Tag Archives: finals

The End of an Era

So all of your bloggers here will be graduating in just a little over two weeks so soon we’ll have to say good-bye to not only you, but Middlebury.  My last articles for the school paper hit presses today.  And tonight D8 and the Mischords, two of our beloved acapella groups will send off their senior members in their Spring Jambo.  Over the course of the next week or two all 8 acapella groups (Study break concerts in dorm lounges are so much fun!) will be doing the same.  We’re all approaching the end of an era.  Soon, we’ll have no more papers (score!), but there’ll be no more crawling into a friend’s bed for a mid-day heart to heart either.  No more racing across campus at 1:57 a.m. to make it to the Grille before it closes at 2.  No more middle-of-the-night trips to Denny’s just because it’s practically the only sit-down restaurant Vermont that’s open 24-7.  More than anything else all of my friends won’t be in the same place anymore.  No more Weybridge Feasts full of local foods, that are delicious enough to make even standing in the rain worth it.  There’s so much more that I could add, but you get the point.  I wonder what everyone else is saying goodbye to? 

It’s been a wonderful ride, Middlebury.  I hope that some day you can try it too!

Finals!

Finals week is a very stressful time of the year for students. This year, the finals period was really short because we did not have the reading period between the end of classes and the start of finals. During finals some students move-in to the library. Thankfully, the library is functioning on 24/7 basis during the last two weeks of the semester. Although a very stressful time, we manage to have fun.

There is an amazing tradition of “Midnight Breakfast” at Middlebury. Ask a Midd alum about it. This year, Midnight breakfast was sponsored by the Student Government Association. Midnight breakfast is usually from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Students start lining up behind the dining hall doors around 10:30 p.m.—it says a lot about how popular midnight breakfast is among Midd Kids. Dining halls at this time serve the usual breakfast menu and tons of cookies and other snacks. It is a fun break from studying for exams and papers!

For international students, it is yet another time of the year when they realize how much they are loved and cared for by their community. Town friends will make sure that we have our snacks during this time! I always receive emails from my town friends who are concerned about my health, reminding me that I should take short breaks and exercise. They send me—or personally bring to my dorm room—care packages. I always have homemade cookies, banana bread or zucchini bread during finals.

Finals Week…grumble grubmle grumble

Well, we’re in the home stretch here at the end of 1st semester, which means finals finals finals! Campus feels a little bit stressed, a little bit high strung, but for the most part we’re staying mellow and looking forward to snow. While most people are hunkering down in their favorite study spot to crank out that last paper or cram for their exam, some teachers are giving their students more creative and fun final projects. Sociology Prof. Laurie Essig asked her students to make a video about the sociological masterminds they studied in her theory course. Here’s my favorite, featuring fellow senior fellow JJ Janikis, my housemate Sean Maye, former hallmate Rachel Wold, and strawberry aficionado Cathy Ahearn. Enjoy!

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