Winter term at Middlebury is often a welcome breather for students between fall and spring semesters. In addition to immersing themselves in a single academic subject for the entire month of January, students can also choose from a huge and quirky selection of non-credit workshops.
For those who like to cook, there’s everything from Thai cuisine and Chinese desserts to kimchi and knishes. Plus an entire class devoted to all things banana.
If it’s your hands that are handy, you can knit a hat, crochet a scarf, weave a basket, throw a pot, or build an Adirondack chair.
More active types can don ballet slippers, tap shoes or clogs. Or go barefoot and shimmy your belly instead. There’s also figure skating and fencing, log rolling and rock climbing, even stilt-walking if you’re feeling particularly daring.
There’s cricket the game and cricket the insect. Plus wine-tasting, cheese-making, bread-baking, and tongue-clicking—as in the Zulu language.
If it’s music you’re after, you can strum the guitar or pluck the fiddle, or add some funk and tune up your beatbox. Or tune up your skis, strap on your snowshoes, or lace up your cleats for indoor rugby.
Drive your own dog sled, hitch up the work horses, head for the darkroom or repot the houseplants.
Line up the chess pawns and cribbage pegs. Or practice your poker face and master the gaming strategies of e-war.
And when it’s all over, you’ll be glad that at least some of your classmates took first aid and CPR.