Hello hello! Welcome back to the blog. And, welcome to my last blog post of the semester!! Time really flies 🙁 But anyway, it is currently finals season here at Amherst College, which means that all of us are going justtt a little bit crazy. In honor of this kooky time of the year, I wanted to share some of the ways that I personally have been attempting to stay sane. And when I say that, what I really mean is here are some of the things i’ve been doing that make me happy and help me to embrace the chaos of it all. Enjoy!
Between feeling a little under the weather and dealing with impending papers and exams, it’s safe to say that i’ve been feeling a little imbalanced lately. So for that reason, last night I decided to do a bit of yoga in an attempt to re center myself and clear my head. There is a yoga club at Amherst that offers great classes taught by a professional instructor a few times a week, but last night I choose to just do some of my tried and true Youtube yoga. Even though I’m currently living in one of the smaller dorm rooms on campus (shoutout Cohan), I can officially report back and say that there still is enough room to do yoga! I wouldn’t necessarily call myself the biggest yoga person ever, but I do genuinely think it helped me relax a little bit, so i’d highly recommend!
In my humble opinion, there is nothing quite like comfort food to heal the soul. One night this week, some of my friends and I decided to have a mystery restaurants feast. Essentially, we all ordered around $20 worth of food from a secret restaurant of our choosing, then revealed our selections to the group at the dinner. We ended up with food from Miss Saigon, the Hanger Pub and Grill, Texas Roadhouse, Domino’s, and two Indian restaurants. While there was not a vegetable in sight (unless you count the veggie samosas I brought…) and genuinely at least six kinds of bread, it was a delicious evening of great food and company, and my soul was absolutely healed.
So, it seems like there is unintentionally a recurring theme of the downward dog yoga pose in this blog…but anyway! Once again, I am bringing up the lovely Rail Trail that runs adjacent to campus. I know I may sound like a broken record, but please just trust me when I say that something about a walk on the trail when the weather is nice is SO incredibly healing. This lovely photo to the left was taken when two of my friends and I went on a sunset Rail Trail walk this past Saturday, and while it’s perhaps evident that we only have one braincell left between the three of us, it was lovely to play some music, go on a walk, and bond with some friends.
Sometimes, a slice of pizza is required at 2 am. Lucky for us, Antonio’s Pizza in the town of Amherst is open very late on the weekends, and grabbing a slice has turned into somewhat of an Amherst College tradition for students. This photo of me contemplating my chicken and broccoli pizza was taken after the very fun school sponsored white-out rave this past weekend, but Antonio’s could also absolutely be used as a late night study snack during finals preparation. The restaurant has many many varieties of pizza to choose from, and while the space is usually pretty crammed with people, Antonio’s is also proof that it’s very possible to find spaces of community and opportunities for a mental break all around Amherst at any hour.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed this mildly chaotic array of ideas for how to have some fun and stay sane (ish) during finals season. On a more serious note, writing for the Admissions Department as a student blogger has truly been one of the highlights of my semester. When I was a prospective student going through the college search process, I remember wishing I could see a little glimpse into the real lives of college students at each school, even if it was just mundane moments in their day-to-day. So, while I appreciate these blogs posts for the opportunity they’ve given me to talk about this place I love so dearly, I hope more than anything that they’ve helped all of you with the big decisions you’re currently weighing, or even just acted as a bit of entertainment during this potentially stressful time. I hope you all have a delightful summer full of lots of long walks and brunch excursions, and while I won’t be posting weekly blogs, I’m still happy to answer any questions you might have about Amherst College. My email is eknauer27@amherst.edu. Well everyone, this really is goodbye for now <3