Preparing for Winter Break

Farewell, for now…

As I somberly write this post, I sit in my dorm room, alone. Snow flurries whisk through the air outside my window, and my suitcase lies open, half-packed, on the floor. The food in my mini-fridge has been removed. My belongings have been stripped. My bed has been made. (Only joking, of course).

Because bright and early tomorrow morning, I travel home to Boston. My finals this term all took place during the last week of classes—meaning I have no further commitments. I’m done. While my friends get to enjoy the snowy weather on campus for another week, I’ll be relaxing in the famously balmy Massachusetts sun.

I already wrote a blog post that evaluated the classes I took this term, but just to recap, I was in Philosophical Dialogues, Field Geology, and Intro to Psychology. All three were interesting classes in which I learned a great deal—from what factors influence our individual personality to how glaciers form.

For Philosophy, our final assignment was to write a dialogue between two fictional characters discussing an aspect of one of the readings that we did in class. My paper was concerned with identity—how someone can persist over time, and if it is possible to survive the destruction of your body.

Geology had a final exam in which we assessed how the Earth’s tilt affects glaciation, drew a geologic cross-section of Rice County, MN, and talked about how glaciers can deposit sediment onto the land. (If you had asked me at the beginning of the term what all these words meant, I would have short-circuited!)

Finally, for Psych, we wrote a final paper that analyzed and provided evidence for a central “theme” of the course. I landed on “the mind-body connection”: which says that psychological processes are physically represented in the body. It was a fascinating topic, one that took me from studies of people with injuries to specific parts of their brain, to reports of the placebo effect working even when participants know they are taking a placebo.

And now it’s over. No more work. No more waking up early. I’ve tied a bow on the whole term. Satisfied.

Until the 5th week of Winter break rolls around—when I’m bored out of my mind, just itching to come back to class!

Inigo (he/him/his) is trying very hard to turn interests in subjects like film, english, and psychology into a manageable course load. Originally from Somerville, Massachusetts, he can often be found running in the Cowling Arboretum (and getting passed by everyone on the cross country team) or rock climbing at the bouldering cave in the evening. He loves Carleton’s walkability: it didn’t even matter that he forgot to bring his bike to campus. He considers bad horror movies to be the ultimate form of entertainment.