So what’s it like to be a Wellesley student?
It differs based on the day, the time, when I last talked to someone, if I’ve been working. What I’m eating, when the tests are, hours of sleep, presence of friends. Morning sunshine, assignments due, swimming workouts, smiles. There’s a lot that it’s like to be a Wellesley student, and that’s if you’re the one of 2600 students who’s me.
Fridays are my class days. Tuesdays too, and I’ve class every day, but once Friday’s over you know you’re done. I wake up at 7:45, walk over to Pomeroy Hall for breakfast, eat bowls of frozen blueberries that turn my teeth purple. Eggs and more fruit, then hop on my bike and over to the Science Center I go. 8:30-9:40 computer science, 9:50-11, organic chemistry, 11:10-12:20 neuroscience. 12:21-12:44 sprint over to Bates Hall for lunch (jump over those snow mounds! Ooh, look, vegetables!) then whip off my coat, 12:45 to 4:15 chem lab, stirring potions and taking pictures. Make plans with my partner—Nuclear Magnetic Imaging slot open on Monday, let’s grab it, the report’s due on Wednesday— then off I go again, finding the highest perch I can in the science center, pulling out my laptop and finishing observations. My computer actually ate my homework on Friday, so there was a lot to be done, especially on the fifth floor of the glass-ceilinged Science Center. It was dark by that time—the sun sets early now—but I waved to some friends below and kept typing away.
6:15pm—darn, I said I’d meet them at six—run out the side door, down the hill, arms out like I’m flying. It’s dark, no one can see, and it’s the best way down. Walk to the other side of my bike, flick the kickstand with one foot, set my bag in the basket and shoes on the pedals. Up the hill—why must there be a hill?—creaking along, moving sometimes as fast as those across from me on the sidewalk. No matter; I’m taking two steps at a time up the stairway already—pull out my ID card, swipe in to the dining hall, find two tables full of swimmers :).
We talk for a while; Suman’s brought new friends to the table. Keep the discussion off swimming—it’s hard, but we manage :). Religion and chex mix and lectures and cottage cheese. Small talk and societies (our sororities), summer plans and laughter. It’s bright in the Lulu, and loud with people. We’re crowded in around a high table, facing the darkness outside.
We wander off eventually—my frenetic pace over for the day. Everyone to the Sports Center to swim. Me and Tiffany race because we’re too evenly paced not to, and Tiffany’s sister Patricia comes along with us. We dive off of the diving board, and joke with the lifeguards, since they’re swim team members too and there’s no one else here at 8pm on a Friday night. I need to go the Korean Culture Show, I tell Tiffany, since my roommate is Treasurer, and plus, there’s food, so we must. Off we go, meeting more swimmers there, then head out early and whisk to Collins Cinema, where we watch The King’s Speech with another friend. Tiffany heads home, I’m back to my room, where I discover now’s not the time for sleeping. The 3rd floor of Munger is hopping—everywhere is—the Culture Show Party going full blast.
I take my computer with me, examine all of the floors. There’s no one in the basement in the study room. I think I’ll work for a bit, but it doesn’t happen, so I cradle my computer closer and read. I’m up until 2am again, which I’ll be scolded for, but it makes me feel rebellious, and I like the irony.
By that time, all’s calmed down, so I pull a blanket over my face while my roommate counts the show’s money. Bed time, finally, and though I hate sleeping, in that moment it is wonderful. I’m ready to sleep, to be up for the next day, when I won’t talk to anyone, but sit in the Science Center and do chemistry. Hours and hours, standing up and circling the building, every two sections of each chapter. Dinner with people I run into, goodnight to another good day, different good, but still good, at Wellesley.
ps, I felt like writing in fragments today, but I do wish you all a good evening and please post comments and questions! Also, I’m posting this on a Sunday night, instead of Monday morning, but that’s because I slightly altered the timeline of things and I did neuroscience yesterday, and am doing organic chemistry today. And there’s really only so much time I can spend on organic chemistry without driving myself crazy, or at least needing a study group :). Best wishes to you all! Monica