Senior Hurdles

Author: Alison Hertel Associate Editor

Senior year is often associated with lasts: last fall in Vermont, last Winter Carnival, last Homecoming as a student; you get the point. Instead, I want to focus on some firsts. Not all of these are specific to seniors; actually I don't think any of them are. Most of them aren't even specific to Middlebury students. But this is a call to all students to focus on beginnings rather than endings (even though a lot of us seniors don't know quite where we'll begin once we end here).

Some firsts so far this year:

—I know that this is sad, but I swear it says more about technology today than my lack of academic interest; I took books out of the library for the first time. Yes, I've been to Starr before, and yes, I've used books there before, but I'd never actually checked anything out. I wasn't even sure exactly how to do it, but I managed without looking like an idiot. In the process of finding these books, I had to delve into the library in a way I never have before. I was in the darkest back corners of the first floor of the library taking out books with names like "Burning Your Boats" and "Feminism and Pornography." Don't ask what the paper's about.

—I stole a canoe at Lake Dunmore—okay so it wasn't actually stealing. You can rent canoes and paddle boats at Dunmore, but after the season has passed they apparently leave the canoes and paddle boats out there, unchained, and well what are they going to do if a group of well meaning college students takes them for a little spin around the lake?

—I attended the Clemson University vs. University of Virginia football game at Clemson in their stadium, Death Valley, earlier this fall. If you're picturing a Middlebury football game with lackluster attendance, think again. Football in South Carolina is a completely different beast. There are three key things to remember. You need to wear orange (Clemson's color) to the game. There is nothing like looking out across the stadium and seeing a sea of orange. You must learn the cheers. Let me tell you, I was shouting them out with the best of them at the game. I would teach them to you now, but I don't remember anymore. Finally, you have to tailgate. Now this isn't just a hibachi grille and a few burgers, no this is the orange umbrella, the table, the chips and dip, the beer, the fried chicken, the boiled peanuts (a delicacy I had to try) and anything else you could possibly bring to a game in a cooler. I learned more about school spirit and the game of football that day than I have in my previous 20 years of football games.

In case you didn't know, Clemson lost in (literally) the last second. It was sad, but Clemson fans knew how to handle defeat with a smile.

—I was randomly selected to participate in the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (one of an illustrious group of about 20 Middlebury students), my first ever national survey. A very nice woman came to my room and helped me fill out (on computer) a very long survey. I was asked all sorts of questions about drugs, alcohol, tobacco products and my mental health. It's strange looking back over your life—Have you ever smoked a cigar? Have you ever taken prescription drugs that were not prescribed to you or purely to feel their effects? Yes, my mom has given me her prescription allergy medication when my allergies were bad and over-the-counter Dimetapp wasn't cutting it. What do your answers to these questions say about you? Are you a smoker because once in 1996 a family friend offered you a puff on his cigar? Do you need counseling because you have "abused" prescription drugs?

—In the spring, I will have Friday classes for the fist time since freshman year. I always planned my schedule so that I had my Fridays free, but that is all coming to a close because the two classes I need to complete my English major both involve Friday classes. Instead of a day of leisure, Friday will be my heaviest class day. I think this is someone's silly idea of payback.

The moral of the story is that even when it seems like lasts are all around you, there are always firsts, and if there aren't, then find some. As my friends know, my motto is, I'll try anything (well, almost anything) once.