Hello blog, and happy Wednesday!
Today is the first day of classes here at Wellesley; I had my first French class this morning and this afternoon I will be attending my very first in person convocation ceremony, which I am very excited about. I’m not entirely sure what exactly a convocation is, but I’ll be sure to update you as soon as I find out.
It has been an incredibly eventful week here at Wellesley and it doesn’t seem that things will be slowing down anytime soon. For the sake of time, I thought I’d give you a bullet pointed rundown of everything in- hopefully- chronological order! Let’s get into it.
- Move-In
As you may remember from my last blog post, I am serving as an RA in Bates Hall this year, and over the past week all of our residents have moved in! It’s kind of crazy to think about having a full campus right now for the first time in my Wellesley career, but very exciting to see faces old and new, masked and occasionally unmasked. I’m feeling really good about this year.
- Boston
Off campus travel was pretty restricted last year because of COVID, but the restriction has been lifted and I went into Boston for the first time on Sunday! I rode the commuter rail up with the other sophomore Bates RAs and we explored Newbury Street and a little bit of Cambridge. We had lunch at this cool place that was like half restaurant and half bookstore; definitely recommend!
The Trident Booksellers and Cafe on Newbury Street- they had awesome chicken strips!
- First Year Orientation
Though I don’t have any first years on my floor, part of my job as a student leader is assisting with various Wellesley welcoming traditions, such as the secret First Night on Campus Ceremony and the first year class photo. My friend Emma- another Bates RA- and I walked to Roche Bros the other night for pre-made cookie dough so we could have cookies waiting in the kitchen for all of her first years when they got back from their orientation events. Check out the Bates Res Staff at one of the many orientation events in the header!
- FWOC
Like I said at the beginning of this post, today was the first day of classes, so we’re starting to get back into the groove of things here on campus. I’m taking five academic courses this semester; Intermediate French, Youth, Family, and Community in the Education department, and three English courses: Happiness, Shakespeare Part I, and Poetics of the Body. My french class is the only one I’ve met with so far, but I’ll let you know how all of the other go as they come about! I’m definitely excited to be back on the semester system after a year of grueling terms.
- Community Programming
As an RA, part of my job is to plan events for my dorm community, and my first one is coming up this Friday! To celebrate the first week of classes, the New Dorms are hosting a Karaoke Pizza Party, which I will be co hosting with my good friend Georgia from Freeman, the dorm next door. I’ve also got plans in the works for my first floor program later this month, and I’ve even started thinking about the all-hall program I’m going to be putting together in November. This year, Bates is going to be the fun dorm, no question!
- Future Planning
Despite it only being the first week of school, my final bullet point is planning for the future, which for right now refers to the somewhat immediate future: my junior year. Tomorrow afternoon I’m attending an initial information session with the Office of International Study to learn more about study abroad opportunities; I’m proceeding with this pretty cautiously as I’m not too sure what COVID will look like this time next year, but I am pretty interested in spending a portion of my junior year abroad, whether that’s the spring, a summer term, or maybe even the full year! There’s a program in Australia that I think looks really neat, with a lot of great undergrad courses in education and creative writing.
I’m also starting to think about major declaration; there’s a professor in the English department who has a research focus in early 20th century American literature- my personal favorite- and writes children’s books alongside teaching at Wellesley, and I’ve been thinking about scheduling an appointment to meet with her and see if the two of us would be a good fit as major advisor and advisee. I’ve also realized that I’ll be halfway done with my English major by the end of the semester, and I’m starting to think more seriously about adding a second major. I came into Wellesley determined to double major, ended my first year determined not to double major, and am now wading somewhere in between those two extremes. As of right now, I could really go in any direction, which I think is a pretty good place to be.
I hope you’ve all had a great start to the school year, and for you early birds who have already started stressing about the upcoming college application season, I offer you this advice from someone who was in your place two years ago: breathe. You still have time, and everything is going to happen the way it is supposed to. No matter where you end up, it will all be okay in the end.
Sending you joy,
Andrew