Danielle Green’s column explores the stories behind AU students’ tattoos. Read her introductory column for her thoughts on tattoos in general.
After just a semester in D.C., Becky Rodriguez got her first tattoo. A serotonin molecule now rests on her ribcage as a personal reminder to live happily.
“Do what makes you happy, always,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, transferred to AU during the second semester of her freshman year. She had always wanted to come to D.C. but originally decided to stay close to home and attend University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
The decision to transfer from UNC was not an easy one, because it came with the finality to settling into a major, she said. She was placed on the second floor of Hughes Hall where her floor mates helped her easily adjust to her new school.
Rodriguez said she sometimes wonders if she made the right choice, but resolves that she feels happier being at AU and in the city.
Getting a tattoo had been a longtime wish and once she arrived at AU, no longer under the watch of her “strict parents,” she went for it. The serotonin molecule plays on two aspects of her world, one being chemistry and the other being the pursuit of happiness.
Rodriguez’s decision to get the tattoo was based on the notion that “no matter where you go, remember to be happy.”
“Tattoos are like cheating life because of their permanence in a world where the only constant is change,” Rodriguez said.
