This has been a week of everything and nothing all at once and I am quite glad to be almost at the end of it.
The New York Times has now listed the Cedar Rapids metro area as the number one spot in the nation where coronavirus cases are rising the fastest and “Where There May Be Bad News Ahead”; as someone who has lived in Cedar Rapids my entire life, I have not been taking this news well. I feel like everyday COVID is moving closer and closer to me and getting more and more personal. I’ve been worrying a lot about my friends and family, both those who have tested positive for the virus and those who may be at a higher risk if they were to contract it. I’ve also been worrying about myself; I’ve been dealing with a cold for the past week, which has really been a bit of a harsh reminder of my own lack of a functioning immune system. When I’m in my little Wellesley bubble eating ice cream and wandering around the campus at night with my blockmates, it can be very easy to forget how much is going on in the world right now, but this week has been a reminder that it’s all so much closer than I like to remember.
However, the purpose of this blog is not to air out all of my woes and sorrows on the internet; it’s to introduce all of you to life at Wellesley! And I’m sure you all have so many stresses of your own, especially considering the college application process and all of the complications the pandemic adds to that. So in order to brighten all of our spirits, I’ve decided to continue my series of good things that are happening from last week! I hope you won’t mind the unoriginality.
1. The Iowa Hawkeyes!
Before coming to Wellesley, I really didn’t consider myself a football person in any sense of the word. My dad’s side of the family are all die hard Hawkeye fans, but I never really bought too hard into it until I moved halfway across the country and could no longer assume everyone I met bled black and gold. I also never considered myself someone who knew too much about football- my dad was the quarterback in high school and played running back in college, so compared to him I never really knew anything about the sport- but now I’m surrounded by New Englanders who actually don’t know anything about football and I’ve realized I know quite a bit more than I thought. I was shocked to find out that Friday Night Lights culture is not a universal American High School Experience, and so I’ve taken it upon myself to give my blockmates at least a little taste of the football culture I grew up with in the form of Saturday afternoon college football games. Last Saturday, the Hawks absolutely crushed Michigan State and came away from our first win of the season with a score of forty nine to seven! It was a very good day to be a Hawkeye, although the adrenaline rush unfortunately wasn’t enough to carry me through the rest of the day- shortly after the game ended I somehow managed to fall asleep on the floor of the Morning Room and didn’t wake up until about an hour and a half later when it was time for us to go to dinner. I’m now trying to be more preemptive about my naps in hopes of avoiding future incidents.
2. Res Staff Appreciation Day!
My RA, Bobo, is absolutely the coolest human being in the entire world, and I am very grateful for an opportunity to celebrate them- though really if it was up to me we’d get to celebrate them every single day. We spent Tuesday night putting all of the decorations together and woke up to decorate their door at five am yesterday morning. I don’t mean to brag, but I think it looks pretty freaking fantastic. I’m very proud.
These images were absolutely stolen from Bobo’s twitter
3. Bouncy balls!
The Balance Health Educators and Active Minds held Love Your Body Week this week, and for Kindergarten Night last night they handed out goodie bags with snacks, play doh, and bouncy balls in them! Anastasija and I played bouncy ball catch in the Pom Lobby; we definitely chased the ball more than we caught it, but it was quite a good time.
4. Carillon (part two)!
For the first time, I’ve been able to pick out some of my own pieces from our massive collection- containing over nine hundred arrangements!- and I have been taking full advantage of the opportunity. I’m working on “Liz On Top of the World” from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice soundtrack, “Skye Boat Song”, a Scottish folk song that has recently become the theme song for my mom’s favorite tv show, “It’s Not Easy Being Green” from Sesame Street, and “The Girl With the Flaxen Hair” by Debussy; I actually played both “Liz On Top of the World” and “Skye Boat Song” on the big carillon during my concert Tuesday morning, and I’m hoping to get the other two figured out sometime before Thanksgiving. I’ve also started my Christmas music, which is very exciting, but with the nice weather we’ve been having in Massachusetts I’ve been less inclined to start practicing it- it’s hard to focus on “Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella” when it’s 78 degrees outside and you’re wearing shorts.
5. Spring Planning!
Anastasija and I are currently on the hunt for new blockmates; we’re meeting up with a couple girls this weekend to see if we think the four of us would be a good fit, so wish us luck!
6. Bachelorette!
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but my little sister and I are mildly invested members of Bachelor Nation, and since I’ve been away while the new season of the Bachelorette is airing, we sync up when we watch it and text each other all of our reactions. We tend to be much more interested in making fun of all of the bachelors than the journey to find love; a couple of my blockmates have joined in on our weekly Bachelorette watch parties and I don’t want to say I’ve hooked them on it but I think they might be pretty big fans!
7. Word Searches!
Paula, the incredible Pomeroy Hall Community Director, has provided us with a super awesome and super addictive array of word searches that have been endlessly distracting me from my work as of late. I think I’ve done at least twenty of them. I’m kind of obsessed!
8. Letters from Home!
I think I might have mentioned this before, but I exchange a lot of letters with my family back home, and they never fail to brighten my day!
9. Chocolate Chip Pancakes!
This hasn’t happened yet this week, but I’m manifesting it: we are going to have chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. I believe it will be so it will be.
I know life has been pretty all over the place for pretty much every human out there lately, so I hope that this made you smile at least a little bit. Just keep hanging in there; things will always get better!
Sending joy,
A
P.S. The header image is the first appearance of my blockmates, Katie and Anastasija, on the blog! Another thing to celebrate this week.