The first week grind

I always expect the first week of the semester to be pretty easy and slow: professors go over syllabi and set expectations, and there aren’t big papers or tests.

I am always wrong.

Time blocks fill up with one-time meetings: a preseason check-in with my coaches, a lecture by a candidate for a tenure-track education professorship, a one-on-one with Career Ed to prepare for an interview for a fellowship, then my extra prep and the interview itself. This was a busy first week. I love all my classes! I should drop one so I don’t get overwhelmed once crew starts, but it’s going to be a hard choice.

On Thursday, I put my feet on some skis for the first time in my life! The nordic ski season has finally begun. I have no idea what I’m doing. I fell hard on my bum twice before learning how to stop. I was not expecting it to be so hard! Gaining speed and feeling out of control is scary. My goal in joining was to pick up a hobby that’d make me not hate snow, and it worked: I find myself, for the first time in years, wishing for snow.

It snowed on Monday, and campus was beautiful. I left early for class on Tuesday so I could walk slowly and appreciate the sun over the snow on Sev Green. Then the snow melted in Thursday’s rain, and Wellesley is brown again. (By the time I went skiing, there was hardly any left.)

Wellesley Jewish Life put together a Shabbat retreat for the first weekend of the semester, and it was a bunch of fun. We went to Friday and Saturday services at a nearby synagogue, then ate and chatted with both new and familiar faces. Shabbat is the only time I regularly see some of my friends, so it was fun to get off campus and spend some extra time with them. I want to attend services more regularly this semester, but they conflict with an optional nordic practice, so I’ll have to see what I’m more in the mood for on Friday evenings.

Right now, I’m in the mood for a late afternoon walk by the lake. We have a lake! I try not to take that for granted.