I’ve been on a hiatus of blogging all summer. I therefore forgot to mention what I did for July Fourth, America’s Independence Day.

Since I had a four day weekend, Sumedha, Raina and I decided to go visit our family friend Anupam - who was spending his summer at his college, Dartmouth in Hanover, NH… aka middle of nowhere (MONW), NH.

We were excited to go to the MONW - considering New York City gets so hot and gross during the summer months. So we packed our bags, spent a night in Boston and drove to NH Saturday morning. Curious of what kids do with their entirety of the summer in the MONW, we were excited to experience their “Ivy League Summer.”

Animal House Fraternity House - This is the real one!!!

I’m not sure if you’ve seen Animal House (I have not) but this is the school the movie was based on. Here are some of our activities from the trip:

The American Frat Party

Dartmouth is very male-dominated, in that all their social events are centered around the fraternities. While we did not attend this party above (where everyone was singing to Sweet Home Alabama or something equally American to celebrate July 4th — can’t really remember right now) we went to our friend’s lower-key, chiller frat. It was called Bones Gate or something exclusive sounding.

The REAL Beer Pong - Notice the Keystone Light in the back…

In the basement of Anupam’s frat we learned how to play real beer pong. While I myself am a master at Flip Cup, Beer Pong isn’t my calling. However, I found out everyone at Dartmouth is apparently not only insanely smart but also extremely skilled at playing this version of ping pong with beer cups.

Let me explain. You have about eight cups of beer (don’t worry mom’s, they’re not all the way filled up) on each side of the table. Then there is a team on each side that uses ping pong paddles to hit a ping pong ball back and forth. If it hits a cup you drink half, if it goes in you drink all. First team to get the other team to drink all wins.

Poor Anupam was my partner and we had to lose three times before we won. My bad, resulted in a good buzz. Above you can see Raina and Sumedha gloating at their win. (It was SO close! One cup to one!)

Breakfast the next morning at the local diner - Lou’s

Next morning after partying at the frats, like us, you’d probably wait in line at their local diner. It’ll be worth it though because you’ll see everyone in town there eating delicious food which will convince your eyes to order their special. Note to self: When the waitress says its spicy, it is. Anupam (on the left) said his omelet was “spicy to the point of uncomfortableness.” No worries, he still took home what he couldn’t finish (including my omelet and Raina’s pancakes). We wouldn’t recommend it, but boys seem to eat anything even if it makes them cry. 

Tour of Dartmouth’s campus - One of the Libraries

My heart melted seeing this library. The Ivy’s get everything. I guess in the MONW, you do do a lot reading. Helps to have a cozy nook to hide in.

Everything was super old looking. Wonder if that fire place still burns and who the man above it is…

Hiking on pseudo-trails

In Dartmouth’s defense, it is really a beautiful place and has some really nice trails (not pseudo, like I said above) and a river for canoeing (that supposedly everyone jumps into in the summer when it gets too hot). We some how landed up on this fake hike. It was streneous for about 3 minutes (see below) until it ended in a neighborhood.

Anupam, Sumedha and Raina hiking up the “mountains”

In the end, it was super green and a very different environment than we have in our day to day lives in NYC. However, I don’t think it was worth me spending $17 on the purple running shorts from Boston City Sports I thought I had to have for this hike.

Me, Raina and Anupam. Notice my purple shorts. They weren’t a total waste. I do wear them to the gym!

Waking Up to a Fur Coat and Head Massages

If you have a friend like Anupam, it’s not unusual to find a (faux?) fur coat, Muscle Milk protein powder and contraptions like this head massager in his room. Not to mention citrus candles (which we lit often to get the boy-ish smell out). I must say though, his room did have lots of interesting books, a comfortable bright yellow bed and cool posters. In fact, it was the cleanest in the whole house! It was for that reason that sadly, Raina, Sumedha and I took over his room and made him sleep on his gross frat-bro’s bed with a sheet (it was hot, so we thought it was ok) while we managed to squeeze onto his queen bed. We <3 you Anupam!

Besties/Seattleites for Life!

All in all it was a great trip and we had so much fun. Though I poke fun at all our activities, it was probably our favorite trip of the summer and such a nice get-away. Since Raina is moving to NYC now, I’m hoping us three can go again soon! It’d be cool to visit in the Winter, but I don’t know if I can handle a Hanover winter. We might have to order a spicy Molly’s special omelet or play a couple rounds of Beer Pong in Anupam’s sticky basement to keep warm!