Journal Entry by: Tavi
I wake up every morning wondering when I’m going to do my laundry. I climb down the jungle gym that is my top-bunk stairs. And I walk around to my shelf and wonder, which of the three pairs of shorts that I brought should I wear today. Then there’s the funny two minutes of walking to the west building every morning to brush my teeth…In shorts…In 45 degree weather… at 7:00 am. Very questionable choices with the shorts, but in my defense as soon as the sun looms over those enormous mountains, the temperature goes up ten degrees already. And before the frost and ice melts off the boardwalk, I slide across and feel like I’ve magically learned to ice skate in the past six seconds. Sliding past my friends in their sweats and sweaters, I’m headed to Who’s Hall for the most surprising breakfasts ever. Eggs! Bacon! Veggie Patties! and Oatmeal! From Mondays to Saturdays, 8:00-8:30 am. Okay maybe not so surprising, but pancakes on Sundays make up for everything.
After breakfast, we have chores ranging from cleaning Who’s Hall & classrooms to organizing storage closets & craft corners. It’s more fun than you think, we blast music in our chore areas; dancing while you wipe some windows, and microphone mops. Once chores are done you’re left with one of two options- Either having a morning free period to rummage through the cereal, or heading to your first class of the day, where the conversations and discussions are some of the best ones you’ll have.
Fun fact, Lunch is made by the Cook Crew (which are students)!! Twice a week you get to go into the kitchen and make breakfast, lunch or dinner. I make some awesome bacon by the way, nice & crispy. Don’t worry, we also have music in the kitchen – it’s unheard of to not blast music around here. Besides that, after lunch you go to your last classes of the day, hangout, ride bikes, or study. You do whatever you want during your free time – except when there’s activities planned. We played some Capture The Flag the other day, and, not to brag, but my team won twice.
On Saturday afternoons we always have some fun stuff planned! The other week we went to mini-golf and got ice-cream, and later after second exped we’re going to the sand dunes. It’s honestly never boring around here, always something to do, be it studying and doing homework, or going by the campfire and not-so-accidentally burning half a bag of marshmallows because they caught on fire each time. Anyways, Cabins! They’re amazing, you really bond with the people you share a room with, and the late night talks never fail to make me laugh. That’s a tiny part of the daily life of an HMI student. And… before I go, I have to say the views are just chef’s kiss!
