This isn’t the Hell Week update you are expecting, I’m sure. I was leaving my Haverclass last Thursday to catch the Blue Bus back to the Mawr for Hell Week shenanigans when I stepped off the curb and rolled my ankle. I felt/heard something snap, and then I couldn’t really put weight on it, but I just figured I’d sprained it. An ace bandage and some ice, and it’ll be better really soon, right?

I spent the next eight hours with ice and compression, but by the end of the night, it had turned a shade of purple that was too weird to ignore. The amazing McBrides drove me to the Bryn Mawr Hospital ER for x-rays and a real diagnosis. Turns out, I broke my ankle. I am in my vey late twenties, and I have a broken bone. What the heck?!

It has been an endlessly frustrating weekend- really lonely, with a heaping helping of super deep bone pain. I had to miss the Friday festivities because I can’t put any weight on my left ankle. I FaceTimed into bedtime stories, and read to the McB’s, but it wasn’t the same as being there. I don’t have any pictures of my story, because I was on a computer…it was rough. It continues to be rough. I’ve been home since Thursday, keeping up with my readings for class and hobbling around my house trying not to whack the cats with my crutches. Swayze is really scared of them, but really fond of my cast- he keeps head butting it because he thinks it’s a stuffed animal. I’ve woken up the last few days with Swayze asleep  next to my leg, with a paw on the cast. Batman has been the best doctor cat ever, spending most of his time either on me or close enough that he can look over and ensure my safety.

I’m really looking forward to the end of this particular adventure. Underwater basket weaving is today, and I’m sad about missing it, but I think I’ll be back for reconciliation day tomorrow. It’ll be nice to celebrate the end of Hell Week with the McB’s, even though I don’t have hellees of my own. I miss campus, but I’m not super looking forward to trying to get around on crutches when it’s basically one big sheet of ice. I have an appointment with a podiatrist today to determine whether I’ll need surgery, and maybe to get this fiberglass cast off. Wish me luck- the best possible outcome is no surgery and a short recovery time. Ugh.

I had my appointment, and the outcome is right in the middle of best and worst. I don’t need surgery, which is great, but I am not yet in a boot. I have a cast (my first one ever!), I still can’t put weight on it, and the recovery time is 6-8 weeks. The doc said that the fact that I’m strong and active will help with healing. Hey, it could always be worse, right? At least I’ll be walking by graduation. Bonus, the cast makes my already super jacked calves look even bigger! Thanks for being awesome, legs.

I finally finished all of my crafting, got those crafts to where they needed to go, put things in the mail, and made snack plans for Plenary. It’s Hell Week! Today at 5:34, the Taylor Bell rang and we officially welcomed a few newbies into the incestuous McB hell family. I’m so excited to see them through the roller coaster of the next bunch of days!

They successfully completed their scavenger hunt and met us all in Erdman, where their hellers were waiting with schedules, and a big group of us were ready with an absurdly loud anass. Dinner was a whirlwind of schedule reading and planning and questions, interrupted by the occasional serenade or poetic ode. The costumes happened so quickly, too- the bell rang, and mawrtyrs everywhere became master quickchange artists. It’s going to be a good week.

The McB’s have plans to go hard at Shipley, because crashing seems especially inappropriate for us…get ready for pictures of extremely confused dance attendees.

I’ll be posting more frequently on Twitter and Insta, so stay tuned there for Hell Week updates! And a big re-cap will come next week.

Also, pro-tip for first-years- befriend a McB. Most of us (myself excluded) have cars, and we’re pretty sympathetic to the running-in-the-cold part. If you keep it quiet, we’ll give you a ride to the Duck Pond on Saturday morning. <3

As we get deeper into the semester, I am becoming increasingly aware of the fact that this is the end of my time at Bryn Mawr. It’s rough. I’m practicing avoidance, some of the time, and that hasn’t been the best plan. Things keep sneaking up on me (Hell Week is next week, WHAT?!), so I’ve decided to switch gears. I’m taking what I learned in years of theatre (did you know I did that? I did that.) and saying yes to everything. It doesn’t matter what it is. I’m saying yes.

So, this weekend I not only got a lot of homework done, but I left the house and spent time with friends, too. I went to yoga on Saturday morning, and was greeted with open arms by everyone at my home studio. I love it there, and spending time away always clears my head in just the right way. It was a great class, and I felt amazing afterward. I went to brunch afterward, because hey, I had to eat, right? And then I headed out to campus to see the South Asian Students Culture Show! It was seriously amazing. Bryn Mawr is jam packed with talented, wonderful human beings.

I was also able to spend time with my friend Sophia, who I met in ESEM and have stayed really close to. We had a standing lunch date every week last spring, but last semester our schedules kept not lining up. This semester we’re trying hard to get back into it. She also made pictures happen, because after being friends for this long we don’t have any pictures of the two of us! The header of my blog doesn’t count, because you can’t really tell it’s us…

Anyway, whenever we get together, we just talk forever and then go our separate ways, so this time we actually managed to take a few shots. This will be it, probably, until May Day. And Garden Party! I asked her last year to be my Number One Garden Party Girl, and she said yes, and I know I probably asked way too early, but there’s no one else I’d rather have running chairs and tables and hanging decorations and dealing with what kind of snacks my mom is bringing.

She’s the best. Here’s the cutest one- it’s grainy because we were in Goodhart, in the dark! I think we were pretty successful.

On Sunday, I did another giant pile of work, because it just never ends, but finished the week off with a concert! The Wonder Years were playing a series of shows at Union Transfer in Philly, celebrating their 10 year anniversary of being an awesome amazing band, and I went with a friend. It was a crazy good time, filled with all the noise and sweat and dancing and jumping and guitars that I love about rock shows. I have some bruises, but for me, that’s the marker of ticket money well spent. If I keep making concerts part of my regular schedule, every weekend, I may just make it out of my last Bryn Mawr semester alive! We’ll see. Maybe. Alums, what helped you make it through the final stretch?