Weekends at Midd

The following is a schedule of an ideal average weekend at Midd (as in, nothing is out of the ordinary but it’s a great time!) All entries are based on true events. See www.middlebury.edu/events for a detailed account of some of the amazing happenings at Midd!

Friday

  • 9:30-10:00: Make a breakfast Panini on the Proctor dining hall Panini makers (think English muffin, eggs, spinach, cheddar, cayenne)
  • 10:00-10:10: Take a leisurely walk to my class in Axinn, my favorite academic building. Analyze the state of the foliage. Say hi to friends on the path. Smile at the same people I pass every Friday at 10:05.
  • 10:10-11:00: Go to my American Studies class with Professor Nash called Livin’ for the City. Discuss and debate readings, integrate current events, and try to stump the unstumpable professor with challenging questions.
  • 11:00-11:15: Go to McCullough Student center to pick up a package (remember, this is my ideal weekend, so grandma sent me cookies!!!!!) and my paycheck for my campus job. Get distracted looking at the bulletin board… will I make it to all of the interesting lectures and events this week?
  • 11:15-12:30: Enjoy a prolonged lunch in Atwater dining hall. It’s Friday, which means it’s burger day. It also means the dining hall might be playing pump up music over the loudspeakers! The sun beats through the floor-to-ceiling windows and I hop from table to table to chat with friends from all different social circles
  • 12:30-1:00: Run over to Bi Hall, our science center, to chat with my geography professor and advisor. We talk about research methodology for my semester-long project on the urbanization of Native Americans, we discuss possible ideals for a future independent study project, and we review which classes I’m registering for the fall (we are both very excited about cartography!)
  • 1:00-5:30: It feels wrong to schedule my Friday afternoons, because the beauty of them lies in their spontaneity. Sometimes it’s a time for laundry and tidying up. On nice days, it’s the perfect window to go for a hike. Occasionally I’ll go to local Drop-In Brewery for a tasting with friends. After especially busy weeks, I curl up in my bed with a book and ginger tea. I love Friday afternoons.
  • 5:30-7:30: Unless something really unusual is happening, I spend Friday evenings with Hillel, the Jewish organization, celebrating Shabbat. We have a service followed by a homecooked meal.
  • 7:30 onward: Hang out with friends… it’s been a busy day. Who knows what tonight will bring!

Saturday

  • 10:30-11:30: Brunch in Ross dining hall. Should I make a Belgian waffle with homemade peanut butter? Local yogurt with homemade granola? Cinnamon swirl pancakes?
  • 11:30-2:30: Do work at Midd Chocolates. Enjoy a mocha with homemade whipped cream and marshmallows along with unlimited chocolate samples. If I need wifi to do work, I might go to the Stone Leaf Teahouse in Marbleworks, another one of my favorite spots.
  • 2:30-4:00: Go on an afternoon adventure to get some exercise and enjoy the Vermont outdoors. Maybe I’ll check out the Trail around Middlebury or Chipman Hill, both within walking distance from campus.
  • 4:00-6:00: Continue doing work or hang out with friends…only time can tell.
  • 6:00-8:00: Cook dinner at home with my housemates. Perhaps we will make a homemade pizza and salad again?
  • 8:00-10:00: Pop by a college-sponsored event with friends. Maybe it will be roller blading in the student center? A Riddim hip hop concert? An a capella performance? A student-produced play in the Hepburn Zoo (the Zoo is a performance space—there are no live animals there)?

Sunday

  • 10:00-10:30: Breakfast in Proctor
  • 10:30-1:30: Head to one of my favorite spots on campus to do some homework: the tables in the back of the library, the Abernathy Room in Axinn, a nook in Bi Hall, the cubicles with amazing natural light in Hillcrest…so many options!
  • 1:30-2:00: Grab more food. We don’t have a swipe system, so why not? The more the merrier!
  • 2:00-4:00: Check out a sporting event with a friend. This weekend we will be attending the Quidditch tournament, which is especially exciting since Muggle Quidditch was created at Middlebury! #BringQuidditchHome
  • 4:00-6:00: Continue catching up with friends, or do homework, depending on the weekend.
  • 6:00-7:00: Grab dinner with a friend I haven’t seen in a while. So much to catch up on!
  • 7:00-11:00: Go home and get ready for the next week. This includes but is not limited to calling mom and dad (normally I’ve already called my mom like 10 times by now, but I’m putting it on the calendar just in case)

They Came To Vermont? Like, Actual Vermont?

Last night, along with hundreds of others in a standing-only, busting-through-doors Mead Chapel, I saw New York Daily News Senior Justice Writer and political activist Shaun King speak on the relevance and reality of the Black Lives Matter movement, and field questions from the audience. As perhaps the most widely shared and circulated writer on my Facebook feed right now, to finally see Mr. King in real life was a fantastic experience. When he first began to speak, his natural ease made the gravity and significance of his points so much more impactful that at some lines, he was met with a deafening wall of silence, completely at a loss because of the truth to that point. To not only see this event, but see it for free and a five minute walk from my suite was incredible.

But this sort of relevance in performance and events is not new to this talk or this year: Middlebury College, and in particular its student leadership, has consistently done a great job bringing things to our campus here in Vermont.

An event that comes to mind for me is last fall’s performance of the King’s Singers, a world-renowned all-male vocal sextet from the UK. These guys. In Mead Chapel. My God, were they good. They performed a two hour set, the first half consisting of classical church hymns and the second half a collection of songs from their album, “Postcards,” traditional songs from various world cultures. I accidentally rose to give them a standing ovation at their penultimate song, but it was well deserved if not poorly timed. They gave an encore performance of Paul Simon’s “Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy,” and if that wasn’t the most beautiful thing I’ve heard come out of a person’s mouth in my life then I just have no conception of beauty.

It speaks volumes about the College for it to bring such a group here. At my time at Middlebury, I’ve gotten the opportunity to see Donna Brazile speak on the state of politics, watch artists like Chance the Rapper and Misterwives live in an intimate, small college venue, and that’s on top of the range of visiting scholars and academics that come pretty much every week for smaller lectures and discussions. This past Friday we had our annual International Politics and Economics symposium on the global illicit drug trade, featuring researchers on the subject from top organizations and programs, and next week the primary Art Critic from the Wall Street Journal will visit campus.

And on top of all the wonderful student acts and performances, I think seeing these events is when I feel luckiest to be at Middlebury.

shaun-king

Best,

Danny Dignan

Halloweekend at Midd

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I’ve dressed up on the whole spectrum of costumes from the classics (witch, ghost) to puns (taping two quarters on me to be “50 Cent”) to completely random (an olive… just an olive. Not sure where I came up with that one). We’ve had pumpkins out in my suite since the beginning of the month, and had costumes planned from the beginning of the school year. As college students, you may think we’re pushing the limit of acceptable trick-or-treating age. You’d be right. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t get into the holiday spirit in our own way here on campus. This past weekend, MCAB hosted its very first Haunted House, and I got to be part of it!

MCAB is the Middlebury College Activities Board, a student group in charge of organizing fun campus events including concerts, speakers, dances, and themed events like the Haunted House. They’re responsible for bringing performers to campus, which is great because the concerts are affordable and convenient for Middlebury students to attend. In my time here we’ve had some big names like Chance the Rapper, Matt and Kim, T-Pain, Borns, and many more. MCAB is allotted a hefty budge to host these types of events, and as students we get a say in how that money is spent.

Any student can submit suggestions for a campus-wide event they’d like to see happen, and this year people showed interest in a Haunted House. MCAB took that idea and ran with it, going all out with spooky decorations and incredible costumes and makeup. It was held in the Bunker, an open performance space that was converted into a dark maze with various themed rooms. They recruited actors and affiliates of the theater department like myself to perform as zombies, mummies, prisoners, ghosts, and other scary figures.

I may have gotten a little too into character as a creepy haunted spirit (black and white face paint can do that to you), but we all had so much fun. I guess we all played our parts well, because we managed to make some guys on the baseball team scream like little kids. All my friends who went through the house said they were genuinely terrified, which means the event was a success! I decided to keep my costume on for the rest of the night because at that point I was committed, although I did notice other students keeping their distance from me as we crossed paths. I later realized that the friendly smile I had on just made me look like even more menacing with my blackened eyes and lips and long, ragged dress. Oh well – all in the Halloween spirit!

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Middlebury as “Home”

Let me start by saying that this is my favorite time of year at Middlebury College. The Vermont foliage is stunning right now, it isn’t heavy jacket weather yet, and Middlebury students are all feeling well rested after our mid-semester break.

It is finally hitting me that I am back in the environment that I learned to appreciate during my time abroad. Although studying in Paris was incredible and I wouldn’t trade my experience there for anything, towards the end of the semester I caught myself missing the distinct community feeling and atmosphere of my home away from home at Midd.

My fresh perspective while abroad helped me realize that Middlebury truly feels like home to me. It isn’t easy to pinpoint when exactly this development occurred, and I think this realization happens in a different way for every Middlebury student. Some might realize that Middlebury is “home” when they change the default shipping address on Amazon, when they’re recognized as regulars at the best restaurants in town, or maybe when they simply realize that the majority of their friends are here.

Personally, I didn’t realize the extent to which Middlebury had become a second home to me until I was placed in a new environment. While in Paris I lived in student housing and met students from many different countries. When they asked me where I was from, I found myself describing Middlebury more often than my hometown. As I formed new relationships, I realized how integral my Middlebury experience is to my identity.

I consider myself lucky that the place I chose to study as an undergraduate has become such a big part of myself. With that in mind, my advice to those currently in the middle of the college application process is to consider what qualities are important to you in the next place you’ll call home. In other words, the community feeling and quality of life at a particular college can be just as important as academic considerations.

Until next time!

Nicole

I love checking out the sunset from the organic garden before the weather gets too cold

It’s definitely worth watching the sunset from the organic garden – before the weather gets too cold!

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Afternoon sun and a little bit of that foliage I mentioned…

 

Professor Manley, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Science

I should preface this story by telling y’all that I would much rather cozy up with a book–or Netflix’s Luke Cage, which premiered this week–than go outside, or worse still, go do science outside.

My first morning of classes at Middlebury, I was dragged to Intro to Oceanography by a senior friend of mine, an environmental science major, who swore that this class would convert me into a science major. I walked into a classroom swollen to the brim with students eager to get in. I hadn’t registered for the class or to be on the waiting list, so I was on the bottom of a very long totem pole.

The professor, Tom Manley, who I’ll get to in a minute, took roll, pulled one or two people off of the waitlist, and told everyone else that unfortunately, due to the nature of the lab in this class (3 hours of boating on Lake Champlain each week) there was a hard cap to the number of students he could take. After the first lecture, I went up to Professor Manley, introduced myself and told him that I wanted to be added to the waitlist. He was confused, considering he thought he had already clarified that there wasn’t a waitlist anymore, but wrote my name down on the sheet and told me–as nicely as possible–to find a different class.

So I went to the lecture on Wednesday. I went up to him after class and asked if anyone had dropped. No one had. But, he had remembered my name!

So I went to the lecture on Friday. I went up to him after class and asked if anyone had dropped. No one had. But, the van for the Friday lab group was leaving in around ten minutes, so I stuck around, talked with some friends, and snuck into the van headed for Lake Champlain. When we tumbled out of the van and onto the docks, Professor Manley realized that he had a stowaway.

Professor Manley is a muscular man with a chiseled jaw, perfectly windswept grey hair, and jean shorts. All 365 days of the year, Professor Manley rocks jean shorts.  Now that is odd, yes, but even odder is that he is an arctic researcher. He spends much of his free time in the freezing cold, studying water and ice floats and the ground under the water–if it is unclear, I am not a science major–in a parka and jean shorts.

The only thing standing between me and the boat was Professor Manley in his shorts. Slowly, a smile crept across his face. He extended his hand and asked me if I was sure I was ready for a life at sea.  He bumped the cap, let me on the boat, and I spent the next three months dropping robots into the lake and taking core samples.

Even though I am not a science major at Middlebury, and made that very clear to Professor Manley from the start, he created room for me to learn. I think that’s a testament to the teaching ethos at Midd. If you are excited to learn, then professors here are excited to work with you.

A couple of hours after the course’s final exam, Professor Manley invited everybody over to his house to eat some strawberry shortcake and ride his ATVs.  It’s safe to say that my short life as a scientist certainly ended on a high note.

August Rosenthal ’17

The Top 10 Fall Activities in and around Middlebury

  1. Apple Picking: Nothing screams fall in Middlebury quite like a visit to Happy Valley Orchard with some friends. Pick your favorite type of apples and then cook your favorite apple dessert. Don’t forget to taste the fresh cider, homemade apple sauce, and other delicious apple products at the orchard (or in our dining halls!)
My first adventure to Happy Valley Orchards during fall 2013

My first adventure to Happy Valley Orchard during fall 2013

  1. Harvest Festivals: All of the best things come together at harvest festivals: fresh food, great friends, fall weather, and live music. Whether at Middlebury’s very own Organic Farm, the town co-op, or Shelburne Farms, you’re sure to leave with a full stomach and a replenished soul.
  1. Walk/jog/run in and around Middlebury: Take the foot bridge for a fantastic view of the Otter Creek Falls, saunter in an out of local shops, and get to know this picturesque New England town in a personal way. For a more extensive adventure, discover the Trail Around Middlebury (“the TAM”) for eighteen miles of fun.
  1. See the views from above: For an iconic view of fertile Addison County overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, check out Snake Mountain. In less than an hour, you can experience an unparalleled view of fall foliage. If you hate hiking, fear not! You can get permission to take the elevator up to the roof of McCardell Bicentennial Hall (our science center) for a 360 degrees view of campus.
I took my grandparents on the roof of Bi Hall and they loved it!

I took my grandparents on the roof of Bi Hall and they loved it!

  1. Fall Family Weekend: Whether you have family visiting or not, Fall Family Weekend is the perfect time to take advantage of fabulous fall activities. Take the free shuttle to the Middlebury College Snow Bowl (our very own ski mountain!) and ride the chairlift to see the foliage from up above.
  1. Swim: Yes, the water is freezing, but the thrill is so worth it. Some of my favorite bodies of water for swimming are Dog Team, The Middlebury Gorge, Bristol Falls, Falls of Lana, Silver Lake, Lake Dunmore and, if you’re up for the trek, Warren Falls.
  1. Class Outside: Convince your professors to have a class outside. Get the best parts of Middlebury all in one moment by engaging in thought-provoking conversations while enjoying the natural beauty that surrounds you.
I had an amazing Portuguese class sitting in this grass

I had an amazing Portuguese class sitting in this grass

  1. Homecoming: There’s nothing like seeing friends who have graduated back on campus. The Midd spirit abounds, whether over meals in the dining halls or over cheers at athletic events.
  1. Eat a maple creemee: Try Vermont’s version of soft serve ice cream in its best form before the weather gets too cold. Rainbow sprinkles are a must.
  1. Picnic: Grab a to-go box from Proctor and head to the Organic Farm for a sunset dinner. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, drive to Champlain Bridge on the Vermont/New York border for what’s guaranteed to be a magical sunset moment.
There's no better way to start off senior year than a dinner by the lake with friends!

There’s no better way to start off senior year than a dinner by the lake with friends!

*All photos are my own; #nofilter

My Last First Week

Hi everyone, 
 
I am finally wrapping up my last first week of college. It couldn’t sound like more of a cliche, but I feel like I started my freshman year at Middlebury only yesterday, and it hasn’t sunk in that I’ll be graduating in less than a year. But I’ll save the soppy graduating-senior-blues themed post for later in the year! 
 
When I signed up to write a blog post about my first week back at Middlebury, I had planned to tell you all about my first week on campus as a freshman and compare it to my first week back as a seniorsome kind of reflective exercise that would demonstrate just how far I had come and how much I had matured over the course of my time here. After all, my first week on campus back in 2013 was something of a blurry trainwreck – I was late to just about every single class and was That Freshman who carried around a wallet full of bright green add cards for classes that I hadn’t been able to register for.  After making my way off the waitlist for a highly coveted class, I managed to sleep through my alarm, missing the class entirely. Needless to say, it was a long week, and one during which I kept my mom on speed dial. But, every cloud has a silver liningduring that chaotic first week, I was directed to multiple classes by helpful professors and students, demonstrating to me what a tight-knit community I had joined. I met one of my closest friends sitting on the floor of a classroom in Twilight Hall, both of us having arrived too late to snag a chair. We still laugh about that fateful encounter today. 

I wish I could report that as a senior, my first week back on campus after the summer was smooth and painless, and that I appeared to all as the cool, collected and mature adult I had hoped that I would one day become. But, alas, that would have been too easy. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that my last first week of class bore a strikingly uncanny resemblance to my first first week of class. As a senior, I know I should have this song-and-dance nailed down, but I somehow found myself sprinting across campus to make it to class on time (apparently we have an academic building called Adirondack House.. It was news to me, too!) with a stack of add cards in hand. But there have been silver linings to this week, too. Seeing my friends after the summer has been a wonderful reminder of the many incredible relationships I’ve formed over the course of my time at Middlebury, while having the opportunity to discuss my senior thesis ideas with my advisor reminds me of how far I’ve progressed at Middlebury, despite still feeling somewhat like a headless chicken. I’ve accepted that I will probably never have a semester that I don’t start without a stack of add-cards in hand—my curious and indecisive personality combined with the incredible number of interesting courses at Middlebury makes it pretty tough to commit to just four classes. But with the dust finally settling on my first week as a senior, I could not be more excited about all the adventures to come and all the wonderful fall-themed food coming my way.
Till the next post! ~ Francesca
Here is an irrelevant picture of a sunrise over the Green Mountains that I took last week.

Here is an irrelevant picture of a sunrise over the Green Mountains that I took last week.

Moving In!

Moving in to your dorm for the first time can certainly be one of the most stressful parts of starting college.  Having just moved in to Middlebury for the last time (it was more enjoyable this time around), I find myself looking back on those previous move-in days.

When I was a Feb orientation leader a few winters ago for our incoming class of February first-years (see http://www.middlebury.edu/admissions/apply/february for more information), I remember running like crazy from dorm to dorm, all the while lifting mattress pads and hauling winter coats up numerous flights of stairs. It was also a blizzard and freezing cold out which didn’t make things easier. I loved meeting these new students and their families, but man, I got a workout that day. I guess that’s one upside to moving in: you get a great workout, even in the middle of a Vermont winter.

When I myself was moving in as a first-year Feb, I needed so much help from a combination of multiple Feb leaders and my parents to move my things in. I brought so much stuff with me to college. I remember I had a plastic box full of Colgate Advanced Whitening Gel, because, in my mind, it was so important to me that I not be distracted from making new friends and meeting professors by going to buy toothpaste. Little did I know that Midd Express was right on campus and that Kinney Drugs was just a short walk away. I was so nervous about making meaningful connections that I over-packed myself with toothpaste. So random, right? I’m pretty sure I haven’t yet bought more toothpaste in Middlebury, Vermont –– six semesters later. That’s how much I brought.

Once your bed is made, your posters are hung, and your desk is organized, the hard part is over. You’ll then have a great orientation with some awesome leaders and will meet plenty of new friends. You might even travel in packs (it’s a thing) to the dining hall and all around campus, figuring out which building is which. You’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

Moral of the story –– you’ll have time to buy toothpaste in college. Don’t worry.

Academic Atmosphere at Middlebury

FINALS WEEK— where the most wonderful time of the year turns into the most stressful time of the year. A time where students across the country are up to their ears in work and sleep and sanity are at all time lows. While Middlebury is certainly no exception to this rule, it has been my experience that although stress is high during this time, that there is something about the collective culture here that makes everything a little more bearable. Here are some reasons I’ve come up with to explain what that has meant to me:
  1.  Students are not competitive with each other: Contrary to the experience I had in high school, when everyone was competing for the same goal of getting into college, I truly find that while Middlebury students are quite competitive with themselves, we are not competitive with each other. None of my friends or classmates would ever ask me what my GPA was because they genuinely would not care. If someone did ask me about a specific grade, it would probably be because they wanted to see if I did something differently to receive a better or worse grade and not because they wanted to compete with me. I think a lot of this stems from the fact that unlike high school, college students choose a wider variety of paths. I think this is further strengthened  at Middlebury because it is a Liberal Arts school where students are much more likely to be taking different types of classes, have different majors, and different aspirations than they would be if you went to a larger university where you were enrolled in a specific school or program.
  2. Collective Atmosphere: Since there isn’t much competition between students I find that the academic atmosphere is more collective. When you have a lot of work the chances are that others have a lot of work as well, which certainly fosters the “all in this together” atmosphere. This is only strengthened during finals when, due to Middlebury’s physical size, everyone studies in the same places.
  3.  Supportive environment: Being with everyone is in the library with a lot of work strengthens the feeling of our collective identity as Midd kids. This collective identity, coupled with the fact that we aren’t trying to compete with each other, fosters a very supportive environment amongst students. It is very common in times like these to hear exchanges between students where they both talk about their long to do lists and then provide words of encouragement. When you have three papers to write in two days, hearing that someone else has three papers and an exam to complete in the same amount of time is comforting, because, in a strange way, you feel less alone.

Not Competitive–>Collective Atmosphere —> Supportive Environment.

I am certainly not trying to say there isn’t high stress at Middlebury, or, that we all sit around in a circle giving each other back massages and smiling during finals week. I think we all need to try to put less pressure on ourselves as individuals, to try harder to  remember the bigger picture, why we are here and why we want to learn in the first place. What I am trying to say, is that in times of high academic stress it has been my experience that the students seem to really come together and support each other. As I go into my seventh finals period as a Middlebury student, I think I have finally realized how positively this supportive environment has effected my academic experience.

Mary Lou Finley, Civil Rights History, and Campus Activism

This past Thursday, I had the privilege of participating in a roundtable conversation with Mary Lou Finley. A primary organizer for the Chicago Freedom Movement (1965-1967), she worked closely with some of the leading civil rights activists of the era—from Martin Luther King, Jr. to James Bevel. She was just emerging from college then, but in decades in between she has continued to valiantly push for greater social and economic equality. Mary Lou is now a professor of sociology at Antioch University in Seattle; additionally, she leads trainings with various civil rights organizations.

Her years of organizing experience show. She greeted us with compassionate confidence, listened deeply, and offered humble reflections on the arc of race relations and social change in late 20th and early 21st century America. In what became a fluid conversation, students, faculty, and community members engaged in a moving discussion of the troubled times in which we find ourselves today.

Moments like Thursday night have proved essential over my four years at Middlebury. It is all too easy at times to let immersion into the thriving campus life here supplant engagement with the outside world. But it is essential to remember that they are not mutually exclusive. As a history major, I have come to understand the inseparable links between past and present, campus and (world) community.

Our beautiful campus may be far away from some of the sites we have seen mentioned in the news lately. But in its distance lies the root of the intense sense of community here. Here, where a group of committed citizens can so passionately and respectfully discuss avenues for making our world a better place. Here, where the lines between professor, student, and townsperson blur. Here, where we learn to engage.

In a period of strife and social conflict, college campuses should be spaces of engagement, of conversation, of introspection and outward-looking action.

Mary Lou reminded us Thursday night of the successes and the unfinished work of history. It is our role as students and citizens of the world to carry that work forward.