Law school is hard. Whoever said it wasn’t was lying; I now have glasses to prove it. This past semester has been incredibly busy with classes becoming ever-difficult and life just generally being a whirlwind of deadlines and exams.

But, like all things, my first year has come to an end, and I am happily on vacation. The difficult parts of life do make the rest so much sweeter which I have been spending with family and friends. Hard but rewarding, I still enjoy learning about the legal system and all its quirks, but boy was it time for a break!

It took the form of a sister’s trip to New England. Our first stop was in Boston. The city was in all its glory for our visit with breezy spring temperatures and sunny skies. As we had so little time, all the major tourist spots had to be seen. On Boston’s Freedom Trail, we meandered along the old historic buildings, the city’s parks and the delightful harbour.

As both of us are in law school, Harvard was also a top priority. As an educational Institution, the aura of the school just permeates the atmosphere and it is hard not to be in awe of such a beautiful campus. With it being graduating weekend, so many families were on campus with their toga-wearing sons and daughters. It was a glimpse of our soon-coming futur back at home and gave a different perspective to our visit.

Our real reason for visiting though was to see Taylor Swift at the Gillette stadium (Yes, you may squeal dear reader). Forever fans, my sister and I have been karaokeing her songs since Love Story came out. The stadium was massive with over 70,000 people in attendance, almost all knowing every lyric of every song.

We died and came back on Earth. Saw Phoebe Bridgers. Sang our hearts out. It was, I must say, an incredible night with a favourite artist of ours and a great performer (no matter the chilly weather).

We were off the very next day for New Hampshire. As nature-lovers, our family has a long-started tradition of hiking the state’s four-thousand feet mountains and we had both been wanting to summit Mount Washington.

With a difficult forecast the next day, we first ventured on Mount Madison. A 14 km hike, we were first surprised by the prevailing snow near the summit. We were, of course, well prepared and had cold weather equipment at the ready plus plenty of clothing because as is said, there is no bad weather, just bad clothing. We summited accompanied by gusting winds, but our smiles were beaming.

With wonderfully clear skies the next day, we finally left for Mount Washington. The mountain too had snow fields along the hike, but it only made the trip so much more fun. The views were clear and all of New England lay at our feet when we finally arrived at the top.

As we finished our 12 km hike and headed back home, my sister and I had managed to catch up with our respective lives and were just happy to spend time together even sorta dirty from hiking and camping. It both gave us a time far from everything to disconnect and sleep tranquil accompanied by the sound of the forest.

With the weekend finished, I hope this short life update doesn’t startle you from the last few months’ silence. This summer is going to be great and will be filled with adventures, stay tuned for more updates!