Hello Blog,
And just like that, another fall semester in the books! Fall at Wellesley is always one of my favorite times. You truly cannot beat the fall foliage in New England, and it obviously doesn’t hurt that Wellesley’s campus is beautiful. We even got our first snow of the season, though it didn’t stick for too long. Honestly, as someone who grew up in Massachusetts, the winters here have been significantly warmer recently, and by the time the fall semester ends, it’s usually still pretty temperate. I opened the window in my room today to get some fresh air in if that tells you anything. February is really what you have to watch out for 😉
It’s so interesting to compare my first semester at Wellesley with this fall semester. I was living across campus in Stone Davis in a tiny room with a complete stranger who would become my best friend. Now, we live in rooms right next to each other, and we knock on the wall to say goodnight. My other friend lived one floor above us at the end of the hallway, and now we’re all neighbors. I’m so grateful for that living situation because we are three people who genuinely overlap in not a single thing on campus (academics, organizations, work, etc), but get along so well. At the end of the year during Senior Week (the week between when the spring semester ends and the seniors graduate), we’re all going to move our beds into one room and have a week of sleepovers. I’ve loved having my own room these past two years, but there’s nothing quite like a late night convo before bed.
First years are also shadow graded, meaning we’re graded pass-fail in our first semester, so I was experiencing my first college classes but without the stress of needing to maintain perfect grades. My big class that semester was an intensive biology and chemistry course. In the class I remembered thinking that I liked chemistry so much better than biology and that I would never take another biology class. Now, even though I’m a chemistry major, my research has involved lots of biology, so it turns out I didn’t need to choose. And I honestly wish I had been able to take more biology courses!
I remember being so stressed about making friends when I first got to college. Honestly, that first semester feels like a blur. But now, as a senior, I feel really content with the friends that I have and the communities I’ve found across campus. I have the people I live with, the people in my organizations (music!), the people I take classes with, and all the people in between. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that you can make friends at any time, so that frenzy when you first arrive on campus isn’t all that necessary.
The next week or so will be dedicated to finishing all my finals, working on my thesis, and trying to fend off the impending nostalgia.
Until next time,
Jade <3
Chamber Music Society fall concert series performance with my quartet
LDOC (last day of classes) treat