Last week, students were granted a three-day weekend, with classes off on Monday, February 2. Some students used the long weekend to relax with friends and explore local cities and areas, while others went home to enjoy family.
Blum poses cheerfullly with his family member.
Teddy Blum ’29 (he/him)
“My plans were to go home to New York, Millbrook in the Hudson Valley, relax and sleep a lot, eat good food, and spend time with my family. We cooked together, moved furniture, did some chores, and had a nice time talking with each other. We had fresh bolognese sauce [with] pasta and smoked salmon with bagels. It was really good for me to come home and relax before the second half of the term to recharge.”
Philip Molina ’28 (he/him)
“I live in New York, so my family drove up four hours so that we could spend the whole day together. We left at about 12:00 p.m., and we went out to shop and eat, which was nice. We got to spend some great family time. We came back at about 6:00 p.m. to attend the Catholic Mass at Andover. As someone who experiences a lot of fatigue driving back and to New York, I was super happy that they came up instead because personally, I feel super tired after the long drive. I knew I wouldn’t have been as productive as I was staying here. For me, it worked out really nicely, but I’m also jealous of the people who did go home because that sounded really fun too.”
Maddie Yang ’29 (she/her)
“On Saturday, I had a swim meet. It was an away meet against Deerfield, so I was gone basically the entire day. After that, my dorm had “Make Your Own Açai Bowls,” so we did that as well. I’m going to meet my mom because she’s coming over, which is really fun, and we’re just going to hang out in the town of Andover. She’s going to take me out a bunch, and we’re going to stay at the Andover Inn. I feel like these plans are the best option because I didn’t really have much to do, and also I’m really excited that my mom’s coming because I haven’t seen her for a long time.”
Huang (left), Mercado (middle), and Torrens (right) pose for a mirror selfie at Glossier in Boston.
Nina Torrens ’26 (she/her)
“I wanted to do something fun, so I ended up going to Boston with two of my friends, Michael [Huang ’26] and [Magdalena Mercado ’26], and we went to get Malatang at YGF in Boston near Newbury Street. It was really good. We did a little bit of shopping, walking around, and then we got dinner at Eataly. On Monday, I went to school, and I got acupuncture, which was really nice and relaxing. Then, I went to [Pan Athletic Center] with my friend, Yumi [Lai ’27], and we danced for a couple hours and choreographed. I went to another dance class at my dance company, where we did a conditioning class and then a stretch and technique class, which is really fun, and I got to see all my dance friends… I was able to be productive and still have fun with my friends, and have a more relaxing weekend, which I haven’t been able to have in a while. I know that these last few weeks of the term are also going to be rough, so it’s nice to have almost a ‘mini break.’”
Bancroft’s view of the mountains from the Loon Ski Resort.
Claire Bancroft ’28 (she/her)
“My plans over the long weekend started out on Friday, where I had a Nordic race. It was a classic-style 5K for Nordic, and that was very exciting because it was on a nearby course that we had done before. I was able to compare times, and that went successful, so I was ready for a great weekend. On Saturday, I spent the night at my local boarder friend, Julia Xu [’28]’s house, with Hannah Jung [’28]. On Monday, we came back from campus and picked up [Maxie Wu ’28], and went skiing. We went up to New Hampshire to Loon Ski Resort. Since we’re all in the Nordic skiing team together, we would be able to spend time doing not just Nordic skiing. Since Julia had done alpine skiing and I had done snowboarding, [we were] able to get on the snow and do things outside of sports that we all know that we really enjoy.”
