Written by: Marina, Sophia, Lola
Sunday, October 10th, we stepped outside our cabins to a soft carpet of snow descending from our porches. For most of us, snow in October was a rarity, and we all gathered in Who’s for Sunday brunch our first weekend back from expedition. Around 2 pm, we threw on our flannels and headed out to the bus barn, where fiddles, banjos, and country music echoed from the speakers. An white-haired man met us there; he wore cowboy boots and had a warm, rough voice accompanied with a jolly demeanor. We formed circles and held onto each other’s hands, skipping left and right, instructed by the tone of his voice. We danced in lines, as a semester, with partners, and in small groups. Our cheeks rosy from the cold, we hopped, skipped, jumped, do-si-doed. Before we could realize it, we were smiling and laughing and out of breath. When the time came to say goodbye to our beloved square dancing instructor, we all thanked him for the time we shared together, the memory of dancing together smeared into our semester.
Last weekend we went to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, and it was such a great time. We left campus around 8:30 am, loaded up the busses, and got ready for a three hour bus ride. The ride went by fast, we were singing the whole time, and looking at the amazing views outside. When we arrived at the Dunes, we were all so excited. It looked surreal, like a movie. After a quick lunch, we ran up the hills of sand and went sledding. We had brought make-shift cardboard sleds from campus, and took some tumbles, but it was so much fun. Some of us hiked to the top of the dunes to see the view and the rest stayed at the bottom relaxing in the sand. We had competitive chess games, played beach volleyball, and card games and had loads of laughs. On the way back to campus we stopped in a park in Salida for a pizza dinner. We played basketball and used our free time to have frates, our concept of “friend-dates,” to get to know each other. We finished the day with a beautiful sunset and ice cream sandwiches. Once we were back on campus, we had a movie night in Stuen. It was such a blast!
Last Saturday night, the whole semester had an epic Cabin Throwdown Showdown. The night began with all the students running back to their cabin right after dinner to change into their cabins’ themed outfits. Some of the most notable outfit themes were “Campus Dogs” and “Chaos”. Arriving at Who’s Hall, all dressed and ready to fight for the awesome trophy signed by cabin winners of the past, we sat and waited for Hayden and Eric to reveal the night’s activities. The first competition was a cabin intro related to that cabin’s clothing theme. Everyone did a fantastic (albeit hilarious) job but the Cabin 6 pulled ahead with a skit on their theme that sent the crowd roaring. The second competition was a test of strength and ingenuity, in which six members of each cabin had to crowd onto a sleeping pad and attempt to flip it without any members touching the ground. In this, Cabin 6 again pulled ahead with patience and perseverance. The next test was knowledge, which tested each cabin’s knowledge of each other in an HMI version of The Newlywed Game. One member of each cabin was sent upstairs and the remaining member would receive a question that the member was answering and had to think of what their answer would be. The Campus Dogs won this test with their excellent pack skills and intimate knowledge of one another. After this was the logic test in which a landscape portrait (painted splendidly by Hayden) was presented to a seller, then described to a dealer and then explained to the replicator artist. The Campus Dogs came for the win in this category as well. Then the final test was presented: Bravery. This test held unlimited points, and was the true decider of the Cabin Throwdown Showdown. To win a cabin had to pick a song and lip sync and choreograph and a dance to it in five minutes. Each cabin went all out, one group sang “Baby” by Justin Bieber and another did “Let It Go” from Frozen. After everyone had an amazing lip sync song and dance, the winner was discussed and announced. All in all we had a night full of Cabin spirit and laughs, ending with Cabin 6 coming home with the glorious trophy.
