Penguin sculptures at Longwood Gardens — one of my favorite places near my hometown
Happy New Year!
My December proved to be a much-needed break from what ended up being one of the most hectic semesters I’ve had at McDaniel. The rest of my family had been very busy as well(my brother is a sophomore in college and my sister is a junior in high school), so to my relief, we didn’t make Christmas out to be too much of a spectacle this year. We didn’t overdo decorations or listening to Christmas music or anything, so this ended up being one of the most enjoyable Christmases I’ve had in recent memory.
I’ve been indulging in some of life’s simpler pleasures in my downtime. Since I’m a fan of literary nonfiction and memoirs, I’m in the middle of reading Sweet and Low: A Family Story by Rich Cohen, a book about the history of sugar and artificial sweeteners and the family who invented Sweet’N Low. So far, it’s proved to be pretty entertaining, and I’ve learned a lot more about sugar than I expected. With my family, I’ve also watched This Is Where I Leave You and rewatched Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and The Grand Budapest Hotel — all of which I recommend.
December also involved plenty of fun outings for my family and me. One weekday afternoon, my parents took off from work and we went to Longwood Gardens, a botanical garden about 15 minutes from where I live in Pennsylvania that always decorates for Christmas. We try to go every year during the holiday season, and usually, we go at night to see everything lit up. However, going in the afternoon was a nice change of pace. This year’s theme was birds, so one of my favorite parts of the gardens this year was seeing penguin sculptures in the desert and cactus section — what a contrast!
It’s hard to believe that I still have 20 days before the semester starts again — it seems like so little and so much time all at once! I’ll be at home, so I’ll continue to try to squeeze in as much rest and relaxation as I can, but I also hope to work on a few projects to get myself ahead for the new semester. I need read through old issues of Contrast, McDaniel’s literary magazine, to get a feel for what they’re like so I can get a sense of what sort of magazine my co-editor, editorial board, and I need to produce this spring. I also need to do some work on my senior sem so that I can present it again in March at the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council Conference. Wish me luck!
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