Keri Goes Abroad: The rest of spring

Spring Break came and went, and graduation loomed closer than ever. Thankfully, we'd had a mild winter and an even milder spring. Usually spring in Maine is as cold and wet as can be; no snow to make it interesting, no sun and no warmth. Just rain, rain rain. But spring blossomed quickly. The lilacs bloomed a full two weeks early (almost at the same time as the rest of New England). Shortly after Spring Break, we had the first truly warm day. My friend Ellie and I decided to take our bikes out, dust off the cobwebs, and take a ride down to the ocean. We were sweating heavily by the time we turned around, a mere seven miles later. Unfortunately, some Maine drivers are not particularly receptive to bikers. We had almost made it home when a truck came too close for comfort, so I ran off the road, onto the shoulder, where there was still plenty of sand left from the winter roads. My skinny tires couldn't grip the way they should, and I went down. Ellie, who was behind me, kept going....straight into the back of my head. Thank god I was wearing a helmet. Regardless, I was shaken up pretty badly. At first I thought the most damage was to my leg, which had gotten trapped under my bike. But the next day I still couldn't focus, and headed in to the health center. They diagnosed me with a concussion (though I still wasn't 100% convinced). Still, I took it fairly easy for the rest of the week - until I went to the battle of the bands concert. Somewhere between the noise and the bright lights, my head started spinning. I admit, I am a total idiot sometimes. My darling brother could have warned me that a concert is probably the worst place to be with a concussion (outside of a 3-D movie, maybe) but I still probably would have gone to support my friends. That stupidity set me back some serious healing time, which I paid for the entire rest of the semester. There were points that I thought I would have to take incompletes to graduate at all. I missed almost two weeks of classes. Thank god I had understanding teachers!

Ellie on our bike ride.

Me, making faces

So happy, pre- accident and concussion

Meanwhile, senior year did not stop for me. The worst part about being mentally injured was that I felt like I was missing out on senior experiences, and had no idea how far I could push myself without really getting into trouble. So I did my best. It meant cutting down on the number of activities in which I participated, but I think it ended up for the best anyway. I still managed to keep babysitting for Hunter - the adoptive son of a single dad, Allen, who is Bowdoin's Director of Student Activities - which was one of the most important things I did during my time at Bowdoin. I also participated in my first full week of Ivies (our week of debauchery and concerts), albeit very lightly. And I made it to my first Spring Gala, accompanied by my best friends and adorable boyfriend. I even made it to our Residential Life banquet, where the seniors bequeath gifts to the next round of ResLife allstars. And, when all of my papers were (finally) turned in, all 45 pages of them, I experienced senior week. Senior week is when all of the underclassmen leave campus, and all of the seniors are left to their own devices. We hang out, go to organized activities (including a boat cruise, a pub crawl, and some concerts) and enjoy life as it should be for one last time during our college career.