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!!! 🙂