Alex Haven

By: Alex

Aug 16 2010

Category: Thoughtful Thoughts, Uncategorized

3 Comments

365 days ago, my life today would have been a day dream.

The summer isn’t over, but it’s close enough to semester’s start – I move back in to my house at Smith College in 19 days – to start reflecting. This summer changed me more than any other in life. I’ve been reassured by my friends that my personality hasn’t changed but blossomed – I think that’s an appropriate description. Going to England and living by myself for almost two months, making friends there and going on some wild adventures has definitely made me into a more independent and frankly more fun person. I can see the changes in my behavior at home as I move towards a more positive, mature (ha!) direction. Most importantly, this summer has helped me to really discover who I am and what I love.

This time last summer, I was incredibly ill (half of my summer was spent recovering in bed, unfortunately) and nervously anticipating the beginning of my sophomore year, with no real academic direction and certainly no high hopes for the months to come.

As of today, I have a flight booked back to England for the end of December so that I can celebrate New Years Eve in London and visit friends around the country before starting my studies at St Edmund Hall. I’m returning in just about three weeks to Smith where I am happily devoting myself to Medieval Studies and am currently working as a research assistant in the History department, with a possible academic publication in the works. Of course nothing is without its downs and I’m far from being Happy-Go-Lucky all the time…but life is, overall, good.