Molly Lunn's blog

By this point senior year, my snow boots are no longer rainproof and my rain boots no longer have soles. Until today's freeze, then, snow boots in the morning meant soggy socks all day. And rain boots at night meant skating, duck-like, across what I thought were puddles. Senior year. You just can’t win.

The damp, cold wind greeting my arrival back to Canton January 4th did not remind me of my snowy freshman and sophomore winters. Neither did the prospect of almost three months of cold wind until March and spring break. So the swim team and I, like true ocean mammals, found a warmer place to swim. 

                    Courtney's masterpiece "sandman" there's not enough snow in Canton to replicate!

I adore finals week. No sarcasm intended. It's true that the prospect of a December and most of January away from exams, 8:30 classes and the 24-hour-room sounds appealing. But really, finals week was wonderful, and it marked a welcome close to a whirlwind semester I still can’t grasp is over.

I could almost smell pumpkin pie from my well-worn spot in the library as campus began to empty for Thanksgiving break. Last week was great—our first white dusting meant screams of joy and extra hot chocolate from the student center—but we’re all embracing a welcome pause from the “pre-pre-finals” crunch. Strangely, however, it’s not turkey and cranberry sauce on my mind this weekend. It’s olive oil. And all the Spanish foods I came to love last semester abroad that won’t have a spot on my family’s Thanksgiving table.

My first Spanish café con leche, at the Plaza Mayor in sunny Salamanca

“Peak Weekend is traditionally an excellent recruiting tool” my swim coach, Bob Clemmer, likes to say. I can only hope our swim recruit this year’s Peak Weekend liked hiking through water as much as swimming through it. My favorite SLU tradition was more damp than usual this fall, to say the least.

my sunny sophomore Peak Weekend

To the breathless mountaineers who tackled a 46er (or way more than one!) this month, tradition might be enjoying October from a fiery peak.

Let’s be honest: Family Weekend at St. Lawrence is code for three days of free food.  Sure, it’s nice to hug Mom and Dad and walk the family dog around the Student Center. There are a cappella concerts (amazing as usual Sinners, Saints and Upbeats!); there’s a reception at President Fox’s home. There are football and soccer games to win or watch, a 5-k road race if the sun got you out of bed this morning, and an arts festival all weekend in Canton town square.

Nosebleed seats to watch the Singing Saints in Gunnison Memorial Chapel this weekend

But, even better than all that, Family Weekend means a parent or relative not just willing but excited to take you out to dinner. If you’re not so lucky to have family in attendance, I love that it’s perfectly acceptable (expected, really) to adopt a family or two for the various meals. I did just that this past weekend. The only trouble was where to eat.

The ceremony was held in the shadow of the sawmill, red chipping boards a quaint backdrop to an atypical St. Lawrence Saturday scene. But I wasn’t at St. Lawrence last Saturday. No, three classmates and I passed up some first-weekend-back revelry to visit the Croghan Island Mill. Because sawmills are exciting, right? Well, that, and inspiring, as an even more inspiring St. Lawrence professor taught her Environmental Studies class last fall.

It’s the third week in August, colored leaves and pumpkins are bumping popsicles and sparklers from the seasonal aisle at Price Chopper, and the St. Lawrence campus is finally filling up. Our football team moved in for pre-season last week; Residence Life met on campus this Monday; Orientation Leaders started their own orientation yesterday, and Pre-Orientation Trip leaders welcome our first freshmen tomorrow!

The Admissions office, I learned quickly this summer, is as busy smiling, hand shaking and tour-guiding on Saturdays as it is through the week. But each Saturday we work, lucky us, earns one possibility-filled weekday off. Walking endless circles along the campus tour route so close to the actual North Country outdoors has left me itching to do some exploring. And each of my days off is another awesome chance.

While I’m right here on campus for my internship this summer, hundreds of my fellow Saints are employed or volunteering in all corners of the country and world right now. Part of my work for Admissions includes updating a newsletter for one of our counselors, and for this I’ve found and interviewed five students whose summer activities are especially exciting or meaningful. Not all these students found their summer work through St. Lawrence, but all credit their academic and life education here for preparing them to enter the real-world workforce. If only for a summer just now.

Hi! I’m Molly, and I’m thrilled to be starting this blog from a mostly-sunny summer at St. Lawrence. I’d tell you my nickname, since there are two of us Molly’s blogging this year, but nothing’s stuck yet save Mulan (an interesting variation of MoLunn…hm) and you’re welcome to help me out there while I introduce you to my life.

This summer I’m an intern with the Admissions office. For the whole glorious summer.