I hope you all are doing well, especially as the start of the school year approaches. If you remember my third blog post, I talked about my goals. A random goal I’ve had for a while, and one that is completely unrelated to academics, is to learn how to ride a bike. Because I’ve always had a fear of falling, I never bothered trying, but earlier this week, I finally did it!
Mariam mentioned that Bluebikes, a bicycle sharing system in the Boston-metropolitan area, are free to use every Monday of August. I mentioned that I never actually learned how to bike and Sofia, generous as she is, offered to teach me!
Sofia and I took the commuter rail to South Station and transferred to the red line, which took us to Harvard Square. Harvard Square is one of my favorite places to visit, especially with my friends. It’s chock-full of restaurants, thrift stores, bakeries, cafés, and more! It’s a very easy place to access throughout the school year since the loco (short for Local Motion, the transportation that Wellesley provides for its students) stops there on the weekends. One of my fondest memories from last year is sitting by the window in the Capital One café with my roommate and trying the BEST Sweetgreen bowl ever known to mankind while studying for my logic final.
We rented some Bluebikes from the dock nearby and headed onto the Harvard campus. Sofia and I took a quick selfie with her new digital camera before we got started, as you can see below. I was so happy when the first photo was taken, but I was sooooo not prepared for the grueling hour of struggle I’d encounter soon…
Turns out biking is not as easy as I thought it’d be. First of all, Bluebikes are 25lbs, and I am definitely not built for handling that weight. I dropped the bike several times in front of many passerby (good thing I don’t have social anxiety), and my shoulders hurt so much from using the bike while heading home.
Most of my practice time consisted of figuring out how to coordinate movement between my feet and legs because I couldn’t figure out how to pedal and maintain balance simultaneously. Luckily for me, Sofia was right there holding my seat and cheering me on (she’s the most patient person alive…it’s that Southern hospitality…). After about an hour of utter struggle, I suddenly got the hang of it. It’s was literal ecstasy—who knew biking would be so gratifying!!!
Sofia and I biked around Harvard Yard for a bit before we returned the bikes and grabbed some dinner. I was so happy the entire rest of the day because I felt so accomplished, and I hadn’t felt like that in a while.
My little biking lesson reminded me of a few things:
-
-
- It’s important to take time for yourself and explore your interests, try new things, etc.
- Not every goal has to be something that’ll strengthen your resume or get you more experience—you can do things just for fun.
- Positive attitude matters: I’m not one to give up easily, but it can be tempting sometimes, especially if it’s something small and trivial like riding a bike. I was so determined, however, and even though I didn’t think it’d be a big deal once I learned how to ride a bike, I was literally on a high for the rest of the day!
-
College applications and deciding where you’re going to go for the next four years of your life is a little more high stakes than learning how to ride a bike, but I think there are some things you can apply from my experience to your situation, whatever it may be! Again, good luck to all of you and talk again soon!
Yewon