Post blizzard, trudging to class in slippery sludge and following long files of students bundled up in winter gear – there seems to be a haze of reluctance and fatigue hanging over campus. Now that classes are in person, the realities of running to and from class, the near-future-reality of handling 3 exams in a single week, and just the stresses of being at Wellesley are sinking in again.
With the new Science Center too, those 10 minutes between classes are utter chaos. When I ran from Jewett to the Science Center, I was confronted with the reality of not knowing where Hub403 is. But, at least there was no shortage of students in the same situation as me. After climbing a flight of stairs then realizing there was an elevator, I hurried over, bumping into someone I had never seen before. We took one look at each other and just laughed. We both had no idea where our classes were and we had two minutes until 11:20. Sophie? Sophia? I’m sorry, we only told each other our first names and I only remember that you are about as tall as me and that you have amazing brown hair. I hope to see you again when we are more sure of where our classrooms are in the Science Center.
It’s the second week of school and I’m already exhausted. I’ve heard the same sentiment in long sighs in the library and chats in the dining halls. My acne is coming back in full force, I can practically feel myself gain a Sophomore-15 in a week, and my schedule is already making me wish I had a time turner just to get some more sleep. Despite that, I want to try to make myself happy. I did my makeup on Monday morning and put on cute earrings too. I used really sparkly eyeshadow and wore my favorite blue cardigan. 🙂 Little things like wearing red lipstick underneath my mask make me feel better.
Tuesday was Chinese New Year. On Monday evening, after having 3 back-to-back classes and a long political science class on the Constitution, I was exhausted. Chinese New Year’s Eve is typically filled with family, decorations, fireworks, and good food. There was always a week or so of break for Chinese New Year back in Shanghai. In public schools, Christmas break would be cut down to a week so that Chinese New Year break could be a month long. It feels odd that Chinese New Year is nonexistent here, but I guess that makes sense. My family never celebrated any holiday particularly seriously, but we did try to do some things for Chinese New Year. My dad would drive all the way out of Shanghai to a small store that sold fireworks and firecrackers just so we could set them off in the little section of the street where it was legal to (I suppose it made sense that lighting firecrackers in the middle of Shanghai’s busiest streets was illegal). There is an annual show called chun wan that plays on Chinese New Year Eve. It is always chock full of skits, music, dances, speeches, and dialogues. The same theme song seems to play every year while the MCs are welcoming the audience, and the MCs are always especially recognizable Chinese celebrities or models. My parents would play some segments of the show while munching on sunflower seeds throughout the evening, but we would always watch the countdown. Even if we accidentally fall asleep and miss the countdown, we like to replay it just to hear the hosts say xin nian kuai le! (Happy New Year!).
Lotus paste rice cakes that look aesthetically suspicious but taste good (according to the testimonials of two friends)
That Monday Evening, despite not being with my family, I wanted to do something special and take a short break from studying just for Chinese New Year’s Eve. So I took two hours to make lotus paste rice cakes. Some friends from my hall were cooking spicy ramen, tteokbokki, omelettes, and stir fry while heating up some takeout beef too. We shared our food and treats, putting together a mish mash of things to call our own nian ye fan (Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner). My friends were watching chun wan over their food too. The Stone Davis fourth floor common room was definitely not home, but in those two hours, there was some semblance of the home I remember. I felt like I was back in my room, studying but pausing to hear chun wan’s theme songs and the sounds of my parents laughing trickle through the wall. At some point, I would put away my studies just to join my parents on the couch in front of the television to watch the silly chun wan skits. Everyone at Wellesley works so hard that sometimes I feel like if I’m not working hard every minute of every day, I am slacking off. Or when I’m too exhausted to work, I am being lazy. But I hope the day will come when I find some balance between taking enough time to rest in order to enjoy the work I do every day.