Intramural Volleyball

My friends and I are very adamant about entering the intramural (IM) volleyball league every opportunity possible. Since sophomore year, we've fielded a team to play in the men's league. The amount of teams varies term by term, but there is always good competition.

For IM sports, they function through group play in a round robin format and then bracket play. It's a good opportunity to get some exercise and competition. Especially with team sports, it's just a lot of fun to have something to look forward to every week with my friends. Though there are 33 IM sports available, I've only entered tennis, volleyball and dodgeball.

My personal favorite IM sport occurs in the spring, dodgeball. It's one of the more popular IM sports so there's always a large field of team from throughout campus. And, I have a lot of friends who look forward to the soccer and hockey IM leagues.

Participating in IM sports does not count toward your three PE requirements, just a good way to be active. For myself, I was pretty active in high school with a short stint on the volleyball team and then tennis and cross-country a bit more seriously. I definitely couldn't compete at a varsity level, but joining an IM sports team from term to term keeps me active with healthy dose of competition.

Homecoming 07 Fall

After my old laptop broke down on me, I just up and decided to purchase a new laptop to replace it. So, my life is back in order now and can now post about Homecoming, which I promised to do a while back.

Each term at Dartmouth features a special "big weekend." In the fall, that would be Homecoming. One aspect that I find so striking is that our Homecoming is geared and focused on the First-Year students. It's a tradition and evening that links you with previous classes and generations. Yes you may have matriculated, yes you may be several weeks into classes, but until you've experienced your Homecoming Bonfire, you've been lacking something.



The main focus is a giant bonfire built by the First-Year class (the 11's this year) in the middle of the green. On that Friday evening, all the First-Year students march through campus to gather their peers and arrive at the Green at the same time. And the tradition is that you run around the bonfire 100 plus your class year. So, this year they were supposed to run around 111 times. For myself, it was 108 laps (I did all of them). Not everyone does it and you do however many you desire, but it's exciting to be with your class, a giant bonfire and the student, alumni, faculty and local community watching, cheering and sharing in it with you.