A Normal Day in Middlebury

Early morning, I wake up to the sound of my annoying alarm clock to start another busy day in Middlebury College. Usually, after I get ready in the morning, I have an extra twenty five minutes to play my guitar before I go to Proctor Dining Hall to get breakfast. I am productive in the morning, which is the reason I start studying and finishing my homework as early as eight o’ clock. My classes are scheduled in the afternoon, which works for me because I have had the time to review my assignments and prepared questions to class. My favorite classes are my English and Spanish seminars. In my English seminar, we are discussing about the play The Roaring Girl, which is my favorite play so far- right after Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew and Webster’s play The Duchess of Malfi. Moll, the main protagonist, is a character who challenges society’s conventional norms of gender and politics. For instance, in the 1600s, just like today, society defines two gender roles: male and female. Anything that does not conform to these specific gender roles creates a source of anxiety, conflict, and, at times, laughter. Moll represents neither male nor female. She embodies both sexes through her apparel (sword, jacket, hat, skirt),  through her defiant actions (smoking tobacco, participating in the male public sphere, carrying a sword) and through her voice (speaks and defends female roles in society). My final paper revolves on this topic with the plays: The Taming of the Shrew and The Roaring Girl. In my Spanish seminar, we are reading Cervantes’ Don Quixote, which happens to be my favorite class in my four years in Middlebury College. I never thought this one class would change my life around, starting with the fact that I am learning about Cervantes’ writing and the medieval/renaissance cultures in this book. Because of this seminar, I figured out what academic field I would like to study if I decide to pursue a PhD or Master’s degree in English Literature: Medieval Literature. After my classes, I take a good forty minute nap and then grab a snack in the dining hall. Afterwards, I go to my favorite spot on campus, a lounge in Ross, where I can get all my readings and work done for the next day. Depending on the day, sometimes, I am responsible to run the meetings/discussions of the Voices of Indigenous People club or Alianza club. During the evenings, I hang out with my friends and skype with my relatives, especially my mother with whom I made a promise to keep in touch with everyday I am at Middlebury. As it gets dark, I head back to my room, and with the remaining half an hour I have left, I read a book and/or write a part of a story. Then, I fall asleep to continue my routine the next day.

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