Quiz! Which group had a more awful sense of timing: the people who scheduled Homecoming right before midterms, or the '09s who rushed Kappa? It's a toss-up, but at least Homecoming will still exist next year. (Man up, KDE: Campus needs a New Coke.)
As the bonfire ashes cool and hangovers subside, the anguished reality of midterms sets in. Students across campus, suddenly shocked at their status as students, complain incessantly about studying. "What midterms do you have?" temporarily replaces "How was your off-term?" as the conversation substitute of choice.
But don't despair: The tests will end, and Dartmouth will still be a spectacular place to spend the prime years of your life. (It's all downhill from here, kids. Don't believe me? Make eye contact with an alum over the next big weekend.) Today's list: reminders that attending Dartmouth is much, much better than calling it quits.
Freshman Room Parties
The Student Life Initiative had it all wrong. If the administration simply made it possible for everyone to throw room parties in the Choates for four years, the fraternities would die faster than you can say "gender-neutral space." Those were magic nights: you controlled the music and actually met new people, all surrounded by cinder-block dcor and the thrilling risk of Safety and Security detection. It is a little-known fact that the '08's freshman year defenestrations were not alterted-state accidents, but political statements: Don't make us move out!
Upperclassman Pong
Unfortunately, freshman year must end. The next best thing is one of the greatest benefits of Greek affiliation: pong on an off-night (or a Friday afternoon) with three good friends. Bliss.
Tours/DOC Trips
Earlier this term, I was walking toward Webster and saw a tour stopped under the Rocky overhang. As the group anxiously listened, two students burst out of the building. Seemingly knowing what was coming, the guide paused, allowing the pair to deliver a hearty "Come to Dartmouth!" Faces lit up all over the tour group.
That's it. Warmth and welcome, freely given, with one condition: Come to our school so we can hang out with you. It's the DOC Trips ethos, too. Before orientation, before sarcastic detachment, before blacking out, there was unfashionable enthusiasm and the promise of college. A reminder, then, for the pained days of midterms: Overall, Dartmouth is a pretty good time.
