Humans of Oxford | Lizzie Docel — Falling in love with Miami again and again

By Emma Shibley, For The Miami Student

Lizzie Docel is back for her final semester in Oxford. It's not bittersweet - not yet. For the time being, it feels a bit like an obligation.

"I've made my peace with leaving," Lizzie says.

After all, she has a job waiting after graduation. She'll soon have four years of crazy and wonderful undergrad adventures in the books.

And she already knows what saying "goodbye" to Miami is like.

Two years ago, Lizzie began what she thought was her final term as a RedHawk.

In the fall of her junior year, Lizzie studied acting at New York University. She wasn't "studying away." She had officially transferred to NYU, eager to earn a degree in drama and leave the Farmer School of Business 642 miles behind her.

But, as she puts it, Lizzie had two years of business school floating around in her head. She has always sought a personal balance of left and right brain pursuits. She wasn't really satisfied studying marketing at Miami, but she wasn't satisfied living and breathing an actor's dreams in New York, either.

She transferred back to Miami after one semester with a new drive to prove herself.

Back in Oxford, she was quickly swept up in recruiting new Chi Omega sisters and practicing improv with Sketched Out. She took 20 credit hours and proclaimed herself a "book hermit." By December of her senior year, she had booked a flight to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a second-round interview with Google.

Lizzie's Google career begins next January. Until then, she hopes to travel, start playing guitar and finally learn to drive on the highway.

"I can just …" she pauses, trying to find the right words. "I can just be present in Oxford this semester for the first time in three years. I don't have to worry about what's coming next. It's already set."