My tan line is fresh from the week before My car full of blankets, decorations and pillows My parents are ahead in their own car Grandma is there too, she insists on coming My music is blasting and my window is down I love driving on the highway My smile is from ear to ear My hair blowing in the wind, but I don’t mind
I have not been on any kind of vacation since the pandemic started. So when Fall Break rolled around this year, all I wanted to do was go somewhere. I did not care where as long as I didn’t have to think or talk about my academics. For my final Fall Break at Conn, a couple of my friends and I went to Washington, D.C. I had two goals: visit as many museums as possible and try as many new foods as possible. I definitely excelled at the second goal.
During the summer following my first year at Conn, I embarked on a 14-state road trip with my friends Dani Maney ’20 and Samuel Piller ’20. We traveled great distances at once; at one point on the trip, we drove for 10 hours straight across the state of Pennsylvania. Since that road trip three years ago, I have not driven for longer than five hours nor have I rode shotgun or sat in the backseat for an extended period of time until now. Over Fall Break, my friends and I journeyed from Conn to Mount Desert Island in Maine. The drive was 6 1/2 hours each way, but the memories from the weekend were well worth it.
Mondays are THE BEST. Actually, Mondays are generally the worst, but my Mondays this semester are always a highlight of my week. My schedule on Mondays is definitely hectic. The day starts at 9 a.m. with a lecture and then I have obligations with short breaks throughout the day until 8 p.m., when I finally get to rest. You may be wondering, “Daniella, what is so great about having a Monday that's packed with things to do?” Well, like every good story this one involves a dog.
Everyone has their own way of clearing their head. Maybe that’s going for a walk, playing a game or taking a drive. For me, I turn to my yoga practice. About two years ago I discovered Buti Yoga. I immediately fell in love with this type of yoga and have been practicing it ever since. With its upbeat music and incorporated dance, it helps me release energy. Buti Yoga not only puts me in a good mood but doubles as my workout. The practice also consists of breathing awareness and patterns, creating a sense of clarity and focus in times that I am stressed or feel distracted. All these aspects of the practice have taught me how to ground myself and create a better sense of self-awareness. As someone who previously struggled with injuries from sports, this has been a healthy and healing form of exercise. Buti Yoga has led me to find not only a new passion but a healthy way to de-stress after a busy day of sitting in class.
A look at the pit orchestra during our 2016 production of "Carousel"
As a senior, I am an expert in all things Connecticut College. I know the best route for biking to Quaker Hill (take Gallows Lane to Bloomingdale Road on the way out and come back on Old Norwich Road/Williams Street) and that my favorite study space is an Olin Science Center computer lab affiliated with the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology, in which I am a student scholar. I also realize my familiarity with my College whenever I open a tab while browsing the Internet on a school computer, which I do quite often, as it immediately directs me to this website: www.conncoll.edu.
It’s that time of year when the leaves change, and the weather cools down. In New England, we are fortunate enough to experience four full seasons, and the College is located in the perfect area to appreciate it. I’ve created a list of places and things to do during the fall season at Conn both on campus and off. Here are some of my thoughts:
Daphne and I after a slice of carrot cake at lunch
Because I am not the biggest fan of spending my winter break at the beach, I have always, for the most part, opted for a ski vacation. Recently, the weather in New York City, my hometown, has been bone chilling and I wondered before my flight to Salt Lake City, Utah, took off if I wasn’t better off visiting a beach.
A selection of books for this semester’s classes at the college bookstore
I was asked to purchase six books for a single class my first semester at Connecticut College. Being overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of assignments in my first week of classes, I decided to purchase the books for that class one-by-one. A couple of weeks later, I walked into the bookstore and discovered that the lovely piles of books had transformed into empty shelves featuring a couple of incredibly tattered, used copies and many order forms. I’m always a little averse to used books because I want my books to look nice; I don’t like having books that have been marked by other people or treated roughly. I chose to buy new copies of most of my books for that class online, which only cost a few extra dollars, something I could afford.
Pictured here are my friends: Aviva on my left and Peter on my right, this is from last years homecoming. We’ve all been friends since 2nd grade!
My high school did not have a football team, nor did it have cheerleaders. The closest thing we had to a pep rally was Blue and Gold Week, a celebration of school spirit and the seniors, who were six months away from graduation. Following winter break, my school had its version of homecoming where alumni would come back for an advice panel, snacks, and a basketball game. This January I will return to homecoming for the third time as an alumnus, and I am excited to share my college experience with students and parents who are about to embark on their own college journeys and post-high school careers.
Marina and her roommates enjoying the fireplace in Winchester House.
One of the best decisions I made during my junior year was agreeing to apply to a Winchester House, a house that is across the street from the main Connecticut College campus.
Looking back, it was a risky move. One of the girls I knew well, one I had met two months before, and the other I knew from freshmen year, but she had been abroad in Africa and we hadn’t really spoken two years. I was also worried because of the time I had spent living in an apartment abroad. Cooking, cleaning and making sure everything was OK, on top of being a full time student, was extremely stressful. Despite my hesitations, however, my three roommates and I moved into the house when we returned to school the following September.
College can be a lot. Your social life and school work are no longer separate entities. You spend a few hours in classes, a few hours in dining halls, a few hours doing homework, a few hours relaxing, a few hours socializing, and then — BAM! — before you know it, you lose track of what's happening in the outside world.
I don't have a TV in my dorm room, nor do I have live-in parents to report recent happenings. I've found myself getting breaking news from Facebook and Twitter, which leaves something to be desired. What I've found here at Connecticut College, though, is that there are so many professors willing to incorporate recent events into their lessons, which helps me keep in touch with the goings-on of the world.
In high school, this would rarely happen. Coming from a public school, teachers were held to very strict, state-mandated guidelines, so they had little opportunity to veer away from the syllabus. In college, we take breaks from the syllabus all the time. In my American Studies class, for example, we were emailed to keep an eye on the events unfolding in Baltimore. We then discussed Baltimore in class — not as a way to abandon the lesson plan, but as a way to draw topical events into our lessons. I also had a friend tell me about a social justice class that discussed the way that Bruce Jenner's transgender announcement has been received by the public and by the media.
Even professors of classes that aren't quite as directly related to the news will reference recent events as a way to make their classes more relevant and applicable to the real world. Professors don't just lecture us about recent events, they create a dialogue. We are prompted to find our own connections between current events and syllabus work in a collaborative setting in real time.
While the school offers many forums and events relating to recent events, it's often easy to develop tunnel vision for your own busy schedule. The inclusion of news in the classroom is both convenient and educational. It's nice to be able to take a step back and tune in to what's happening around us in the present, as opposed to letting these events pass by and learning about them as part of a history class.
This year, Connsider, the group that produces TEDxConnecticut College, put on a number of events during the weeks leading up to the full conference. Partnering with GreenDot, “Bystanders Love Company," a play on this year's theme of “Genius Loves Company,” invited students to think about what it means to be a bystander and how we can shift these normally “passive” roles into active ones by changing the climates of sexual assault, violence, discrimination and hate speech. Here, my friends Jasmine Massa ’17, Alissa Siepka ’17 and Natalie Boles ’17 all create a list of goals and ways they can work to improve the social climate at Conn and beyond.
It’s true what they say — "there’s a first time for everything." I had never been to a concert at Conn, but that was about to change. My friend Squadra had invited me to come see the X-Ambassadors perform. This student-organized show was unique: It took place off campus, in downtown New London.
On the night of the concert, I faced the typical problem most people have: What am I supposed to wear? While on my way to the bathroom to wash some dishes, I ran into another friend of mine, Christine. She looked all dolled up and so I asked her if she could help me coordinate an outfit. She enthusiastically agreed. After the advice she had given me, we finally came up with a fun outfit appropriate for an alternative rock band concert.
I met up with Squadra, who of course looked amazing as well. We knew a fun night ahead was waiting for us.
One of the amazing things about student-run events is that they think of everything, including affordable transportation. When I bought my ticket for the concert, I also bought a bus ticket so I wouldn’t have to pay for a taxi. As Sqaudra and I waited in front of Cro, our student center, a huge yellow school bus pulled up in front. I laughed because I don’t remember how long it had been since I rode a yellow school bus. Even though I’m a college student now, I have to remind myself it wasn’t that long ago I was just a kid. Conn students filled the bus and the atmosphere exuded positivity and carefreeness. On the way to the concert, we collectively started singing Miley Cyrus’ "Party in the USA." Giggles, laughter, smiles and, of course, a bit of embarrassment appeared for all.
The bus quickly brought us to New London, a five-minute drive away. The concert took place at the Hygenic Art Park, an outdoor garden-like setting where the trees were lit up, as well as the night sky. I'm always amazed by how nocturnal college students are. There was a stage where the band performed and the students clustered in front, listening and dancing to the live music. It was like a Conn reunion where everyone, despite already knowing each other, greeted the people they knew (or hadn’t seen in a few hours) with open arms.
Spring has arrived! We have been blessed with sunny, high 60-degree weather for the past couple of days, and it's beautiful. Students have broken out their shorts, sunglasses and flip-flops and have flocked to Tempel Green for sunbathing, relaxing and sports. It feels like everyone has suddenly come out of hibernation. The Green seemingly transformed from a cold, snowy landscape to a lively hangout spot in just a short number of days. Yesterday, my friends and I took a study break to toss around a football one of us had won at Bingo Night. It’s important to note that none of us actually knew how to throw a football … it was great fun, nonetheless.
I did it. I found the last pile of snow on Conn’s campus. OK, so this photo is about a week old so as of today all the snow is melted. However, after months of bitter cold weather and the most snow days I think anyone at Conn can remember, it seems that there’s no snow to be seen in New London. In fact, it’s getting pretty warm around here. Now, it’s not unusual to see people lying around on the green, something nobody would have dared just a few weeks ago. Spring is here. R.I.P. the snow of winter 2015.
Cummings is my favorite building on campus. It's got a quirky design and layout of classrooms, but it has an atmosphere that's especially fitting for the art that's created within. I love Cummings because art is everywhere. As an art center, this shouldn't be surprising, but it goes beyond the expected.
The Joanne Toor Cummings Gallery on the main floor showcases student and faculty art in an official, formal manner, but it’s the first and third floors that I like the most. There, the works of art are scattered about. In the printmaking room, each student has a section of the wall where they hang up all of their drafts and brainstorms. Walking to my drawing class this semester, I pass through a corridor where art hangs along the walls and changes constantly. Right now, it’s the work of the large format painting class. Before, the same wall showcased the results of an eight-hour drawing marathon. This same corridor showcases sculptures, as well.
Art of all shapes, sizes and materials is scattered throughout the passages. One sometimes must weave through them in order to get to the other end. With so many things covering them, the halls and walls of Cummings become works of art in and of themselves. As an art lover, that makes it a pretty cool place to be.
Ok, fine, it's not quite maple tree tapping season anymore. The season is still ripe, however, for my newfound obsession with maple syrup tapping — which, admittedly, may or may not be irritating my parents.
A little while ago, there was some advertising around the school for a lesson on maple tree tapping. I had mixed feelings about attending. I assessed the likelihood that the session would be two hours of hellish tedium. I also assessed the likelihood of the program allowing me to take home a giant bucket of free maple syrup. Fortunately, and unfortunately, neither of my prophecies came true.
The event was hosted by the Connecticut College Arboretum and open to students and the community. Jim Luce, the head of grounds, led the session and told us that anyone who can boil water can make their own maple syrup.
And it's true. Basically, all you have to do is stick a tap in a maple tree and then boil the sap down. It doesn't even have to be a sugar maple tree! Your syrup might be kind of icky if you use different types of trees, but that's your call.
You don't even need any real equipment to start tapping maple trees. Jim taught us that you can get creative and use things like paint buckets and plastic pipes to get the job done. If you do want real equipment, though, taps are pretty cheap.
As it should, knowing that I could theoretically make my own maple syrup and eat it by the spoonful excited me. I started pestering my parents over text about tapping the maple tree in my front yard. Meanwhile at school, my friend Emma and I started pointing out maple trees and making stupid jokes about being able to draw syrup from various types of plants, bushes and such.
I may have missed maple season this year with my passivity, but tapping a maple tree has definitely been added to the bucket list. I would highly recommend taking one of the upcoming maple syrup classes and, if you're ambitious enough, you can tap a tree on campus! (Just ask Jim Luce first.)
Here at Conn, there are a lot of resources that students can use to find out about the goings-on both around campus and the New London area. I often scan our online calendar to see if anything interests me. I usually flick past the various sports events and briefly consider going to a yoga class, but then succumb to my laziness.
Last week, however, I saw a reflexology event. I'd never heard of "reflexology," so I did some googling, and decided to take a chance and email the director of the program, Rebecca Posner of Master Healing Reflexology. She was very nice, and responded with a long email explaining that reflexology is a technique that uses pressure points (usually in the feet, sometimes in the ears or hands) therapeutically.
I was fully aware of the fact that, were I not in college, I would never seek a reflexologist. It's just something that wouldn't cross my mind and, if it did, I wouldn't act on the thought. This is what made me want to try it all the more. Since starting school, I've tried to be a lot more open to new experiences so that I can really get the most out of my affiliation with the College (and, I guess, my youth, as well). I've also been trying to learn as much as I can, in and out of class. Given all this, I decided to give reflexology a try.
I went to my appointment, excited to experience something new. I learned a lot about the practice, which was really intriguing. The appointment was also interesting because not only do Rebecca and I share the same name, we also share an interest in psychology. She majored in psychology in college, used to be a psychotherapist, and worked with art therapy. Eventually, she found a niche in aromatherapy and reflexology. As someone just getting started in the field, it was cool to hear from a psychologist who tested out different practices out until she found the one she loves. I went to learn about reflexology, and I ended up learning even more than I thought I would.
I'm glad I went out of my comfort zone to do this. I think that trying to absorb as much as you can in college is important, so I'll definitely continue to keep an eye out for unusual events. I mean, after all, it's these unusual experiences that I'll be looking back on after I graduate.
This week the College's calendar told me about an introductory class to maple syrup making. Next adventure? I think so.
