This post was written as I sit in my Seattle home, finally able to decompress and reflect on the most amazing four months of my life. Less than forty-eight hours ago I had turned in my last final which means that I am officially 1/6 complete with my Tuck experience! Time is flying by too quickly; I never want Tuck to end! Since I neglected to blog for the entire fall term, I thought I’d share my top ten Tuck memories thus far (note that I could list over a hundred but in the spirit of brevity I thought I’d keep it at ten):
10. Co-ed mini-league hockey: I didn’t play regular tripod hockey during fall term because I was too busy with other things (there is always too much to do at Tuck – constant FOMO), but I decided to get on the ice for the mini-league and it was the best decision! The A, B, and tripod members – both male and female – came together to play a two-week mini league between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Even though I hadn’t played Tripod everyone was so supportive. There is no better feeling that unleashing steam on the ice at 11pm, playing with and against your friends.
9. Studying for and passing FMAR: It might seem weird that one of my highlights was learning accounting, but honest-to-God-truth it was. I have incredible classmates at Tuck and several of them took me under their wings to religiously tutor me in accounting every single day, and we actually had FUN doing it. The best part – I passed accounting and my friends who helped me might have been even more excited than I was about that!
8. Adoptee Thanksgiving dinner: Since my home is 8 hours away from Tuck (2 hour bus to Boston + 6 hour flight to Seattle) and $900 Thanksgiving plane ticket, I wasn’t able to go home for Thanksgiving. It was my first Turkey day away from home and I was bit depressed. But, luckily I have amazing friends at Tuck. My friend Curry invited me to dinner with his family who was in town visiting and we had an absolutely delicious three-hour four-course meal at Pine, the nicest restaurant in town. After our meal, Curry and I went back to the dorms and watched Love Actually and Elf on the bigscreen in the dorms. It was a totally different Thanksgiving than I have ever had, but it was so fun!
7. Late November rural Vermont outing: That same Thanksgiving weekend my friend who lives in Hanover (and goes to Tuck) and I took a little road trip to visit our friend who lives in northern Vermont. We arrived at his house and his family welcomed us in for oysters and rose by the stoked fire. We engaged in lovely conversation with his family for three hours all while overlooking the frozen lake in front of his house – the most perfect of winter settings.
6. My birthday dinner: Birthdays are a big deal to me. I LOVE birthdays! But unfortunately I have a mid-September birthday and so I thought I wouldn’t have anyone to celebrate with. I mean, where do you make real friends within four weeks of moving to a new place? Tuck, that’s the answer. Twenty of my new friends (yes, TWENTY!) surprised me and took me out to dinner and dessert on my birthday. Then, the party continued at the local bar, Murphy’s, where so many more people met us for a drink…on a Monday night!
5. Visit from my Pacific Northwest parents: It was so fun to be able to show my Seattle parents my new home! The Upper Valley has some great restaurants so we experienced some tasty meals. They also were able to meet my friends and couldn’t stop remarking about the community of Tuck and how wonderful everyone was. I was one proud daughter, able to show off my new school and friends!
4. Office hours with Brooks CEO, Jim Weber: As an avid runner, I can’t imagine anything cooler than being able to have 20 minutes 1:1 with the man who shapes the elite running market. Jim Weber is a Tuck alumni and within four weeks of arriving at Tuck I was able to have his undivided attention and ask the man anything. How about that for executive access?
3. Tuck Bootcamp: Fun fact about me – I am a certified group fitness instructor and have taught all types of classes for the past eight years. When I arrived at Tuck, I wanted to find a way to continue to integrate my passion for group fitness into my Tuck life and thus I started a “Tuck Bootcamp” -- anyone and everyone was welcome to join. Starting in mid-August during math camp I’d run an hour cardio/strength workout on the Tuck lawn from 6:30-7:30am. We’d have about 15-20 Tuckies come each time and the bootcampers were my first real friends at Tuck – working out together builds community (check out the photo above). We had to stop when the ground started freezing and it is was dark out, but I fully intend to restart Tuck Bootcamp come springtime!
2. Halloween Party: The Halloween party was the debut of the fabulous T’15 Tuck band (the T’14 band played too). The night was amazing in every sense of the word. I dressed up as “Miley Cyrus through the years” with two friends – we had 1.0 (me) – Hannah Montana, 2.0 – Party in the USA Miley, and 3.0 – Wrecking Ball Miley. We danced the night away!
1. Fall Formal: What could be better than a giant dance party, with a live band, with all of your best friends dressed in fine fashion? Nothing. Formal was an epic night of dancing – so epic that I was actually sore the next day!