Hello!

Four years ago, I walked up the stairs to my high school, was greeted by a gaggle of hyped-up Seniors, given a small Jamba Juice and a class schedule and shoved through the front door.

I find myself in somewhat of a similar position now, but instead of being thrown into a crowded hallway with a jumble of high school kids who seem to see right through me (and thus try to walk right through me), this time I found myself slowly and comfortably eased into my freshman year through - well - fitness tests, two a days, and a hundred pages of reading a night. Instead of being lost in a hallway, I am now lost on a campus of over a thousand acres, and instead of struggling to differentiate between types of triangles in Geometry, now I'm trying to reason with Socrates in a class on Utopias.

But that is, I think, where the similarities end. Carleton is, simply put, very different from high school. The people are more intelligent, more interesting, and less likely to suppress their eccentricities for fear of being different. The classes are harder and there is much more work, but more engrossing and informative as well. Though it's only the second week of school, I think I seem to have fallen into a comfortable routine of class, homework, exercise, down time, and yes - the spontaneity of Carleton life.

I think I should start by introducing myself. I hail from a small town in the mountains of Colorado, about 45 minutes West of downtown Denver. It snows quite a bit at home, but it doesn't have nearly the same extended, freezing cold winter that Minnesota does. Despite the abundance of handwarmers and winter coats I brought, I'm still a little nervous that I'll just want to hibernate all of winter term. I'm currently playing soccer for the Women's Varsity team, which is lots of work but also lots of fun. The team and coach are both great, and I'm looking forward to doing very well this season. In the spring, I'm hoping to play Ultimate Frisbee for one of the two Carleton teams, Syzygy or Elipse. I played in high school on both my school team and a summer club team, but I still wouldn't consider myself an Ultimate player in the same way many kids here are. This is my first time blogging (and indeed reading blogs with any dedication), so please excuse me if I have a bit of a rough start.

I've been at Carleton for almost a month now, playing soccer, attending parts of New Student Week (my practices sadly conflicted with a good chunk of the activities), exploring some campus activities, and, recently, going to class, so I have a slew of images documenting some highlights.

Gallery: Moving In, Poster Sale, and Burton Hall Happenings

Gallery: My First Ever Football Game

Gallery: 2009 Activities Fair