As I write this between lots of 10th/finals week confusion and craziness, papers, math, lots of study guides and PACKING, it is a nice study break to reflect on the last few weeks of my sophomore year because it has seemed like a blur.
A few weekends ago we got to have our sorority’s formal! It was outside of one of our residence halls, Kohler, and we were out on the grass under a big tent with lights and great music. The scenery was beautiful, the bushes around us were all in bloom and fallen petals covered the ground. It was a beautiful location, but we had quite the mishap—a power outage!! Thankfully, campus security came to the rescue and turned it back on for us so we could get back to the dancing; it was such a fun night to get all dressed up and eat free toppers pizza (yum). Lots of fun events like these take place at Lawrence and it is a great way to spend a weekend night.
The following weekend was LU AROOOO! This long-awaited festival is arguably the most fun weekend of the year, where tons of Lawrentians fill the quad in front of a big stage to listen to great music and relax with friends before 10th week and finals. The weather looked like it was going be stormy (after a week of sunshine and beautiful weather — thanks Wisconsin) but it ended up being warm and dry enough to keep most of the performances outside. Sadly for me, the long nights of writing papers caught up to me and I woke up with a cold the day the festival started!! I was still able to make the best of it and the headliner, The Tallest Man on Earth, was AMAZING! It was so cool to have someone so well-known come to Lawrence, someone I had been listening to for years. But the great thing about LU Aroo was that it introduced me to some new bands that I had never heard of before, and it allowed for many bands formed on campus to show their talents as well. All and all, it was such a fun weekend to hang out with friends and listen to great music!
10th week was stressful to say the least, but the many beautiful places to study have made it much better. Lawrence offers all kinds of places to study with friends or just by yourself. Every term I find a new place to study; you don’t always have to go to the library to do work, though it does help you to be super productive. I had to turn in lots of essays and homework last week so I decided to take a little trip off campus with a friend to Milwaukee! It is very accessible for Lawrentians to get to Milwaukee; it is around a two hour drive, maybe even less, and it is a great city to visit and explore! We walked around the downtown and went to a great restaurant overlooking the city called Wolf Peach. I highly encourage any Lawrentian to visit Milwaukee if they never have. There is also a bus that goes to a station in Milwaukee, so you don’t need a car to get there.
I leave Lawrence in just a few days to head back home to Maine for the summer. I will definitely miss Appleton and all my friends. Sophomore year has been great, but it is always nice to be done with school work and be back home for a while. I will miss Lawrence but I can’t wait to return to campus next year to make many more fantastic memories!