Monday, August 30, 2010

Scene Forty-Nine: Granite State of Mind

Only seven days until I tote my bags back north and my room is still a disaster area.

I didn't pack for my beach trip neatly and I have yet to unpack from TIP, so what would be my floor is currently a tangle of suitcases, unfolded clothing, hangers, books, art supplies, and miscellany. There's a path from my bed to the door. Sort of.

Rather than tackle this task, I'm stuck on the thought that in just a week's time the floor of the Berry Sports Center will look very similar: a tangle of items brought by '14s for their section G DOC trips as they pick and choose which weight to keep and which to relinquish until their return in five days time. I can't wait to meet them. I keep hearing that theirs is the best class ever.

Classes don't start until September 22, so I'll have nearly two weeks of veritable free time on campus- excellent. Lots of time to become familiar with the 1,187 new '14 faces and help them become familiar with Dartmouth.

North Carolina is great, but I'm itching to have hiking trails, boulders, and Robert Frost in my backyard again. I hope that soon enough the '14s will feel just as at home in New Hampshire. :)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Scene Forty-Eight: The Weather

When I finally have kids, they're going to walk to school. And they're not going to complain about it. Because if they do, I'll just tell them that when I was in the fourth grade I lived in New Hampshire. And did you know that in New Hampshire if you live within a mile of your school you have to walk there, no matter how deep the snow is? One day I had to climb out the kitchen window because we got six feet of snow overnight and couldn't open the front door.
-Randy, Morehead City, NC

This is the story that I got from a new acquaintance while vacationing with my family at Atlantic beach this week. I told him that last winter was very mild, hardly any snow at all.

"Well," he said, "there's always this year."