Life at Carleton: Weekend Edition with Kai
Kai takes us through some of his weekend activities!
Kai takes us through some of his weekend activities!
After a week of hard work, what does a Carleton weekend look like? Even when I take weekends to relax and enjoy, you’ll get a glimpse of how packed they can get with all of the things I love to do. Everything from ice cream sundaes, to meeting my Project Friendship mentee, to Carleton athletics, to strolls in the Arb!
Friday night: volleyball!
Some of my closest friends at Carleton play volleyball, so I always catch the home volleyball games in West Gym after our baseball practice (from 4:00 until 6:30ish). It is always fun to rock the student section with my friends.
Saturday morning: weightlifting at stadium
On Saturday mornings, my roommates and I usually wake up around 9:00 to prepare for the day and grab a quick breakfast from the dining hall. We then head to the varsity student athlete weight room (there’s a great weight room for everyone in the Rec Center!). We take 10 to 15 minutes before our lift to get stretched out. Our lifts then start at 10:00 and go the full hour.
Saturday brunch: a highlight of the day
There’s just something about a leisurely team brunch at Burton after a tough lift (Burton is one of two dining halls on campus). The essentials: a good helping of fruit (some cantaloupe, pineapples, apple, banana, and orange for me) paired with a bowl of yogurt, a couple of pancakes, eggs, and hash browns. Then you add on whatever else looks good. It’s brunch, and, as I already mentioned, it’s leisurely. Usually, it takes up a good amount of our day.
Saturday afternoon: a soccer game at Bell Field? Campus golf? Carleton football?
Afternoons are a mix and match of activities. Chill on Bell Field and watch some Carleton soccer? Always a lot of fun. Bell Field is beautiful and super cool because fans can sit on the huge hill to watch the game. (The hill–which my dorm, Evans Hall, sits atop of–is the sledding spot in the winter.) I never watched much soccer before Carleton, but watching with friends and knowing people on both the men’s and women’s teams make it a good time.
Carleton football home game? The baseball team works concessions (first-years on the team ball boy), so we all split some time grilling up the best brats in the MIAC/serving up hot apple cider and cheering on the Knights in the stands. The last game, during homecoming, we tied it up with seconds to spare on a 35 yard Hail Mary, before winning in an overtime walk off TD. Storm-the-field-worthy thrill and the Knights are 6-1 #keepStackin.
This is often paired up with one of my favorite unique Carleton baseball traditions: campus golf. Not to be confused with the frisbee golf course we have here at Carleton, which is pretty cool in its own right (we are a frisbee school, after all). Using golf clubs and tennis balls, we have holes set up all across campus. The Libe statue, big oak behind Olin (and the new science complex!), the rock by Boliou, and the Chapel door are among the places where we aim.
Saturday dinner: Saturday Sundaes!
Honestly, our dining halls seem to kick it up a notch on the weekends, and a big reason why we love dinners on Saturdays are the Saturday sundaes. We have a toppings bar to complete our ice cream sundaes (usually three flavors of ice cream that change weekly).
Sunday: a lowkey affair
My Sundays are more relaxing. Some homework must be done, brunch must be consumed, but I break up the day with a few different things.
- I volunteer with Project Friendship as a mentor, and usually get to meet my mentee on Sundays (more on Project Friendship in my previous blog post)!
- Last year, I was introduced to the Arb, our 800+ acre arboretum, by my roommate and next door neighbors (who are still my good friends on women’s soccer/volleyball!). I now like to take walks out there to step away from homework and refresh.
- Cowling Gymnasium is just a few steps away from my dorm. Along with the Rec Center, it is the place to go to shoot some hoops and play a game of pickup.
This is just a peek at what my weekends normally look like! And there are always other fun things to do, like going to the Student Activities Office’s movie nights on the Bald Spot or in the Weitz Cinema. (Recent showings include A Quiet Place II, Rope, and Minari. Dune, Shang-chi, 2001: Space Odyssey, and Spirited Away are among the great Winter Term movie selections!).
Kai is entering his second year at Carleton; though born in the Twin Cities, he lived in Kobe, Japan for a year, moved to New York City halfway through high school, and now calls Northfield home (plus Charlottesville, Virginia, his hometown). In true liberal arts student fashion, he’s interested in anything from American Studies to Economics to Psychology; hopefully, double minoring in Japanese and Music Performance. He enjoys walks around Lyman Lakes/in the Arb, seeing friends at Sayles, playing piano at Weitz, and pitching/playing infield for the baseball team. Meet the other bloggers!