This week was fall break. It was short. This isn’t high school folks, where you might have a powerpoint project over your week-long break and are bored out of your mind and fed up with your parents by the end. This is college, where you have 2 term papers and a mountain of reading to do over break, and you feel that little tug at the back of your eyes every time you have to say goodbye to your parents. Gives you a perspective of what’s important (I’ll give you a hint: it’s not the middle 38 pages of that chapter on DNA replication).

My fall break started off with a surprisingly painless train ride home with a ‘nova bro as my seat buddy. Villanova is very attractive to people from my home state; it’s something about the Catholic preppiness that those Connecticut-ians love. Fun fact that I just Googled: according to state-facts.findthedata.org, the correct terms for a Connecticut local are Connecticuter, Nutmegger, Connecticotian, or Connecticutensian. So there’s something you’ll never use in real life.

Anyway, I arrived home, and lo and behold, my mom had stocked up on my favorite food; Swedish fish and marshmallows. When my sister comes home she buys immense quantities of yogurts and cooks several batches of tabouli, but it’s clear who gets the special treatment. My time at home sadly involved a lot of Netflix, cuddling with my unwilling dog, and pestering my brother for details of his personal life.

Four days later I was on the train again, back to Bryn Mawr. Despite the fact that the team was a little bummed we missed out on extra time at home/on adventures in Philly, New York and D.C., our coach had planned extra special activities for us leading up to our extra special Seven Sisters meet. One night we went to King of Prussia mall (I’m pretty sure I heard “Let’s go to the Mall” 6 times that night; people were pretty excited). The next day, we went apple picking, which involved some weird type of apple baseball and later, several tupperwares full of homemade apple sauce. That night, President Kim Cassidy invited about 80 athletes to the President’s house for dinner (and keep in mind, athletes are hungry). Then Kim Cassidy (K-Sass?) proved how well she understands college kids. She invited us to explore the President’s house, which was a brave and generous move. I can now say that I know firsthand that the President’s house is beautiful and it has a balcony. Anyone who wants to know more should ingratiate herself to President Cassidy and get a tour.

Of course, the culmination of the weekend (and the reason we were there) was the 7 sisters meet, and on this note, here are pictures:

thank you so much to the lovely Yue Yang for allowing me to use these photos

I’m wearing a pretty dress!