Hi everyone!
Welcome back. It’s been a while since I last posted, because last week I took a much needed break! After a term that went by at lightning speed, it was really nice to slow down and catch my breath for a full 7 days.
I realized I never talked about my term 1 finals and how they went. Overall, they weren’t too bad at all! One nice thing about the term system is that we have time to delve into our subjects more deeply. Unlike previous semesters with four (or sometimes five!) classes, the term system allows us to take less classes, which means less work to complete for finals!
Since I was in only two courses, my finals were pretty straightforward. I completed a final project for my Women and Health class. It was actually a pretty neat experience! My chosen topic was cervical cancer, and I made a health intervention tool for it (in the form of a facilitation guide). For statistics, we had our third and final exam the Monday before finals, and ended the term with an open ended problem set. It was wild – we had the option to use publicly available data to ask and answer any statistics-related question we wanted. During this final problem set, I realized how much I had truly learned in a short 7 weeks, especially in this class. Something about being able to wrangle messy data, clean it up in R, and actually analyze it from start to finish was extremely satisfying. Although STAT 260 was one of the hardest classes I’ve taken at Wellesley, I can say for a fact it has also been one of the most rewarding classes.
After I submitted my last problem set, the term was officially over! I used the break between terms to reset and honestly, do a lot less. I tried to stay off my phone and laptop as best I could (didn’t really work) and spend time with my family.
The highlight of my break had to be pumpkin carving with my Wellesley friend. My first year roommate and I actually scheduled a Zoom date to carve pumpkins with each other! It was hilarious, as expected, but also quite nostalgic. While carving pumpkins and trying not to hurt ourselves with giant knives, we started reminiscing about all of our crazy adventures as first years at Wellesley. It almost felt like opening a floodgate: she brought up memories I had almost forgotten about, and I did the same for her. It’s astonishing how long ago three years feels like and that all we talked about actually happened to us. It made me miss Wellesley even more.
Aside from that, I took many trips to (nearly empty) local beaches in San Diego, continued on with my internship, and video chatted with some friends. After the break, I felt refreshed and ready for term 2.
This Sunday, as my tradition, I’ll be sharing the classes I’m taking this term (note: my professors are brilliant) and more.
Oh, I almost forgot. Most importantly, during break, I voted!!! My mom and I spent time together last Sunday filling out our ballots and researching the various propositions in California. Once we finished, we dropped our ballots off to our local library. I received a text the following day that my ballot was received and will be counted. Fulfilling a civic duty never felt so good.
Make sure to vote,
Shreya
