How I Filled My Weekend

The nice thing about working at Carleton over the summer is enjoying all of the amenities that Carleton and Northfield offer but without any homework. With so much free time on my hands, a Carleton weekend can get pretty packed. While you may not expect to do all of this during a trimester weekend while balancing work for your classes, you’ll likely find yourself doing at least one of these things during the term. I certainly have.

Friday

When the Admissions Office set me free at 4:30, I first swung by Anderson Hall and bumped into a few of my friends who are here doing research over the summer. With nothing eventful planned for the evening, and because many of them will be leaving for a math program in Budapest in the coming weeks, we figured we would use up the rest of a bag of charcoal on one of Carleton’s public BBQ grills and cook up some dinner. We made a quick trip to the local Aldi and a stop at the Co-op. On the menu, we had a fresh tabuli salad, burgers, and hotdogs with a homemade sauce cooked on the grill.

Later in the evening we went to the open house at the Goodsell Observatory and got to check out the Ring Nebula (Messier 57) with the 16″ telescope from 1890, along with other nebulas and star clusters (with more modern equipment).

Saturday

I kicked off my Saturday with some time in the Arb, which is never a bad idea if you’re an early riser like me. Whether you are walking or running (or skiing in the winter), the Arb has a ton of trails to explore.

On Saturdays from 9-1, Northfield hosts a farmer’s market on Bridge Square. This was my next stop of the day. I picked up a jar of cherry jam made in Northfield, and some potatoes and sweet onions to cook up next week.

For the rest of the day, I hung out in my hammock on the Bald Spot and read a book that I picked up while on an OCS program in Vienna. Later in the evening, I attended a Bonfire on Mai Fete Island hosted by Residential Life. I can never turn down free s’mores.

Sunday

On Sunday we took a little detour to the Twin Cities. We stopped at the Mandarin Kitchen for Dim Sum before watching the Twins beat the White Sox at Target Field. Upon our return to Northfield, we took a dip at the Northfield Public Pool to take advantage of their admission discount after 5 p.m. Not a bad weekend at all.

Harrison (he/him/his) stays busy at Carleton! He is a captain of the club water polo team, plays both IM basketball and broomball, and participates in activities hosted by the German and physics departments. He loves the atmosphere of Carleton in that its students are focused on academics but they don’t let it get in the way of fun.