Name: Laurin Wolf
Year: Class of 2012
Hometown: Faribault, MN
Majors: Writing Seminars
************************************************************************************************************************
Hi readers! I’m Laurin, a sophomore Writing Seminars student from Faribault, Minnesota. For those with a sense of the Minnesota geography, it’s a pretty small town located about an hour south of Minneapolis and St. Paul. I can’t believe I’ve almost completed three semesters at Hopkins already—the time has just flown! I love my life at here a lot, and here are some of the reasons why: the people are smart, unique, and inspiring, my classes never fail to simultaneously excite and challenge me, and the campus is beautiful and easy to get around. But another aspect of JHU life that I can’t get enough of is the city of Baltimore itself. It’s a manageable urban setting that offers a huge variety of theatres, music venues, restaurants, museums, and opportunities to get involved with the community through service projects.
Growing up in the great Midwest, I developed a love for the outdoors and being active, and especially for running. I guess having two marathoner parents also encouraged this (but don’t think I didn’t call them crazy when I was younger!) When I got to college, running provided me with a great way to burn off steam, stay in shape (or at least try!), and see my new city from a different perspective. There’s no easier or more interesting way to discover cool nooks and crannies than by literally running into them. I quickly discovered my favorite routes in the neighborhoods surrounding campus.
This year, I started running with one of my awesome sorority sisters, Charlotte. She’s a great runner and also a Baltimore native, which means she’s been able to add to my collection of routes. Running with a friend makes those miles go even faster! Every year, Baltimore puts on a Running Festival, and we decided to run the 5K distance (3.1 miles). So one dreary October morning, we took a cab down to M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Ravens, and joined thousands of people out there doing exactly what we were there to do. It must be said that runners are an unusually happy group when they’re all together early in the morning. But one group stood out to us in particular: the people wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the words “Back On My Feet” seemed to be having an especially great time running and cheering each other on. We wanted to get in on the fun, so we decided to investigate.
An Internet search taught us that Back On My Feet is a group that organizes running clubs at homeless shelters. It started in Philadelphia and now has a chapter in Baltimore. After attending an orientation session, Charlotte and I became official “non-res members” (meaning we don’t live at the shelter) of one of the 4 BOMF clubs here in the city. We get up around 5 a.m. on Friday mornings (sooo early, I know—but it’s only once a week!) and head down to the shelter in order to start running with our new friends by 5:30. The group has pre-planned routes that take us through the still-dark, sleepy streets of Baltimore. Some of us run slow, some of us run fast. Some have been running for 30 years, some started a month ago. Our lives have taken different paths until now. But we’re all same when we’re out there at 5:30 in the morning, huffing and puffing up the hill on Charles Street. We all just love to run.
I know this sounds pretty cliché—my Writing Sems professors would probably give me a hard time if they read this! But it’s true, and I’m realizing that my experience with BOMF reflects many of my experiences at Hopkins. The student body here is as diverse as one can imagine, but we’ve all come to this great city and awesome school because we’re passionate about something, and together, we form a strong community. During one of our recent runs, a BOMF “res member” told me that he felt like the other runners had become his second family, which was a pretty powerful statement to me. I’m excited to keep discovering new paths with the BOMF crew and my new Hopkins family.
Comments