100 Days of Happy-Day 10

The last 24 hours have been kind of long and weird for me but I've made it through to the other side with a little (a lot) of help from my friends.

I think that the times I was most unhappy at Wellesley, I felt like I was constantly surrounded by people and constantly overwhelmed with things that needed to be done...and yet I always felt alone.

And I think that the times I've felt happiest at Wellesley have been when I realized that that doesn't need to be the case. I can't really explain how you go from one to the other because honestly, I think I still fluctuate myself.

But, as crazy as this school drives me sometimes, I am incredibly grateful for the people it has brought into my life.

100 Days of Happy-Days 7, 8, 9

I've had an absolutely whirlwind last few days so unfortunately I haven't been able to elaborate on my pictures...so let's do that now! 

Wednesday was Day 7 in the 100 days and it was also housing night. I had already known that I got to stay in Tower Court for my senior year of college already. But I wasn't sure where exactly I would be. It's official though, back in Tower 242 for the final chapter! A lot of my friends are actually moving out of Tower which kind of stinks but new ones are coming in and I see lots of people outside of the dorms anyways too.

 Thursday was Day 8-a whole week of happy! My friend and I decided to go check out the newly reinstated Chapel swing. Technically the launch party was on Wednesday so we missed the cupcakes and fanfare. BUT. The swing looked gorgeous with all of our Wellesley class colors flying high. Another thing crossed off the Wellesley Bucket list! For those who do not know, there is a list of things all Wellesley students must accomplish before graduation and can be found here.








Day 9: I had class until 5PM to compensate for some weird scheduling nonsense that Wellesley pulled to make up for the long weekend. We had the windows open though so I managed to hear the bells playing A Whole New World and other lovely things. With the sun shining and flowers blooming, it was a rare relaxing moment at the College so obviously I needed to instagram the shiz out of it.

100 Days of Happy-Day 6

Short post today because I am incredibly pressed for time.

MarMon is truly over unfortunately so it's back to the grind for all of us. Somehow despite being a shortened week I am still getting my butt kicked.

Nonetheless, I got this super kawaii post it note from a friend while working on a group project. I haven't thought of a name yet but he and Totoro are the best of friends(and yes, I might be going insane right now. It is entirely plausible).

It's the small things.

100 Days of Happy-Day 5: The MarMon edition

The scream tunnel is one of Wellesley's most beloved traditions so naturally it makes today's photo.

Everything about today was perfect-the weather was gorgeous and cool enough for the runners(I hope), there was a course record and an American won the marathon for the first time in a long time. It was just really fun today. All the runners started smiling as soon as they hit the scream tunnel, and I think it's one of the few times that this campus is united to this extent.

 I grew up in Hopkinton which is the starting line and so I've been watching this race for basically my entire life. Therefore, I can say with certainty that this is one of the good years, I really couldn't imagine better conditions. And considering last year, I couldn't imagine it being any other way.

I think in my own life it is so odd to think of what happened a year ago. Of course, there's the tragedy of the bombing but for me personally it's odd to think of the person I was, the people I was with and overall where I was with everything in my academic life. And I am relatively sure that things have changed for the better. But absolutely sure that things are very different now than they used to be.

I wonder where I'll be one year from now.

100 Days of Happy-Day 4

So begins Day 4....in the science center!

You may be wondering why I chose to put up this picture as something that makes me happy but there is actually something really calming about working in this space. Nobody is really trolling around today because it is a 1) a weekend, 2) a long weekend and 3) Easter Sunday. These little corrals are technically reserved for thesis students but I actually quite like using them to do work. In addition to the sounds of water (which as a self proclaimed fish-on-land, is really therapeutic), there is actually also a decent amount of natural light that gets in here, more than in the Leaky Beaker and other places in the building and I have a nice view of Galen stone tower from my particular corral. I keep using the same one though so I might stake a claim to it soon. While I know some students hate the Science Center with their entire being, I really honestly don't mind being here. I don't mind being here on weekends or at nights. I think what makes me grumpy sometimes is the fact that it feels like I -have- to be here when I would rather be doing something else or if I have to wait around for something and can't leave. Or if I come back from classes, tired and grumpy, and still have to do things when I would rather sleep.

But today isn't like that, it's the first tie in a long time that I have been able to putz around here on the weekends at a decent time and hopefully get some work done. All things in moderation.

100 Days of Happy: Day 3

I have a really odd feeling that this album is going to become a compilation of various flowers that I find.

Though to be fair, I feel like that is somewhat justified after the crazy winter we had.

So earlier today my mom brought these for me and then I got to have lunch with her and my dad-yay for getting real people food! I didn't get a ton of time to spend with them because they had things to do and places to be and so did I. But, it was nice to have a reminder of the life and world outside of Wellesley. Like I said in an earlier post, I can get so caught up in all of the school work...but they don't even really know what any of my classes are really about unless I vent at them so there's the chance to remove myself from the academic things for a bit if I want to.
There were also lots of other parents on campus this weekend. I have been informed that this was due to Marathon Monday and Easter/the long weekend in general but I don't recall seeing these many family members putzing around campus last year.

In any case, I have a feeling that these lovely pansies aren't going to stay in my possession for very long but I am certainly going to enjoy them while they are here!

100 Days of Happy: Days 1&2

Day 1(17 April 2014): So I actually took this picture on my way to the Science Center from Tower. I had actually wanted to take a picture of the lake but couldn't because there was a couple canoodling there so I would have felt incredibly awkward taking a picture. I wasn't sure if these were violets or not but either way they were pretty striking against the mulch and trees. It was a really beautiful crisp day outside. It was actually pretty close to my
ideal weather-sunny, clear and cool. Organic Chemistry lab was another thing entirely but it was nice to have a reminder that there are things that pretty much guaranteed to happen by the universe-a comforting thought to hold on to while everything else is so uncertain.
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Day 2 (18 April 2014): I had intended to take a picture at Bazaar, a market event hosted by my organization but it must have slipped my mind while I was caught up in the event. Luckily there were plenty of other cameras being whipped out so it will be a very well documented event. Instead we have this lovely vista instead. Normally, this is not something I would bother Instagramming out of fear of boring my followers to death. But, for the project I think it actually makes a lot of sense. Now, I generally don't even train on land because I think that swimming is vastly superior to most forms of exercise for me in terms of physical exertion and mental catharsis but today because of the event, I found myself wanting to exercise....after pool hours. So, I hopped on the elliptical in Tower. I had just come from Bazaar and while I enjoy being relatively dressy on a daily basis there was something incredibly satisfying about just throwing on a t-shirt and shorts to exercise. I think I (and probably lots of other people) spend a fair amount of time trying to be relatively glamorous that the moments of not being glam are absolutely liberating. I think for me, one of the most wonderful things about exercise is that it does double duty. On the one hand, it's good for you it makes you stronger and healthier physically. For me though, it also functions as my time to check out from the world, if only temporarily. It's really a win-win situation no matter how you cut it. It also has made me rather tired so I'm probably going to stop rambling now and go to bed. But, I also just wanted to say that I had the thought that this project might evolve into me just taking pictures of random places/things around Wellesley-the things that you never see in the admissions pamphlets or (usually) on Instagram. Uncommon vistas-I'm okay with this. The better to remember the real Wellesley by.

One Hundred Days of Happy-An Introduction

I recently heard of a project called #100happydays. It is a challenge in which people are asked to see if they can be happy for one hundred days in a row. The premise of the challenge was to have users submit photos every single day to document their happiness. I think the objective was to make people more aware of the fact that there are things in their days that make them happy.

When I first heard of the project, I was a little bit skeptical. I thought there was no way that I would actually have the resolve to keep up with the challenge for 100 days in a row, especially since I am entering my testing and application period.

So naturally, I have to do it.

I admit, I still have some reservations. I'm worried that I might annoy people by flooding their Instagram(my social network of choice) with really mundane pictures. I am kind of anticipating that there will be lots of pictures of various cups of tea and books. I am worried that I will try the challenge and expect massive life-altering results and not get them and be terribly disappointed.

But, it's just so intriguing that I have to try anyways.

I find the project compelling for a couple of reasons. For anyone who has been around me in the last year knows that this has not been a very easy or fun time for me. It's been a time of transition and a lot of things all happening at once. I have kind of lost count of the times the though "I do not have time to be a real person right now" has crossed my mind(which is hugely problematic). And yes, it has been exceptionally lonely at times. But all the more reason that I think that this project speaks to me. Even in the hugely stressful times, there is always something there to make me happy even if I have to work harder to find it and I really do believe that.

More than just the cathartic reasons for doing this, I actually am kind of curious as to what makes me happy. It sounds ridiculous but I wonder what I gravitate towards and I think it will be really interesting for me to come back and look through things once it is all said and done. So, I've resolved that in addition to the daily picture, I am going to try and write a post so that I can remember what made me happy and elaborate on why it made me happy. They'll be shorter than the posts that came before this one but I am excited to have a sort of daily ritual in place.

And hey, I'm back to writing again. So basically, I'm already winning the challenge for every day that I write.