In December I went to see Grace Potter at Higher Ground. On the night I happened to be there the opener was Chamberlin. I don't really remember their set, but a few weeks ago I distinctly remembered thinking that I did want to buy their album when it came out in March. Since I've been sick of my music lately I went for it.
I've become obsessed.
When I checked out their website I learned that Chamberlin is a new band from VT. All of their tracks were recorded in a cabin in the woods a little north of Rutland. Their record was actually produced by Scott Tournet, one of Grace's guitar players. Ah, Vermont.
This video is of the first track on their album live from their little VT cabin.
My second new music obsession is with Adele. I just got her new album, 21, and it's FANTASTIC. Her first one won all kinds of awards, but I didn't start listening to her until I heard "Rolling In the Deep" and it ended up on repeat during a long car ride.
I figured that since the first single is on the radio (click the link above for that video) and is pretty well known I'd throw my other favorite from the album up.
On a slight side note, I hope you enjoyed that I hyperlinked the absolute crunch out of this post. Also, I used the word "crunch" because that's what my Diff Eqs professor uses as a substitute for "crap" and I think it's hilarious.
First of all, sorry for the weird layout of this post. I was really struggs with the pictures. Anyway...last week was absolutely fabulous. For the first time EVER at SMC I had no homework all week. Incredible. In addition to doing absolutely nothing every night I had some fun activities to keep me busy. In hindsight I now realize that they all involved Ben & Jerry's ice cream in some way. Yikes. I'll write this blog post and then do some crunches to counteract all of the delicious fatty ice cream I've eaten in the last week.
Fun Activity 1: Free Cone Day
Every year B&J have a Free Cone Day across the world where you literally just walk into the shop, ask them for any flavor, and leave with free ice cream. If you've never heard of this you are truly missing out. This year FCD was last Tuesday. Dachelle and i made our way into Burlington, stood in a ridiculously long line, came out of B&J two very happy girls with one Chocolate Therapy and one Clusterfluff. We then made our way down to the Waterfront, sat on a swing, and stared out at the water on a beautiful spring day. Glorious.
Incredible day on the Waterfront.
Fun Activity 2: Big Purple in B-Town
Happiness.
Since ski season has ended it's been quite sad not to see my Big Purple girls every single day. For this reason we planned a Friday afternoon adventure to Burlington. We bee-lined for B&J where I then got yet another Chocolate Therapy ice cream and was quite happy with life. We then wandered Church Street and ran into the lovely Leanna from the XC team who took a fabulous group pic.
Love.
Fun Activity 3: Earth Day
Every year there's an Earth Week on Campus. Events include Meatless Monday, a Green Career Fair, and a Local Food Night in Alliot. Sunday was the kick off in Ross. We had Barefoot Truth back playing, which was good once again. In addition we had free Ben & Jerry's ice cream (seeing the trend yet?), delicious burgers (meat and veggie) from a local farm, and bike powered smoothies, among many other things. It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Barefoot Truth Picture by Andi Nelson, my fabulous XC teammate
It was a wonderful week full of delicious ice cream. I should probably take a step back and rethink my diet choices while I'm not really running at all, but it was COMPLETELY worth it.
When everyone in my high school was making decisions about where to go for college one of the main criteria was that it had to be "away from home." A lot of people, myself included, wanted to get away and try something new. On the other hand, a solid group of people opted for St. Mike's, UVM, and Champlain, all in or around Burlington and all just a half hour from St. Albans.
When I transferred to SMC and was basically back home I wasn't sure how that aspect of the school would play out for me. Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but at my old school at least I had the freedom to be me and only see them during breaks. Now they could swing by whenever for a quick visit. God knows what state my room would be in or what scene they could walk into in my common room.
As I settled in at SMC I realized all of the freedom I still had and that being 30 minutes from home had more benefits than negatives. I could go home for my brother's birthday and a quick, cheap haircut or I could just stay on campus and go home for breaks like everyone else. The campus doesn't feel like I'm in Burlington, a place I've known since I was little. It's separate from everything I had known and was completely new. I just have the added benefit of knowing all the good restaurants and not getting lost driving through Essex.
I've seen more benefits than otherwise from being so close. This weekend was an absolutely prime example. On Thursday I started to feel pretty sick and by Friday morning I felt like absolute death. All I wanted was to get into bed and never get out. Instead of having to stay at school and fend for myself, which probably would have meant some sickling grocery shopping for oj and cough drops and massive amounts of NyQuil to sleep through the weekend hubbub, I called my mom who promptly picked me up and brought me home. I arrived to chicken soup prepared by my Gramma and a big couch with plenty of cozy blankets. While home i felt like a sick little kid who stayed home from school. My mom picked up a delicious dinner from Mimmo's and I watched tv all weekend. I came back feeling and looking so much better than I left (seriously, I was just short of actual zombie) and wouldn't have had such a quick turn around if I had stayed at school.
The moral of the story of my horrible illness is that while being close to home can be seen as a bad thing in terms of deciding on a school, maybe the stigma isn't necessarily true. Yes, you know the area. Yes, you're comfortable there. Yes, you are close to your family. No, you're not getting away and going somewhere completely new. But when you go to college that's a new enough experience in itself. It's a new campus with new people and new opportunities. I think that if it's a school you absolutely love then don't let its location close to home deter you. I promise that you will find more positives that you might expect.
This past Saturday was the SMC spring concert. Every year the Student Association sends out a survey asking students about what artists we would like to have in the spring. This year I was completely psyched when I found out that our concert would be Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
Cat Popper, GPN
If you've ever read my blog you probably have some idea about just how much I love GPN. I'm actually a little bit obsessed. And by a little bit I mean a lot a bit. This was actually the forth time I've seen them since June, which is absurd, but so awesome. I just love the band's energy, the music is so fun and different from most of what we hear on the radio now, and Grace is literally the coolest person alive. Plus, her voice is incredible. The band is originally from VT and always makes a point of coming back a couple of times a year, which I also think is really cool.
I was also really excited to hear that the opener would be Barefoot Truth. The band has a really unique sound mixing folk, rock, raggae, and jazz using lots of different instruments you wouldn't normally see a band play. I found them on iTunes in high school and really got into their music. They've been at Higher Ground quite a few times since then, but I've always had some reason I couldn't go. As soon as they started their set I knew that it was a huge mistake not to work around some things to go see them. They were energetic and jumping around and overall a lot of fun. Plus, the music was SO GOOD live. Not to mention, two of the members of the band are St. Mike's alumni.
It was good to have really incredible local acts highlighted at SMC. I had an absolutely incredible time at the concert. I plan on seeing Grace again whenever she's back in VT and I'll definitely see Barefoot whenever they make it back to Higher Ground.
Check out the videos from the show! The first is "Broken Road" by Barefoot Truth. The beginning features a didgeridoo. So cool.
The second is GPN's "Low Road," which is one of my favorite songs from the album and my very favorite song to hear live. Grace absolutely belts it, as you'll hear, and trust me, it's even better in person. Insane. *Note: please ignore the bobbing head. The kid in front of me had incredibly fluffy hair and really couldn't decide which way he wanted to sway to. I did my very best.*
The last is the most popular GPN song, "Paris," and was played as the encore of the show.
So here we are on the first of April and it's snowing. Just the worst. We were attempting to April Fools our roommate Lauren last night by taping Saran Wrap to the outside of her door, but the attack was postponed to the morning and eventually called off due to Lauren's random schedule. Definitely a good thing since we had a fire alarm somewhere around 4 a.m. this morning. That would have been quite a situation. The day is just beginning, so there's still hope for more attacks.
On Tuesday Big Purple had our annual Cereal Off. The goal is to eat as much cereal as possible. Sounds like a good idea until you're like five bowls in and ready to die.
The rules are as follows: 1. Alliot has a row of eight cereals. You must eat them in order. 2. One bowl of cereal consists of an Alliot cup to the line at the top with cereal and half a cup of liquid. 3. Eat until you can't eat any more. 4. No excuses, play like a champion.
Last year I ate eight bowls, which was the whole line. This year I only did six. The kicker was the granola. Last year it was the first bowl and we all just powered through it. This year it was number four and it was brutal.
We started the event at 6 p.m. and stayed until Alliot closed at 8. We had quite a few participants and a few observers. Overall, while afterward you feel like someone's punching you in the stomach over and over, it's a lot of fun. I swear. Though I'm not 100% sure I'll do it next year. Two years miiiiight be enough for me.
Josh and Rizzle. Excitement early in the challenge.
