Every February, Brown gives us a blissfully longer President’s Weekend — one extra day off to travel around, stop thinking about classes, and do what we as teenagers do best: nothing. Some jet off to New York for a weekend en Vogue, while others stay in the dorms and battle the cold with some good old Karaoke. This year, however, we both decided to explore new things. In an effort to cater to her romantic spirit, Luisa journeyed to the wilderness (or so she says) of Kennebunkport, ME. For this metropolitan girl, born and raised in busy city of Bogota, Colombia, a weekend in a small town (where the tallest building is two stories high) is quite the adventure. Haruka, on the other hand, went to New York, but not as a tourist. This world-trotting nomad’s latest residence is now in the glamorous, cosmopolitan island of Manhattan. Settling in and discovering new favorite places is her adventure for the weekend.
So, although our plans do not include jetting off to Colombia or visiting old friends in other colleges and partying till we are out (as has happened in previous years), this year we chose to break out of our comfort zone. We forced ourselves to explore beyond our limits, and, guess what, we have loved it so far. We have realized that the “Brown bubble” can only hold so much and that what lies outside can be just as thrilling. As our college years go by, we grow fond of certain plans, and we forget that there are thousands of ways to spend our time, thousands of ways to live our lives.
With our second issue, we want to show you different cultures and lifestyles that students have brought with them to Brown. And, to honor our international background, we have gathered a group of girls that come from places all over the world and thus have different ways to look at life. If there’s anything that we love about Brown but can sometimes take for granted, it’s the exposure we get to all the colorful and bizarre perspectives of our fellow classmates. So, we hope that our new articles remind you of the beauty of diversity.
HC Love,
Luisa & Haruka