Hamilton College Admission Journals: Dewi Caswell

NO! Don't leave yet!

Thu, 10 May 2012 23:42:23 GMT

No, no, no!

There cannot be only one day left! I just refuse to believe it.

I just walked into my friends' room to find it a mess, but a mess unlike it's usual Sunday morning mess. Clothes were strewn everywhere, the futon that's been broken since November is gone, and the TV is no longer on the sole desk in the room. Q was the only occupant of the "Shark Tank 2.0" in the room, and he said he was leaving right after his exam tomorrow. STOP THE MADNESS! Don't everybody go yet!!

A few of my friends have finished exams. I'm close to being done, just one final performance tomorrow night (which I've finished the accompanying paper for) and an English exam in the morning. All I want to do is play! It's a good thing the weather has been so ick; otherwise I wouldn't have gotten any work done.

My room is in a state of chaos, too. I'm haphazardly packing now and again, but to be honest, this morning it turned into a game of "let's try on the clothes I haven't worn in forever and see if they still fit." Struggles.

My wall is still littered with pictures and posters and my desk is just such a mess I can't even talk about it.

I'm excited to live with Gina next year. Living in a double will be fun, and I'm even kind of excited to live sub-free. It'll be a nice chill relaxed space. Neither of us do work in our rooms really, so we're thinking of making it a hang-only zone.

The "Tank" (named after a room in Dunham that they lived in freshmen year) is moving down here to Bundy next year, into one of the Bundy Quads which are some of the nicest rooms on campus. This year I became the semi-mom of the Buffer's Bundy Quad, and I have a stinking feeling something similar may happen next year. At the very least I'll be down to use and abuse their kitchen.

I haven't even thought about all of my friends who are going abroad though. With the exception of Brady because she plays soccer, ALL of my lax class is going abroad. Even most of our extended sophomore lax family is going abroad. Campus is going to feel so weird without you guys. DON'T LEAVE!!!!!

I'm excited, too, for this summer. I'm going back to New Hampshire to work at the family camp (Rockywold Deephaven Camps) I go to every summer. I worked last year in the kitchens and this year I'm working on the recreation staff. We'll run all of the activities and basically be paid to have fun (and stay active!) all summer long. It's literally my favorite place in the world, my paradise.

Not to mention I'm excited to go home for a few weeks. Haven't been home since Christmas. :)

I'm not ready to say goodbye yet, so this isn't a goodbye post, don't worry! Just a "I can't believe it's that time of year" post.

Keep on crunchin for exams,

Dew

Live Lax Love

Thu, 10 May 2012 23:40:02 GMT

Two weeks ago we entered the NESCAC tournament as the underdog- seeded 7th and up against the number 2 team, Colby, in the first round. Numbers didn't matter to us; all we cared about was what it was going to feel like to win, and how much sweeter that was going to make the 7 hour bus ride home.

We crushed Colby 9-4. I felt so in the zone, and I know everyone else did too. It was an amazing feeling. We'd lost to them in overtime while in Florida. For the first time, we saw a glimmer of a NESCAC championship trophy in our future.

This past weekend we traveled to Trinity for the NESCAC final four. Our necks were on the line and we knew it; if we didn't win both games that weekend, our season was over. Our first game was against Trinity, the number 1 team in the conference. We'd played them only a couple weeks before to a 8-7 loss, but it was an amazing game. We came out harder and stronger on Saturday and were winning for most of the whole game. We wound up going into OT and losing 9-8.

Nothing can quite describe the feeling in your stomach when that final buzzer rings. Few things have ever felt worse. Sure, you say, but it's just a game. It's just a game we pour our hearts into, that we give our all to. It's a driving force in your life for so long and when it ends, it ends when you're at your greatest, and it ends in a sudden harsh collapse.

Through the tailgate I was kind of numb, and there were lots of tears. And there was lots of Gluten free cake. (Ahhh there's the silver lining!)

Monday morning we cleaned out our locker room. I walked in the next day to see it empty. None of the friendly mess, our couch and chairs gone. Felt weird.

We had an awesome season, one that was much harder than we had imagined. We learned so many lessons along the way and next year we're going to be bigger and better. I only wish we could have given the seniors a championship ring for all the work they've done.

Thanks for all the laughs, the dance parties, the nicknames, and the general tomfoolery. Let's get em next year.

Live, lax, love,

Dew

FINALS

Wed, 09 May 2012 15:12:13 GMT

(Before I even BEGIN, I have to give a massive shout out to my big sister Tiff who gave me the best birthday present ever- she had her whole class of 5th graders call me and sing "Happy Birthday" to me! It was honestly one of the sweetest things I've ever heard. AND I totally forgot to mention it! I'm an idiot. Love you!)

Hi all! Welcome to Finals week on the Hill.

We kicked of Finals week with a beautiful day on Sunday during which everybody "studied". And by "studied" I mean lounged on the quads, ate outside, played frisbee, napped on the turf, engaged in PTT (prime time tanning). Ditto goes for the next day as well.

Good news was that the weather gods decided to drive us in on Tuesday with some mildly annoying but otherwise pleasant warm spring rain. Otherwise, no one would have gotten work done.

I'm lucky- I don't have too many finals, just mainly portfolios and performances for my theater classes, and then one actual sit down essay final for English. I turned in a portfolio for Playwriting last week, just finished a final monologue (and rocked it) for Theater 102, and all I have left is a final performance Friday night for Theater 110 and that English final on Friday morning.

I impressed myself yesterday, though. I actually sat down and read 200 pages for my English final in one sitting. I'm pretty sure my butt is now imprinted in the South common room couch. (It actually really is embarrassing how much time I spend there). Today I'm taking it easy, probably going for a run later, and then rehearsal at 10 tonight.

Finals in college are different from finals in high school in a bunch of different ways. For one, our library is open for 24 hours a day and usually has snacks and cookies in the basement. For another, the streaking team ups its public appearances (often through the library, science center, and Commons) to help take our minds off of studying. Commons ups its game as well; last night they had melted cheese over broccoli and potatoes, they've had a ton of sweet potato fries (my favorite), and kumquats. (Andrew introduced me to these yesterday. The jury is out on whether it was a good find.)

I can't believe I'll be leaving so soon. Definitely haven't even started in on packing. Boy will that be a disaster....

Hey everyone, CONGRATS! You're halfway done finals week! Yea!

Alright, back to the books,

Dew

Birthday Madness

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:47:13 GMT

I'm a little behind on posts, sorry guys! I was reminded I forgot to write one about my birthday when I got a package from my favorite cousin ever, Shanley, this morning with my birthday present. (To all the cousins I just ticked off, she gave me a Detention poster and a beanie. She wins. Always. ;).)

So I've been eating a kind of modified "Paleo" for a couple of months (basically no carbs/wheat/flour, and no refined sugars) and finally allowed myself free reign on my birthday (last Wednesday) to eat whatever I wanted. I woke up and had a bagel. It was delicious and felt awful in my stomach. At lunch I had pizza and a soda and it was delicious and felt awful. (I had a bunch of fruit in there too... my stomach needed something decent.) For dinner at Commons I had little samplings of everything I'd wanted forever. frosted mini wheats. Ezekiel bread toast with butter. Apple spice cinnamon cake. Baked ziti. And it was all so freakin delicious and it all felt like rocks in my stomach.

Afterwards we had a desert party in South Kitchen. People came in on their study breaks and we had funfetti cake, coffee and mint chocolate chip ice cream, cookies, cookie cake, candy, brownies. Galore! And yes, it was all delicious and fabulous and wonderful, and it felt so so so bad. I literally went to bed at 11:30 in a sugar coma.

Yea it was excessive. But so good. And no, I will not be doing any of the above for a very long time. Eating all of that just made me realize how much better I like eating healthily because of how much better it makes me feel.

Back to studying for me! See you guys soon,

Dew

I AM OFFICIALLY A PERFORMANCE STUDIES MAJOR!

Tue, 01 May 2012 18:34:48 GMT

Dear Ladies, Gentlemen, and Germs,

It's officially official: my interdisciplinary concentration proposal was PASSED! I no longer have to awkwardly explain my "limbo"-like status when people ask what my major is- I can now officially say it out loud!

I am a Performance Studies major.

AHH! Those words feel so good to type.

Okay, so basically what this means is I am combining the practical study of performance through theater and dance with the theoretical studies of performance and interaction rituals through sociology and anthropology. Throw in some Africana Studies, Creative Writing, a little this a little that, and ba da bing ba da boom! You have a Performance Studies major.

The layman's explanation of this is that I want to study performance art, but I also want to study how it affects society and how society affects it. I want to be able to use what I learn in both a career in the arts as well as a career in business. Basically, I'm seeking to prover the "Theater is impractical" naysayers wrong.

It's taken me 6 months to finalize this proposal, and this is the first time it felt real. I have all, and I mean ALL, of my classes planned out for the next two years (it's a 15 class major), and even know exactly what my Senior Thesis will be (to write and direct a play).

Let the games begin! SO PUMPED!

Ahhhhh!!!!

Dewi