The Obligatory Wellesley Praisefest

Yes, it is obligatory, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to do it :D

To start at the very beginning, because that is a very good place to start (quoth Sound of Music xD)

My daddy and I made a last minute visit down to Wellesley towards the end of September (I know I know, what kind of idiot decides to E/D to a school before even visiting it) and the campus was gorgeous. It was a stereotypical autumn day, a slight misty rain which would later metamorphise into an all-out shower, a light chill that is perfectly refreshing, and the early trees already shedding their leaves. It was pretty amazing, for me at least, to see such a different example of beauty in a school campus. Princeton, which I live close to, possesses an old world beauty that is shared by other schools of its type such as Northwestern and Harvard. NYU is modern (and techinically campus-less), striking because of its glass and metal non-conformity. But all of these schools have one thing in common: they define the area on which they are constructed, a line or painting upon a canvas. Wellesley, on the other hand, grew out of the land it was built upon. The campus is spacious and almost rural with its own lake (Lake Waban <3) and the buildings were designed so that they complement the landscape rather than dominate it. If other schools are constructed so that they are a painting, then Wellesley is a sculpture, something formed out of the material rather than super-imposed upon it.

This is also true of Wellesley’s students. Unlike the other schools, Wellesley doesn’t take a high school student and, after four years, manufacture a Wellesley graduate out of her. A Wellesley graduate was always a Wellesley-an at heart – she just needed Wellesley to “evolve” (yes, like a Pokemon =])

I really could go on and on about how wonderful my visit was. My dad and I hadn’t signed up for an information session or a tour – we just upped and came. Which, I believe, really made the difference. Entering Wellesley feels like entering a separate world. Outside of the campus is the residential town of Wellesley, a charming place that is strangely reminiscent of my hometown, East Brunswick. But once you enter Wellesley, there’s an atmosphere, it’s a different place from the rest of the world.

The people I met were also very different from those of other schools. Mrs. Karen Shih, the Advisor for Students of Asian Descent, made me feel at home, even though I had accidentally walked in on a welcome party for the first year students. Serendipitously enough, I also ran into a former Middlesex girl on the library step – she’s a 3rd year premed student who used to attend church in East Brunswick and knew some of my classmates.

And the Poly Sci building. It was perfect. Photographs on loan from the New York Times, portrait sized pictures of John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and so many other presidents. Bookcases filled with Foreign Affairs. And a two sided elevator that gave my dad and I a pretty hard time =)

Nov 9/10 (and again, I know it’s strange to visit a school after the fact, but there you go …): Wellesley ALANA open house

Oh the people I met! Before attending the open house, I was really very excited about Wellesley. After the open house, I was even more excited about the classmates I could have there. Savannah, Brie, Caroline, Stephanie … the list goes on. All the girls there were people I would love to spend the next four years of my life with. They were smart, independent, funny, and very aware of the world we live in. And to top it all off, they were attracted to the same college as I was – great minds think alike, after all.

Karaoke Night courtesy of the Asian Students Association: I was a little drunk by that time. Not drunk on alcohol, but on the excitement of finally being here. Therefore, I gave a solo rendition of Under the Sea in which I forgot half the words. Very embarassing I am sure. haha. But it was fun. After the mikes went out of use, everyone who was left just sat around in a circle and sang whatever came to mind at the top of our lungs. Then we moved onto Cafe Hoop to chat about everything and anything – the Wellesley students reminisced about their high school lives, gave us some erudite advice, and commiserated with us on people in high school cheating and all that drama. Though I am still curious about the tunnel.

Monday of: Part II of the Wellesley Open House was class visitations. The French class taught by Madame Masson that I visited was wonderful. Unlike most high school french classes, it wasn’t a class on grammar and the other logistics of the language, although those were taught. It was a class on French, the language. Professor Masson led the students in an analyzation of a passage of Le Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac and the way she presented the text finally decided me. Yes, if I attend Wellesley, I will definitely continue studying French.

The second class I visited was Chinese Politics taught by Professor William A. Joseph. This class was slightly larger than the previous one so I did not really participate in the lecture, but just took notes and tried to absorb all the information =) The way Professor Joseph presented Mao Tse-Tung and his two deputies Liu Shao-Qi and Deng Xiao-Ping was fascinating and unique from what I learned in high school. In fact, our high school history classes barely even mention Liu Shao-Qi, glossing over him in its generalization of history. I had a chance to chat with Professor Joseph after the class ended and his knowledge and passion of/for Chinese politics was very present and I truly look forward to studying these topics with him.

Finally onto the city of Boston. Well, I must admit, it was just a tad disappointing for me, growing up next door to NYC. Boston isn’t NYC by any means – it’s smaller, more intimate. But it is beautiful in its own right – I especially adore the location of City Hall. You basically see this small, quaint old world building on an island by itself between two streets and on either side of it (across the streets of course) there are these huge sky scrapers. Something like this ||_11_|| It’s supremely adorable :D

But now onto the most important part of all this: Friday, December 12th, 2008.

I will admit here that I was absolutely distracted during the two weeks leading up to this date. The amount of homework I have BS-ed while my mind was clearly elsewhere is unbelievable. The night before I couldn’t sleep.  (Therefore I did not go to school the day of) I actually ended up playing Maplestory the whole day. Pressing the Space Bar incessantly is surprisingly distracting and supremely relaxing.

So my younger sister comes home, takes over the gaming from me (at which point I begin banging on the piano “He’s a Pirate” and “The Butterfly Lovers”) until 5 pm. Women being naturally curious creatures, she asks if she can check online without telling me the results (“I don’t want to know I really don’t want to know” running like a mantra in my head). So she checks and I run some place to calm my palpitating heart, cardiac arrest being imminent. What do you know, the little darling becomes so elated with the result that she completely forgets about her promise and screams the result out. At which point I start laughing and don’t stop until my mom comes home. The end.

So today, the Wellesley matriculation packet comes and I can’t help feeling that all is right in my world. Even if the economy is falling apart around my ears and people who truly deserve to be accepted into the best of the best are rejected and deferred (I will still bitch-slap MIT for Arun and Pranav but I added NYU Stern to my college blacklist as well – Stanford be #1 on there). John Locke: “Humans are inherently good, but self-interested” I’m afraid that’s true. But I do know I’d be even happier if all my classmates had been accepted. About a sideways 8 times happier.

But back to Wellesley. I love you. I truly do. I’ve been in love with you ever since the beginning of senior year (which is the period of time that matters). And I’m so honored that you chose me as well. So our love is mutual <3

Cecilia <3 Wellesley 4eva