Even though I am a rising junior and have moved in and out of two dorm rooms, I have never gone it alone. My parents have always been able to help me and, to be quiet honest, I don’t think I have ever done more than two trips from the car to my room. However, after my parents had already helped me move into my summer housing in the beginning of August, I insisted I could handle the move into my fall housing alone. The process started last Thursday night as I packed up my room and moved my belongings to my car so that on Friday morning (when I was able to get the keys to my new room) I could move as quickly as possible.

I was feeling pretty confident Thursday night after packing up my car. Almost everything was out of my room and it wasn’t too painful of a process because a Public Safety officer told me to drive up on the sidewalk next to the building so I wouldn’t have to walk as far (NOTE: not advisable for mass move in days or really any time without the express consent of Officer Paul). Kendall, on the other hand (former-coworker, remaining friend) was having some trouble as evidenced by the picture below.

To say the least, Friday slightly dampened my confidence that I would ever again insist I was okay moving alone. It was definitely hotter and, no longer without a friendly pub-safe officer guiding me, I had to park pretty far from the building I was moving into (Painter Hall- oldest college dorm in Vermont!). This being said, after finally moving into my room and sending pictures to my room mate of our future home, I felt extremely accomplished and treated myself to a lovely dinner at Flatbread- my favorite restaurant in Middlebury.

Undecorated but (almost) unpacked!

So yesterday was the big day. All the students here on campus moved into their fall housing assignments. I got to move to Gifford and it is fantasmablastic here!!  Packing everything up over the course of the week was surprisingly simple. Moving it all was more tiring than expected but still an adventure. Thankfully Gifford has an elevator.

My room doesn’t look like a wonderful palace yet, but it will soon. I’ve got plans to install a waterfall and a centrally located geode coffee table. It should look quite lovely.

But really, moving in is such a fun time. you get to make a space your own and figure out everything that works for you. It’s also a nice growing experience since you try to get rid of whatever you can. Moving as little as possible is the optimal goal.

Disclaimer: even though today is my last day at the office for the summer (still giving a tour tomorrow though!), this post is not going to be a proper reflection or goodbye. Sorry friends.

All summer long, two close friends of mine, Charlie and Emma, have been working as the Chief Administrative Officers of a Middlebury College start-up nonprofit called Middlebury Foods. The idea behind this project is that they buy produce and meats in bulk to reduce overall cost, so then the food can be packaged as grocery boxes at lower costs. After hearing detail after detail of the workings of taking over this project, I had a free weekend to help out and volunteer at the delivery. My work actually started a few weeks ago when I helped Emma make phone calls to past customers to ask how they enjoyed their orders and help them with this month’s order. On Sunday, I traveled to the very exciting Vermont Refrigerated Storage to help pack up the food boxes to deliver to families. We lined up produce crates in an assembly line fashion and added a mix of potatoes, yams, broccoli, tomatoes, corn, mangoes, kale, plums, etc. etc. etc. to each depending on the specific orders. They offer three different types of produce boxes, and two types of meat packages, so we assembled according to those. The real challenge came when we had to fit about 150 different “boxes” (some were boxed meat, some where bagged produce, and some had both) into a Subaru and a 7-passenger College van over the course of two days. Have no fear, we did it successfully, and it was exciting to meet all the people who were actually receiving these groceries. Right after the packaging process, we drove to Ferrisburgh and Vergennes to the pickup sites to bring them to customers’ cars. We repeated the process on Monday afternoon, and then traveled to the Brandon and Middlebury sites to finish the month’s deliveries. MiddFoods reached a record number of orders this August, and will be expanding to a new delivery site in Bristol for September, making a more convenient spot for many, and drawing in more new customers too. I’m really excited to be a part of this project now, and looking forward to future deliveries. *thumbs-up emoji*

Today is my last day*, so naturally I am looking back on the summer. My first day feels like yesterday but also like forever ago. So much has happened over these past months. I’ve trained for a marathon, visited the Ben & Jerry’s factory, found many new swimming holes, and went to prom.

I met many new friends and developed old relationships. I saw fireworks and beautiful mountain sunsets. I ate a lot, tried new things, and all in all had a wonderful time.

Not everything went perfectly. I’ve been eaten alive by bugs. Plants are not my friend. I liked someone, but it didn’t pan out.

I’m thankful for a great summer with some pretty amazing interns and admissions counselors. I couldn’t have done it without them. Maybe someday we will learn how to take a jumping photo. 

* I’m giving a tour tomorrow and I’ll be back after orientation to work in the office. This isn’t a goodbye.

I’m back. I know I said that yesterday’s post was the last of the summer but after the events of last night I have to document my thoughts and feelings somewhere.

As everyone in the office knows, I am both wildly competetive and completely into trivia, so as a goodbye to summer trivia I went to the Marquis last night. Our team was named “the remix to admissions” and it was comprised of myself, Daria, Claire, Ella, and Ellie (the last two also being tour guides). While there was only one other team playing against us the first round was a rollercoaster. Once all the answers were read, the other team was ahead by 1 point. In the second round we made a come-back and tied up the game. It all came down to this final round. Would we win free movie tickets (the first place prize) or free popcorn (the second place prize)? Being that there were only two teams it would be embarrassing for a team of 5 to lose to a team of 3. As Pierre, the Marquis trivia emcee, read off the questions for the final round I was seriously doubting our ability to win and was beginning to resign myself to second place. After turning in our sheet, Pierre looks at both teams and says, “Considering how the answers were going that last round, exactly what I was expecting to happen happened….it was a direct tie! Both teams get free movie passes!!”

After 3 long months of waiting for free movie passes and winning trivia, it finally happened. Maybe it wasn’t the out-right win that I wanted but it doesn’t matter. IT STILL HAPPENED.

Nothing can bring me down, not even moving all my stuff across campus today…ok maybe that can bring me down but the movie ticket brings me right back up. Happy summer everyone!

So as I said in my blog post from Monday, this week is my last week as an admissions summer intern and I have to make it worthwhile. I did this in several ways these past few days. I went shopping in town, learned how to open a can without a can opener, and I packed for my move tomorrow. The summer interns also discovered that we are probably the most dysfunctional group of people when it comes to taking a jumping photo. I’d say the most important goodbye of the summer is to 82 adirondack view (aka Mumbas aka the hockey house). Originally, I was supposed to live in Starr (fifth floor. no elevator) for the entire summer, but because of construction I was moved to 82 adirondack. This house sits right where they are planning on building the ridgeline townhouses, so it was set to be demolished at the beginning of the summer. My roommate and I, as well as the other residents of the house, ruined that plan. Last week I moved out so I wasn’t demolished with the house and decided to take a final picture.

the photo I will submit to archives as the last resident of 82

As I start to say goodbye to summer I want everyone to give a special shout-out to the house that definitely deserves to be demolished but still served me well. Also bye bye admissions.

…

just kidding see you in september!

Finally I have a successful food story to share! With dining halls almost ready to open I knew I was running out of time to make myself proud, so last night my friend Ella and I decided we should make a pizza. We didn’t have very many cooking supplies (lacking a knife, rolling pin, oven mitt, tinfoil, a plates) but we managed to make it work. I actually did not expect the results to be very impressive at all, humbled by my recent cooking experiences. It turns out that pizza is just too simple and delicious to mess up. I will brag slightly and say that we cooked the crust to perfection and the addition of arugula was a pretty novel idea. Here is a picture of the masterpieces. Just look at that melted cheese!

When you live on campus for months on end, the dogs that you interact with on a regular basis are few. So, if I’ve learned anything over this past year, it’s that college students love (read: freak out when they see) dogs. When my advisor asked if I would dogsit for him a few days ago, I did not hesitate to accept. It was a pretty low-key event, as I ate soup on the front porch while Louie moved from one spot on the grass to another. As I mentioned in a previous post, the garden is the biggest and most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I saw more hummingbirds in one sitting here than anywhere else. Basically, what I realized is that my professor’s house is my dream home. I spent more time looking around outside than I did actually reading my textbook. When I did make the bold move to lie on the grass right next to where Louie was lounging, as soon as I took a seat, he moved away…I see how it is. But other than that, hanging out alone with a dog is the best way to spend an evening. Even if I do consider myself more of a cat person.

Speaking of cats, last weekend I spent a few days in Montreal, where we spent one morning at the most interestingly themed cafe I’ve ever seen: Les Café des Chats (trans. The Cat Cafe!). So yes, you can buy coffee, espresso, and baked sweets, while PLAYING WITH CATS. They just lounge around in their cushions and cat trees for you to pet and admire. Goals.

Because a close friend of mine is living in the sustainable food house all summer, I’ve spent quite a few days hanging out there too. We cooked dinner together there Sunday night, and someone who lived there previously kept their pet bunny in the house for the summer. While I did get kicked in the face once or twice, it was still the cutest and softest little floppy eared animal, and I want to adopt one. So as you can see, even if the furthest extent I’ll go in my own dorm room as far as owning an animal is with a fish tank, there are still plenty of furry pals around. Maybe I’ll adopt a turtle next.

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.

Last night, after inhaling a delicious meal prepared by Tabitha, a few of us inquired as to the current status of the Quidditch closet; whether it was clean, and also where it was actually located. I have never seen this magical place of splendor, but I heard that it was recently reorganzied. As a techie for theatre, I can appreciate a well-organized storage closet.

When we got there I saw the rack of brooms and immediately took one to make my dream of flying come true.

And here is proof of my flying capabilities. The picture is a bit blurry, but it just demonstrates my ability to stay on a broom at high speeds. It’s nice that my status as a high-class wizard will finally be recognized by my peers.