This week was long and busy. I swam laps on Monday evening, and my friend Giulia came over during her lifeguard break to give me some pointers. I never formally learned how to swim actual strokes, but she said my butterfly kick looked really natural.
Tuesday afternoon, I had my first orientation call for my study abroad program. I started shopping for orange bucket hats. The Ecuadorian sun is no joke—just ask the Wellesley hat that was navy blue when I started my gap year and practically purple when I came home. I’m getting really excited to go. But I’m also realizing that I only have three more weeks on campus.
my hat pre-Ecuador
my hat after 7 months in Ecuador
My WGST professor gave us chocolate at the end of class on Wednesday. (They were fancy little chocolates made by her friend! They were so good.) It was too soon to go straight to dinner, so my friend Emily and I wandered toward the lake. We stood in a spoonholder, a little stone alcove, and made wishes on sticks that we tossed in the water. We caught the tail end of the sunset and headed to dinner. In my favorite corner of the Tower dining hall, we talked about topics from our classes and mused over how to write about and photograph prisons ethically. It had been a while since I’d had a nice, long, academic-y conversation, and it was so nice to talk about real things.
The end of a Waban sunset
For dinner on Thursday, I finally caught up with Maddie, who I somehow hadn’t seen in weeks. We sat on the weird colorful barstool seats in Lulu and talked about her volunteering and my internship. (My article went up!) These past few weeks have been so busy. It’s crazy how I can go so long without bumping into certain people.
But there are other people I see almost daily—my teammates, primarily. We had a junior class meeting on Saturday and began it with the livestream of the NCAA cross country race. Our buddy Ari came in second place in the nation! It was so fun to cheer for all the Wellesley runners. I found myself clapping in front of the screen, knowing full well they couldn’t see or hear us.
Tonight I’m off to the living room for Shafer’s coffeehouse/open mic, and then tomorrow is the start of a short week. I’m excited to see my dog and take my friend Alison to get good bagels. I’m hoping the break really feels like a break.