The longer I am away from Northfield the more I miss it.  Somehow I have a hunch it won’t be quite so pristine as in memories when I return.  Still, as far as small southeastern Minnesota towns go, it’s a good one, and I can’t wait to see it again in two weeks.

However.  Right now, I am at Hampshire, and appreciating it more than ever.  Somehow I have a hunch it’s because I know I’m about to leave.  Still, despite intense workload, this has been a great semester, and despite a messy kitchen, this has been an incredible mod.  Certainly there is lots of room for improvement at Hampshire, and I am often the first to point this out.  But there are still so many moments when I absolutely love this place, and in my last  two weeks here I intend to savor as much as I can.

With that in mind, I hope you will forgive me this entirely diary-like entry:

Yesterday I got off work at Alumni Relations to find a note from my modmate Hannah (in her absurdly perfect handwriting) alerting me to three boxes of discarded Rich Kid Clothes that had been left in the laundry room free pile.  I came away with a whole bag of good stuff from that, and Hannah and I spent the rest of the evening wearing the boots we’d gotten (both of us, and the Rich Kid, are size 7 ½).

Then my friend Lindsay (who will be joining me in Berlin) stopped by spur-of-the-moment, and we went to Hampshire’s Multi-Faith Holiday Party together.  We walked in just as the Gin & Tonics began to sing “What About Everything,” followed by “The Way I Am” and “Skullcrusher Mountain.”  Apparently the Tonics have a show coming up next week, so you should catch them then.

After the holiday party, we joined Comics Collective in an empty FPH classroom, where they had a preposterous amount of chicken wings, and watched, on David’s recommendation, a short film called “The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello.”

I bid them adieu after the film in an attempt to study my German grammar, but Chris and David A. K. quickly planted themselves in my room, and soon enough Bera was back with the extra chicken wings, which provided a kind of instant party.  As various members of 102 have been talking all semester about making music together, we decided to finally get our shit together and started playing, right in the living room (to, I’m sure, the great joy of those modmates not involved).  Sarah and I each brought out our electric guitars, and she also brought out her tuba, and Bera brought down his keyboard.  Sarah helped us all figure out a simple blues line, and then we all played it while Bera and I took turns improvising lyrics.

Adam (who lives next door with David A.K. and Sasha) was there, and suggested a climb up nearby Bare Mountain the next morning to watch the sunrise.  Catherine and I decided this was a great idea (much better, in my opinion, than studying German grammar).  I looked up the sunrise time, Adam pulled out a map, and the three of us decided to meet in 102 the next morning at 5 AM.

The music jamming (and a little last-minute German cramming) lasted until 2 AM.  I woke up at 5:00 to my cell phone alarm, and Freddie knocking on my door.  Within 15 minutes I was ready and off we went.  It was completely dark and pretty cold when we were starting out, but the hiking warmed us up, and little by little daylight began to seep in.  We abandoned the trail in order to cut straight up the mountain, which made for a pretty serious climb (as in, crawling on hands and knees at some points, and me causing a small avalanche at another).

We reached the top of the mountain at a quarter to 7:00, where we stood and talked quietly until the sun rose.  I have never made a point of observing a sunrise before.  I was surprised by how quickly it rose over the horizon; it practically leapt.

The way back down was beautiful.  Again, we decided to forgo trails at first, but when we spied a parking lot down the slope a bit, we aimed for it.  When we got close we realized it was surrounded by not one but two very serious barbed wire fences.  Fortunately, Adam found a place where a hole had been cut through, so in we went.

This, ladies and gentlemen, turned out to be none other than the legendary Library Bunker.  Yes, ladies and gentleman, it is a library, it is a bunker.  It is owned by Amherst College.  It looks like an abandoned military base from a creepy video game.  It was, in fact, a military base at one time.  Amherst College is happy to tell you much more about the bunker on their website.  Well-documented or not, it is a pretty creepy place.

At any rate, we made it down the rest of the mountain and back to our safe, sleepy campus.  I gave my flashcards a good once over and rode the bus to Smith to take a German quiz.

The weekend has just begun.