"Beneath the Whispering Maples"

This week finds me back at Simpson all week long. On campus today, I found myself reminiscing about my favorite experiences as an undergrad. I was in great classes, had incredible professors, I did a ton of research and got involved in dynamic discussions in class. Those things were great, and along with the classes and the homework are the experiences students have outside of the classroom...so, here are only a select few of the most memorable out-of-the-classroom-experiences that I could find pictures for. Believe me, if I tried to list ALL of the days that stand out as "wonderful" while in college, well, there's no way I could fit that into one blog.

Sledding down the hills by Blank Performing Arts Center on campus is a long standing winter tradition here at SC. My friends and I were going to attempt to go to Aquahbi (the lake that is about 5 miles south of town) one night after a blizzard to walk around and hang out in the snow. After it became very obvious that there was no way we would make it out there since the roads were so bad, we decided to trek across campus and sled down the hills. It remains one of my favorite nights of all time!

There was also that time that time that my friends and I packed up after our finals were over in December and took a trip out of town for a few days! We had spent so much time together during that semester that one would think we would have wanted to get away from each other--not the case!!

Having afternoon tea during my semester in London with friends is also a great memory. The photo on the far left is the entire group out back of Macy House, where we lived for several months. The other photo is me and my friend/co-traveler Becky, and was taken at a tea museum on the day before we left London to come back to the states.

Getting dressed up in completely goofy/dorky costumes with friends before the Intramural Dodgeball Competition will likely go down as one of the most enjoyable Saturday nights of our lives!
After riding donkeys up the hillside and taking in the fantastic views in Greece, we took an overnight ferry to the Island of Rhodes in Greece during my May Term trip to Greece and Turkey. A few of the girls on the trip and myself randomly stopped at a Henna Tattoo stand on the island and got fake tattoos on our feet. We tried to convince everyone that they were real...they washed off in a couple weeks.

Getting a group of people together to put on a production to raise money for a shelter in Warren County took a lot of time--but it ended up being a great experience. We had lots of fun, and it was great to see people come together for such a great cause.

I did a great deal of international travel while at Simpson, but the domestic trip I took to Northern Minnesota's Boundary Waters was definitely the most trying. A group of 8 of us went out with four canoes, carried all of our food, clothing, and supplies for a week. We were dropped off by our outfitter, and after we started off on that first lake, civilization was long gone. Physically, mentally, and emotionally, this was the toughest trip I have ever taken, but it was also the most rewarding, and one of the most beautiful!

Many of the best memories of my life are connected to Simpson--the friends I made there, the opportunities I had, the classes I took, people I met, and the person I became while I spent four short years writing my own history "beneath the whispering maples."