Middlebury Has Three Dining Halls, Which Means I Have Three Times the Anxiety When Deciding My Meal Plans for the Day. I CANNOT LIVE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.

Okay, go ahead and raise your hand if you're currently in Derek's Dorm at Middlebury right now. Don't be shy. Go ahead and raise your hand! Oh my, it's just me, then? How unfortunate for you all.

So I've been at Middlebury since Sunday night, and I must say I adore the campus, and the people that inhabit the place aren't bad either. So far I've met a pretty good portion of Derek's friends and track team (Though I don't know why I separate the two. The Venn diagram of Derek's friends at Middlebury and Derek's track mates at Middlebury is a circle*), and have spent most of my time with his best friend Chuck and Derek's floor-mate David (who is also a track-mate). I also briefly spent time with Derek's other floor-mate, Chad, who I got along with quite well, but have yet to see again. Hopefully he won't break his promise of going to Trivia Night with Derek and I (and maybe Chuck too? I should force Chuck into this as well) which will occur on Thursday night.

So you might be wondering what exactly what I've been doing on campus. That's a good question and I'm sorry that the answer cannot live up to it, but I'll try anyways. Whenever Derek is in class or running, I go explore the campus, taking photos and videos whenever I deem such thing necessary. I've been to the cemetery twice now, once while it was lightly raining and once when it was snowing lightly. It was quite nice, although my hands were mostly un-gloved during the walk and therefore froze off  and now I have been rendered hand-less (I'm typing with my nose). I've also taken to getting as close to the roof of every academic building on campus and taking photos from their windows, though the best photos I've taken tend not to be those particular photos. I've also been doing some work because next week is going to be an extremely busy and tough one for me (all my professors decided to make mid-terms both before and after the break...for fun!). 

I don't really have much to say right now. I'm quite tired from my adventuring and do not have an accurate enough view of my time at Middlebury yet for a complete review, so I'll leave that for next week's post (if I get around to it since I'll be so busy next week...oops). 

And now for a quick-list of things that happened before Middlebury:

1. I went to the store with friends, bought ingredients for a pizza, and then we made personal pizzas. My pizza started with dough, then sauce, then cheese, then a layer of spinach, then another layer of cheese, then a layer of sauteed onions and bell peppers, and then another layer of cheese. It was more of a lasagna than a pizza, but either way it was delicious. After the meal we played Super Smash-Brothers and had a nerf-gun battle. You know, activities exclusively done by mature college students. 

2. I enjoyed myself on the road trip to Middlebury with my friends Jack, Owen and Ben (who are not at Middlebury, but may visit tomorrow). We played games such as hang-man, cartoon wars, and created a communal Bingo sheet based on what we expected to happen on our car-ride. Some squares included "Nicole takes Feminist Stance", "Ben Teaches Us Something" and "Owen Cracks his Neck". Fun stuff like that. 

3. I watched the movies "Being John Malkovich" and "Shame" this past weekend. Both films were thought provoking and interesting, though they are not films I could watch again and again as they are pretty intense. 

Alright, look forward to what hopefully will be a "Thoughts From Places" video next week. 

As much love as I can muster,

Nicole Danser

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*Chad, you are the exception to the rule. You're exceptional.