lol bye.

Today is my final day of work. I thought a blog post would be a fitting swan song for my career as a Summer Admissions Intern.

This summer has been a really cool experience for several reasons. I had a lot of new first: jumping off cliffs for the first time, trying every eatery in town, meeting some really cool people, and getting to know some familiar faces to a greater degree.

I’ve also discovered some many new places. Bristol, Vergennes, Saratoga Springs, Albany, and Montreal provided some exciting new stories. I found new spaces in old places. My new favorite spot in town is Frog Alley, which has a unique urban feel, with a chocolate shop and art galleries, as well as a beautiful view of the fall. Rowing on Dunmore every day was also a treat. During the spring season, it is often to cold to enjoy the experience of a quiet Dunmore day, and I’m glad I was able to do that this summer.

There were also disappointments. It was not so fun wasting money on Six Flags tickets (they never called back on the rain refund by the way). I wasted the majority of my money on food, which was also a positive.

I’ll be back in five days for res life training, so honestly not that dramatic of a goodbye.

This weekend I received my first speeding ticket of my driving career in the beautiful state of New Hampshire. Despite the fact that receiving a speeding ticket really conflicts with the values of NH (live free or die) I still received one anyway.

After researching various methods on how to deal with speeding tickets, I decided to not fight the ticket, because my insurance will not change drastically due to this being my first offense. Also I don’t feel like driving to concord to fight a ticket. None the less, I gained some valuable knowledge about the courtroom process.

Other news from the weekend: Ciderstock, a music event that took place at the Woodchuck cidery. Kelsey already posted about the event in great detail, but let me do the rundown of all the wonderful food I ate:

A delicious maple cream fried dough

Artisan Quesadilla

Small batch chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream

Assorted chicken dishes I took from other people

There was also music, but food seemed like the most important feature of the event.

I’m trying to figure out how to begin this blog post about my exciting and relaxing weekend but Kendall is insisting on playing the Frozen soundtrack and it’s distracting me from thinking of a catchy intro. Which is sad, because my weekend was really fantastic. I took a half day off on Friday because my mom and my sister were in town. After a delicious lunch at the Co-op we ventured to Burlington and did a lot of window shopping and a little actual shopping. We came back to Middlebury in the evening and had a great dinner at Storm Cafe, sitting outside with this view of Otter Creek.

On Friday night my sister stayed with me in Midd and my mom drove to our house in Ludlow, VT, where my dad and brother were staying. I gave a tour on Saturday morning and my sister was nice enough to stay with me overnight so my drive to my house Saturday afternoon would include company. After a crowded tour on Saturday morning, Catherine and I drove the hour and half to Ludlow to see the rest of my family. When we got to my house I was treated to this view, good company, and delicious food.

As a follow up from last week’s disaster food conditions, good food was a wonderful treat. It turns out that I am actually a pretty competent salad chef but have completely failed fending for myself while the dining halls are closed. Look at the salad I made for lunch! That is impressive. Of course, my parents gave me all the ingredients but still… baby steps. (hi mom! thanks for sending me back to school with more food so I can try to replicate this salad later in the week).

Anyone that knows me would be able to tell you about my love of socks. I’ve got socks with whales, sailboats, robots, flowers, stripes, and singing penguins. For anyone familiar with ‘The Magic School Bus’ my eventual goal is to have socks for every situation and event just like Ms. Frizzle. Aiding me on my journey is the ever-wonderful Sox Market in Burlington.

This fantastic store on Church Street has socks of every kind for women, men, children, and people of all ages. I like to say that socks aren’t for any specific group of people, unless the size is off. So over the years I’ve acquired crew socks, knee socks, and thigh highs as well. All with varying patterns and designs.

Recently I ventured to the market and bought some socks with cats holding umbrellas, and a pair with glasses too. It has become one of my favorite places to go in Vermont now.

My dear friend Tabitha is currently house-sitting for another acquaintance of ours who was graciously willing to offer her kitchen for us students to use since the dining halls are currently closed. Therefore we decided to make carbonara!!

For anyone that doesnt know, a crispy type of pork product is added in with the pasta, which for some is either bacon or pancetta.

It became a center of discussion for the night as to whether REAL carbonara should have pancetta or if bacon was an acceptable substitute. The conversation raged on for hours like a Shakespearean tempest  even as we walked through porter field and watched the stars. Although it was all in good fun. A final consensus was never reached, however the pasta turned out great and no one went home hungry that night.

Proctor closed for the week (ugh) and now there is no dining on campus. You may have read Kelsey’s post on being an adult and cooking every meal, but it is even harder for me. Due to an earlier than expected deadline for summer housing fees, I forked over a significant portion of my pay check. Budget Colin was born.

The grocery store was my ultimate test. I managed to get some organic sauces, as well as wheat pastas, watermelon, peanut butter and hot sauce for $19. It was an amazing experience to say the least. In addition to all the food I stole from the dining hall before it closed, I had myself healthy options for every meal. Budgeting has never been so fun.

One thing I neglected to think about was how repetitive meals would become. I literally was going to eat something pasta based every day. I needed a way out

That way out came in the form of a visit. A former rower came to town to say goodbye before he left to perform national service in South Korea. His parting wish: dinner at Two Brothers. After finagling a deal with another friend, I was able to get a free meal and tagged along to the tavern. It was $3 taco night, so naturally most people ordered four tacos, nachos, and even boneless wings. Ian Delabie, a MiddView intern, still questions what boneless wings, so I’ve attached an article here so Ian and those like him can finally understand.

All and all, a great week.

After finishing our tour on Saturday morning, Colin, Daria, Kendall and I took to the road for a promising adventure. We were headed to Six Flags Great Escape, about an hour and a half away, with our tickets prebought and spirits high. When we arrived around 2 we were eager to get on the rides, enjoy the water park and stay until the whole placed closed at 9. We had dreams of funnel cake, Daria’s first roller coaster and sunny skys.

For our first ride, we choose Alpine Bobsled, a thrill coaster with no tracks. The line was long and hot but the ride was a success and we were excited to continue on to our second attraction. From the top of Alpin Bobsled we had spotted Raging River, a rapids ride which looked very pleasant after standing in the sun for so long, and decided it would be our next stop. After the tantalizing wait in line staring at people who were looking much cooler post-Raging River, we finally found ourselves at the front, about to load onto the next raft. The weather had different plans however, because right at that moment an announcment came over the load speaker that “Due to inclement weather conditions this ride is closing”. This was arguably the most disappointing feeling I have ever experienced. We attempted for a solid hour to find rides that weren’t closed due to the far off thunder but were unsuccessful and decided to have an early dinner at Johnny Rockets to wait for it to pass.

Dinner was delicious but did little to solve the weather sitution. By the time we were done it was pouring and the park had officially closed for the day. Hopefully we will get refund for our tickets and be able to go back to get the full Six Flag experience. I give it a 9/10 for potential and a 2/10 for execution- would not recommend for a rainy day activitiy.

sqaud waiting under cover for rain to pass

American Flatbread may be the best pizza in Middlebury. Utilizing a primitive, wood-fire oven, the concept of the restaurant calls back to communal style eating. It’s also located in the Marble Works. Middlebury used the Marble Works as sawing and finishing mills for an Italian based marble company. The water mill at the falls, which can be viewed from a scenic, gigantic Adirondack chair powered the entire mill. The earl 20th century brought the downfall of manufacturing in Vermont. In 1931, the mill complex closed. The buildings sat vacant until 1987, when the Marble Works Associates bought up the majority of the structures and turned them into a space for offices. In the past ten years, many local businesses have opened unique restaurant facilities.

At Flatbread, we ordered a 1/2 cheese pie and a 1/2 goat cheese and olive pie. It was very, very tasty,

Also two admissions counselors came to trivia yesterday and used their superior age to steal away the prize. Meg and Samantha, we’re talking about you. See you next time…

This week I visited a local Middlebury favorite that I have often heard about but never actually been to: Whirlie’s World! The summer employees planned a laser tag outing to this fine establishment and rented out the building for an hour on Wednesday night. After the sad discovery that I am not very good at laser tag, we ventured to the bouncy obstacle course, located on the other side of the building. Turns out that bouncy obstacle courses are not built for twenty-years old and are slightly more fun when you are small enough to fit inside: another sad discovery.

I tried another hand at laser tag and absolutely improved, the only down side to the second game was that our base wasn’t working, so our team was at a significant disadvantage. But even with my limited skill and unfortunate technological difficulties, I had a silly time and a fun Wednesday night overall. Both times we played, Kendall, Kelsey and I represented the admissions office on the blue team and took the very intense picture you see below. 7/10 would recommend for a ridiculous activity with a people who aren’t too competitive. *Disclaimer* if you do try it out for yourself, be careful with your gun, because I accidentally hit Kendall in the face with mine and she now has a battle scar.

Dear blog,

I love Colin. He seems to be the best worker in the office, as well as the most mature. His level of competency is wonderful.