BRAIN FREEZE BY MICHAELA BALLARD

I’ve eaten about 35 pints of Ben & Jerry’s this semester. To answer your first question, yes, I’m a total fatass. Moving swiftly on, I didn’t just eat those because of my sugar addiction (though that definitely played a role). I ate them because I wanted to be a risk-taker.

Risks and ice cream don’t usually go together. Unless, of course, the one eating it has a severe lactose allergy. Despite that, I’d say that my dairy binge was one of the biggest risks I’ve taken during my time at Miami. Not because of the calories and overwhelming amounts of sugar, but because I drew attention to myself.

In the world of those without social anxiety, speaking is akin to breathing. You don’t plan out conversations before they happen. You don’t take specific routes to classes because there are fewer students to speak to or make eye contact with. I wanted to ease my anxiety in a fun and innovative way.

I’m not a marketing major, so drawing the eye is certainly not my forte. However, I know how to be a total weirdo*, so I came up with the idea of bringing ice cream to my morning classes every day. The way I saw it, either people would call me out and I’d calm down with some good ol’ Cherry Garcia, or they’d ignore me and I’d still have my ice cream. Win-win. Not only was the Ice Cream Method a huge success, but I also have a fun story to tell during the next “tell me about a time when you took a risk” question.

*Source: My entire life