Character Building (I hope)

By Cameron Rusin

Hi friends!

It has actually been so long since I last posted something, but I’m currently killing time in my
dining hall waiting for an appropriate time to leave for my flight, so why not. I am also not sure
if anyone will read this because the blog has been kinda inactive but if anything maybe this
will help me figure out what the heck I was doing this semester.

For starters, cross country! Last time I wrote we were in the middle of the regular season, so
lots lots lots has happened since then. Mostly, I got to run a little in the post season this year
which was super exciting! I ran at NESCACs (our conference) which was super fun.
Unfortunately our team did pretty poorly, but I still enjoyed myself. It was a crazy weather day,
with a huge storm and scary winds and every other athletic team except for us moved their
events to the next day, so it was very much running (or sliding…) to race, not for times or
anything, which I always like. And then that was the end of my season! In mid November the
actual Varsity went to NCAA regionals at Bowdoin in Maine, and everyone else did the whole
stripping down and covering ourselves in body paint that we do for every big race. This was
extra interesting this year because a bunch of us thought it would be fun to see the sunrise
from Mt. Cadillac in Acadia National Park (this first place to see a sunrise) the morning of
regionals, so we all packed into cars at 11pm the night before, drove to Acadia in the pouring
rain, arrived at 4am, slept, then woke up to see the sunrise at like 6:50. However because the
storm there was not a sunrise to be seen. It was fun to run around in the crazy wind on top of
a mountain for a bit though. Both teams got 5th, which got everyone at-large bids for
Nationals, which is exciting because the mens team hasn’t been to Nationals in a couple of
years. So we roadtripped to Oshkosh Wisconsin. This was extra wild because this year we
only had 16 people, so we all piled into one 15 person van. I don’t remember much from
Road Trip but I think it was mostly a “lol wtf are we doing driving to Oshkosh is absurd” kinda
thing. So yay! That was cross country! As always, I could have run better, but I ran better than
I did last year so I’m trying to hold onto that.

Me, Anna (a freshmen that I love), and Alexandra (a sophomore that I love)

We hosted NESCACS, and Bearcage is the big hill

Squad

Okay honestly I thought because it’s been so long I would have a lot to write about, but I’m struggling to think of anything interesting that I’ve done. I’m gonna make a list. That seems easier.

- I did burlesque again! My dance was a Mashup of Janelle Monet’s “Yoga” and “Screwed” which was super fun. Maybe by senior year I’ll be a good dancer

- Saw one of my favorite bands, Hippo Campus, live! It was the night of NESCACs so it was kind of a mess but so worth it.

This might not work, but here's the concert

- I did my first Public Harmony performance! Public Harmony is a group that does musical performances for communities in need. The one that I went to was at a women’s shelter in Boston. I played “Linus and Lucy”, and the whole event was very nice. I never stop being amazed by how kind and loving people can be, even when their lives are so much harder than I can fathom.

- Visited Miya in Montreal for Thanksgiving! Very fun! So much good food!

- Joined Frisbee (ewo/Elephant Women)! This is probably the biggest change, and it’s been super fun! The month or two in which I was deliberating whether or not to play in the spring instead of running track were really hard, but now that I’m on the team it’s hard to remember when I couldn’t decide if I wanted to join. It’s also hard being one of the worst people on the team (Tufts is really good and I haven’t played in two years; I’m not that bad…) and also being new but a sophomore, but I’m really excited for what’s to come. Also come do sprint workouts with my this break.

Random pictures I want to share:

My orgo teacher dressed up as a shark for Halloween

I liked the aesthetic

So yeah! This is hard to quantify in a blog post but despite all the things listed above, I feel like this semester was more about friends and feelings and inner conflict and not knowing what I’m doing with my life more than the activities I’ve done. This semester was hard (ask me how many times I cried over school/running/leases/life. Alternatively, ask me how coffee dependent I became for a sec there), but I am being optimistic and saying that I’ve set myself up well for next semester. I made a lot of changes this semester, like friends and sports and maybe even majors (send help), but I think that just makes me excited to see what next semester has in store. Part of me thinks I could sit here and write an essay about my feelings on this semester, but also no one really wants that. So here’s to a character building semester, and also finally getting to sleep because I am going home!!!