This week was fall break. It was short. This isn’t high school folks, where you might have a powerpoint project over your week-long break and are bored out of your mind and fed up with your parents by the end. This is college, where you have 2 term papers and a mountain of reading to do over break, and you feel that little tug at the back of your eyes every time you have to say goodbye to your parents. Gives you a perspective of what’s important (I’ll give you a hint: it’s not the middle 38 pages of that chapter on DNA replication).

My fall break started off with a surprisingly painless train ride home with a ‘nova bro as my seat buddy. Villanova is very attractive to people from my home state; it’s something about the Catholic preppiness that those Connecticut-ians love. Fun fact that I just Googled: according to state-facts.findthedata.org, the correct terms for a Connecticut local are Connecticuter, Nutmegger, Connecticotian, or Connecticutensian. So there’s something you’ll never use in real life.

Anyway, I arrived home, and lo and behold, my mom had stocked up on my favorite food; Swedish fish and marshmallows. When my sister comes home she buys immense quantities of yogurts and cooks several batches of tabouli, but it’s clear who gets the special treatment. My time at home sadly involved a lot of Netflix, cuddling with my unwilling dog, and pestering my brother for details of his personal life.

Four days later I was on the train again, back to Bryn Mawr. Despite the fact that the team was a little bummed we missed out on extra time at home/on adventures in Philly, New York and D.C., our coach had planned extra special activities for us leading up to our extra special Seven Sisters meet. One night we went to King of Prussia mall (I’m pretty sure I heard “Let’s go to the Mall” 6 times that night; people were pretty excited). The next day, we went apple picking, which involved some weird type of apple baseball and later, several tupperwares full of homemade apple sauce. That night, President Kim Cassidy invited about 80 athletes to the President’s house for dinner (and keep in mind, athletes are hungry). Then Kim Cassidy (K-Sass?) proved how well she understands college kids. She invited us to explore the President’s house, which was a brave and generous move. I can now say that I know firsthand that the President’s house is beautiful and it has a balcony. Anyone who wants to know more should ingratiate herself to President Cassidy and get a tour.

Of course, the culmination of the weekend (and the reason we were there) was the 7 sisters meet, and on this note, here are pictures:

thank you so much to the lovely Yue Yang for allowing me to use these photos

I’m wearing a pretty dress!

This weekend the team competed in the Paul Short Invite at Lehigh. For the uninitiated, this meet is a pretty big deal. In fact, it could be considered as the start of… (drumroll, please)…Championship Season! Championship Season is always accompanied by a motivational speech by my coach. My high school coach’s favorite line during this speech was “this is NOT the time to take up skydiving”. My college coach knows better than to put such ideas in our heads.

Paul Short, like all meets of its caliber, was a very exciting experience that also made me a little nauseous. Literally some of the best cross country teams in the nation were at this meet. The woman who won ran a 6k in under 20 minutes. That’s a 5:20 mile for well over 3 miles. So the first exciting thing about this meet is running on the same course as these people, literally brushing shoulders with these giants of running (but it’s distance running; the giant bit is all in the figurative).  My other favorite part of the meet was its sheer size. There were hundreds of people in my race, and probably thousands of people at the race, if you take spectators into account. There’s nothing like the start of a big cross country race; all the colors of the uniforms mixing together as runners jostle, elbow, and occasionally trample each other for position, streaming  across a wide expanse of open field before we all get funneled into a tiny path in the woods. It was also over 80 degrees out, which added another level of challenge. In fact, it was so hot that the meet had to be cancelled halfway through due to inclement weather, which, as the survivors of Centennial Conference XC ’11 will confirm, does not happen often.

photo from youtube

The next few parts of Championship Season are as follows: the Seven Sisters meet 2 weeks from now, Conferences, and then Regionals. Seven Sisters is exciting because we get to run against women we rarely see for the rest of the year, and also we get delicious food after at the Seven Sisters banquet. The banquet is special because we meet women from other women’s colleges. There are some universals across the board which create a feeling of sisterhood, but there is always a moment in the conversation where the rest of the table will stop and stare at you (this is around the time lanterns are mentioned). Often the race is far away, and after a 6-hour drive full of an incredibly eclectic selection of movies and several cat naps, the whole team gets shuttled into a hotel. We are told to “get lots of sleep” and then are left alone with some of our closest friends. Naturally, we first roam all of the floors, looking for a pool, an ice machine, hot chocolate, a free popcorn machine, and other delights. Then we figure out sleeping arrangements and chit-chat into the night, allowing our teammates to share the burden of our collective race anxiety.

So in the spirit of the gathering chill in the air, I decided to write a post about the coldest buildings on campus. Think of it as a handy reference for you Southerners who need to train for winter. I’m super sensitive to the cold, so every building feels pretty chilly to me, but these are the top five to me. In order to make this a little more interesting, I’m including a little history lesson along with each building, to try to get at the reason for the drafts.

5. English House

all photos by me

The English House was built in 1911, which I’m assuming is before they had insulated windows. The original owner was George Vaux Jr., a Haverford alumnus. He was a prison reformist and very interested in Native American issues. He seems like that type of socially minded guy in whose house any Bryn Mawr woman would be proud to learn.

info about George Vaux, Jr. from Haverford College Library, Haverford, PA, Quaker Collection, Vaux family papers, Coll. No. 1217

4. Park Science Building

It seems to me that any place that I’ve ever learned biology in has been freezing. Also, the ostentatious smell of science is inescapable. The other thing I noticed while I was wandering aimlessly through the halls (it’s impossible to navigate) is that the mineralogy department had a big hand in the interior decorating of a large part of Park. I must say, they did a pretty good job; I don’t know what any of the rocks are, but they’re pretty.

3. Erdman Dining Hall

Erdman was built in the 60s by Louis I. Kahn, a really famous architect who was based in Philly for a large part of his career. His style is apparently very modern, which I guess explains all of the concrete. Unfortunately this also doesn’t lend itself well to insulation either. On the bright side, I’ve heard that Erdman is fireproof.

“A dormitory should not express a nostalgia for home, it is not a permanent place, but an interim place”-Louis I. Kahn

http://lmconservancy.org/erdman-hall/

2. Canaday Library

Canaday doesn’t have very many architectural or historical fun facts. However, there is a point of clarification on this part: the main floor of Canaday is the cold floor. The bottom floor, where Lusty Cup is located, is a comfortable temperature and smells like coffee and also where your focus goes to die because all your friends are there.

1. Haffner Dining Hall  

This is hands down THE coldest place on campus. It’s unfortunate because the food is so good, but when I’m coming there after practice and I have ice on me (or worse; just got out of the ice bath) I want to die, and also drink a lot of hot tea and hot chocolate. It might be the large windows that are so beautiful in the summertime, but it is incredibly drafty, so bring a sweatshirt!

this is the arctic circle