For this edition, we asked staff and contributors how they find an escape from their busy academic lives.

Alisia Houghtaling – Multimedia Editor

I’ve been going to Seaside, Florida since I was eight, and I have many fond memories there. One of them is waking up on the beach from a nap at around 5 p.m. and noticing the only other chairs on the beach.

Kiran Komanduri – Photo Editor

There’s nothing more peaceful than a deserted Coney Island playground in the dead of winter.

Ivy Chan – Social Media Editor

Sometimes, a halal food truck on a rainy day is where you escape to.

Krish Dev – Director of Creative & Digital Strategy

I’ve been obsessed with geography for as long as I can remember, so visiting Boston’s Mapparium — a three-story-tall stained glass globe with 1935 political borders — was a welcome way to counter the academic stress that comes with the last stretch of the academic year.

Kaleo Zhu – Staff Photographer

At Hudson Yards’ intersection of rails and overpasses, two people embark on their own forms of escape – lost in thought and moving with intent.

Isabel Albors – Contributing Photographer

Nora Levy is my escape.

She’s the kind of person who reminds you to look up at the stars just in case you catch a shooting star. She’ll tell you to remove your shoes and let the grass tickle your feet. In another universe, she’d be an orange stained-glass window or a purple dragonfly fluttering through a red rose garden.

She’s unforgivably herself. An older sister who’s always willing to lend a hand. A fashionista who can’t decide what to wear because she wants to wear it all. A best friend who asks the hard questions: Are you happy? Is he the one? Wine or tequila kind of night?

We’ve grown up together, and some of our most meaningful memories are rooted in escape. One of them was in 2019, when she brought me to her hometown in Norway. It’s a quiet, emotional place for her that made me feel like I’d left the chaos behind, too.

During a recent photoshoot, I realized I’ll never be able to fully capture the kind of warmth and escape Nora constantly provides.

Contact the Multimedia Desk at [email protected].