The first two weeks of classes have absolutely flown by! We’ve weathered both arctic chills and spring-like temperatures, which has left our poor, beautiful campus a mudhole dotted with stretches of ice (check out that picture!). Being a senior feels incredibly weird. I’ve already heard back from one job and I’m applying to more tonight. Everyone has started talking about rooming together after graduation. There’s a really distinctive sound, kind of an aaaaagggghhh, that people make when you ask them what they’re going to do when they leave Wellesley. I’ve been trying to focus on enjoying my time here at Wellesley while it’s left. Here’s what my actual classes look like this semester:
Personality and Motivation Seminar: This class, as the name suggests, is about different personality types and how they link to different types of motivation. When we went around and talked about why we had chosen the class, more than half the class talked about how they personally struggled to stay motivated. I am sincerely concerned that our professor, who created the class, has accidentally set a trap for all the procrastinators in the psych department–like, she’ll be wondering why nobody’s submitted their final papers and then at 11:59 her email will go ding ding ding. But she’s talked about how she wants us to involve our personal goals and motivations in the class, so maybe this will be the semester I finally quit Candy Crush. (Oh, who am I kidding–I love that game and I’m gonna beat it someday.)
Jane Austen/Anthony Trollope Seminar: If you haven’t heard of the second guy, don’t worry–neither had literally anyone in the class. He’s written almost fifty books, though, so perhaps this will be the start of a longer reading project! I’m always down to spend a semester reading Austen.
19th Century Novels of Romantic Mistake: A seminar on novels in which women realize that the men they’re romantically linked to are all jerks. Right up my alley! We’re currently working through Sense and Sensibility and everyone’s thoroughly enjoying trashing Willoughby.
Thesis: Wellesley offers credit and funding for theses, for which I’m eternally grateful. I’m using some of my grant money to register for a writing conference in Boston, which I’m so psyched about. Three days straight of panels with local writers on writing, editing, submitting, and publishing–everything I need as I start my post-Wellesley writing career. (Yikes to both “post-Wellesley” and “career”.) I’m trying to convince my sister, who’s even closer to Boston than I am, to let me crash on her couch for the long weekend of the conference. I’ve never really done this before–spent real money on my writing career, taken it seriously, met with other writers, thought carefully about where my work belongs, workshopped with professional writers–and I’m battling some serious Impostor Syndrome. (I didn’t even spell impostor right the first time. What sort of writer am I?) But I’m pretty sure I’m going to love the conference, and I’m so glad that Wellesley has the generosity to give me this experience–one that won’t even really affect my time at Wellesley, but will help me as I move forward with my passion.