Hello again! It's hard to believe that it's already almost October. Where is this semester going?! In my last post I promised I would discuss moving back to Wellesley, the beginning of classes and Flower Sunday so I will do a little rewind to the beginning of September. I moved back to Wellesley on a Saturday in the beginning of September. Unfortunately I was unable to take the Hogwarts Express (this will make sense later, promise) up to school and had to settle with my parents driving me from New York. I tried really hard this year to bring less stuff so as it would all fit in one car and hopefully all fit in one room. As I wrote in my last post, I'm living in Cazenove Hall (read as Gryffindor or maybe Hufflepuff) which is the dorm that I lived in my first year. This year, however, I am entitled to a single room as a junior! This is not to say that I did not appreciate my rooming situations before. My first year I had a great roommate and last year I got to live in a gorgeous quad in Munger with three of my closest friends. I definitely do appreciate the single this year though, especially after living at an MIT fraternity this summer in Boston. It's nice to be sharing a house with only women again. They're just so much cleaner…Anyway here are two photos of my beautiful new room:
Classes began a couple of days after I moved in so I had some time to get settled and see friends which was nice. As a junior I had already registered for my classes back in the Spring. This semester I'm taking two history classes here at Wellesley: one on The Enlightenment and the other on Russia Under the Romanovs. I'm also taking a Introduction to Asian Religions class. I'm really enjoying all three of these classes but I think the class I'm probably enjoying most at the moment is the American Urban History class that I'm taking at MIT. As a Wellesley student you are able to cross register at MIT, Babson, Olin and Brandeis. It's a great opportunity to take classes that aren't offered at Wellesley and it's always nice to get off campus a little too. Registering at MIT (I guess they would be Durmstrang?) was pretty simple. I looked at their course catalog online (kind of confusing because they really like numbers at MIT so every major goes by a course number, there's a class number and all the buildings and rooms are numbered) and then sent the professor who was teaching the course I was interested in an email. He said to come to class the first day and if there was room I could stay. Sure enough the class had room in it so all I had to do was obtain a signed form from the Wellesley registrar, get it signed by the MIT registrar and bring it back to Wellesley. After all of this was done I got my own shiny MIT ID card and an MIT email address. I feel that this now justifies me buying an MIT sweatshirt…
MIT Coop
After reading all of this you're probably saying to yourself, "Wow this girl really likes MIT so what is she doing at Wellesley?" While I do find MIT fascinating, I really can't imagine myself at any school other than Wellesley. Part of the reason I love this school so much are the traditions that promote sisterhood and connect you with Wellesley women of the past and future. Two Sundays ago we celebrated Flower Sunday on campus. Flower Sunday is traditionally held on one of the first Sundays of the semester. In the week leading up to Flower Sunday, you can apply to have a littler sister if you are an upper class woman or you can apply to have a big sister if you are a first year. On the morning of Flower Sunday little sisters and big sisters meet each other at a breakfast in their dorm's common area. The big sister presents her little sister with flowers and then the little/big sister pairs attend the Flower Sunday ceremony in the Chapel (think Great Hall from Harry Potter) together. The ceremony is non-denominational and celebrates the beginning of the new academic year and sisterhood. After the ceremony each big sister typically takes her little sis out to brunch. The two can plan get togethers for the rest of the year and the big sister is always there for her little sister should she have questions about anything or need advice. It's a nice way to feel connected to an upper class woman on campus.
My little sister and me after the Flower Sunday Ceremony.
If you haven't noticed, I've been making a lot of references to Harry Potter in this blog entry. That's because Wellesley is basically Hogwarts. Between the houses, the architecture and our new Qudditich team (no joke…I saw two girls with broomsticks coming back from practice yesterday) Wellesley can feel a lot like Hogwarts. That is why I would like to introduce you to another of my favorite place on campus, Platform 9 and 3/4. While super awesome, beware of the adjoining staircase during passing time between classes because they are very narrow, that is unless you have an invisibility cloak or something!
Thanks for reading and check back next week for more on what classes are like here at Wellesley, Lake Day and another spot on campus! As always, feel free to comment or ask me questions :-]