My Favorite Term at Carleton

While this is subject to change in the future, I would like to talk about my favorite term here at Carleton and why I still gush about it almost a year later. Some of you may have read my first post about my OCS experience, and while I loved that term, I’m not sure if it beats my favorite term here on campus.

My Sophomore Fall Term

My sophomore fall term was by far my favorite term. I was busy busy busy – but in a good way! I love being busy and always having something to do!

Volleyball

Fall term is always fun because volleyball is in season! Practicing every day and hanging out with my teammates after practice and on the way to games has created some of my most cherished memories.

Of course, actually playing volleyball competitively is one of my favorite parts of the season. Don’t forget to come to our home games at West Gym in the fall!!!

Weather

Now I know that when people start talking about the weather, the conversation gets boring. However, I promise that Northfield’s weather in the Fall is anything but! As someone who grew up in Las Vegas (a literal desert), seeing the leaves change in real-time and feeling the temperature go down will always be exciting. I may have to take some allergy pills, but nothing can stop me from going out and enjoying the sweater weather and pumpkin spice latte season.

Another great thing about Fall in Northfield is that there are so many things to do! My friends and I frequented Fireside Orchard to pick some sweet apples and walk through the picturesque rows. Other places like Sharing Our Roots Farm and pizza night at Red Barn Farm are some really great local places to visit in the fall!

Classes

This specific term was my favorite in large part due to the classes I was taking. First I would like to mention my observational drawing course. Carleton has an arts practice requirement that we have to fulfill to graduate, and I decided that I was going to use my newly gained “sophomore priority” to help me get into an art class. Little did I know that this would be my favorite class I’ve ever taken at Carleton. My homework was just to draw for a few hours – how cool is that? I discovered my love for charcoal and made my final project a large charcoal piece.

The second course I took was German 204: the last class I needed to complete my language requirement. The course load was like many of the other German Carleton classes that I have taken, but it was only in this class that I finally felt comfortable enough to have full conversations in German (a language I started here at Carleton!). I had finally progressed enough in the language to read and understand some lovely poems by Maja Haderlap and I was starting to pick things up faster than I ever used to. It was a nice feeling and I enjoyed going to class knowing that my love for the language was growing each day. 

The last class that I took was a psychology course called Human Sexuality. Shoutout to Mitchell Campbell for making this class so enjoyable (and for bringing in home-baked goods)! I learned so many new things and this class put me out of my comfort zone to have conversations about difficult topics. Without this class, I would not have been exposed to such positivity surrounding human sexuality. It opened my eyes to different thoughts and opinions and I highly recommend this course to everyone!

When you put all of these components together: my classes, volleyball, and the season of fall, you get my favorite semester ever.

Katelyn (she/her) is a junior at Carleton from Las Vegas, Nevada, and a psychology major with minors in cognitive science and German. She is a proud first-generation student who loves to participate in all things happening around campus. She is involved with Carleton’s student-run first-gen organization 1Gen, as well as KRLX and Babyteeth. When she is not in the gym playing volleyball or lifting (super heavy) weights, she can be found hanging out with her friends or in the small park next to the Weitz, specifically on the east-most swing.