When I’m not busy with schoolwork, classes, extracurricular activities, eating, sleeping or catching up with friends, I love exploring the campus and all of its surroundings. Despite Princeton’s relatively small size, it’s quite easy to get creative, embark on a random adventure and do something new if the need for spontaneity ever strikes. As I’ve discovered over the past two years, there are infinite possibilities for spontaneous adventures here at Princeton!

Here are just a few ideas…

1. Roll down Whitman Hill

Despite what you might be thinking, rolling down Whitman Hill is not totally absurd (although my friend Chris did roll down the hill while filming his French project on Absurdum). Just last week, I saw the Princeton Running Club rolling down the Whitman Hill and sprinting back up to warm up for their daily after-class run. They were wearing running gear, but I’d highly recommend wearing long sleeves and pants for this one.

2. Host a pool party in Dillon Gym

Little known fact: the basement of Dillon Gym houses a pool! There are even pool accessories, like kickboards, diving rings and swimming noodles — perfect for a pool party! I found out last winter and then hosted a pool party there. I'm hoping to return sometime this year to swim some laps. 

3. Canoe on Lake Carnegie

OK, this one isn’t totally spontaneous; Outdoor Action (OA), the University’s outdoor program, hosts free canoeing on Lake Carnegie a couple times each year, and you can always rent kayaks and canoes at Princeton Canoe Rental. Floating on the water of the lake, surrounded by trees on either side, is too beautiful and peaceful of an experience not to share, especially when the trees are turning a billion different colors in the fall.

4. Yoga in Forbes Garden

Last spring, after returning from canoeing on the lake, we ran into our friend Emily, who invited us to the Earth Day celebration at Forbes Garden, where she was teaching a sunset yoga class. There’s nothing like practicing your tree pose, watching the sun set and smelling the greenness of spinach, kale and pepper plants to get you in tune with nature.

5. Swing at Marquand Park

I love swinging! Who doesn’t? My favorite place to swing is Marquand Park, an easy 10-minute walk from campus and 5-minute walk from the Graduate College. I rediscovered my love of swinging here last year, so the park holds a special place in my heart. It’s an excellent place to swing by (pun intended) before getting Thursday night dinner at the Grad College, the one night each week they allow undergraduates to eat in their beautiful Hogwarts-esque dining hall.

6. Climb up the Grad College Tower

Speaking of the Grad College, here's another little known fact: You can go up the Grad College Tower (aka Cleveland Tower). Climbing up the dark, narrow, steep, winding stairs of the Grad Tower is certainly an adventure within itself, and at the top, you can see all of Princeton’s campus from within the Gothic spires that top the tower. 

7. Star trip on Poe Field

Last year, my co-leaders and I really wanted to star trip on our OA Frosh Trip, but we never got the chance. We did the next best thing: We took our frosh to Poe Field the night we returned to campus, stared up at the stars and spun around like fools. 

This might all sound a bit ridiculous, but, hey, spontaneity is good for the soul!

So, as many of you know, I am an active member of Princeton’s Jewish community. I happen to be Orthodox, meaning that I observe a very traditional version of Jewish practice. This often comes with a whole host of interesting challenges in bringing my Jewish and college lifestyles together.  

People are always especially surprised when I tell them about Jewish law as it pertains to the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. Most notably, I am one of those crazy people who shut down all technology from Friday night until Saturday after sundown. That means no cell phone, no homework, no movies, etcetera. I can talk about how I actually really love that lifestyle (forced break from work!) in a different post, but now I want to talk about one of the more obscure laws.

Among the many laws pertaining to resting on Sabbath, there is a practice of not carrying objects from a private place into the public domain. For example, carrying something from inside your dorm room out into campus would not be allowed.

Of interest, there is a Talmudic loophole that allows for the transformation of a larger public area into a private domain via the construction of a symbolic wall around the region, thereby eliminating the worry of transfer from public to private by making everything “private.” This wall is called an "eruv," and in Princeton's case consists mainly of wires attached to existing telephone poles. Within the eruv, carrying is permissible because everything is considered a single, private space.

The eruv in Princeton was officially completed last week.

Just to give you a picture of how weird life has been without the eruv and how happy I am to have it:

The main issue in a world without an eruv comes in how you carry your keys. If you’re particularly strict, as I am, instead of carrying an object in your pocket, you typically find some way to integrate it into what you are wearing. That way, you're not technically carrying anything. Yet another one of our loopholes. Cute, right? This can include wearing it on a bracelet or necklace, tying it in with your shoelaces, or, if you’re me, attaching it to your hair-tie and wearing it in your hair. Fashionable? Maybe. But definitely ridiculous.

And so, as I write to you, PEL (that’s post-eruv-life), I happily put my keys in my pocket like a normal person and go into the weekend ready to have a restful and much less logistically complicated Sabbath.

 

 

 

What do Mike Birbiglia, Aidy Bryant, the cast of "Silicon Valley," the cast of "Broad City," and Amy Poehler all have in common? If you said "They're all people that Lauren has obsessive comedy crushes on and boy, she really needs to let go," you'd be right! If you said "Lauren saw them all perform at the 2015 Del Close Marathon," you'd be even more right!

The Del Close Marathon, or DCM, is an annual three-day improv festival in New York that features 72 straight hours of improv at nine different venues. Quipfire! visits DCM every year, because it's a great chance for us to learn from some of our favorite improvisers, and for us to see new forms that we can try out onstage. (Remember our Gravid Water shows this year? We saw that form at DCM!) I've gone every year since my freshman year, and it's always one of my favorite parts of the summer.

DCM offers an incredibly diverse array of shows. A lot of famous comedians who got their start in improv come to DCM to show off their old skills. For example, we went to see UCB house team The Stepfathers, and a huge group of Stepfathers alums joined them, including Bobby Moynihan ("Saturday Night Live") and Zach Woods ("The Office" and "Silicon Valley").

But 72 hours of improv means there's some pretty weird stuff going on to fill the time. For example, we saw a show called "The Camping Trip" in which comedians like Ben Schwartz ("Parks and Recreation") and Horatio Sanz ("Saturday Night Live") pack each other bags of weird items, switch bags with each other, and then pretend that they are camping and these bags are all that they brought for survival. Ben Schwartz ended up with an envelope labeled "My Big Secret" that he saved until the end of the show, and when he finally opened it, it  contained a raisin and a single piece of spaghetti attached to a cotton ball. And I've heard even stranger stories. One performer told me he exited the stage after his show and the show that went on after him was just a group of unsupervised dogs.

If you were at UCB East on Sunday morning, you even caught a glimpse of Quipfire! performing! DCM does a great job of giving performance slots to college groups, even if those slots are at not-quite-primetime. We performed improv based on improvised monologues from friend of the group/funny lady Catherine Cohen '13. We also caught a performance by our sister group, Stranded in Pittsburgh from Fordham University.

Even though DCM is over, Quipfire! is still gonna catch a few more improv shows before the summer is over, including a performance by improv gods TJ and Dave. Stay tuned!

When I was deciding where I wanted to go to college, a huge factor for me was location. Not just any location was going to cut it—the East Coast and proximity to New York City were at the top of my list! And one thing I indeed vouch for is Princeton’s location.

Two of the closest cities outside of Princeton with lots to offer are New York City and Philadelphia. It seems that Princeton students visit New York City more often, but I went to Philadelphia this year for the first time and loved it there, too, so Philly certainly shouldn’t be overlooked—and both are equally accessible.

Beginning with New York, you can of course go on your own, but there are also tons of amazing opportunities offered through Princeton. For instance, each residential college offers Broadway trips for freshmen and sophomores, and this is truly one of the best Princeton perks for students. A $25 ticket covers the show, roundtrip bus transportation and snacks on the ride. Usually you arrive in the city an hour or two before showtime, giving you time to explore or grab a bite to eat before the event. I’ve seen "The Lion King," "Les Misérables," and "Wicked" through these Princeton trips, and I also got to see the "Nutcracker" at the New York City Ballet. All were amazing experiences, and I should also mention that the seats were great, too (we were in the 13th row at the "Lion King" and front and center for "Wicked").

I also went to New York City last fall with my residential college, Butler College, for a Saturday cultural excursion. Our director of studies took about 20 of us to lunch at a wonderful pizza place, and then we took a guided walking tour of the Chelsea neighborhood before exploring the High Line and shopping at Chelsea Market. I should mention that this trip was totally free if you signed up ahead of time (lunch and everything!), so all of this is just to say that Princeton has given me tons of opportunities to enjoy New York City.

The other city I visited for the first time this year was Philadelphia, and I loved it. One Saturday I went into the city to attend a UPenn Graduate School of Education open house. But before and after the event, I had time to explore the Reading Terminal Market, to see many of the historical sites downtown and to tour the area around UPenn’s campus. Philadelphia has so much history and so many neat things to see, and it’s definitely on my list to go back!

You might be thinking this sounds just great, but are you wondering how feasible it is? Happily, it is very feasible. From the train station on campus, you can take a direct train and be standing in New York City’s Penn Station in 50 minutes, and you can take the Amtrak directly to Philadelphia’s 30^th Street station in 35 minutes. And the cost isn’t much of a barrier either – it’s $16 for a one-way ticket to New York City and $23 for a one-way Amtrak ticket to Philly ($15 if you take a slower train). But as I’ve mentioned, there are also many University-sponsored trips that cost nothing. 

In terms of having time for these types of outings, it’s all a matter of priorities. Some of my friends head into New York City every weekend, while some rarely go, so it all comes down to how you want to spend your time and what is important to you. I’ve found that I tend to have one weekend a month that is free for these types of trips. For instance, over the course of my freshman year I went into New York City about eight times, including going to see three Broadway shows, taking two trips into New York with a freshman seminar (we visited the Met, the High Line, and the MoMA), attending the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade with friends and spending the week there in Brooklyn on a Breakout trip.

While these two cities are the closest to Princeton, I’ll also mention that over the breaks (including Thanksgiving), there are transportation services to cities farther away, including Boston and Washington, D.C., with reasonably-priced tickets on University-sponsored buses. So, I hope this blog makes you excited about Princeton’s proximity to some of the greatest cities on the East Coast!

One of the most common questions I am asked is about Princeton's competitiveness: Are students here extremely competitive, or do they collaborate on their work? This was also a very important question for me, and is perhaps the thing about Princeton that has most pleasantly surprised me. Considering that most students in Princeton have come here after several years of a competitive environment in high school, I imagined the environment at Princeton to be cutthroat and fierce, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

Collaboration in Princeton is highly encouraged. In all my classes with problem sets, instructors have organized sessions for students to come together and discuss the sets. I have spent numerous nights working late with my fellow students, throwing chalk frustratedly at a chalkboard, trying to make sense of a particular problem. These sessions are incredibly helpful as we get to pick each other's brains and bounce ideas off one another, trying to figure out which approach would work, which wouldn't and why. This has helped me many times to understand the subject matter better conceptually.

It is also wonderful to play to each other's strengths.This was especially evident when I took the integrated science curriculum in freshman year. The questions drew from many different branches of science, and we were all able to contribute in different ways. Having a background in physics, I would always take the asymptotic cases, the biologists would try to make sense on a larger picture and the mathematicians would check for rigor.

In all science classes, while it is required for your work to be your own, instructors encourage, and often even pursue, the students to attend such problem-solving sessions and share ideas, concerns and questions. And students love attending these sessions, or working together in self-organized sessions, as otherwise they might hit a wall when tackling a problem unless someone nudged them in a particular direction. Nobody in a position to help me has ever denied my request for assistance with a problem, or notes or anything else.

In all my classes where we would be assigned projects, group work has always been highly appreciated by the instructors, whether in philosophy, computer science or history. Often, group projects go beyond the requirements of the course when some of the members of the group are incredibly passionate about the project and it catches on. This has led to some very memorable computer science and art projects that have become known to the larger student body, including many apps and art installations. In fact, you can even collaborate on independent work to produce joint-theses or papers.

I like to say that I have learned as much from my peers at Princeton as I have from my professors, and I strongly believe in that statement. One of the greatest things about studying at Princeton has been the opportunity to interact and work with so many amazing individuals, and learning from these individuals inspires me to work harder and understand the material better every day.

Hey prospective students! I'll keep this one short and sweet. 

Come to Princeton.

Ayudo y enseño a los estudiantes porque entiendo la importancia de animar y guiar. Como una estudiante de universidad de primera generación, yo sé que solamente unas palabras simpáticas de consejos pueden diferenciar entre rendirse y hacer lo mejor que uno puede a pesar de las dificultades.

Durante la preparatoria, pasé tiempo con los estudiantes de la escuela primaria, ayudándolos en los centros comunitarios y sabía que quería seguir ayudándolos cuando entre a la universidad.

Aprendí de “One-on-One Tutoring” en mi primer año. Mi amiga, Gracie ‘13, quien era una participante regular, me dijo que el programa quería que alguien ayudara a un estudiante de preescolar. Entrevisté con el líder del programa de la comunidad y empecé a enseñar en seguida.

One-on-One Tutoring es un programa patrocinado por Princeton’s Student Volunteer Council (SVC). SVC es una organización que patrocina más de 40 proyectos voluntarios que operan durante la semana con organizaciones en Princeton, Trenton, y lugares al redor de aquí. Ofrece muchas oportunidades para ayudar en la comunidad y apoya a los estudiantes que quieren comenzar sus propios proyectos.

One-on-One Tutoring es una oportunidad que ayuda a las mujeres de Princeton a crear y mantener relaciones positivas con chicas de origen latinoamericana que viven en Princeton. Como un programa que empareja a estudiantes de Princeton con chicas de escuelas primarias y secundarias locales, One-on-One Tutoring ofrece ayuda con leer, estudiar, tarea, y más! En la mayoría del tiempo, los estudiantes pasan la universidad entera con la misma chica.

Cuando conocí a Tati, ella estaba en Kindergarten. Ella estaba aprendiendo a leer y escribir palabras como “the,” “cat,” and “red.” Ahora está en el tercer grado y le encanta leer, escribir en cursiva, y dice que “Language Arts” es su materia favorita. Nuestros encuentros son los mejores. Ella es brillante y le encanta contarme historias de sus amigas, su sobrina, y su perrito. Si acaba su tarea temprano, le gusta hacer cartas coloridas para sus amigas y su familia. También, goza de enseñarme las letras de sus canciones favoritas (incluyendo muchas por Taylor Swift…)

One-on-One Tutoring me ha dado la oportunidad de enseñar, alentar, e inspirar. También, me ha dado la oportunidad de aprender. Pienso que mi trabajo con Tati en los años pasados como una parte de una realización más grande que ayuda a los latinos que quieren ir a la universidad.

One-on-One Tutoring es un recuerdo que “en el servicio de la nación y en el servicio de todas las naciones” puede ser varias cosas, tal como repasar el alfabeto, leer libros, y enseñar aritmética a alguien tan simpática y adorable.

Traducido por PULP, Princeton University Language Project. 

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Hace dos semanas, tuve la oportunidad de ser invitada a la First Generation Freshman Dinner, organizada por el Hidden Minority Council, Dean Valerie Smith y Vice President Cynthia Cherrey. Mi papel en esta cena fue el de juntarme con un grupo de freshmen y un miembro de la facultad, escuchar su conversación y notar comentarios interesantes sobre la experiencia de estudiantes de primera generación en Princeton y sugerencias que tenían para la universidad y cómo Princeton puede apoyar mejor a los que son de primera generación o de bajos ingresos.

Fue una experiencia poderosa escuchar las historias de estos nueve freshmen. Fueron súper intuitivos e inquisitivos, y su conversación me animó a reflejar sobre mi propia experiencia como una estudiante de primera generación y de bajos ingresos.

Ser de primera generación trae sus propios retos y preguntas. ¿Dónde me quedo durante las vacaciones cuando no puedo pagar el vuelo a casa? ¿Voy a encajar con personas que son más ricas? Cuando mi familia pregunta por qué la universidad es importante, ¿cómo les explico por qué estudio las artes liberales?

(Respuestas: 1. Los dormitorios quedan abiertos para estudiantes durante todas las vacaciones. Además, una cafetería queda abierta durante cada receso salvo el del invierno. 2. Te va a sorprender que es casi imposible determinar la clase social de estudiantes en Princeton. Cuando asistí a un evento de Princeton Quest Scholars por la primera vez, fue una gran sorpresa que unos compañeros que yo había conocido por años fueran de primera generación o de bajos ingresos. Si no le dices a nadie que eres de primera generación, nadie lo va a saber ni suponerlo. 3. Explicar una educación de artes liberales es más difícil y te lo dejo a ti. ¡Conoces mejor a tu familia!)

Sin embargo, hay una pregunta que quizás es la más difícil: ¿Pertenezco yo aquí?

Vengo de un pueblo pequeño en Wisconsin, donde crecí en una comunidad muy unida que enfatizó los buenos valores del Medio Oeste de trabajo duro, honestidad y familia. Desde kindergarten, yo estaba en clases con los mismos 35 compañeros. Íbamos a la misma iglesia todos los domingos. Hacíamos deportes juntos. Cada tantos años, algún amigo se fue, y otro estudiante llegó. Éramos todos de orígenes modestos. Mi padre era soldador. Mi madre es cajera. No asistieron a la universidad. Hay muy poco que me distingue de los otros de Rio, Wisconsin, y esto es un pensamiento que me ha perseguido por muchos años. Me pregunté ¿Por qué yo? cuando vine a Princeton mi primer año. No merezco esto.

Pienso que es natural para cada estudiante que entra por las puertas de Princeton preguntarse si él o ella pertenece en esta escuela. Pienso que es particularmente fácil para un estudiante de bajos ingresos o de primera generación creer que él o ella no debe estar aquí. Pero la verdad es que sí debes estar aquí. No importa tu pasado o tu origen, no eres un error. Para estar cómoda en Princeton, yo tenía que reconocer que ni estaba aquí a pesar de mi origen, ni por mi origen. Mi pasado es simplemente una parte de mí.

Claro que hay momentos cuando es difícil ser de bajos ingresos o primera generación en Princeton. Como ya dije, es posible que haya momentos cuando no puedes comprar un ticket para volver a casa durante las vacaciones, o cuando tu familia te pregunta por qué vas a la universidad. Sin embargo, hay mucha gente aquí en Princeton que te aceptarán y te ayudarán en esos momentos. Princeton ayuda a asegurar que no pierdas opciones ni sufras discriminación por ser de primera generación o de bajos ingresos (¡mira los programas de ayuda financiera e internos fundados por Princeton!), y eso es algo por lo cual estoy muy agradecida.

Traducido por PULP, Princeton University Language Project. 

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The other day I walked into work with 66 bananas. Why? Because the night before, the team of people I work with at Guria had rescued 66 people from slavery in a brick kiln, and we were hosting them at our office.

I have had a lot of incredible experiences this year in India, but working at Guria—a non-profit that fights human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation—is hard to top. It has been everything: the hardest part of my experience, the most rewarding, the most frustrating, and the place where I feel most at home.

Guria is less of an organization and more of a family. Ajeet Ji, the founder and director, describes Guria’s approach to fighting human trafficking like raising a child. You don’t look at a child and try to leverage something. You also don’t throw money and projects at a child and yell at it to grow up well so it will impress the donors. You support it from all sides, you listen carefully, you adjust, and you care—a lot. And Guria has never lost the spirit of independent thinking.

This term “thinking independently” is thrown around a lot, but I don’t think I even fully understood what it meant to think independently until meeting Ajeet Ji. It means that you think, you question, you speak out, and you do not waver from what your heart says is right—even if you are completely on your own. Thinking independently also has a lot to do with dreaming: allowing yourself to dream, and never subconsciously limiting yourself to what is usually considered possible.

This is why Guria has such a long list of activities, including : rescue operations, rural village empowerment and non-formal education centers. They don’t care about the number of activities other NGOs are doing, and they have never considered doing something more “reasonable.” Each and every activity on that list has evolved directly from Guria’s 26 years spent integrating into the communities they served, listening attentively, and evolving solutions. The amount of things that Guria does is ridiculous, but when you are working at a place where fighting human trafficking is not just a job but a way of life, anything is possible. 

The buzzer sounded, and I jumped in the air as my teammates rushed the court. We had just defeated Green Bay for the first NCAA tournament win in the history of our program. A sea of orange clad supporters cheered from behind our bench, among them none other than President of the United States Barack Obama. With 31 wins and 0 losses – we were the only undefeated team in the nation.