A Great College Tradition: Dinner with Friends(' Parents).

For some reason, people love traditions. College students are no exception, and one of my favorite traditions is dinner with parents.

Now Alliot, our dining hall (which is technically the Green Mountain Dining room IN Alliot Hall), is not bad. Some people love it, others would rather cook on their own. But no matter if you despise the dining hall, or think it's the hottest thing since [insert physically appealing individual of choice here] in a [speedo/bikini/etc.], most people agree that it's nice to get off campus from time to time.

And I am one of those people! It is nice, and this semester, I've already been treated to dinner twice by my friends' parents (I consider myself pretty spoiled).
The first time, we went to Vermont Pub and Brewery, which is sweet on so many levels. For parents and others of legal age who like to enjoy beer, I've heard that they have pretty good brews. Plus the food is great, and they have a surprisingly solid selection of vegetarian options (yum ;p). Also, their root beer is pretty bangin' too.

The second time, this past weekend, my friend's mom came up for her birthday. It was a ton of fun, and on Saturday we went out to Asian Bistro in Winooski, where I had veggie pad thai. I haven't been here as much as Vermont Pub, but I thought it was great, and I would definitely head back again. Plus, it's less than half the distance to Winooski circle than it is to Burlington, so it's nice to have good food so close. Also, pad thai.

And that's about it for now! Tomorrow night, SMC is hosting Bill McKibben to talk about fossil fuel divestment and the future of climate change, so you'll definitely see a post from me on the talk within a few days.

Thanks for reading!

Rock Climbing at Petra.

Recently, one of my favorite off-campus activities is going to Petra Cliffs, an indoor climbing gym less than 10 minutes from SMC.

Since being a Saint Mike's student is 120% awesome, we get $40 year passes there, so it's a cheap way to stay active. And it's addictive; even with the cast, I've already made it out to Petra a hand full of times this past week.

Sir Boates.

Playing HOLDS.

My friend Lauren, sending a sweet climb.

Boates, Andie and Lauren.

Having access to Petra through the subsidized passes from SMC has definitely augmented my college experience since I've started climbing there. It's been a cool thing to get involved in, and despite my broken wrist, I'm already psyched about the upcoming semester of climbing! And, you know, studying ;p

Thanks for reading!

Broken Wrist and a New Semester.

As I mentioned last time, I came back to campus early last week for an Intro to Back Country and Avalanche course with the Wilderness Program. Unfortunately, I broke my wrist the first morning, so I only got to ski the first day. BUT, it was sick while I did it, and here are some photos!

The view.

The gear.

The crew.

Also, due to the broken wrist this whole blog-writing thing is a struggle, so I apologize for the brevity of this post. But the semester is off to a good start, and hopefully my wrist will be in typing condition in no time :)

Thanks for reading!

New Year's in NYC (Re-Cap) and Back to Campus!

Hey y'all!

It's been a few days, but after spending New Years in the city, this past week flew right by!

As I mentioned last time, I traveled to Astoria, Queens for NYE to visit my best friend, who just moved there. Six of us converged on her apartment for a few nights, including my boyfriend Trevor, who goes to Saint Mike's as well. It was a great time--we made all our meals in her apartment, slept on air matresses, met her new room mate, and, eventually, made it over to Manhattan for the countdown. Unfortunately, (as we'd anticipated), we left too late to make it anywhere near Times Square, but being on the island with so many people was a cool experience in itself. Plus, we survived. Afterwards, Trevor and I traveled back upstate to hang out with my family for a few days, until I left for Saint Mike's yesterday afternoon.

 

This is my second semester in a row being back on campus early, and, as usual, it's a little eerie. Not many people on campus (other than some athletes and other students who had to return early for various reasons), so mostly I've been sitting around being lazy. That, however, will change tomorrow, when I begin the 2013 back country and avalanche courses offered by the Wilderness Program. As a student at SMC, you have the oppiortunity to take advantage of wilderness trips and course offerings through the WP, and this is just one of those opportunities. As far as I know, the backcountry course will be a lot of skiing, whereas the avalanche course will be both field and classroom work, and I can't wait to get started and learn what these courses are all about!

 

That's about it for now, but look out for updates this week on the back country and avalanche courses!

 

Thanks for reading!