Join our mailing list:

Vermont Semester Program Journal 6 June 31 May 29 April 24 April 1 April 24 March 10 March 27 February 15 February 2 February 26 January 18 January 16 January 2004 Semester Program Photos Semester Program Sponsors

Vermont Semester
A 600 Mile Journey By Ski and Canoe (January-June 2004)

18 January, 2004

Friends, families, and interested members of the community,

We have made it to the end of this second week of the program with no fatalities by press time. Our accomplishments are enormous. Our tent is near completion, we¹ve had lots of skate skiing practice, we've waxed and put bindings on our backcountry skis, the list goes on: Russell Mariani came and spoke to us about nutrition, we ordered our food for the trail, and continued to work on our knives.

As the end of the month looms large, we are in a state of perpetual preparation and boundless excitement. Every day we learn something new and get better at the things we learned previously. Our singing before each meal gets better and better, we get faster and faster on our skis, and better at our jobs and chores. Even over the course of a day there is visible improvement. As people became more confident on the sewing machines the tent seemed to fall together.

Making our own home for the trail gave a sense of self empowerment and pride, knowing that we are making what we are going to be living in. Peter Marques, the founder of Tentsmith, gave us a huge amount of time, patience, energy, and help to make our beautiful tent. Thank you so much, Peter.

Again this week we were visited by Shawna, the math tutor, and Margaret Stearns and Doug Brookes, the artists. With Margaret and Doug, we started working on nature drawings, and working on the design of a Semester Program logo. We began skate skiing at Grafton Ponds, which was amazing and as different from classical skiing as running is from ice-skating.

On Saturday, we put the bindings on our backcountry skis, waxed them, and then took them for a test ride in the stony woods behind the big yurt. It felt wonderful to be trying out all of our new gear.

We placed our first food order for the trail, mostly consisting of a few staple foods in mass quantities, such as 100 pounds of cheese, 60 pounds of butter.... The day after we placed the order, Russell Mariani came and spoke to us about winter nutrition.

They say time flies when you're having fun. So it has. Yet at the same time, each day is a lifetime, a process within a process. Our accomplishments are great, yet we have miles to go before we sleep (figuratively).

Yes, we still have all our fingers and toes, and for that alone we are grateful. Every day is a blessing, the weather is perfect (despite what the weatherman may say), and life flows on. Maybe it gushes.

Thank you for all your help and support.

From the semester Program,
Jane Larsen, scribe