Ana, ‘13

Despite the huge amount of homework and an acute need to rest, over this spring break I decided to embark on a different kind of tiredness, and go see some big cities while visiting some friends on the East Coast and sleeping at their places.

On Saturday I took the Megabus to Philly, where Diana, my supervisor from the League of Romanian Students Abroad, waited for me and we went to Bethlehem, PA. That night I quickly toured Lehigh, where her boyfriend goes to grad school. The next day we went to New York City, where it rained like crazy. The visit was amazing, but after one day of walking through the rain and the wind, I almost got a sore throat. Thank God that vitamin C was invented!

Windy day in NYC

On Monday I left Lehigh Valley to go to Swarthmore, where goes to school Adriana, a friend who used to be sort of my international orientation advisor at the Fulbright Commission in Bucharest the summer before I came to UR. We briefly toured Swarthmore that day, then on Tuesday we went to Philly.

Seeing Philly from the 33rd floor of Loews Hotel. When I got down from that window, I fell on my already incredibly tired right leg and it hurts a little bit ever since. If you are a prospective scholar coming on campus to visit next week and see someone limping a little bit, it’s probably me. 

With my 2 host friends in Philly: Adriana, me, and Diana

Despite the tiredness that made us drag each other very slowly back to the bus, we had a lot of fun in Philly. But we were ready for a new adventure: on Wednesday morning, we woke up at 5:30 AM to catch the first Megabus to Washington DC.

In front of the National Capitol in Washington DC

At the Einstein Monument in Washington DC

In the evening, we caught the last bus to Richmond, and we spent the night on campus. The next day it was raining terribly (announced thunderstorms with emails from the University to be careful with the weather and everything), but this campus and city are too gorgeous to not brag with them when I have visitors. So in the morning we caught some time when it wasn’t raining and briefly toured the campus, and in the afternoon we went to visit the Museum of the Confederacy to be indoors (it won over the Museum of Fine Arts with its Picasso collection and everything because we had just skimmed through 2 arts Smithsonians in DC, and Adriana is not a fan of Picasso).

With the Confederate flags at the Museum of Confederacy

Eventually when the rain stopped we made it to the Virginia State Capitol. It was already after 5PM so it was closed, and we could only see it from the outside. But thanks to the Core trip to the Capitol from last year, I was able to tell Adriana a few things about the Capitol. It’s ironic that the more I look back, the more good things I find in having gone through the nightmare called Core.

In front of Virginia State Capitol

The view of Richmond in front of Virginia State Capitol

Eventually Adriana left for Philly, and I came back to campus (not after missing the last Downtown Shuttle that has a reduced schedule over break and trying to venture by myself in a not-so-great area in Richmond at night, before giving up and calling a taxi. But life is an adventure!).Now I am incredibly tired, lazy, and my right leg still hurts a little after the Philly hotel. And there’s no possible way I can finish my homework for next week, when I’ll be busy petting prospective scholars and everything. But the fun I had this spring break in awesome cities and in awesome company was totally worth it. Now I am reenergized and (hopefully) ready for the rest of the semester!