Look at those homemade omelets!!!

The view from Snake Mountain is beautiful!

Sometimes it’s nice to take a break, enjoy the weather, and spend time with friends. The summer is a great time for internships, jobs, and experiences, but it’s also wonderful to relax.

I feel like I am supposed to be the contrite child…

I took the week off of work, enjoyed the weather, and decompressed. In the morning I would volunteer at the Organic Farm, and in the evening I would cook meals with friends. We shopped for groceries (for some reason the cashier wouldn’t let my friend scan me…) and made meals that ranged from sushi to poulet yassa (a Senegalese dish). It was nice to wake up, go for a run, make breakfast, and explore Vermont.

Organic Farm

Over the weekend I had a friend visit and we hiked to the top of Snake Mountain which afforded us a gorgeous view of the valley. We also went to our first concert: Ciderstock! You can read all about on the blog, but it was amazing. During one of the songs two of my friends put me on their shoulders and I got to see the entire crowd.

This is my last week in the office and it has been a wonderful summer. I’ll post my final entry later this week. Have a wonderful day, and I hope that the rest of your summer is as amazing as mine has been.

Unlike Colin, Kelsey, and Daria, I did not spend this weekend at Ciderstock. Instead I spent some time at my friend’s cabin in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

upside down because technology is hard

I went paddleboarding, kayaking, and on a low-key hike. Without internet or phone sevice for the weekend my friends (Megan and Ellie) and I spent the weekend watching movies, eating, reading, and doing crossword puzzles. 10/10 I would definitely recommend a get-away weekend before classes/orientation starts because you never know when your next one will be.

Final thoughts: 1)  Always Always go outside when the weather is nice because you never know how long it will last. 2) Not being on your phone in bed can drastically increase the number of sleeping hours you get [UNREAL AMOUNTS OF SLEEP]

This is my last week as a summer admissions intern, I have to make it worthwhile so my blogposts are cool enough to be read

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).

Last weekend, the Woodchuck Cidery had their second annual music festival, Ciderstock. Four bands performed all day. There was also food, drinks (for those over 21), and lawn games! My friends and I had a great time.

We got up close for New Politics and Cage the Elephant.

I hate being squished. So I enjoyed the concert but by halfway through Cage the Elephant I  had to go because there were way too many people trying to get up front. At the end of the concert there were beautiful fireworks.

Then, in the craziest turn of events I ended up backstage and got to hang out with the guys of Cage the Elephant. 10/10 would recommend. They were very friendly. By the end I was sooooo tired.

Also at some point over last week I touched some sort of plant that I am allergic to. It’s not poison  ivy but I still look diseased & everything itches. (1/10 would NOT recommend.)

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.

So after having a week full of pitiful dinners, with the worst being wednesday night when I had string cheese and oreos, getting free pizza was life-changing. 20 people finished 10 pizzas in about 30 minutes? To say that the summer student employees left on campus were hungry is an understatement. I know that the trend of all of our most recent posts have been about the struggle of a closed dining hall, but I think this blog is a perfect demonstration of the phrase ” you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone”

I MISS THE DINING HALLS

I honestly can’t wait for even just one dining hall to reopen again. Even if it’s proctor. That would be a blessing.

I do have to say thank you to the admissions counselors who have been bringing in snacks to the office because they have made a huge difference in how my days have been going, simply with the small addition of food.

Only 10 days left until the dining halls open!!!

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.

I know a lot of the other interns have already lamented or celebrated their experiences without the dining hall this past week, but here I am throwing, my hat in the ring. I thought things were going well for me, food-wise; I have been having yogurt with berries and granola for breakfast, pb&j’s for lunch and either cooking pasta or enjoying $3 tacos at Two Brothers for dinner.

This morning however, I got a little tired of yogurt and decided to make myself oatmeal. Also my berries had mold on them and I decided to it would be better to stay away from them. But, when I went into the bathroom to get water for my oatmeal there was a sign posted on the door that the water had been shut off in my dorm. Sometime between brushing my teeth and deciding I wanted oatmeal from breakfast, the construction crew that has been working outside of Stewart Hall this week had to turn off the water. Turns out it was only for an hour, but those 60 minutes drove right over the 20 minutes I had allotted myself for breakfast before work.

This left me walking dejectedly back to my room to scrounge up something else to eat. My spirits were lifted when I realized I could have a pb&j for breakfast on a bagel I had stolen from the dining hall the day it closed. The bagel had different plans. There was mold on my beautiful cinnamon raisin bagel. By this point though, I had my heart set on a pb&j and I looked to the loaf of bread I had (also stolen from the dining hall). It too was covered in mold. Long story short- I had yogurt for breakfast and almost felt like this behaving like an adult thing had defeated me. Then I remembered that tonight ResLife is getting us summer interns free pizza for dinner, and my yogurt suddenly didn’t seem like such a bad thing.

I wish I was artistic. I admire those who can draw, paint, sculpt, whatever. I can’t. When my friends and i were in Two Bros a few weeks ago for a birthday, we saw an advertisement for a painting event there in September. I looked it up. It is $40. We decided to instead have our own event.

So yesterday, after work, Lea and I went to Ben Franklin in town and went a little overboard on paint. Then we went on (separate) runs, made dinner, and regrouped at her house. Another friend, Zara, joined us. Two other guys were at the house (hi Ian!). Given the heat, we decided to go swimming in Dunmore before painting.

twinning with my best friend #twin

a family portrait

It turns out, Lea and Zara can actually paint. I still can’t. At least I tried??? This is going to be a new tradition for the school year so maybe I will eventually improve.