http://campaign.wellesley.edu/this-is-the-place
Have you guys seen this video?? it’s the promotional video Wellesley has made for its campaign to raise funds to improve the school. As I was watching it I realized I knew a lot of the people in the video – and how that’s one of Wellesley’s charms. It’s such a small school, with such a distinct community, that you really feel like you’re a part of it.
It is currently the second “travel break” of my semester in Copenhagen. I have taken this week to go to Budapest, Vienna, and now Prague. I get back to Denmark on Monday.
I saw my best friend, Jalena, for the first time in months. That doesn’t sound very long but when you go from seeing each other every day for at least a few hours (she lived a floor above me and was constantly in my room, we are in Phi Sig together, etc) to being in different continents, five months felt like a really long time. We had some adventures in Budapest where we celebrated her friend’s birthday, then I ventured alone through Vienna and now I’m staying with her in Prague. I LOVE this city!!! It’s beautiful and cheap and artistic … I’m so glad to see J having such a good time here. She is at a film school here (she’s a Cinema Arts and Sciences Major at Wellesley) and it’s been awesome seeing her in a very different kind of academic environment (and still killing it, as she does).
These past couple days especially, I’ve thought a lot about Wellesley and how it’s a place where I found my people. I found people that push me to be better and more than what I thought I was capable of.
Jalena is the person who sits you down and helps you make a plan for the rest of your Wellesley career while you’re on a trip to Prague. She’ll make sure you’ll plan to fulfill all your graduation requirements but also take classes you’ve really wanted to take, then go out for drinks and introduce you to other great people the next minute. She’s the kind of person who is humble but ambitious, who takes charge and coordinates, who personifies love and loyalty, who is independent but also supportive. Wellesley is the place that led me to people like her, that has allowed me to find a group of people I call my friends, who are so brilliant and beautiful that they make me want to strive for greatness in my life. (I hope she never sees this or else she’ll tease me for days about how cheesy this was)
So being away from campus for a semester has been and will continue to be an incredible experience. I’ve grown so much as a person already and I think it’s a much needed break from the pattern of Wellesley life I had gotten used to. But it is so great being with my Wellesley people and remembering what it is I love about this school.