Monthly Archives: December 2010

Anticipating J-term

Christmas was an amazing time this year.  I spent tons of time with my family talking, eating, laughing, watching movies, and just hanging out.  With less than a week before we return for J-term the anticipation is in the air.  My Midd friends and I have already begun planning what we are going to do over what we call Yay-term.  Not only is J-term a time where you only take one class for the month of January, but it is also a time to explore, to use the extra time to do things you’ve never done before and have fun.

I didn’t go abroad and after this J-term will have taken four J-term classes.  All of them were courses I was interested in from art classes to writing classes. Click here –>J-term Courses This year I am working on my Independent Project preparing for my show in the spring.  I get to come and go as I please to my studio aka I will be there the majority of the time doing what I love most, art.  But when my artistic juices stop flowing or I’m beyond frustrated with my work (all part of the process) I know that I can take the day off and watch all three of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (already marked in my suites calendar).  I also will be filming the Men’s Basketball team’s home games, gotta get my bball fix.  Can’t wait for Pepin Gym to be packed with cheering, screaming, Midd students while Midd wins…of course.

As a suite we have declared Thursdays as game night, Fridays as dance party night, Saturdays as movie night where we are going to take out a projector from the library and screen a movie on our huge white walls.  I’m beyond psyched!! Atwater dining hall is opening up every Monday to host dinner for the first 200 people that respond to an email, the first dinner is Greek themed.  There are tons of workshops being offered with a wide range of topics/subjects/activities.  There is pottery, all types of cooking, learning basics f Hindi, knitting, dancing, log rolling, learning how to DJ, and SO much more click here –> J-term Workshops (Just sounded like an info-mmercial there oops) Plus, usual student organizations host parties, panels, and other activities.  For example, the Martin Luther King Jr. week always promises exciting speakers, panels, read-ins. etc.  This year Dr. Antwi Akom,Professor of Urban Sociology and Africana Studies at San Francisco State University, is coming to give the keynote address MLK Jr. Celebration.  More on Dr. Akom

All of that might have seemed overwhelming, but for me it is just so exciting.  There is no way I’m going to try and do all of that, it is actually impossible, but my plan is , go crazy with my friends especially my suite mates, to have plain ole good fun, and work on my art  during my last Yay-term at Middlebury.  This time next year I am sure I’ll be dreaming about J-term and how amazing it was and all the memories.

Happy New Year to everyone and for all you Midd Students Yay-term here we come!!! 🙂

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.

It’s Close to Middnight.

So it’s finals week, which is usually pretty close to the apocalypse, but I had most of my big papers due the week before Thanksgiving so I am sliding into home from about 3/4 of the way out, which is to say I probably won’t make it. Luckily for everyone, the dining halls are now serving 4 meals a day: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Middnight Breakfast—11pm-1am my dorm that happens to be attached to a dining hall. So if, for example, I wanted to wear shorts and flip-flops and not go outside at all because it snowed 6 inches last night and eat for free in the dining hall 14 out of 24 hours of the day, I could.

The meal is standard breakfast fare: chocolate-chip pancakes, eggs, make-your-own-waffles, sausage, fried-potato-whatevers, hot cooked water, ice cream, and according to the menu “homemade pastries.” So even though WebMD is telling me that eating before bed will make my hips fat, you can catch me crushing tater-tots and apple juice at 12:45am. Oh, also ridiculous things happen at Middnight breakfast, but don’t take my word for it: YouTube.

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Senior Fellows Celebrity

This just in! A former Senior Fellow, Cassidy Boyd ’10, is featured in the new Ke$sha music video, “We R Who We R”. Check it out!

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Ca$$idy is so HOTT right now!

Cassidy Boyd'10 is the dancer in the white and black leopard print suit on the left.


Alright current Senior Fellows… who will be the next Midd Celebrity??

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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Reasons the Looming Winter is No Cause for Alarm

People in New England never seem to get bored of talking about the weather.  Although cold temperatures are a yearly guarantee, I’m always asked how I can deal with Vermont winters, coming from sunny San Diego.  But truthfully, I think having been denied snow for so many years makes me more excited than most for the first snowfall…

3 Reasons the winter is something to embrace, and not to fear.

1.  J-Term

J-Term is a glorious time at Middlebury College.  Usually about the time that fall midterm exams are getting underway, there are murmurings of “I can’t wait until J-Term… it’ll be so nice when J-Term is here…”  When we all return to campus after winter break in January, we’re looking forward to a month of one intensified class.  Students can choose to take courses ranging from Chinese Painting, to Middlebury Entrepreneurs, to the ever-grueling Organic Chemistry.  Classes meet with greater frequency and for more hours per week than during the fall and spring semesters, but this is a time to really dive into a subject, focus your energy, and be creative.  I’ve been looking forward to my Introduction to Painting class for a few weeks now, and can’t wait to take my first-ever art class!  Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 1-4pm, so there is plenty of time for skiing, making snowmen, and taking a Wine Varietals workshop.

Student and visiting instructors also put on workshops that students can choose from—yoga, “Cooking to Seduce,” Intro to Guitar, Tap Dancing and more.  J-Term is a time to hone new skills, experiment with new hobbies, and enjoy Middlebury’s diversity.  We also have the pleasure of hosting many visiting professors during January as well.  Other students choose to do an off-campus internship or volunteer work for the month.  Whatever the case, J-Term is a time to experience Middlebury life like never before!

2.  The Snowbowl

The Middlebury College Snowbowl is a great place to spend a few hours getting outside during those frosty months.  A student life pass is an affordable $150 for the entire ski season, and the ACTR shuttle passes by Adirondack Circle every hour to take you the quick 25 minutes up to the mountain.  We have a new tri-chair lift to get you up the hill and a student-run ski patrol if you take a bad turn on your way down Kelly or Lang.

My favorite Snowbowl routine is to head up to the mountain, take a few runs with friends, stop for a hot chocolate and head back out if it’s a nice day.  If it’s an especially icy day, I’ll grab the book I’ve inevitably brought with me and read a few chapters while admiring the snowscape outside the lodge’s windows.  It’s fun to watch all the little kids walk awkwardly in their ski boots and be impressed by that kid who sits next to you in history—who knew he was a nationally competitive ski racer??

3.  Winter Carnival

Winter Carnival is a long-standing Middlebury tradition.  Reasons to love it: we have a day free from classes.  The ski team hosts their home races.  The winter sports teams have some victories at home, and the students guarantee an active (and vocal) fan section.  We have a great concert or two.  There’s a bonfire AND fireworks.  Ice sculptures!!  The Carnival ball is always a blast, thanks to our MCAB Traditions board.

So have no fear!! Yes, sub-zero temperatures and icy sidewalks are coming soon, but so is J-Term…