I woke up this morning to a Wellesley wonderland- snow! Somehow, it’s already December, and winter has decided to make its official entrance. You would think, as somebody who’s lived on the East Coast my whole life, I would be prepared for the winter onslaught each year…but somehow I feel caught off guard each year by the first snowfall. Still, it’s hard to be upset when my walk to class looks like a scene from Narnia, sparkling, soft, and clean.
My initial reaction to realizing it is both December and winter
We wrote haikus about the snow in Cognitive Poetics today. We were discussing an evolutionary psychology theory about how haikus are a useful adaptation because they make us more aware of our surroundings and the present, among other things. I got to hear some wonderful Japanese haikus, and of course one of my Wellesley peers spoke fluent Japanese, so she could give us translations from the perspective of a native speaker.
Here is the haiku I enjoyed the most:
O snail
Climb Mount Fuji
But slowly, slowly!
After that, I had a violin lesson. I had to switch times last minute, so I crammed 45 minutes of the Barber Violin Concerto on repeat into my fingers right before. I’ve made a lot of progress in violin this semester, and my teacher even complemented that I really understood the piece, which was nice to hear. I joked back “Sometimes I surprisingly hit the runs perfectly!”, to which she replied “It’s no surprise. That’s what happens when you practice.”
I then grabbed lunch at Tower with friends, where we caught up and head-banged to the Mother Ginger movement in the Nutcracker. I had a sizable cup of coffee at this point, and then hit the library for three hours straight. We have our final lab paper due Wednesday, so I’ve spent a sizable portion of the last few days thinking about RNAi interference on BLI-1 in C. elegans (my worm friends, this time with super ugly blisters on their skin). It’s not technically a full scientific paper…just questions that kind of sort of ask for one.
At around 4:30, I headed back to my room. I pulled out my little black dress and did my makeup. No, I wasn’t going out on a Monday night, tonight was our chamber music concert. Our oboe, flute, violin trio was performing Stravinsky’s For Five Fingers variations. I snuck down to the dining hall, ate a quesadilla in fifteen minutes, and then went straight to our last rehearsal. We worked on picking up the right tempos for a while, had some down time, and then found ourselves on stage performing, which was nice. I always enjoy performing, although I frequently come off stage physically trembling from nerves. But somehow, I’m at the point in my violin career where I can be fairly nervous and play better because of it, so I try and let the nerves take my performance to more exciting heights.
Now, I’m back in my room, sitting in my bed. The concert let out late, and I’m exhausted from my long day, so I haven’t done much other than paint my nails a nice shade of red for the holidays. I’m ready to get some sleep, because the next day promises to be just as chock-full and exciting. Good night!
Ever lovely yours,
Eleanor
I took this photo a couple days ago before the snow, but I just had to share it with you all, because campus is just that gorgeous and I’m obsessed with sunsets these days