The last few days at Vassar have reached the mid 90's, and I think everyone's main concern is keeping cool. I changed rooms over the weekend due to the sweltering conditions of my previous room and now I'm living somewhere cooler. But by cooler, I mean "less ridiculously hot," so, as you can imagine, it's still pretty bad on really hot days. Rowan, the rat I'm taking care of, has been acting a little less rambunctious lately, which is probably due to the heat. Last night I gave him a pep talk, telling him to "hang in there, little dude" so that he doesn't die of heat stroke before my friend comes back to take him off of my hands. Hopefully he'll wait to die until at least soon after the exchange. She gave me three things to take care of over the summer-a rat and two plants-and I already managed to kill her African Violet due to poor treatment. Ooops.
One of my favorite things to do at Vassar during the summer is go to the gym. While the hours aren't exactly regular (during the year the gym closes at 11 and during the summer it closes at 8), it's one of the few things that is still open when I leave work as well as one of the better air-conditioned. This makes it a good place to hide on 90+ days. In my view, while there are many different types of people on the Vassar campus, most people fall into one of three categories: regular gym-goers, reluctant gym-goers, and the exercise apathetic. I would consider myself to be a regular gym-goer, and sure, some of my friends think I'm crazy, but I grew up reading health magazines and I know what's best for my body and mind-primarily, air conditioning, and, coming in a close second, exercise.
When I'm at the gym, I feel like I'm at peace. I can chill out in the air, read a magazine and listen to my iPod while completely zoning out on the bike or the treadmill. It's probably the only part of the semester when I don't think about anything. And the weather conditions of the gym never let me down. During the winter, it's a great place to get some extra light and heat up, but during the summer it's a nice place to hide from direct sunlight and cool down.
It's also a pretty social environment. I like to watch the guys show off as they pump iron (what can I say... it's pretty funny) and roll my eyes in the direction of the free weights. There is one guy I call "arms guy" who I've seen curling 75 pounds on each arm, which is approximately 2/3 of my total body weight. Now come on, that's over kill. Any guy who could easily curl my body weight is a threat to my very existence.
I picked out a senior apartment that was one of the closest to the gym completely conscious of the fact that I have to write a senior thesis this year. That way if I don't feel like writing my thesis, I can easily go work out instead because that's also productive. And although I haven't started my thesis yet, I know that eventually it will get done, as most things around here do. Just very slowly and very painfully, which will most definitely require plenty of gym breaks.
I was a varsity swimmer all throughout high school and when I came to college I was certain that I would be joining the swim team. How could I not? And then I experienced the first practice. It wasn't necessarily hard, but it was time-consuming and I didn't think that my focus on academics would allow me time for two hour practices every day as well as dry-land training. Many Vassar students are able to balance both academics and team sports, but it wasn't for me. In order to have time for both I would have had to make other sacrifices, such as time for friends or campus events. But it's not like I can't swim on my own. I don't really like competitive sports as much as just good old exercise anyways. Although I did find that I was waaaay too competitive for intramural softball.
Intramurals are a good way to get involved with sports without worrying about setting aside time for them. My intramural softball team rarely practiced. We were also terrible (which caused me to have fits on the field, not gonna lie....) but it could have potentially been fun if I had been less competitive. The problem came when I found out I was the only player with any real experience because I had played softball in high school and was disappointed (or, perhaps, disgusted) with the abilities of some of my other teammates. I won't mention any names, they know who they are.
I've also taken ballroom dance lessons here. You don't need a partner, although it's a good idea to have one. And you can't beat the price at $30 for 10 lessons. Rumor has it that the ballroom instructor is forming a ballroom dance club for next year, but I'll get back to you on that one.
But even if you are not into sports, the gym makes a good place to have fun. My friends and I sometimes go and play "HORSE" on the basketball court, while watching everyone else make fantastic lay-ups and give us stares for being so lame. But that doesn't necessarily mean we pay attention. Tennis rackets and cross-country skis are also rentable from the gym, which make a nice change of pace from the treadmill.
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