Hello blog, and happy Wednesday!
Today is the first day back from fall break here at Wellesley, and I am feeling very reenergized. Here’s a brief rundown of everything I did over my fall break:
Saturday: Guild Field Trip! The Wellesley College Guild of Carillonneurs visited a conference in Cohasset, Massachusetts for the Northeast chapter of the Guild of Carillonneurs of North America. As regular readers of my blog will know, the carillon is the ancient bell organ that connects to the bells in Galen Stone Tower and plays beautiful music for all passing by the Academic Quad; at the conference we had a chance to play a different carillon and work with a different carillon teacher for the first time, which was so cool. This week we have another Masterclass with a different carillon teacher, and I can’t wait to see if that one is as fun as this weekend’s was! I also had a very awesome egg salad sandwich with bacon at a French bakery in Cohasset, which was probably the best eat of my fall break. It really changed my life. Another superstar dish of the Cohasset field trip: the apple crisp one of the seniors in the Guild made for all of us. Soooooo good!
Posing with the Cohasset carillon!
Sunday: My grandparents were in town this weekend for the beginning of their big New England road trip, so we went sightseeing in Boston! We did all the classic tourist activities; a hop-on-hop-off trolley tour, walking down the Freedom Trail, and lunch at one of the original pubs in Boston. We walked over seven miles and got caught in quite a few pre-Boston-marathon-crowds, but I had so much fun! They’re coming back again in two weeks for the end of their trip, and we’re going to do a little more touring and I’ll show them around campus. Right now we can’t bring visitors inside campus buildings, but hopefully the weather is nice for an outdoor tour.
Me and my grandparents outside of the bar from Cheers!
My grandma and me outside the train station in the Ville
Monday: Monday was Indigenous Peoples Day, so before I get into it I’d like to take a moment to share this land acknowledgement from Wellesley’s Native American Student Organization:
Wellesley College occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary unceded lands of the Massachusett tribe. We recognize that we are on stolen land, and we extend our gratitude to the many Indigenous peoples who have rich histories here, including the Massachusett, Wampanoag and Nipmuc nations, for their ongoing stewardship of the land. We commit to recognizing, supporting, and advocating for the sovereignty of the Indigenous Nations whose traditional territories are in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as for the many Indigenous peoples who live, work and study in Wellesley and Massachusetts. By offering this Land Acknowledgment, we affirm Indigenous sovereignty and commit to holding Wellesley College more accountable to the needs of Indigenous peoples. We are grateful for the language behind this land acknowledgement, which was written by the Native American Student Association at Wellesley (NASA).
Monday was also Marathon Monday- Marmon, for those in the Wellesley sphere- which was SO MUCH FUN! I think I had completely worn out my voice within the first hour, but it was absolutely worth it. I saw four runners wearing gear for either the University of Iowa or Iowa State, and I completely lost it each time; the friend I was standing next to was from Minnesota, so we would scream extra loud when anyone from the Midwest ran by. The highlight of the marathon was, of course, when my friend Katharine ran by! Emma couldn’t be there for the marathon, so I Facetimed her while we were waiting for Katharine and she got to see her cross the halfway point; it was definitely one of the coolest Wellesley moments I’ve experienced so far. The cover photo is a picture of Katharine and her best friend Abby hugging as we all cheer behind them!
Yesterday I used the last day of fall break to catch up on rest, and today life started back up again with work and classes. Next week on Tuesday is my October floor program, and I’ve already started gathering ideas for the next two months! October is passing by faster than I thought it would, but I’m feeling really happy about all of the directions I’m being pulled in at the moment. I feel very fulfilled. I have great friends, great family, and a great number of fun things to do; who could ask for more?
Sending you joy,
Andrew