The summer before my sophomore year of high school was the only time that I have ever celebrated the Fourth of July in any official capacity. This past weekend was the second time that I celebrated it. In the morning, Maxwell and I made snacks and baked goods. Then we drove to Burlington with a group of friends to watch the fireworks explode across the night sky. We spread blankets out on the grass, ate the delicious food we had made, and saw the lights from the fireworks reflect off of Lake Champlain. The evening was perfect. I really enjoyed spending time in Burlington and hanging out with Daria, Maxwell, and other students here on campus. The sugar cookies you see on the right were decorated by a friend of mine. It was nice to spend the day with friends and to do something out of the ordinary.

It seems weird to me that out of all of the questions that I get asked in the admissions office, the most frequent one is: what do you do at Middlebury? My answer? Look at this blog. Yes, Middlebury is in rural Vermont, but there is always something going on. The question shouldn’t be what do you do, but rather, what don’t you do? There is so much going on that I am never bored. Burlington is 45 minutes away and the town of Middlebury provides lots of room for exploration and fun! And, if I don’t have anything planned, I can always look forward to having fantastic conversations with the people around me.

My weekend technically started Thursday night, when I ventured back into Burlington to get dinner with a friend and her family. Afterwards, we walked along the waterfront before getting destroyed by bugs. The sunset was absolutely gorgeous. Julie took a selfie. 

The admissions office was closed on Friday July 3rd, so I celebrated by waking up at 5:15 to drive Kendall to Burlington to catch her bus to Connecticut. While Kendall was headed south, one of my best friends was heading north to stay with me for the weekend. She goes to a city school but missed the outdoors so I immediately took her to Snake Mountain. 

That evening, a few friends and I drove to Bristol, VT for fireworks. One friend misinterpreted “dusk” as 8:30 so we arrived an hour before the fireworks began. Aside from the bugs, however, it was an enjoyable experience. Continuing with the spirit of patriotism, we woke up fairly early the next day to return to Bristol for the parade. Bristol goes HARD for all things America, and the parade did not disappoint. I bought a balloon because I am secretly 7. It’s living in my room but slowly deflating. 

I couldn’t have asked for a better fourth, with friends, food, and new places (Bristol bakery 10/10) and got to continue the fun WATCHING THE US WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM CRUSH THE WORLD CUP. I started in Crossroads and moved to a roof of an off campus apartment for the second half. Unreal. Unreal game. Still in shock.

Middlebury is an awesome small town; better yet, it is surrounded by other awesome small towns. Since yesterday was so warm and sunny, I revisited a personal favorite spot in Bristol, a town less than 15 miles from Middlebury. Just beyond the town center runs the New Haven River, with a gorge and falls where a friend and I went swimming. The natural falls are both gorgeous and exciting to watch and wade in, with tons of huge rocks on which to climb, sit, and sunbathe. The water is cold, but refreshingly so in the summer heat. And better yet, downtown Bristol has tons of great eating spots, from bakeries to artisan ice cream shops, to restaurants. We followed up our swim with an afternoon hike up the shady (and muddy) trail on Snake Mountain, and quickly realized we probably should’ve done those activities in reverse. Either way, rewarding ourselves with Noonie’s completed the trifecta of a perfect Sunday for exploring locally.

Spur-of-the-moment activities are often the best activities. And when they involve homemade food, new friends, exploring the big, bad city of Burlington (smallest biggest city represent!), and fireworks, you really can’t go wrong. One of the best parts of this trip was travelling into the city with near-strangers but coming home with friends (ahem, because we bonded, not because I was kidnapped). Anyway, Burlington is very accessible from Middlebury, as it is probably the easiest drive one can take to a city: drive straight for 45 mins and you’re basically there. There is always something new to explore there, even if that new thing is a restaurant. In my case, we walked along Church St. for a little while, which is basically a must-do every single time, if not for the shops then certainly for the buskers. From there we walked to the waterfront where people were sitting on blankets, grass, rocks, benches, and claiming every open space in preparation for the city’s fireworks display over Lake Champlain. There were food trucks everywhere–yes, a Ben & Jerry’s truck too–and it was perfectly warm until dusk. I don’t think I’d ever thought the sky so big as when I saw one of the best fireworks shows last night! Vermont is stuffed to the brim with my favorite places, and Burlington is absolutely one of them. You can’t not have fun there.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Independence Day!

~Daria 🙂

 Middlebury College has an organic farm that  students created and contribute to. Last year students bulit a pizza oven there that is regularly used to make homemade pizzas.

Last Friday night I went to the Organic Farm and we fired up the oven for some delicious pizza! Unfortunately, because the oven needs to be rebuilt, that was the last time we will fire up the pizza oven this summer.

On Saturday we destroyed the old oven and then started the rebuilding process. We dug clay, mixed it with straw and water, and then molded it into the shape of the oven. In about a week we will put an outer layer on the oven, and then it should be ready to use in the fall. 

I asked Caitlin (the girl who decided to build the pizza oven) what inspired her, and she said that it was her community. In her hometown there is an oven that anyone can use and it allows people to come together, eat great food, and have fun. She wanted to create a similar space on campus. If you are here feel free to come down, enjoy some pizza, meet some incredible people, and appreciate the Vermont outdoors.

On Friday, one of the admissions counselors gave me two things to do over the weekend. Sorry John but I did neither of them. Maybe another weekend.

Even though Kendall (another summer intern) says I have to keep my number of friends in the single digits, I spent this weekend making friends.

Friday, some friends and I watched the USA v China soccer game (because SPORTS) and I fell asleep almost right away afterwards (so social).

Saturday, another friend and I ventured to the Morgan Horse farm to make horse friends. The babies (correct term is foals but I will continue to use babies) were so incredibly cute and soft and I wish I could keep one in my dorm.

After our animal friendship adventure, we volunteered at the Midd Summer Festival to make friends in the community. Turns out two admissions counselors were there too! Everyone was socializing! It was great to spend time in town and get to know people outside of the school.

Speaking of friends, I’m looking for someone to watch the world cup game with tonight if anyone wants to hang out with me.

A few weeks ago some friends of mine and I decided to create our own photo scavenger hunt. We made a list that took us through the college and town. We based the list off of on-campus art pieces, small shops in town, campus legends, and fun challenges. For instance, none of us had ever seen the mummy buried in the graveyard, so we added that to our hunt!

Here are a few of the photo challenges from our list:

• Cat sitting on our heads
• Love Statue
• Mead Chapel
• Weird Sayings
• Selfie with a stranger
• Human Pyramid
• Find the Mummy
• Ride the Panther
• Giant Adirondack Chair
• Costume Store
• President Leibowitz’s House

If you ever want to attempt to complete the entire list please don’t hesitate to email me! It is a lot of fun!! If you are just hanging out with friends on a Sunday afternoonm, I would definitely recommend doing a scavenger hunt. Stay tuned for my next post on Middlebury’s Organic Farm.

One of my best friends is leaving on Friday to study in New Zealand. I’m going to miss her but I know she’s going to have a fabulous time. To celebrate/ say goodbye, another friend and I drove over to her house in Shelburne (near Burlington) then hopped on over to the city to – wait for it – eat. (have you noticed a pattern yet? good for you)

We wandered Church Street, an iconic marketplace, and found a yummy restaurant. I got an apple brie black bean burger. phenomenal.

Sarah, the girl going abroad, was stuffed, but Sophie and I needed dessert so we made Sarah take us to the Skinny Pancake, the famous crepe place. After the burger and the brownie crepe, I actually was so full I thought I might explode. But honestly the food was so good that I didn’t mind. 

Unfortunately, it started to rain during dinner so we didn’t get to explore as much as we would’ve liked. Sophie and I also had to drive back to Middlebury (we have the bedtime of your average grandma). I can’t wait to hear about Sarah’s experiences in NZ & hope I can resume exploring my favorite tiny city soon.

Me, astonished by the selection. This doesn’t even do justice to the monstrous height of the bookshelves.

Old books, that is. Like Kendall, I also made a venture to expand the small library of my summer dorm room (with an expansive collection approximately 5 books strong). I made a stop at “that used bookstore on Route 7!”, or as it is more formally known, Monroe Street Books. And let me tell you, this place is phenomenal. My lit-savvy friends and I spent a good chunk of time digging through stacks on tables right outside the storefront, and after already grabbing a few choice selections, were delighted to find a paper sign indicating that all these were $1 each! I was holding an anthology of poems about an inch thick and in like-new condition, and later picked up The Golden Book of American Wildflowers–literally a guidebook on plants–because, why not? Walking inside, however, I could not believe the sheer number of books. Every corner held more volumes than one could count (I’d be surprised to hear an exact number if one exists), and the shelves seemed at least 12 feet high.

Prices seemed to float around the $10-and-under range, but varied. Somehow I ended up with a conservative four books, but paid under $7 total. Among these was, most interestingly, a copy of Poetry magazine from June 1948–yes! 1948!–for only $1.50. I am an avid poetry reader and writer myself, and own all 11 copies of Poetry that were published last year, so this was quite the exciting find. Running since 1912 by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), this is “the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world.”

My newly purchased copy of Poetry Magazine (top) and a more recent cover of Poetry Magazine (bottom), unrecognizable from its 66-year-old predecessor if not for the title.

To show you how varied my literary interests are beyond this, my fourth purchase was titled Contemporary Poetry of New England. Call it what you will.

In short, if you are a fan of books, and better yet ones with a little bit of history to them, I wouldn’t hesitate to explore Monroe Street Books.

Once again, I’m here to report about food in Middlebury. This weekend we had a food truck festival visit town! Once my roommate and friends finished rowing on Lake Dunmore, we ventured into town to eat as much as we could. (I was not rowing- I spent that time reading in the local bookstore. Fret not, I did run earlier that morning #fitness). I tried maple lemonade, then waited for what felt like forever in like for tacos and fries. Thankfully while I was in line my friend brought me pizza to tide me over. During line pizza time, the sky suddenly decided it hated all things food and dumped rain on everyone. (shoutout to the lady who let me stand under her umbrella!) Eventually though the rain subsided, just in time for me to order my fried avocado tacos and truffle fries. I ate the last avocado taco that the truck produced. It tasted like delicious victory. The truffle fries were also delicious, and, being the basic girl that I am, I photographed  them to show my friend who went home for the weekend what she was missing.

Your favorite #1 sports fan is super pumped for the US Women’s game tonight!!!!! No fries (unless they magically appear), but hopefully there will still be some delicious victory