Week four of the final lap has been fairly routine and nondescript, as the middle weeks of a Dartmouth quarter so often are. As always, we have a lengthy list of "What Have We Dones" to confess, and for the sake of tradition, we will name some of them here. We collectively got an exorbitantly expensive parking ticket, received the comment "no" from a professor beneath an answer on a quiz and prioritized standing in the KAF line over attending a mandatory meeting. Seanie realized that one of her '17 trippees is unequivocally cooler and more pulled together than she is. Amanda realized that she was probably the only person on campus who missed rush, had a truly "good time" just like Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen do and started making up new lyrics for songs for 14W rush. To top it all off, we committed our most egregious failure to meet our column deadline yet. We do, however, retain a good feeling about next week.
But as admittedly normal as this week has been, it is also objectively special. It is Homecoming. Homecoming is as bizarrely exciting now as much as it was three years ago. Old friends sit on Collis porch like ghosts of a golden era past. Freshmen excitedly swarm campus like aliens allowed to pride themselves on their alien status for the very first time. This year, we are closer to being ghosts than aliens, so we will dedicate this week's column to the Homecomings of yesteryear.
10F
Amanda: As an eager freshman with a knack for overestimating myself, I took on a ton of commitments and quit almost as many. One was a 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift every Saturday at the Dartmouth Co-Op. As one can imagine, after "running" my 14 laps around the bonfire on Friday night and celebrating with my friends, I was tired. So tired that I slept through my alarm (says my roommate. I still maintain that it never went off). I sprinted to work at 11 a.m. My boss had told me the week before that he would only schedule me for a half-day so I could go out and enjoy my first homecoming. That half-day ended up looking more like a sixth, and I looked like a jerk.
Seanie: During Homecoming of 2010, I reached my peak in this life. My floormates from the basement of French and I led the parade with the Class of 2014 banner, and there is a picture in which the majority of my face is shrouded in darkness to prove it. I had a "D" tattooed on one cheek and a "14" on the other, although by the end of the night the top half of each would rub off and my face would read "U IT". While strolling (can't run) around the bonfire, I had a disgusting unidentified liquid poured into my mouth by a 13 who told me it was water. Later, I told for the first time the lie that has haunted me for the past two yearsthat I ran 14 laps around the bonfire. Actually, I walked for the time it took for the running people to do 14. I believe that puts me at about six laps. This is the first time I have confessed to this lie.
11F
In retrospect, Homecoming 2011 was so distinctly sophomore fall for us. We felt that nostalgia mixed with a strange sense of arrogance that comes from feeling on top of the world, while simultaneously wishing we could be freshmen again so that it would be okay to still be this annoying. (16s, the feeling won't go away, but someday you'll stop worrying about it so much and just let yourself be.) We have little recollection of the actual bonfire and night out after. Not for the typical reasons, but because the best part came hours later, sitting cross-legged on the Green at the shortest legal distance possible from the remains of the bonfire. It was somewhere near 4 AM, and we sat there with our two best guy friends, reminiscing about freshman year, making predictions for the future, and repeatedly promising the police officers circling the premises like vultures that we weren't there to cause trouble. We kept our word and never tried once to touch the fire.
12F
Amanda: Freshman year, I promised myself I would never go off for a Dartmouth fall or spring. Un-surprisingly, I did not make good on that promise. Homecoming of 12F found me sprawled out on the top bunk of a hostel room in Barcelona. I was with two friends on an adventure through Spain during my week break from my FSP. There was no running and no bonfire, but I was in Spain. The only thing I could've possibly complained about is the fact that I missed my friends. So I joked to Seanie about flying back to Dartmouth for the weekend.
Seanie: During Homecoming 2012, I waited for Amanda to arrive. She had subtly hinted at flying back to Dartmouth for the weekend to surprise me, so I was certain. My continued and unsubstantiated faith that life mimics sitcoms led me to believe that she would actually fly over 6,000 miles round trip to spend a weekend in Hanover. I canceled all plans. I slyly told our two best friends that "something special" might be happening. Amanda did not come.
13F
We won't get sentimental here. The best part about Homecoming 2013 is that we don't have to call it our last. Welcome home, ghosts and aliens.Yours,Lucy & Ethel
