The semester is off and running! As I anticipated, I am thinking about Middlebury in different terms than I did in previous semesters. Many of my friends have returned from living abroad and we are all spread out on campus due to the changes in the Commons system. While I was a fan of the original Commons, I am thrilled to live in a new place with friends from other dorms—an option that was not as accessible before.

The Middlebury community feels both bigger and smaller with these changes. I have met new people, even in the space of a few days on campus. These new acquaintances traveled the globe with my friends or are simply the neighbors of my old Ross hall-mates in dorms with which we “Ross Rhinos” were previously unaffiliated. When you consider how many people there are to meet each year, it is astounding, even at a relatively small school. People who were abroad all year seem to feel particularly unfamiliar with the campus community because they know, at best, only half the school. (No small feat!)

Middlebury has many strengths. The classes are terrific (I am deciding what to take from the six courses that I tried out this week), as is the food. In the end though, the sense of community is Middlebury’s best quality. Maybe it’s Vermont or something in the water, but it is hard to believe sometimes how nice people are here.

One complaint that I have heard from friends at other schools is that they do not make friends in their classes. Contrary to these experiences, I have made some of my closest friends this way. Middlebury is not socially restrictive by age or position either. While I tend to “expect the unexpected” with most things at Middlebury (to steal a line from the Village Voice), I know that I can count on meeting new people all the time. One friend recently remarked that she was almost “stressed out by the richness of her social life. There simply is not enough time to talk with everyone!”

This past week, I spent time catching up with my former professors and Commons Faculty Heads, as well as other students and staff members at the College. One of my favorite moments was attending a History Department dinner for seniors thinking about their final academic projects. Despite the fact that many of us were meeting each other and some of the professors for the first time, there was definitely a sense of camaraderie in the room. We discussed ideas for our thesis papers, and then moved on to other topics, such as post-graduation plans and making the History Department feel more cohesive. Professor Tropp brought up the advantage of having a new, central gathering space in the Axinn Center. This can only foster more connections—both academic and social—among students and also between students and professors. I have high hopes for the new academic year!