Being Sick at College is Like...

losing your contacts (or breaking your glasses) while you're camping. It's bad either way, but all the normal recourses you would have at home are suddenly gone, and now you have to figure out new solutions, all without the benefit of your eyesight.

In case that analogy didn't make sense, I blame the delirium.

Bad things about being sick at Dartmouth:

1. It's not home. There's no mom or dad or even Zan (well-protected against infection) to help me and bring me juice and talk to me and call the school to tell them I'm not coming in.

2. You have to tell your teachers that you're sick (and I'm always paranoid that my teachers will think I'm lying). But then you have to go in sometimes anyway because you have these "midterms" that are supposedly "important" or something, whatever that's about.

3. it's cold.

4. I called Health Services to schedule an appointment. When I told them my symptoms, they said I probably had a virus and there was nothing they could do. Which is what my doctor at home often tells me, but at least he gives me the courtesy of an appointment first.

5. You have to be all gross and sick and nasty in front of people who have not known you since your birth.

6. ...I would continue but I've lost my train of thought and I need to go back to bed. : (

Ohbers.

Beautiful Pictures of Dartmouth Foliage at Night That Don't Even Come Close To Capturing How Pretty It Really Is

So Many Celebrities, Such Bad Photography

Oh, the joys of college life. Everyday another email about a visiting celebrity. Academy-Award nominated actress Laura Linney. Bestselling author Joan Didion. Acclaimed actor Kal Penn (from The Namesake). Howard Dean and Ralph Nader. It's hard to avoid running into famous people. I don't even have the time to go see them all.

So of course being a mere mortal I want to take pictures of these people. And I'm given tons of opportunities! And I have a great camera! So how is it that I can't manage to take even a single decent picture?

The truth is it's karma. It harkens back all the way to my second trip to NYC, when I posed with a wax model of Nicolas Cage and tried to pass him off later as the real thing. Now, I am forever doomed to be in the presence of the stars and capture only horrible photos of them. See examples above (Laura Linney and Kal Penn, of course. Couldn't you tell?)

I Am Not A Crook.

My fellow Americans:

Despite insinuations made by my parents, I am not in fact a delinquent. On Friday night, not only did I do nothing wrong, but in actuality I spent the evening knitting socks for soldiers and playing with the college dog, Checkers.

(I may have also melted a hole in a plastic dock, but really -- I don't think they should make plastic docks that look like wood. That's just unsafe. And anyway, it's not going on my permanent record or anything.)

God Bless.

A Sample Saturday In the Life of Rin

A wedding on the green...

On the bridge to Vermont...

I awaken at 9:15 to the sound of oldies drifting from my alarm clock, and then proceed to alternately listen to the good music and snooze over the commercials until approximately 10:20. At which point I finally get up. (The bad news is that my "roommate" can hear my alarm through the wall...the good news is she always gets up earlier than I do, so it's not a problem.)

I hang out in my room eating Cheerios, planning my weekend, and checking my email for a little while, and then at noon I meet with some people to have lunch at the Hop (a turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce pita, which was good...I can't wait for Thanksgiving...). After that we walk to Vermont because it's a lovely fall day and Vermont is only about four minutes away. We go to a town called Norwich (about a half hour walk), which is a cute little New Englandy town (I think Julie and Brian stayed there) and visit the general store to stock up on supplies that don't cost a million dollars before eating apple cake at a picnic table in the park. Then on our way back we stop at Dartmouth's pottery studio and make pots. 

On our way back to our dorms passing the Green, we see a wedding taking place (aww...). In my room I spend 40 minutes doing homework (=ten whole pages of my film textbook read) before we head out to dinner. Then back to the room for more homework (a total of 40 pages read -- almost halfway done with film!) before going to see Cellofourte, a group of cellists who play original rock music...strange-sounding, but really good.

After that I hang around in my room putting off the actual act of going to bed for an impressive length of time...and finally I sleep. : )