Dara Lehrer ’16

Do you have the pre-orientation jitters? Are you at all anxious to leave home and come live in a place you've probably never spent a formidable amount of time at before? Do not fear! I am here to try and alleviate some of that anxiety.

I have had so many absolutely fantastic professors this year who have inspired me in all sorts of ways.

I asked four of my friends why they took a gap year, what they did during their gap year, and what personal value it has had to them. Here is what they had to say...

In honor of spring, I decided to take a few snapshots of the flowers. Being the hipster I am, I took the photos at night with flash.

If you have little more than a month to decide where you'll be spending the next four years of your life, and have received an acceptance letter from Oberlin, then read on. This post is for you.

My name is Aleena, and I am a Yalie... I spent my past week visiting Dara at Oberlin, and now I'd like to share my observations, because I truly believe that Oberlin is an incredible place, and it might be interesting hear about from a non-Obie perspective.

It is really quite easy to mistake this place for a little snow globe, complete with picturesque buildings, tiny flakes of falling snow, and of course the glass sphere encasing it all.

My books, my clothes, my hair even, are scattered all over the place-- all over my room, my friends' rooms, my room in Tucson. It's hard not to be scatter-brained when everything else seemingly is.

We may be fearless, but we're certainly not sleepless.

...and the tricky business of knowing when they exist and when they don't.

What's a typical day at Oberlin, you ask? There's no such thing! Here's a day in my life - Wednesday, April 12, 2017, to be exact.

If you're still following my train of logic here, which I can imagine some of you aren't, then you are probably thinking to yourself: okay, I get that. Hardly anyone has the genetic background from only one race, and I've seen people who change their sexual orientation. Fine. But gender? Can't you only really be one or the other?

This blog is going to be a photo essay of the highlights of my trip back to Tucson (colloquially known to some as the "Dirty T," although I heartily refute this).

Leal, this one goes out to you.

Let's be real-- classes aren't all that college is about.

I spent a lot of time with my nose in the air and a crick in my neck when I visited my friend at Yale this week.

So there I was, happy to be a part of such a legendary class. The teacher, Eric, was great. Such a funny and intelligent man, and quite the stereotypical yogi as well (except during a few momentary lapses when he cursed in class, which was absolutely hilarious).

Something has changed though now, I can feel myself really sinking in here.