Semester 35: “A busy and amazing week here at HMI”

With the academic year in full-swing, it almost goes without saying that we spend much of time engaged in our awesome classes. But there is also so much more to the HMI experience! Here is a quick look at other parts of our life on campus:

Every morning on campus begins with AMX(morning exercise). Monday we had the option to run twice around the campus mile loop, or run to the beaver ponds down the road. Tuesday morning included one of our favorite recurring AMX characters – “Coach” – the adapted persona of History faculty Jacob  as a mega-enthusiastic badminton champion/intense exercise coach. Coach played soccer and ultimate Frisbee with us for a relaxing change of pace. Normally we run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, and then have themed workouts on Tuesdays, a day off on Thursdays, and “wildcard” on Friday, which usually entails abs & arms with Spanish faculty Whitney. This morning we  ran our farthest distance yet – 4 miles up to Turquoise Lake and back. The run was tough so early in the morning, but it was stunning and yielded a surprisingly rewarding feeling of barely being able to walk for the rest of the day (well, at least for some of us!). We begin AMX between 6:30 and 7:25 and are usually done by 8:00 in time for a delicious and well-deserved breakfast (this morning was pancakes – yum!). This is all part of gearing up for the daunting 10-mile Fun Run in October – fingers crossed! We know we can do it.

One of the best tasks at HMI campus is cook crew. It is a lot of fun to prepare breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of the community. Many people came in not knowing how to cook, but HMI is a great place to improve your skills. Being on cook crew will also help you improve your dancing skills. It is common to walk into a kitchen dance party with different music playing every day.

Besides staying happy and well-fed, we also enjoy keeping our community clean, and, over the weekend, we put our cleaning skills to the test to prepare for Cabin Inspections. Cabin 2 had become quite a mess, so on Saturday morning the boys of Cabin 2 woke up late (not unusual) and proceeded to clean like a whirlwind. Two hours later, DCB passed them on cabin inspection with a score of 67, which is better than normal for them. They landed in fourth place, and, to celebrate their success, stayed up late after movie night, singing their favorite songs around the fireplace. To make sure everyone knew how much fun they were having, they opened all the windows, stomped to the beat of the music, and sang at the top of their lungs on the way to their cabin.

It is also very exciting to be on cook crew when there is a birthday in our community because we get to cook epic cakes that are enjoyed by everybody. Some of the best meals include warm pancakes with chocolate chips and fruit for breakfast, tasty hamburgers for lunch, and delicious stir fries for dinner. A favorite dessert so far are gooey brownies–sometimes even enjoyed as a great midday snack to get pumped up for the rest of the day. We all look forward to our cook crew days, and have a ton of fun cooking food for the rest of the community.

Speaking of cabins, every Tuesday night we have cabin meetings. This week’s meeting was led by our newly elected Student Representatives–a fancy title for a fancy position. The student reps are one of our direct lines of communication to the faculty. They receive no pay for their duties, only prestige. This cabin meeting began with a discussion, followed by everything ranging from HMI-themed Apples to Apples to “The Best Game in the World” to open Circles.

It’s been a busy and amazing week here at HMI, and we look forward to seeing what fun and adventure the weekend will hold!