Hi everyone! I'm Julia from Seattle, WA. Reading this blog during my junior and senior years of high school helped me to envision myself on this campus, so this all feels very full-circle. I'm studying QSS and I'm looking forward to taking my French skills abroad later this year in Toulouse. I love cooking/food, watching old Modern Family episodes (my favorite character is Mitch), and finding cozy places to study on campus. Talk to you soon!
This class served as a great introduction to the Quantitative Social Science department. My favorite part of class was working with real-world data in our problem sets each week. I also adored my professor, Elsa Voytas. It was her first term as a professor here, and she was constantly eager to answer any questions you might have. I'm really looking forward to taking more QSS classes in the future!
I loved this class and especially my professor, Michele Tine. My favorite part of the course was watching the "Up!" documentary series as a class. The episodes began with a cohort of children at age 7, and has continued to follow them throughout their adulthood. We got to analyze the children's decisions and lifestyles in the context of what we were learning about, culminating with a paper highlighting one of the cohort members.
Paris and Literature and Film was the last part of my first-year writing experience. Professor Kane did a great job of bringing a variety of sources into our classroom discussions (books, movies, articles, etc.) which made the course very engaging. Plus, it was so much fun to learn about France before visiting in 25W!
Time to get up! To be honest, I was not feeling it. I snoozed my alarm once and then realized that I really, really ought to get out of bed.
7:45am
I walked to breakfast with the sun shining and cold air hitting my face. A beautiful way to start the morning!
8:15am
The bus is here! Riding the bus is my least favorite part of skiing since it's so warm and sweaty on board. Luckily, I had lovely company. Aubrey (a fellow ski instructor and '27) and I chatted the entire bus ride.
9:00am
Time to go skiing with my friends! I went to the rental shop to help get everyone situated and then we were flying. One of my friends, Rachel, was newer to skiing than the rest of us, so I gave her a little lesson. She crushed it!
10:45am
My first lesson is at 10:45. Today, I worked one-on-one with a student on the small carpet. They made a lot of progress! More than anything, skiing is a confidence game. We tested out singing Noah Kahan (an Upper Valley native) on the way down, and it totally worked! I was so proud of the improvement that my student made.
12:30pm
I always try to make time for a quick run between lessons. I knew I had some homework to do once I made it back to the lodge, so I raced down the hill. (Okay, you caught me. I was going to race down the hill no matter what). Then, I grabbed some food from the cafe for lunch and started my readings!
1:45pm
The afternoon lesson can always be a bit difficult since all of us (instructors, I mean) are pretty tired. But my lesson went wonderfully today! My two students improved so much on their turns and weight distribution. I was really proud of them by the time the lesson was over.
4:00pm
We typically make it back to campus at around 4. Nothing beats the feeling of taking off your ski boots and relaxing for a few minutes. What a day!
5:00pm
Now, I am finishing up this blog post before getting ready for dinner. I can't get enough of Hanover winters.
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
