Hello everyone!
Not much has happened this week! (Except for last Friday when I had an awesome time with my recruit, Erin, and we stayed up until late talking with Tiffany in my room. We also ate real tangerines, due to Tiffany’s inside sources. It was fantastic and I highly recommend hosting.) I’m also pleased that this was a pretty tame week, because this is the eye in the storm before Midterms begin again the week after next. Turns out, Midterms don’t happen on a set schedule for the school as a whole (as I had previously thought) but are dispersed throughout the semester. Which is an idea that frankly makes more sense, since each professor assigns test dates without consulting others (I assume). It just so happens that all of mine fall within two weeks of the first week of every month, so now you know my schedule!
Nothing to report on this weekend, as I stayed home and did homework. I’m defining “home” as a cross between dorm/room/Wellesley, because while this wasn’t a “study-‘til-you-die-room-only” weekend, I mainly stayed in my dorm. Life’s good when all you need to do is cram information into your head!
The biggest event this week took place on Wednesday, when I went to a Wilson Lecture after lunch (this are lectures about sustainable development [the topic changes each year]; this one was about Sustainable Cities presented by Joyce Klein Rosenthal). Sadly, I had to miss Mole Day, presented by the chemistry department, where cool reactions took place and liquid nitrogen ice cream was made, but I really do enjoy these lectures (I went to a previous one about MIT’s D-Lab). Additionally, the professor who happened to be making the cool reactions take place was our very own Professor Reisberg, who happens to be my lab professor! So on Thursday, my lab day, Professor Reisberg showed us some of the experiments he performed. They were very cool. I have pictures.
Additionally on Wednesday, I got interviewed! I’m tempted to put in double exclamation points here, but I believe that would be slightly tacky. Neverthless, I am very excited about my interview. This is obvious in the interview because I talk way too fast. But back to the beginning…
A month ago I was contacted by the kind Ms. Kyricos, from the Admissions Office. I had “come to their attention” (I expect because I write this blog, and therefore work for them;)) and was asked if I wanted to be interviewed to represent Wellesley in one of their web documentary videos. I said yes, and then I was asked if I wanted to recommend any other first-years. I brought to their attention Celia Honigberg and Tiffany Chen and, through one 45-min long phone call, a crazily complicated scheduling google document (the attempt to arrange more than two schedules astounded me with its complexity), and one 2 ½ hour interview, the interview was arranged! It was very informal, and Celia, Tiffany and I got to talk about whatever we wanted, with prompting from the adult team who were actually filming us. (The video will not be posted for a while, but I’ll let you know!) I thought it went fairly well except for the mishap over current events. We were asked about our opinions of Occupy Boston, and I, being a terrible Wellesley student, didn’t have any idea what they were talking about.
Let me defend myself first: I did read at least the front page of the newspaper every day when I was at home. This was because it was delivered to my door every day and I read it while eating breakfast. Now one must consider my morning habits at Wellesley. On Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I get up at 6:30am to go to weight training for varsity swimming. I return at 8:00am, eat a rushed breakfast, change, and then run (often literally; this is why I wear tennis shoes everywhere, because I push the limits of my schedule way too often) to class at 8:30am. This doesn’t sound very rushed, but when you consider that every place is two to ten minutes away from each other, you see the problem. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get up at 8:00am, rush through breakfast again, and again run to my 8:30am classes.
Then there are the newspapers, which are widely available both online and in print. In print, they are at the library, which is about a 5-minute walk from my dorm. Online, they are easily accessible. However, I’m usually focused on either homework or my mail (I’d say messing around on the computer occupies only about 5% of my time, which I consider very good :)), so I had neglected to consult what everyone else in the world was doing while I was in my (Celia put it well) “Wellesley Bubble” of homework, lectures on campus, friends, and swimming. And thus finishes the very long excuse of why I didn’t read the newspaper, which is more to show you part of my daily schedule than an excuse since I know that that excuse is pathetic ;).
And so now I have fit the online newspaper reading into my schedule, and that is that :). I do find it very interesting how we are expected to prioritize so many elements of our lives. In high school, I had priorities (school, homework, swimming), but there were two differences from my experience here. First, I had less opportunities. There is SO much to do on campus, and outside campus for that matter, that I have so many choices with what to do with my time that it’s wonderfully ridiculous. I can go to a free lecture almost every day (see the Wellesley Event tab on the website), I could show up to a yoga class, I could practice singing in the practice rooms at any time, I could read books in the library, I could work extra hours, I could visit with friends, I could go in for extra swim practice, I could join a club, I could attend a meeting, I could visit professors…. And all of these resources and activities are right here, right now, no transportation necessary. Like I said, frankly ridiculous.
Secondly, at home my parents gave me priorities. Which was very nice of them, because I am currently privileged enough to have a gazillion of opportunities right at my fingertips and thus I was/am quite confused. (See earlier posts about my attempts to do everything at the same time in the beginning of this year, and my subsequent dropping out of everything but my core. I tried to join even more groups I haven’t written about!) For example, I was told to read the newspaper, practice music, do homework, eat dinner, go to sleep. I think this is the great thing that is gaily raved about concerning college: the freedom. The freedom to do everything and anything, with no limits. And perhaps this is also why the transition to college is a little rough at first: given freedom, people who jump on opportunities, and no limits, one can lose track of what is important.
Something important being, for example, reading the newspaper :). It’s curious how much I have learned about myself and others by their priorities. I used to think everyone was like me, and that academics were the end all and be all of everything in the universe for everyone, and while other things like having a social life and playing music and working in the library were nice, when it came down to it nothing would compete with academics. That’s why all of us Wellesley students were here, right?
Wrong. I was talking with one of my student managers in the library, and she was telling me how she used to skip classes to work in the library. I looked at her uncomprehendingly. I told her that if I got paid to do research in the chemistry department I might have to quit my library job due to time commitment. She looked at me incomprehendingly.
Another instance: Tiffany makes time to practice an hour of harpsichord or piano every day. I do as much as I find time for, usually an hour a week.
Yet another: Celia plays rugby, does wushu, and takes an art class. All take up massive amounts of time, and she’s in one of the higher level positions for wushu. This takes time, this takes email. Steph, one of the swim team captains, says she receives at least 15 emails about swimming every day.
And these are only the activities that I do! I share these activities with all these people: working in the library, music, sports. They are all in my priority list. And yet the relative rankings of each of these activities is radically different for each of us. It should have been obvious to me, but it wasn’t. I go to Wellesley, everyone here is super intense about school; that’s how far my logic took me, because the reason I wanted to go to Wellesley because it is a super internse school. Yet Celia and Tiffany talked about how they came her for the community, the sisterhood, while I talked about small class sizes, support, and professor interaction. I truly am an academic. I want to be a professor; the concept of not going to grad school is foreign to me. I assumed everyone was the same, at least in this aspect. And it makes me really happy to realize that people aren’t.
Something so obvious. And yet its realization makes everyone around me more unique. Instead of seeing musicians as people just like me, but with slightly different priorities, I can see people as acutely different, with different mindsets and experiences driving their diverse goals. Instead of assuming everyone thinks the same as I do, I’m exposed to countless dissimilar opinions in my discussion classes, and countless different backgrounds. I love my education class because the variety is enormous. We wrote about our school experiences, and I expected all of them to have a upper-class mostly-white privileged public school education. WRONG. Wrong on all counts, and it was amazing. Not only does it make me realize how small a bubble I’ve lived in my entire life, but it makes me realize how unique I really am, how I’m different. Maybe this is what “discovering oneself” in college is all about.
But then again, I’m a first-year. What do I know? I can’t help thinking that when I’m a senior, and I go to visit my younger sister at MIT if/when she gets in as a freshman, I’ll know so much more about life than she does. Though everyone looks the same age-wise here, in that you can’t tell how old people are, if I give people enough time with me they’ll know I’m a first year. This might be because I talk to strangers as if I’m interviewing them, investigating any of their experiences I might want to pursue later, but that might be a part of being three to four years younger than the seniors here. It also might be a part of my personality. There’s so much to figure out about what makes me different and about appreciating what makes others different… maybe college then is about finding your place in the world.
But I do regress, finally. It is a Friday afternoon, I am eighteen years old, and here I am philosophizing about the distinction between self and others (not to mention why everyone’s so fond of college.) No doubt I’ll get into it again in later posts (I am a slow social learner; it takes me more time that most to discover this stuff); now it’s time to talk about current events! Current events in the wonderful Wellesley bubble. Here goes!
So, tonight is going to be exciting because this is swimming’s last recruiting weekend. Thus, there are five recruits here this weekend, and the team is expected to entertain them! I am one of those participating in the 7pm-9pm shift, in which we are doing two things… either going to a Widows performance (they are an acapella group that I really want to see) or a play of Marie Curie’s life. Guess which one I’m going to :). Since apparently I am true academian (I feel like I’m saying I’m a true macademian [nut]… oh, hey, the word is academic. Yeah, I’ve got a way to go), plus the Marie Curie performance is only showing once, I shall be heading over there, but it just goes to show how difficult it is to choose here between awesome things! For example, tomorrow I shall be swimming at the Blue and White meet (alumni/intersquad meet! It’s going to be fun) but then I have to make a choice between going to see the Head of the Charles Regatta and going to a lecture about Studio Ghibli and the Culture of Childhood. I love Studio Ghibli. It makes me very sad I don’t get to go. But then again, I get to support the crew team and hang out with a friend from Tufts who I haven’t seen this year yet. I’m excited.
And that’s my week :). Library is good, swimming is good (though we’ve upped practice, social, and meal times… I am spending approximately 25 hours a week doing swimming-related activities, which is a little insane; however, they are enjoyed hours, including the swimming lessons), singing is good (jamming out to kareoke on my laptop to supplement my classical singing lessons), school is great (and I’m less behind. I’m in fact almost caught up! [Actually, I’m not, but I live in hope]), and the blog is doing well too! So far, I have looked over someone’s admission papers, been told I have a unique voice by no less than two people, been contacted by many family members, and, most importantly, been told by many people who have no reason to be reading my blog that THEY ARE READING MY BLOG (thanks recruits, Veronica, and everyone else!) I am happy. The weather is beautiful again. I am taking a picture out of the window right now so that you can see. Last note, as per usual: commenting is good, as I’m a resource to answer your questions, whether in beautiful formal essay-type or in this oddly choppy informal writing (I’ll let you pick :))! Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful Friday afternoon!
Cheers,
Monica
