My daughter was the music counselor at a sleepaway camp before flying abroad. After visiting family in England, she took the high road round Loch Lomond with her Scottish cousin. Then she shoveled "merde" on a French horse farm. In New Zealand she fed alpacas, farmed crops, hiked into Mordor and was stuck 3 hungry days weeding the meditation gardens of a cult. After that, college doesn't sound so scary!
Still it's a big step starting college, especially when 5/6 of the freshmen arrived in September. The first Feb we "met" was a Chewonki Semester School friend, who has the room next to hers by chance! The photo is blurry due to shivering. It dropped below zero F, but these two Febs are winter camping for orientation.
My son, a "reg" junior at Middlebury, had kindly stayed on campus for vacation week to help his sister move into her dorm. Febs often get nice upperclassmen housing, vacant due to junior spring term abroad. My lucky daughter was assigned a single with a window seat, where she'll read philosophy and play guitar while enjoying the mountain view. My son and I left a very happy Feb with her new friends and headed to the mountains to ski ourselves. Middlebury has a cross country (nordic) ski course and a small downhill mountain. In 4 years the Febs ski down that mountain in their gowns to receive their diplomas. As one who is amazed to find myself an empty nester in my 40's, I can already tell those college years will go too fast!
Here's the soundtrack via The Head and the Heart:
A big thank you to the Feb leaders, staff & faculty for your warm welcome & help settling into Midd!
Note: I'm having a new modem installed tomorrow which will hopefully fix my problems connecting to you. Looking forward to catching up soon!
14 comments:
Lovely to read this update.
My son Chris is a new Feb also, and off to a good start. Is your daughter's friend in the picture Sebastian? If so he was the first Feb we met too, and very nice. Good luck!
Wow! Your daughter certainly took advantage of her time off! My daughter is a freshman at Middlebury and she is really enjoying meeting the Febs. Maybe their paths will cross soon.
Thanks, Charlotte!
Brian, welcome to the Midd family! Yes, that's Sebastian (aka C-Bas) with my daughter, Gemma. He's a lovely lad and a good friend. I'm guessing they've already met by now.
Hi Ginny! Gemma is looking forward to making reg friends too. Follow the indie folk music to find her.
Blimey, she's done a lot for her age! :-) You and your husband must be so proud.
Greetings from London.
It's all SO cool!
What a fabulous experience your daughter had before beginning college. Close friends had two daughters graduate from Midd and they loved it - field hockey players. Congrats and welcome to the empty nesting life!
Most interesting post. It all looks rather idyllic. The time will go fast...:)
Wow - reading philosophy, playing guitar & looking at the mountains in a window seat - does life get any better?
Well that's just brilliant. Her gap year sounds ideal to me.
I wish her the best!
xo
Hi Sarah,
Your daughter had lots of adventures on her gap semester! Good for her . . . and it's wonderful that her college offers this (unusual?) option. There is something about a window seat that is just so romantic. Reading with a view. Good luck to her -- and you and Henry! Yes, it's strange to be an empty nester already . . . I so agree. (Even though I'm not quite there, I'm getting awfully close.)
Congrats to your daughter. I bet she'll love it!
All, thanks! My daughter is enjoying her classes and making new friends. My internet problems are half resolved, but now we have heat problems as well. It may be a few more days before I have time to update my blog and visit yours.
Rachel, welcome to my blog! I'm looking forward to visiting yours.
Beth, the only other Feb program that I know of is at Colorado College. It's unusual but great for kids who don't want to take a whole gap year and for colleges with mostly second semester juniors going abroad. I so love window seats for reading that I hired a carpenter to build one in our house. She'll feel right at home.
That's very cool. I had no idea what a Feb is. I hope they both have a blast at Middlebury!
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