Happy Thursday blog!
Last week was very academically intense for me and I am struggling with burnout- along with the rest of campus. Last week was the last gasp of midterms and campus has officially started mentally preparing for the finals. Knowing that you are so close to the end but not actually being at the end is agonizing and I cannot seem to get anything done. I have an essay revision due tomorrow that I have just barely started to work on and a major Spanish presentation next week that I should really get started on.
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any joy in my life though. I was able to join the Hillel for a seder on the first night of Passover on Friday. Classes can get very busy around here and a lot of people can’t make it to weekly Friday night services so it was nice to see people turn out for the special holiday celebration. I spent the rest of the weekend at home and celebrated Passover and Easter with my family.
I made it sure to get back for Marathon Monday though. The Boston Marathon runs right past the Wellesley campus behind Munger Hall. Wellesley students have a tradition of cheering the runners on and kissing them as they pass. We had all made signs the night before decorates with little kissing emojis: “Kiss Me I’m Kosher for Passover!” “Kiss me it’s my last Marmon!” and “Halfway There!” There were also an inordinate number of signs asking for a kiss from a couple of Bachelor contestants running- mine included. But alas, I was wandering around campus when Matt James and Zach Clark made their way past Munger.
I celebrated with the mock trial team that morning by the lake and followed it up by joining the “scream tunnel” for a couple of hours. My friends and I spent most of the day dancing along the marathon route and yelling at the runners as they passed with brief interludes for bathroom breaks and laying out on Munger Meadow away from the crowd.
We had done a “make-up” marathon in the fall in place of the marathon we missed from the pandemic, but this one was much bigger. Where we mostly just had Wellesley students in the fall, I wound up giving people directions to park and watch because there were so many non-students on campus. There were reporters interviewing students, security all over the place, and a bunch of families walking the marathon route to see the runners. Between the kids blowing bubbles and our College Government President dancing around with their speaker, everybody just seemed so happy to have a big Marathon Monday back on campus.
On the agenda for this week: seeing a friend of mine perform with the Wellesley College Dancers on Friday night, the aforementioned essay revision and presentation, mock trial e-board elections, and a class of 2025 “house party” this weekend!
With love,
Jessie