Hi everyone,
It’s going to be a shorter post today; hope you don’t mind! Life is busy as usual, plus I’m getting sick again, so that means I have to spend several hours sleeping that are normally spent doing work :). Anyway, from the beginning of the week…
Last weekend was NEWMACs, the end of the season for swimming, and a marvelous time. The team did fantastic, with a third place finish behind MIT and Springfield, which is our best showing in five years! I myself did well, as I mentioned last week, and that trend continued throughout the weekend. Though it was difficult to get work done, since we aren’t allowed to do homework on deck, it was very fun just to hang out with everyone and focus on swimming. I’m learning how to do back massages and the lyrics to many pop songs that I hadn’t heard before…
Luckily, we had Monday off of school for President’s Day, so I buckled down and did some serious homework. Tuesday all the way up through Thursday have been normal school days, with nothing too unusual appearing. The one point of interest this week has been that I started track… and am officially on the track team! I tried out as a sprinter, since the team is open particularly to sprinters at this point. So I’m now on the sprint team, led by Coach Meg, who has so far been very impressive, and four other girls who are likewise both friendly and fast. I highly recommend the track team as a welcoming group; I received a warm reception from everyone on my first few days.
I’m going through a bit of swim team withdrawal right now (we all are; everyone I’ve talked to has been a bit confused on what do for exercise and all the extra time, plus not seeing everyone every day!) but life is busy, and I’ve been meeting up with a few people for meals :). Transitions are always a little odd, and I’ve no doubt we’ll all settle in to all the extra hours in our schedules. (Or in my case, working out which hours are now track-time). The girls on the sprint team are very nice, and I’ve spotted a few of them in my classes… Kathleen and I had a funny encounter when we realized we sat two rows away in Neuro and hadn’t noticed each other before. It goes to show that even at Wellesley, where classes are capped at 32, it’s hard to make friends with people in a lecture-style class. My seminars, on the other hand, are a different story, and I know at least half the people in all of my seminars and labs….
Another interesting thing this week occurred when I met up with one of my classmates, Sebiha, and met her roommate Zoe. Zoe writes for the school newspaper and was asking students about whether Wellesley should go co-ed or not. I am very confused on the issue, and it was funny to realize that many others are as well, at least according to Zoe’s article. The all-women’s issue is the hallmark Wellesley question, at least to outsiders, and it’s been funny to realize how spending more time here, instead of clarifying my opinion, obfuscates it. I think the problem is that the more I adjust to Wellesley, the less I have to compare it to, especially since I don’t get off campus much. (I’ve been encouraged by Professors Conway and Reisberg to get off campus. I asked them where I should be going, and that’s when it got a little murky :).) In the end, Zoe’s article concluded that it is an interesting point of discussion, even if there are no universal answers, and I agree with that ending.
Another fun thing this week was working in Professor A’s lab. I’ve been working there for more than a month now, and I must say that it gets better the more time I spend here. I’ve been working with the Tran twins, Audrey and Katherine, and with Professor Karen Atkinson, who’s an associate professor at Bunker Hill Community College and works at Wellesley in Professor A’s lab. Karen is extremely patient, with a fun sense of humor, and it’s fun to work with her, especially as through her counsel I learn more and more about what’s going on. I don’t think I’m ready to be thrown into the lab by myself yet, but it’s a possibility now where it wasn’t before. It’s nice to know what’s happening, even if it does take a while for me to understand the basics!
After this, I’m going to dinner, and then early to bed for me! I should probably fit some exercise in there too, since I’m missing track practice today (I’m doing a half-week for adjustment, and then starting track full-time next week.) And homework, of course, though I had my first exam this semester in Bio 113, so I have a bit of a break before anything is immediately due. Ooh, I should finish my summer applications as well… they just keep building on each other, but it reassures me to know that many of my Wellesley students also have many apps to complete wor summer programs and back-up summer programs and back-up back-ups for those!
As always, ask me questions! I’ve just received an email from a previous commenter who has just been accepted into Wellesley; it’s wonderful to hear back from her. Anyone else get any input from our wonderful admission staff?
Best wishes to all of you!
Monica
