus organizations, she wanted to be a part of building a more team-focused and collaborative space where it is easy to get feedback on your work. She also talked about how important it is to get one’s thoughts out on paper and to have a more positive outlet to learn about different perspectives. Abbey said that it feels really good to put positive things out there and that it has been nice meeting new people.
When asked who she would choose to have dinner with from the past or present, Abbey had a couple of ideas, but ultimately decided on former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She said that she would like to learn more about her philosophies in life, how to live your best life as a lawyer, and balance things well in life. She also wanted to hear more about her thoughts about working with people even when you have different views.
If the world was ending tomorrow, Abbey said that first she would get all dressed up in her favorite clothes regardless of the weather. Then, she would take a walk to her favorite park near campus and sit by the water to think about life. She then said that she would go to Dinosaur BBQ and order all of her favorite things. Following that, Abbey said that she would want to sneak into the stacks and do a photoshoot with a polaroid camera on the roof of the library. After, she said that she would call her mom and grandma. Finally, Abbey is a lifeguard and really loves the water, so she would want to end the day by getting in a car and driving to the beach with all of her friends.
When asked which celebrity should play her in a movie about her life, Abbey said Florence Pugh from Little Women, because she feels that they look pretty similar and she loves her acting style. Abbey mentioned that she loves Pugh’s emotion and how raw she can be, and thinks that she could make her sense of humor work well in a film about her life.
I also asked Abbey what she would choose for the theme song of her life. Abbey has a really amazing taste in music and was first thinking about choosing an ABBA song, but ultimately chose “Rebel Rebel” by David Bowie. She said that when someone tells her “no,” she usually has to go with the opposite. Abbey shared her praises for David Bowie and said that she loved to blast this song in high school because a lot of people didn’t have the same views as her which was frustrating.
For the first place she would like to travel to after COVID-19 ends, Abbey said that there are too many places on her bucket list right now, but she shared a few of her favorites. She said that in a dream scenario, she would go to Rome and travel all over Europe to places like Berlin, Malta and Amsterdam, where she would love to see the tulips in spring. Ideally, she would love to spend a whole summer in Italy. Abbey commented that she went to Rome two years ago, and she would love to spend more time there to learn about the culture. Another dream trip of hers would be to see the pyramids in Egypt, and she would want to take that trip with her dad, as that trip has been a dream she has had since she was a kid.
More feasibly, she said that she would go to Grand Cayman because of how warm it is. She said she would enjoy the beaches, getting a tan, being out in the sunshine (with no snow!) and she has family friends that live there so it would be nice to visit with them.
As I previously mentioned, Abbey loves to read, so I knew I had to ask her for some book recommendations. She shared two of her favorites, including The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson and Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. The book by Manson has become a favorite of hers because she said that it has helped with confidence and it offers a different perspective on life. She said that she went to a small high school where she never had a problem speaking up but that it was harder in college. This book helped her to feel more confident with public speaking and getting out of her head. Abbey strongly claimed that everyone should read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, saying that understanding our history helps us to understand why we are the way we are. She noted that the writing in the book is fantastic and that she enjoys how the author puts things into perspective. She enjoyed how the author talked about some things that aren’t typically associated with history, like cognitive development.
Because of Abbey’s interest in the world and history, I wanted to ask her which generation or era from history she would choose to live in if given the choice. She said she is taking a European history course and thinks that the idea of living in Italy during the Renaissance would be cool but very crazy, so she ultimately settled on the 1980s. She said that she likes the idea of being an adult during that time because you could have grown up in the 60s and 70s. She mentioned that the fashion during that time was immaculate, she likes the music from that decade and the TV shows were amazing. Additionally, she talked about technology and said that she wouldn’t want a world with social media if given the choice and that she would enjoy using one of the big cell phones from that time. She added that she would have loved to live in Europe or Boston during that time as well.
We hope that you enjoyed getting to know our Social Media Director, Abbey Fitzpatrick. Stay tuned for more articles from Abbey or follow us on social media to see some of her work!