Hi, it’s been a while.
Hope you all had a great winter break, and are starting back up again in school smoothly.
After school got out for WinterSession in December, I spent an amazing 5 weeks back home in Tokyo. I remember last winter, after my first semester of college and being abroad, I was so excited to be back in Japan that I felt like the break went by way too fast and that I wasn’t ready to come back. This year, though, I was able to really appreciate the time I spent with my family and friends at my natal home but also be excited about coming back to my Wellesley home in January.
I had amazing food, went sightseeing in southern Japan, and fully enjoyed the Tokyo life I love so much. The five weeks home reminded me that I want to end up back in Japan after Wellesley, and that I want to start thinking more seriously about how I can use my education here for whatever career path I pursue in Tokyo. I have no concrete answers yet to the “so what’re you going to do with your Women’s and Gender Studies major?” question, but I’ll be sure to update you as I begin to figure it out.
Also, while I was home, I was also able to celebrate my seijinshiki or “Coming of Age”. Turing twenty is a big deal in Japan – it’s when you become an adult. I got to wear a beautiful traditional kimono, give thanks to my friends and family for supporting me so far in life, and celebrate the start of my adulthood with the people I love.
(my brother and me, in our traditional Japanese hakama and kimono)
So after the great few weeks I got to spend at home, I came back to Wellesley ready to start my sophomore Spring semester strong. Then, it snowed. and snowed. and is continuing to snow. Transitioning back to the Wellesley-pace of things has been made a little more difficult with the snow day(s) but I’m really excited about my classes this semester:
I’m taking two classes in the Women’s and Gender Studies (WGST) Department: Public Health & Colonial Medicine, as well as Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary American Society. I’m also taking Ethical Theories, a philosophy class that is already changing/challenging the way I think, and Developmental Psychology, a class I’ve been wanting to take since I got to Wellesley. Additionally, I’m being extra ambitious this semester and taking a fifth class called History of Jazz. I have lots on my plate this Spring, which I’m hoping will help me organize my life a little better. Or I might just get terribly overwhelmed. Either way, it’s an experience…right?
(my friend Jana and I pre-sledding on the left, and the blob in the snow is my roommate on the right)
I missed my room(soul)mate so much, even though our room is a closet — it’s small and messy, but it’s home. I missed this beautiful campus, despite the troubling amount of snow we’ve gotten in the past couple weeks. I missed my friends, my Phi Sig family, hanging out with them in Tower Great Hall for hours on end just chatting/eating/doing work(?), and just the Wellesley vibe..can’t explain it, got to experience it.
I hope you’re all having a great start to February. I need to get started on all the readings I decided to put off til today. So much for getting organized this semester!
It’s good to be back.
