Estelle Stedman

Whether it’s friends, sweets, bubbly, and The Notebook or a low-key singleton’s showing of Chef’s Table, there’s no wrong way to do a movie night. Even just half an hour is an excellent way to relax after the day. 

If you’re really into the movie scene, the Hopkins Center for Visual and Performing Arts (the “HOP”) shows movies on a weekly if not nightly basis in their theater. $5 student tickets make it fun and convenient to stay up-to-date with the newest releases. Besides, if walking to the theater with your friends on a snowy evening isn’t one of the perks of college, I don’t know what is. 

During Dartmouth’s First Year Trips, students are introduced to the idea of a “sunrike”—a hike up a hill or to a mountaintop in order to watch the sunrise. 

If you are so athletically inclined, I wish you well. 

For the rest of us, I propose an alternative: the sunrise. Genius, no? This is a quiet tradition for which I have much respect: waking up an hour or so early in order to watch a winter sunrise. That’s all. No expectations, no mistakes, just silence and a stunningly beautiful sunrise. As we’re nearing spring, this is sometimes accompanied by birdsong. It’s one of the best ways to start a morning.

This week at the grocery store, I spent a sum total of less than $8 to elevate my weekly staples to a fun spread which made me happy and brightened this week’s meals. Bubbly water, red grapes, and a loaf of artisan bread joined the table (or desk, rather), making me feel fancy and frivolous and grown up. 

Perhaps next week I’ll buy fig jam…?

I kid you not, I forgot I had any. Swept up by homework and kept on my toes by delicately nearing due dates, hobbies joined The Office in my mental filing cabinet of “things to do when all the work is done.”

Well, I don’t think that will ever happen. And while productivity can be super motivating in itself, hobbies add a bit of color to the routine, even if they do at times seem frivolous.  

I’ve found one of the best ways to incorporate hobbies into college life is to weave them into the day, making them not a blatant “waste of time” but rather a creative use of spare moments. For example, now when walking I listen to audiobooks, which offer a sense of cohesion and excitement to the many small commutes across campus. 

I also have become an entry-level horticulturist, spending $4 a month on a plant for my room. Taking care of these little charges has been lots of fun and added bright, happy color to the wintery canvas outside the window. 

And, but please don’t tell anyone, I allowed myself to make an impulse purchase this term with half a day’s pay from an extra shift. I bought myself a ukulele. 

What was I thinking? Time will tell. But I’m really excited to find out!