Hamilton College Admission Journals: Allison Eck

Goals for Next Year

Fri, 28 May 2010 19:33:54 GMT

1) Hang out on the light side more often. Unfortunately, as a dark-sider both this year and next, I have a bad habit of attending classes on the light side and then simply going back to my room. I need to stop that! I miss the light side's beauty and scholarly atmosphere. In the fall, I'm going to make a point to find a tree on the quad and read under it.

2) Go on ASB (Alternative Spring Break). A lot of my friends did this last semester and loved it. There's no better way to bond with other people than to spend hours upon hours with them on a Jitney. And because I'm not going abroad like many of my friends are, this will be a great way to meet new people.

3) Go all out for the Rocky Horror Picture Show party. Held by ELS (Emerson Literary Society), this is the biggest party of the year - and I've never been. Everyone dresses in drag and it's usually pretty crazy. Kate and I decided that next year we're going in full costume and then sending pictures to all friends who are abroad.

4) Find time to read for pleasure. Of all my goals, this is probably the least likely to actually happen, but I'm definitely going to try. I have way too many books on my shelf right now, and if I don't start soon, they're never going to get read.

5) Make better use of the Glen House! Hamilton's Outdoor Leadership Center opened in August 2006 and is really a great program. Any student can use the equipment for a small fee, so I'm looking forward to snowshoeing in the Glen next winter, among other things.

6)Visit Rogers Estate and go running on G-road. Two outdoor activities I must get around to doing!

7)Attend more lectures. Many departments on campus bring really fascinating speakers to campus. While I've definitely been to a couple, I've missed out on a lot of lectures both within my majors and outside of them. The psych and neuroscience departments, in particular, usually have really cool people give talks. Going to these kinds of things is a wonderful way to broaden the scope of what you learn here at Hamilton.

8) Volunteer for either Hamilton SAVES (Sexual Assault and Violence Education & Support) or Hamilton's chapter of VOX (Voices for Planned Parenthood). I realized that most of the things I do on campus aren't really clubs — I wouldn't call The Spectator or orchestra a club — so I want to be part of a club next year that aims to make a difference in the community. These are two issues I really care about, so I'm hoping to get involved!

9) Read the top stories of The New York Times online every morning. Okay, this is going to be difficult, considering that I'm not a morning person, but my earliest class next semester is 11 a.m. so I should be able to manage!

10) Visit professors' office hours more often. I don't do this enough, and I would really love to get to know more professors in different departments. Currently, it looks like I'll be taking one comp lit class (Comedy of Terrors) and two physics classes (Classical Mechanics and Research Methods) next semester, so I want my fourth class to be something fun and unexpected. Should I take Classical Mythology? Architecture in History? Social Movements? A class on the literature of Goethe and Thomas Mann? I'm sure I can't go wrong with any of these classes.

11) Quit worrying about the future! Sometimes I spend to much time thinking about what will happen after college that I forget that what's important now is to make the most of Hamilton's comforts while I can. I have my whole life to worry about the future. :) I'm sure that I'll come up with more goals, but I think this list is more than adequate for now.

Senior Week

Wed, 26 May 2010 01:52:33 GMT

I absolutely ADORE bagpipes. They're loud and obnoxious but somehow manage to be incredibly awesome. At the commencement ceremony for the Class of 2010 on Sunday, a horde of bagpipe players marched into the field house followed by Hamilton professors in their majestic and collegiate robes. It was so unbelievably cool that I almost wished it were my graduation ceremony. But not really.

Although it was fun to experience graduation as an underclassman, it mostly made me realize that I need to make the most of my last two years on campus. I watched all of the seniors exchanging hugs with their friends and professors outside on the quad and silently noted that I wasn't going to let the time between now and then fly by too quickly. The week leading up to commencement was so busy with different activities and commitments that I actually had to schedule time to order Chinese food and watch Sex and the City with Lauren. But being able to go lay out on Minor Field or take walks in the glen with my friends when I had nothing to do was refreshing. I even let myself spend a couple hours becoming video-game savvy in Lauren's room (even though I lost most of the time).

When I wasn't lounging around, packing, or doing Writing Center work, I was out and about. Here's a somewhat incomplete run-down of what I did during senior week:

Saturday - ate lunch at this cute little cafe with Maeve and Amanda. It was actually inside this grocery store called Peter's Cornucopia in New Hartford that sells organic and gluten-free food.

Sunday - went to a flute recital at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute in Utica. The flutist was an old friend of Heather Buchman's, so we went to see her give a stellar performance! The MWPAI is one of Utica's most prominent cultural attractions, and I'm ashamed that I hadn't been there before.

Monday - Maeve spent the entire day making a delicious risotto dinner for all of her friends - it was such a thoughtful gesture and we all had a great time. We also indulged in caprese salad and strawberry tiramisu for dessert.

Tuesday - attended a lecture on Cuban music. Then I went to the Comp Lit picnic, where I chatted with other Comp Lit majors and ate Comp-Litty (read: excellent) food. THEN I played mini golf with Brass Ensemble! I'm pretty comfortable saying (out of sheer love) that Brass Ensemble is the weirdest group of people I've ever known. Especially out of context!

Wednesday - went to Panera with Lauren and Lennie. Yum! Brass Ensemble rehearsal at night.

Thursday - ate lunch at the Pizza Place with Sharon (the Writing Center director), Maeve and Olivia (fellow tutors), and Amanda (student assistant at the Writing Center). Watched "Brassed Off" with Brass Ensemble at night. I made chocolate chip cookies for the occasion without any help! Good for me.

Friday and Saturday I pretty much just did random things with friends like stuff our faces with cake and freeze pops. Oh, and Lauren and I watched the special senior week fireworks show. It's strange how just a few months ago we were watching them surrounded by heaps of snow!

Farewell Marcel, Hello Finals

Sat, 08 May 2010 03:00:23 GMT

The Proust class met for the last time on Wednesday night, and it was a pretty sad event. We talked about how we felt when we had finished the book (I was stunned that it was actually over, and blown away by how epic the ending was) and read aloud our favorite quotes. What was truly bizarre was that out of somewhere in the vicinity of 4,600 pages of mind-gnawing, beautiful prose, another student in the class picked the same passage as I did! So weird - but somehow I'm not surprised! A shared experience of this sort is really cool and we have all become really close. To end the class, we created a massive Proust castle out of our books!

So now that my adventure with Marcel Proust is over, I have to focus on finals. But because today was the last day of classes (a.k.a. Class & Charter Day) it was definitely time for a break. After class, my friends and I went to the all-campus picnic and Passion Pit concert on the turf field. To be totally honest, I rarely go to concerts like that, but I'm glad I went to this one because it was really fun and I got to listen to music I would not have discovered on my own. After the concert, a bunch of us drove to get Tex Mex (Mexican food) and I had a huge burrito that my tiny body probably could not handle. Add to that the ice cream I bought on the way home, and you can picture the way I am currently sprawled out on my bed with my laptop like a fat lard.

It was totally worth it, though. Studying commences tomorrow — what fun! But the great part about finals week is that a few really great activities alleviate the stress of hard-core cramming. For example, I am going to a dinner for Writing Center tutors on Sunday at Sharon's house (Sharon Williams is the director of the Writing Center), a dinner for physics majors and minors on Monday, and a Student Involvement Recognition Luncheon on Monday. We have a couple of brass ensemble rehearsals this week too in preparation for our performance at graduation, and you OBV know how I feel about that! (I rarely abbreviate words like "obviously" unless I'm feeling particularly enthusiastic.) My friends and I also plan on going out to breakfast at some point. It's really not wise to study non-stop for a week, so we watch out for one another during finals and make sure to stay sane!

My Friends Kidnapped Me

Mon, 03 May 2010 01:30:30 GMT

Friday was gorgeous, but I was really tired and ended up sitting in my room half reading, half falling asleep. In came Maeve, Amanda, Julia, Kristin and Lauren (I can't remember who else) all of whom decided that Kate and I should get outdoors and breathe in the fresh air. They were right! We took a walk over to the Light Side and stopped at Commons for some ice cream. Then we came across Rachel and decided to sit in a circle on the quad. Chatting with friends in the midst of a beautiful campus is a great way to end the week.

Meanwhile, the senior art show was taking place in CJ (Christian Johnson Building), so we thought we'd check it out. I'm not really a visual art person (I much prefer music) but Maeve is an art history major (and also a recently declared comp lit major — yay Maeve!) so she helped me better appreciate my peers' work. All I can say is that Hamilton has some really talented students. I was particularly impressed by one piece, which was a huge woven display of both synthetic and authentic human hair tied in elaborate knots and assembled in a way that showcased many natural, earthy hair colors.

Now that the weather is getting really nice, we're all waiting for classes and finals to be over. Honestly, I'm kind of excited to study for my finals. I think I'm going to have fun reviewing all the composers we studied in my music class and trying to make sense of the ideas proposed in my philosophy of science class. The true pay-off, though, will be when finals are over, because I'm staying for senior week. Although typically for seniors (duh), senior week is something that students in any year can take advantage of if they have an excuse to stay on campus. This year, Brass Ensemble is playing at Commencement, so we all get to have cool, amazing, awesome Brass Ensemble BONDING SESSIONS. Then we get to play great pieces like Fanfare from La Peri and Pomp and Circumstance for a massive audience that probably won't being paying much attention to us anyway. I'm also looking forward to hanging out with some of my other friends who will be on campus then too.

Lastly, I just want to say that my orchestra concert last night was incredible! Of the three pieces we performed, Stravinsky's Petrushka was probably the most exciting and rewarding. The great thing about college is that all of your friends are involved in different things — so because many of my friends came to my orchestra concert to support me, I go to events like Lauren's poetry readings and Amanda's Oratorio Society concert to support them!

Hamilton College Choir

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:37:08 GMT

The Hamilton College Choir and College Hill Singers often go on tour during spring break. Last night, I went to a performance in Wellin that highlighted some of the selections from their many stops throughout the Northeast, including Boston, Philadelphia and New York City. The music was really excellent — I was so impressed at what mere college students could do, especially collectively. The voices were in tune and expressive, and at times I really thought that I was listening to professionals.

The concert included a variety of pieces, from traditional spirituals to Renaissance prayers to more contemporary love songs. I'm not really a sucker for choral music. I'm more of an instrumental girl. But when the Hamilton College Choir sang "Her Sacred Spirit Soars" by Eric Whitacre, I was almost moved to tears. It was a really powerful piece and definitely serves as a testament to what amazing things students at a small school — with top-notch instruction — can do. If you are at all interested in the arts, I would encourage you to attend some sort of performance at Hamilton to get a feel for the many opportunities you can have here. Even if you're not musically inclined, it's always relaxing to go to a concert on a Friday or Saturday night after a long week.