Good morning readers!
I’m writing this post a little earlier than usual because CLASSES HAVE STARTED! I am so excited, even though I don’t have class today and I didn’t on Wednesday (when school started.)
My schedule is in the process of being adjusted right now (as are many Wellesley students’ schedules), but currently I have class only on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursdays. This is unusual, but my few days of school are jam-packed throughout the whole day, and on Wednesday and Friday I keep myself busy. This Wednesday, for example, since I had a few hours to burn before the homework washed over me, I worked in the library for a few hours, read Time (I’m making progress), and then worked on my summer application for LSSURP (Life Sciences Summer Undergraduate Research Program) at the University of MN, which is the program I hope to get into this summer!
Thursday, however, was my first class day, and so I’m going to begin with that. Yesterday morning, I attended my first Neuroscience 100 lecture at 8:30am. I was delighted by the professor, Professor Conway, and felt very grateful since the waiting list was huge. At Wellesley, the wonderful fact that class sizes are small comes with the caveat that many students can’t get into all the classes that they want to. Since there are only 2 sections of 32 students for Neuro 100, students who were unable to register online come to class the first day and hope someone drops. Some professors do waiting lists, some do preference (to Neuro potential majors, for example), and I’m still looking into whether begging works. In my class, I think there were 15 people on the waiting list, with those in the class not likely to budge (like me). Neuroscience, along with my two biology classes, were competitive classes and I feel very lucky to have gotten in.
After Neuro, I sat in on the Psych 101 seminar. Seminars are different from lectures because they are much more discussion-based, with fewer students. This seminar only allowed 15 students, and is a first-year seminar, which means all of the students are first-years. I loved the first class, and want to drop one of my other classes, Intro to Cinematic Studies (CAMS 105), to do this psych class instead. However, there are 3 of us all vying for the one remaining spot in the class, and I think I’m going to lose :(.
After Psych, I had lunch with some old friends from the beginning of the school year (they’re the first group of friends I had during Orientation, but we haven’t seen much of each other since), then packed myself a dinner (since I wouldn’t have time to eat that evening), and headed over to my first CAMS class. It is also a discussion class, was lively and introduced a lot of topics we will be covering over the school year. Generally, Monday evenings the CAMS class watches a movie, while Thursday is discussion day, which was a little awkward since classes started on Wednesday this week instead of Monday and so we had no movie to discuss. Nevertheless, we made it through and analyzed a brief clip from The Hurt Locker. I was amazed how many camera choices were made in 30 seconds of film.
After CAMS, I shuffled over to swim practice, where I was late by 10 minutes (class ended at 4pm, while swimming started at 4pm). We’re allowed to be late for swim practice as long as we make it up at the end of practice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay late after practice on Thursday due to my next class, but I had already swum 45 minutes that morning before Neuro, so Coach Bonnie said it was fine. As it turns out, I needn’t have been worried at all, since we didn’t get into the water until 4:40! Bonnie had invited one of the swimming and diving alums to talk to us before practice (I’d say this happens maybe once a month, or when the alums are in town), and she permitted us to ask questions for quite a while into practice time. I think it’s a great idea of hers, as all of the alums talk both about their college experiences and what they are doing now. They are definitely a part of the Wellesley network, and are especially useful to seniors, as many of them can offer advice or jobs. They also serve to remind us, as Bonnie often mentions, that what you do in college doesn’t necessarily drive what you will be doing 20 years after college, and we should all just calm down!
After swim practice, I walked briskly over to the Science Center while attempting to eat en-route. Because practice ended at 6pm and my science lab was from 6:30pm-10pm (yeah, it’s a rough slot), and we can’t eat in lab because we might ingest chemicals, I was in a bit of a time crunch. As such, I ran into two doors (only one of my hands starting bleeding though) and did some really fast eating in order to make it to lab on time! That was a long lab, but looks to be entertaining, as I already know six students in the class! One I know from swimming, and the other five from my Chemistry 120 class. I love not being a first-semester first-year—it’s so nice to already have friends from the outset!
After lab (which went 15 minutes over), I went straight to sleep and woke up for weight lifting this morning, after which I walked with Gabby to the Science Center. She is now attending class in the room behind me, while I am writing this blog overlooking the Science Center main. I am going to sit in on a Psych 101 Lecture class in a half an hour, to see if it is as cool as the seminar and worth switching out of CAMS for. It is possible to take 5 classes at Wellesley, but you need your dean’s permission, which I haven’t quite procured :). I talked to Dean Tenser on Wednesday about taking five classes, and logical woman that she is, she essentially told me that I would implode (especially with 2 ½ labs and varsity athletics!). The professor who teaches the psych seminar also informed me of the same fact (though each of these women did so in nicer words). I’m starting to think that maybe I should visit my dean every semester just so that they can talk me out of whatever insane plan that I happen to concoct despite myself ;).
So that was the latter part of the week! Monday and Tuesday were essentially composed of me running around paying and collecting my textbooks (buying from other students on campus is often cheaper than Amazon and almost always cheaper than the bookstore.) I was also swimming, of course, planning out my schedule, working on my summer applications, and teaching swimming lessons. One significant event I did attend on Tuesday was the Albright Institute for Global Affairs presentation: “Is the U.N. Dream Dead?: International Organizations and the Challenges of Change.” Madeleine K. Albright ’59, U.S. Secretary of State, 1997-2001, James Wolfensohn, World Bank President, 1995-2005, and Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA all spoke about the role of the U.S. in world affairs and the general role of the U.N. It was a fascinating presentation, especially when students were able to ask questions about halfway in. I was very impressed with both the questions and the speakers—all of them are very good speakers, especially Secretary Albright, and they were able to inject quite a bit of humor into a serious conversation, which I wasn’t expecting. It makes me all the more determined to become an Albright fellow junior or senior year!
Wednesday was also significant because I had my first singing lesson with Marion Dry! She was on sabbatical in France first semester, and had just come back. She’s a very accomplished singer and teacher, and it was great to start up my lessons again.
And now finally backing up to Friday- Sunday: my first Seven Sisters meet! It was the most fun I’ve had at a meet for quite a while. Not only did I make a new friend from Smith (she’s going to be on track—if I make it on the team, I can see her at meets!), but I’m now a record-holder in two relay events for the Seven Sisters meet! At home, I was never able to swim on the A relay, but at Wellesley I am, and it was lovely to win those races with the team. Even better, we came home with the Seven Sisters trophy for the 15th year in a row! And Bonnie was pleased with our swimming. All-around, it was a very successful weekend.
At the end of the Seven Sisters meet!
One of the best parts of the meet, however, was not the swimming, but the Seven Sisters traditions. This is a special meet, where five of the girls schools (well, Vassar’s co-ed now, but only the girls team came) come together to dance the hokey-pokey, cheer for one another, and share a meal together. During this meal, Smith presented us with a delicious meal in a wonderful facility (I heard Wellesley were much less successful in hosting this meal last year), presented the Marley awards (a new award for sportsmanship and love of fellow athletes), showed a movie on the two Smith swimmers who crossed the English channel (very impressive—I’d never do it), and, best of all, made us sit two swimmers per team at a table. I met four different pairs of swimmers, and we all had three things in common that made conversation easy—we all went to all-girls schools, we all swam with varsity teams, and we were all student-athletes (versus athlete-students :)). It was there that I met Katie, who will be doing track this year, and we watched each other swim the next day. It was wonderful to connect with students who have so much in common with me in terms of lifestyle and mindset!
And so that brings me to the end of my week! Today, after psych, I shall go do my first research with Professor A., before sorting out the rest of schedule and homework. So much to do, and I’m so excited to get started!
Hope you all have a marvelous Friday,
Monica
