Five Feet Apart isn't a movie I would typically go watch but I decided to go watch it (on opening weekend nonetheless) for a few reasons; first because Cole Sprouse was in it and I'm a huge Riverdale and Suite Life of Zack and Cody fan, second because Riza (my little sister) really wanted to go watch it and I like going to see movies with her, and lastly because I had the intent of going to watch Captain Marvel again (that didn't happen sadly) and thought it would be nice to watch both movies on the same day. With that being said if it wasn't for these reasons I don't think I would have gone to see the movie. My initial expectations going into the movie were that it would be a Fault In Our Stars knock off where they changed lung cancer to cystic fibrosis and also that all the teenage girls (especially my little sister) were going to leave the movie crying their eyes out while I as usual didn't shed a single tear. Also worth mentioning before I move on to the actual review part of this is that I haven't read the book the movie is based on yet so I can't make any comparisons. 

*LAST SPOILER WARNING*

Unlike my Captain Marvel movie review (check it out on my Girl Power page if you haven't read it yet) I'm not going to retell every detail of the plot, because I don't want this to be too lengthy and because unlike with Captain Marvel I don't think it is necessary to mention every detail of the plot. 

The movie starts out with us being introduced to the character Stella played by Hayley Lu Richardson, we see her in the hospital saying goodbye to her friends who are going on a trip, we see a little bit of the treatments and medicine she undergoes to keep her Cystic Fibrosis under control, we learn about her OCD when it comes to her medicine cart and life in general and we find out that she is a Youtuber who makes videos about CF. Toward the beginning of the movie we also meet Stella's best friend Poe another CF patient played my Moises Arias. 

As the movie goes on we meet a CF patient named Will played by Cole Sprouse, who is moving into the hospital take part in a new medication trial. I could go super in depth to the plot but honestly like I said before that isn't necessary basically Stella and Will meet, they dislike each other at first, Stella freaks out because Will doesn't take his treatments seriously, Will begins to take his treatments seriously for Stella, Will watches Stella's Youtube videos, begins to like her, she begins to like him and suddenly they are madly in love with each other. The problem with them being in love is that CF patients can easily contract each others bacterial infections so they must stay at least six feet away from each other to reduce this risk. 

Eventually Stella decides she wants to stop living for her treatments and do take her treatments so she can live, she also decides she wants to take one foot back and instead of staying six feet apart from Will she's only going to stay five feet apart. We also learn that Stella had a sister who died, and that has been contributing to her control problems, because she wasn't there when her sister died.  After that a small date happens and some other scenes that aren't vital to the plot. After the date Poe and Stella throw a surprise party for Will's birthday. Poe cooks for the party and the three CF patients are also quite close (closer than 6 feet in my opinion) throughout the entire party. Even though I should've seen it coming the next thing that happens the next day shocks me, and Poe unexpectedly dies. 

At this point Stella is an emotional mess having dealt with the death of her sister and now the death of her best friend Poe. After crying and destroying her hospital room she decides she wants to leave and go out into the city to see the lights that her and her sister would always look at from the window of her hospital room (very Rapunzel in Tangled style.. get it?). She invites Will to go with her and after some reluctancy he joins her. While Stella and Will are heading toward the lights the hospital receives word that Stella's new lungs have finally arrived and she's ready for a lung transplant, only to realize she is missing. The nurse Barbara texts Stella, but Stella ignores the texts and continues her journey to the lights. 

Along the way Stella and Will stop when they see an ice skating rink (or maybe just frozen water... not quite sure) and they slide around on the ice. At some point during their fun, Will finds out about the lung transplant and convinces Stella to return to the hospital. Stella doesn't want to but eventually gives in and decides to go. As they are about to leave she falls off a wall and onto the ice, which breaks and she underwater. Will is able to drag her out from the water, but her has no choice to give her mouth to mouth in order for her to live, risking spreading his bacterial infection and her dying either way. He ends up saving her, and ambulances go for both of them since his lungs aren't doing to well after saving her. 

Stella is awake at this point, but refusing to get the lung transplant until Will asks her to get the transplant for him. While she is getting the transplant we find out that Will's medicine trial isn't going well. We also start to see signs that he is going to transfer to another hospital at the suggestion of nurse Barbara to avoid putting Stella in more dangerous situations. We find out Stella's transplant went well and she didn't catch the bacterial infection from Will. We see Will standing outside her hospital window where he's recreated the lights Stella wanted so badly to see, he calls her to say a final goodbye and leaves. That is basically how the movie ends. 

There was lot I didn't like about this movie (sorry but it's true), I'll start out with what I did like though. Poe's character is one of the best parts of the movie he brings humor that is natural and not cheesy or forced and even though he doesn't get much screen time I think his character was the most unpredictable yet likable. Also bonus points to Poe because I had no idea that Moises Arias was in the movie even after seeing the trailers and I hadn't seen him in anything since Hannah Montana. Another thing I really liked was that as far as I've read the movie accurately portrayed CF and according to interviews both Hayley and Cole they did extensive research to accurately portray CF so that is a definite plus. I like that the characters had CF and not Cancer, because it's nice that they are bringing awareness to the disease. Another thing I really liked was the character of nurse Barbara she was also quite likable and humorous not to mention she's what I imagine a nurse working in a long-term hospital facility with children or teenagers would be like. Most of all I liked that the movie brought awareness to a disease that a lot of people don't know bout like CF, as far as I've heard based on youtube videos by people who have CF and articles about the movie the main characters of the movie researched CF extensively and the disease was portrayed accurately in the movie. If that is the best thing about the movie then I am satisfied with that. 

Something I have conflicting feelings about is that neither of the main characters died (sounds harsh I know). I expected one of the main characters to die, so it was kind of nice for the movie to not be predictable and it wasn't a complete The Fault In Our Stars copt for this reason. I also liked that although Poe was one of my favorite characters his death was unexpected. At the same time I think the movie could have explored the idea of grieving and the dangers of CF patient being to close if one of the two main characters would have died. I also felt like both characters being alive left the ending to open, and as a result the movie lacked closure. 

There was also a lot I didn't like about the movie. The first thing I didn't like was the lack of depth in regards to the various relationships. The most fleshed out relationship of the movie wasn't even the one you would expect it was the relationship between Stella and Poe, because we got a bit of a backstory and it felt very believable. Stella and Will's relationship felt too rushed and lack of touch or closeness aside lacked any real connection. Stella's relationship with her sister also felt random and like a subplot that either needed to have more depth or should have been omitted from the movie altogether. I also didn't like the way they went about the characters not being able to touch each other, because during the big moments of the movie like when Will saves Stella at the end they do touch, which defeats the purpose of the not touching plot. Instead I would have preferred to see more of a connection that focused around the concept of staying a distance from each other. I also didn't like the scene where Stella falls through the ice. For starters the same thing happened to Cheryl Blossom at the end of Riverdale's first season and we saw a trailer for a movie with the same plot (a little boy falls through ice and is expected to die) before the movie. Aside from being a totally unoriginal scene what's the point of a character with an already serious condition to almost die by falling through ice. The last thing I didn't like was that the emotions didn't always feel believable, it wasn't the actors fault but it had a lot to do with the script. My little sister cries at even the smallest sign of a movie being sad and she left the movie without a single tear, so if the movie couldn't convince her of the characters emotions I'm not sure it would be believable to anyone. 

Overall the movie had good moments and good actors in fact it even had good characters like Poe and nurse Barbara but it wasn't my personal taste in movies. If you're someone who doesn't like somewhat cheesy sad romantic movies, I'd recommend you sit this one out or at the very least wait until they release it on Netflix or Hulu or something. If you do like this kind of movie, you're a Cole Sprouse fan, you read the book and want to see the movie or you just love going to see movies then by all means go see this movie. It definitely was not the worst movie I've ever seen, and maybe I'd consider watching it again if I had nothing to do but with that being said the movie as a whole could have been better. 

In the fall of 2017, my first semester in college I was asked to join Her Campus. I had heard of the digital magazine written by college students before so I jumped at the opportunity to join my university’s chapter. At the end of fall semester/ beginning of Spring Semester, I was selected to be the president of the chapter. A month or so later I learned about Her Conference, the annual conference hosted by Her Campus in New York and I was determined to go. About two weeks ago I achieved that goal of mine and attended the conference. I learned a lot at the conference, met a ton of amazing people and had a ton of fun, so I thought I would share my experience attending the conference. 

The conference lasted for two days and took place on Saturday July 21 and Sunday July 22. The conference was open to pretty much anyone involved with Her Campus; members of Her Campus college chapters, Her Campus high school ambassadors, Her Campus alumni, Her Campus interns, Her Campus trendsetters, Her Campus influencers and anyone else involved with Her Campus. The conference focused on media, social media, journalism, marketing, fashion, public relations and so much more. 

On Saturday morning upon arriving at the conference, we checked in downstairs at the Convene Conference Center. Once we presented out photo ID’s we were guided upstairs where we would be given a gift bag full of goodies (including bonus gifts since I was a VIP attendee) and we would eat breakfast here. Breakfast was provided by the conference center and Cinabbon, whose iced coffee I must shoutout because even though I’m not much of coffee person I was obsessed. After breakfast we were then told to go upstairs to a higher floor of the conference center. We then had about forty-five minutes to explore the awesome stations the conference sponsors had set up. Jones New York was giving complimentary manicures, Ulta Beauty was doing complimentary hair and makeup, Almay was monogramming tote bags for free, Jones New York had set up a pop up shop, Her Campus had set up a pop up shop and KiiPix was letting us test out their new printers that could turn any iPhone picture into a polaroid picture.  

After exploring what seemed like a beauty/fashion lovers paradise we were guided into the main conference room where all the keynote speakers would be speaking throughout the weekend. After a quick welcome from the Her Campus co-founders it was time for the first keynote speaker of the day, and everything was a whirlwind from that point on. The first keynote speakers, and probably my favorite of the day were the Lady Gang. A group of women who host a podcast where they interview celebrities and discuss a plethora of topics. Each of the ladies was also very accomplished on their own, and they talked about the obstacles they faced in becoming who they are today, and gave us advice. 

After that the day continued quite rapidly, and I learned a ton of stuff from the several panels, workshops and keynote speakers. Some of the highlights of the day for me were the panel about blogging, where I learned a lot of tips and tricks that will help me in my blog journey. Another major highlight for me was the self-defense workshop. The workshop was quite small and very interactive. In the workshop attendees learned self-defense tactics and ways we could defend ourselves if we ever find ourselves in a dangerous situation. 

On Sunday morning we were welcomed back to Convene Conference center. The conference staffed greeted us and handed out even more free goodies. We ate breakfast like the day prior and were able to explore the many booths the sponsors had set up once more. 

Sunday was very much like Saturday after breakfast and exploring the sponsors booths, the day was hectic and followed by a ton of amazing keynotes, panels and workshops. As far as keynote speakers go Samantha Barry really stood out to me. She is the Editor In Chief at Glamour Magazine, she started off as a radio personality in Ireland and made her way to being EIC at Glamour. She gave us a ton of great advice and insight about her journey to the top. After she spoke I was able to meet her and she was kind enough to give me her assistant’s email address so I could personally interview her one day. The other keynote that really stood out to me that day was Dr. Jen Welter who is the first female NFL coach and played men’s football for many years herself. She was both motivational and funny. She proved to us that women can do anything men can and encouraged us to follow our dreams no matter how unattainable they may seem. 

Aside from the keynote speakers I really enjoyed the workshop that day, which featured several ladies from The New York times talking about their roles within the company, and the many roles within media. It was quite interesting and I learned about positions within a media company I didn’t even know existed. I also really enjoyed the panel about vlogging that day, it was very informative and I learned a lot of tips I will be using when it comes to my Youtube Channel (Kennedy Castillo) 

Overall the conference was the experience of a lifetime, and the knowledge I received as well as the memories I made is something that I will never forget. If you want to read more about my experience you can visit hercampus.com/utrgv to read my article about the conference or you can visit my Youtube Channel (Kennedy Castillo) to see my vlogs from the conference and the entire trip. 

Last night I got to see the new Avengers: Infinity War movie at the movie theater. I have a few things I want to mention, but of course I will avoid all spoilers so anyone who has not yet seen the movie can still read this. 

First of all I want to start off by saying that if you're someone who doesn't know if you should watch this movie or think it's being overhyped or anything like that it is definitely worth the hyper and you should definitely go watch the movie. Next in no particular order I need to mention that if you want to watch five MCU movies before this one I would recommend in no particular order the following movies: Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Thor Ragnarok, Avengers Age of Ultron, Black Panther and Captain America: Civil War. 

The actual movie exceeded my expectations, and I have to say anything you think might happen in this movie probably is not going to happen. It was in no way whatsoever a predictable movie. 

I've heard that a lot of people are skeptical about the movie, because of how many characters are in one movie. What I will say is that at no point is every single character on screen at the same time. There are several different stories going on at once, and some of them do intersect while others do not. The movie does have plenty of funny Marvel jokes so it is not a purely dramatic movie. 

Again without spoiling anything I'll give you this advice, pay particular attention to Thor, Scarlett Witch and Thanos' stories. I'll also warn you some moments will make you mad and other moments will leave you downright shocked. My other piece of advice is to make sure you stay until the end credit scene. There is only one end credit scene as opposed to the usual two end credit scenes, but the end credit scene is very important to the future of the MCU. 

The next MCU movies are Ant-Man and the Wasp sent to be released this summer. It's going to be quite interesting how this movie ties in Infinity War or what the timeline is as far as Ant-Man and the Wasp in relation to Infinity War. After that Captain Marvel is set to be released about a month before Avengers 4, and I'm predicting it will be very relevant to Avengers 4.

Also worth mentioning is that Venom is set to be released soon and is "In association with Marvel Studios" , and Tom Holland's character is supposed to be in the movie. It's been said  that Peter Parker is in the movie, but not necessarily as Spider-Man, so my guess is that it takes place before Peter Parker became Spider-Man or sometime before Infinity War, because after Infinity War you'll realize just how the timeline doesn't quite make sense. 

Overall to close I'm just going to recommend the movie one more time because it was probably one of my top five Marvel Movies. I'll also be posting a more in depth movie review later, but probably not for a few more weeks so I can post spoilers without having to worry that people haven't seen the movie yet. Also please remember that #ThanosDemandsYourSilence and while it will be tempting to post spoilers or talk about the movie with your friends, it is important to be mindful of those who haven't been able to see the movie yet.