Last week my usual Friday afternoon lab was canceled! As much as I enjoy lab, it was nice to have the afternoon free to spend doing things that I normally wouldn’t be able to do on Friday afternoons. Fridays at 1 is when Jummah (Friday prayers for Muslims) happens on campus. I was able to go on most days last semester but having lab from 1-4 prevented me from going at all this semester…. except for this week!
Jummah is a nice time to consistently gather and build community. One of the dining halls typically caters halal food to the Multifaith Center, where Jummah takes place. While the prayer in most places is typically led by men, Wellesley offers a unique opportunity for women to lead the prayer and give talks. The day that I went, a student was leading the prayer and talk which made it even more personal and amazing. Jummah is always just a beautiful time to gather as a community for some time well spent with good food, good conversation, and good people! Rabbi Dena even gave us a delicious s’mores’ pie!
Right after Friday prayers I ran to catch the 2:00 bus out of Wellesley to Boston. My roommate and I decided to take a quick, impromptu trip to the MFA (Museum of Fine Art). The Wellesley Bus (the LOCO) is free on weekdays, and on Fridays until 5, and Wellesley students get free admission to the MFA. We had some events on campus to go to that evening so we only had a few hours to spend in Boston. We got off the bus and walked to the MFA. We had less than two hours there so we decided to thoroughly enjoy just a small portion of it during this visit, because we could always come back to see more in the future. We also made a quick shopping trip to Uniqlo and Muji! We then stopped at a local restaurant to satisfy some ramen and sushi cravings and on our way back to the bus stop we grabbed some bubble tea!
some wonderful art, and my even more wonderful roommate at the MFA!
There were quite a lot of events happening on campus that Friday. Literally minutes after we got back to campus, we ran to meet up with friends to catch the last 20 minutes of the Winter Festival which featured popcorn, hot cocoa, a snow globe photo booth, and an ice skating rink! A few minutes after the Winter Festival we all headed to Punch’s Alley (the pub on campus) for the International Mother Language Day Coffeehouse. It was a beautiful event featuring student performances highlighting different mother languages across the world. After that my friends and I headed to the TV room in our dorm building to watch The Dead Poet’s Society and munch on some nachos! All in all it was a great Friday jam packed with A LOT of fun activities. I tend to treat Fridays as my day off, and having lab off that Friday just allowed for a little extra time to take advantage of.
Here are some of my friends at the Winter Festival <3
Here is a little sneak peak of the mother language coffee house (and the pub)!
Signing Off,
Ilma <3