So, I just got back from my Saturday routine of going to the Bryn Mawr Farmer’s market (as I’ve written about before) and I saw plenty of Bryn Mawr students buying my favorite mint tea and lavender scones! It’s nice to see that everyone isn’t hiding in their room thesis-ing right now and, like me, can take a small break from studying to have fun and buy delicious local treats.

On another note, I seem to have fully recovered from my concussion. (If you didn’t know, I hit my head rather badly on a desk two weeks ago.) My time of fighting with books and headaches is now over and now I simply have to catch up on everything. Essentially I’m fighting with books and headaches again, but these are more of the traditional Bryn Mawr kind. One thing that I’m very thankful for: Bryn Mawr and Haverford professors are very accommodating when it comes to injuries and extensions as long as you show that you are doing your best to keep-up. Most of my papers are out of the way and I’m back to working on my Thesis.

In case you don’t already know, most Bryn Mawr students have to write a thesis their senior year in order to graduate. I’ve been slowly gaining ground. Meetings with professors and advisors seem to always take my ideas in new directions. My thesis is currently: The Fairy Tale and Myth of Women’s Scottish and Irish National Identity… which I think is pretty great but surprisingly twisted from my original idea of Hans Christian Anderson and the globalization of the English language. You have to start somewhere I suppose.

Starting. In order to do anything, there is always a beginning.  When I was a freshman, I was so afraid of talking in class that I was mortified before going almost every time. Speaking is absolutely essential in BMC’s small seminar-style classes (which is virtually all of them.) Now, as a senior, I speak quite regularly almost to the point that I’m afraid of being annoying in some classes. What I was afraid of as a freshman was beginning. Everyone seemed to speak so much more elegantly than me… to have come from more prestigious private-school-style backgrounds than me… to have a more collegiate vocabulary than me… and this hindered me from taking part in discussion. What I didn’t realize then is that, no matter my background, everyone ‘begins’ at Bryn Mawr with a fresh slate. Slowly I gained the vocabulary and lost the fear, but I wish I hadn’t been so scared of starting off to begin with. Beginnings are important… but then again I’m still fine despite my off-beginning. I began again quite well this year as a senior and I’ll begin again next semester. Beginnings are important, but don’t worry if you don’t start off on the right foot. There is always a chance around the corner to get it right.

Now that that’s said, I’m going to start on catching up on my homework!