A Year in the Life of Ben von Reyn

A weekend of SKIING!

This week was highlighted by a trip to Jay Peak to go skiing. This break was much needed, as I had three exams during the week, so it was awesome to get away. I left on Friday afternoon with 6 other St. Lawrence students to make the drive over to Northern Vermont. We got in around 6pm and my parents joined me at our place around 7 or so. That night I got some much needed rest and awoke to a fresh coat of some of the lightest powder I have ever seen on the East Coast. At right is a picture of the vast amount of snow that had built up on our back porch from the first few snowstorms.

 After getting a little breakfast I went out to make a few turns with my Dad, and then I met up with Todd, a friend of mine from home, as well as the St. Lawrence students who I had come over with. In addition, Casey, Tara, and Pete met us on the slopes, so when it was all said and done, we had a large caravan of people going around the slopes. The conditions were some of the best I have seen in December, which made for an awesome day of skiing. At left is a picture of Tara, Pete, and Casey getting ready to head back out for some skiing after we had lunch. By the end of the day I was dead tired, as this was one of the first full days of skiing I had participated in all year. After the lifts closed, we drove back to campus and I grabbed a quick sauna in an attempt to stave off the impending soreness that generally accompanies a full day of skiing early in the season.

 After getting back to campus I went to Newell Fieldhouse to referee an on campus Dodgeball event, which was reasonably exciting, although it was a little tougher to keep track of all the action than I had originally anticipated. All in all though, I think I didn’t cost any teams the game, so it went pretty well.

 In addition to these events, I also found some time this past week to play some tennis and work out, so overall it was a great week. On top of these recreational activities, our office had our holiday party today, which was a nice time to simply relax during this final week of classes.

 This week should be an easy one, as I have very few assignments due, but I do have a pretty full slate of finals, so I should probably begin studying for them. Aside from doing a little studying this week I’ll probably try to take care of a few Christmas presents, which means I might be making a trip over to the campus bookstore or search the internet for some online deals. Well, that’s about all I have for now, so I hope everyone has a good week and enjoys the ever accumulating snow!

A week of SNOW!

This week has been marked by an ongoing snowstorm that has left us with at least a foot of snow on the ground! While I have been pretty busy trying to get all my work done this week, I had a little time to attend the Bourne Ultimatum during the week as well as catch a main event here on campus: the SLU/Clarkson hockey game.

The SLU/Clarkson game was on Saturday night this week, and it was great to get out and watch it! Saturday was definitely my easy day this week, as I got out of bed around noon and spent the next few hours hanging out with friends until we went to the game. For this game in particular we had to get there a little early, as it is one of the biggest of the year, but our waiting in line in the cold paid off, as we had great seats right in the corner where we could see everything. To top off the night, SLU won the game, which was an awesome victory for our team.

In addition to the game, I had some time on the weekend to play some tennis and basketball, which made for a great time. Unfortunately, between all this recreating I didn’t exactly get a ton of work done on the weekend, so I spent yesterday catching up on work and preparing for an Accounting exam that I just took tonight. As far as the rest of the week goes, I’ve got a Math exam on Thursday and then a Chemistry exam to finish off the week on Friday. As a result of all of these academic obligations, I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in the QRC (the quantitative resource center), otherwise known as a place that has a lot of people who can help me on all this math work, which is nice. Consequently, I figured I’d take a few pictures of this place for everyone to see, so at left is a picture of Alex and Jim, two very helpful tutors in the QRC, and at right is a picture of Henry, another helpful tutor, who is also in my Accounting class.

Aside from doing a lot of work in the past week, I got to meet with my SLU Buddy on Monday, which was a nice break from all of the work. On top of this, I had my regular peer advising hours this week, which seemed to go well, as I am continuing to pursue employer research in a variety of industries.

The main thing I am looking forward to is heading to Jay Peak this weekend to get a day of skiing in with some fellow SLU students and a few friends from home. In addition, I will get to see my parents on this trip back, which should be nice. Once I get back to campus I will be officiating a Dodgeball game, which is also should be a good time.

Overall, this has been one of my busier weeks on campus, but I am looking forward to finishing up these exams and then having a relaxing weekend before the final week of classes.

A morning hike!

My main event for this weekend was hiking up Mt. Arab to see the sunrise on Sunday morning.  At 4am, a group of my more adventurous friends (pictured at right) left campus in two cars to drive to Mt. Arab.
Fortunately, the drive is only 45 minutes or so, so we arrived at the base of the mountain with more than enough time to arrive at the top before the sunrise. Upon stepping out of the car at 5am or so I was abruptly greeted by some of the coolest air I’ve felt this year so far. Fortunately, I had a packed a shell and some layers underneath, so after bundling up and throwing on a headlamp, I was about as well prepared as I could be considering it was 5am in the morning! In any event, we crunched over the snow, ice, and rocks for about a half hour or so before arriving at the top of Mt. Arab. At the top there was a fire tower, so we all clamored up its narrow stairs for an even better view of the sunrise. The view from the top was unbelievable, and I’ve got a few pictures here in an attempt to illustrate the incredible sight. At left is a picture of me with Reed, and on the right is a picture of the sun coming up between some peaks. After watching the sunrise we all flew back down the trail with visions of our comfortable beds in mind! We got back to campus around nine and I took a nap until noon or so. Unfortunately, I wasn’t exactly productive on the academic front on Saturday, or Friday for that matter, so I logged quite a few hours on Sunday evening after three hours of sleep! Nonetheless, I accomplished what I needed to, and it felt great to finally grab a full night’s sleep on Sunday night before my classes Monday.

Overall, this hike was definitely the highlight of my last week, and it was well worth the sleep deprivation that accompanied it. In addition to hiking, I got to play some tennis last week, which was a nice break from the work that seemed to pile up. The main reason for the increase in the workload was the fact that we could start looking at classes for the upcoming semester last week, so I spent far too long just perusing the options without really tangibly accomplishing anything. On the positive side though, I gave the options a thorough look and now have declared my majors, which will be Economics and Mathematics. In addition to looking at classes, I looked at the study abroad options, which abound at St. Lawrence, and I am currently debating between studying in Denmark, Australia, or China! Fortunately, I’ve got a while to decide on this, so I’ll probably attend their respective informational programs next semester and begin to decide which one I would like to take advantage of.

Well, that’s about all I have for this week, so Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and I’ll be back after break to fill everyone in on the Thanksgiving festivities.