A
few weeks ago, my friends and I drove to Washington DC to see the
cherry blossoms bloom. This was our chance to get off campus and
enjoy our time far away from work. Together we all woke up at 6 in
the morning, grabbed some breakfast, and headed down to DC. Lucky for
us, it was a beautiful day and it seemed as though everyone was
finally in good spirits. With this trip, everyone was able to forget
all their troubles about school work and really enjoy themselves.
Unfortunately, the cherry blossoms were not blooming at this point in
time, but there were some trees with beautiful flowers so we got to
take many photos with those trees. Because Bryn Mawr's flowers during
this time had not bloomed at all yet, this trip was really special
for us.
It was the week after spring break; I was feeling refreshed and ready to attack the rest of the semester. I came to campus and there were geese everywhere. Every year it's like this, they migrate and hang out on the lawn for a couple of weeks; their yearly mission. They all had blank stares as they continued to eat stuff from the grass and move together to their next pooping destination. I took photos of the geese as practice, but when I looked at the photos later I began to laugh. As a joke to myself, I pretended the geese were the students here instead of us. The funny thing is, when I thought about it that way, the photos didn't look that much different than the photos I took of the students. Students held blank stares as they moved forward; everyone was just trying to survive the rest of the semester. They all looked like the geese on the lawn. It was weird being the only one feeling refreshed and not on auto-pilot.
This past week was my long awaited spring break! I didn't have a plan for it until my friend's father asked me to paint another mural for him at his pool supply store. At first, I questioned whether I wanted to paint this mural because I had been so emotionally and mentally exhausted from midterms and school as a whole. I really wanted to rest and not do anything that would take up my energy. But, I needed the money for my adventure in Japan (I was offered a job to teach English and I accepted!!!) so I said yes. Turns out, this mural was what helped me have one of the most restful weeks I've had in a while.
The things I enjoy about winter are the things that keep me warm. Hot chocolate, hot tea, big sweaters, scarves, blankets, watching movies in bed, etc., are my favorite things about winter. This is mostly because they involve not spending a lot of time outside in the cold. If winter had more sun I think I would like it more. The lack of sun during winter gets to me sometimes and to be honest it can be depressing. I love being outside, wearing t-shirts and shorts, drinking iced tea, and going out with friends. I feel like I can't really do much of that in the winter.
I took Chelsea to the dog park today and I had so much fun taking photos of her and the other doggies ☆ Chelsea is an old fart though. She just likes to walk around by her self, sniff, and roll around the grass without having to bother being social. But I could tell she was happier than the last few times I took her here lmfao. Usually she just stays in one corner and waits for me to go back home LOL.
I enjoyed watching the other doggies play with one another and play with the Frisbee and balls. I remember when Chelsea was their age, she used to play with all the toys and rip them all apart and show it off to me like she was so proud of the fact that she could rip something to shreds. Those were the days.
People didn't believe me when I told them Chelsea is already almost 11 years old. She doesn't really act like a grandma dog should, but there are some signs of her aging. She runs around like a puppy but not for too long. Eventually she slows down and stares at me as if she's telling me she threw out her lumbago. (Do old people still say that......??????) Her favorite activities are sun bathing, staring out the window for any possible movement that could destroy the neighborhood, and using her poop strategically to tell us she's pissed we haven't changed the puppy pads in the last 20 minutes.
I hope to have more summer days like these. You know, the ones that really remind you that it's summer and its time to be happy and smile at the sun that was never there this past winter. Being outside does wonders to my mood so maybe I'll just take Chelsea's advice and roll around in the grass too.
- Mana
