Ask a current Princeton student

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61

<p>Hey, i've got a question for tiger08, or for any other knowledgeable student at P:<br>
How is the skiing (&snowboarding) team?
I read somewhere in a description that it’s ” a fun, laid-back group of people” and that all levels of skiers can be members. This all sounds really cool and all :D, but can someone (ahem tiger08) tell me more? Like:</p>

<p>-How active is the club? (How many activities are there – a few times each year?, except contests maybe, what kind of skiing, how are the ppl etc)</p>

<ul>
<li>can anyone compete? or What is the level of the competitions? I’d say I ski well, but I’ve never competed anywhere, so I have 0 experience. Nonetheless I’m a very competition-oriented person.</li>
</ul>

<p>-and finally, what would the costs be? How expensive is a second-hand/ lend/brand new equipment? Are the memberships unreachably high? An estimate would be great – I’m interested cause I’m on fa and all the money I’ll work I’d like to… um… spend as pleasantly as possible :)</p>

<p>Thanks a lot!!</p>

62

<p>i love advanced language/grammar stuff though hehe</p>

63

<p>Well, if you're interested in looking at Spanish from a philological perspective or something like that, that's fine. I feel, however, that you learn languages with the intent of using them to look @ literature written in that language and to communicate with people. Once you're past the point of, say, SPA 207, you honestly don't need to spend <em>too</em> much more time honing your skills; past that point I feel one's time is better used taking literature classes and applying those language skills to something else rather than just learning when to use "que," "el que," "la que," and "lo que," which we did in 207 this fall.</p>

<ul>
<li>Tim</li>
</ul>

64

<p>I plan on doing both. I'm studying Spanish Literature now. I just know from personal experience that the finer grammar points increase fluency and self-confidence in speech. I'm not going to major in Spanish or anything (Classics actually). </p>

<p>The book de la oraci</p>

65

<p>differences between "que," "el que," and "lo que?" wow, i'm reading for spanish 400...! :)</p>

66

<p>Sounds good -- if you enroll in SPA 307, I hope you enjoy it, or I might see you in one of the literature classes (right now I'm holding out for a class on Borges to be offered). The one thing I must say about Spanish at Princeton is that if you're coming from the West Coast or philntex' case, in an area with a large Hispanic population, you'll be surprised by the relative dearth of Spanish-speakers on the East Coast and at Princeton. Also, for some reason the Department of Spanish was pretty intransigent on me not enrolling in SPA 307, although at the time I was more than prepared for it, and in retrospect could have done well in it. If you plead enough, however, they should let you in.</p>

<p>If you're interested in Classics, you might want to talk to Professor Joshua Katz, who is really great; for a while I was thinking about taking Latin classes over this coming summer, and I talked about it with him. He is in the Classics department, but focuses mainly on philology -- he teaches a course on the history of the English language that is supposed to be great. Froma Zeitlin (whose '08 grandson I am good friends with) is also supposed to be very good; she specializes in Homer. If you are planning to major in Classics, you should obviously start taking your language of choice freshman year. If you plan to take Latin, you must start in the fall. For Hellenophiles, an intensive ancient Greek course, CLG 103, is offered in the Spring. You also might want to investigate the Humanities Sequence, HUM 216-219, which I'm currently enrolled in and has been a great experience. There should also be a few Classical freshman seminars, too: this fall, Professor Katz taught a course in which 1st-semester freshmen learned Egyptian hieroglyphics and studied the Egyptian creation myths and 'literature' of the era, which sounded interesting.</p>

<ul>
<li>Tim</li>
</ul>

67

<p>Hey Pavalon,</p>

<p>Ski team is a lot of fun, great training, and an awesome group of people.</p>

<p>The club is very seasonal, of course. Sign up at the activity fair in September but nothing until October. They have a big meeting in October. Then there are triweekly, but highly optional, practices until winter break. The practices are dry land practices that have little if anything to do with skiing--mostly soccer or running. Still, it's fun and you meet team members, so you should go to these when you don't have much work.</p>

<p>Racing starts in January. We have skiiers and snowboarders. There are GS races and slalom races. I think there were five races this year, at Hunter, Windham, and Mountain Creek. Races are usually open to anybody on the team. You don't need any competition experience, although it obviously is an advantage in a race. I had four years of slalom experience on a decent high school ski team, but I was one of the slowest racers this year. However, as long as you can freeski well you should have no trouble getting down a race course.</p>

<p>The highlight of the ski season is the intersession trip to Tremblant. Even with a blizzard-delayed departure and border crossing fiasco, it was a great week. The team stays in a nice resort hotel in the mountain village, and there is race training everyday with expert instructors (they do video analysis of your skiing one day). There is flexibility to freeski as well. And, if you want, parties every night.</p>

<p>As for costs...they are significant but heavily subsidized (through group discounts and/or funding). Membership was $75 this year, plus $30 for insurance, which covers all lift tickets and fees for all the races. I don't know equipment costs offhand, but there are sometimes ski team members looking to sell their used gear.</p>

<p>The Tremblant trip cost about $600, but it's an incredible bargain. Consider that the $600 covers 5 nights in a nice suite, 5 days of lift tickets, 5 full days of multiple-instructor instruction, and transportation. You do have to pay for food and beverages at Tremblant and the races.</p>

<p>And ski team is very laid back.</p>

68

<p>
[quote]
And ski team is very laid back.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>For some reason I could have sworn that read "and the ski team is very bad luck" the first time I read it. I'm going mad.</p>

69

<p>Crazy, I didn't read the whole post because psh, skiing? Please. (;)). But I read the quote box and I, too, thought it said "bad luck"</p>

70

<p>ooooh I want to join the ski team! waiit...do you actually have to compete? >.<</p>

71

<p>Haha. Yeah, we'll be on ski team! We'll be the Moral Support Squad. Huu-ah! <em>pump fist</em></p>

72

<p>or how about..."I'll fall into this tree to protect you from it..." yeaaa</p>

<br>


<br>

73

<p>That's what I'd have to do, zante...the reason being that I've never skiied before. <em>winces</em></p>

74

<p>I'm taking SPA 221: Introduction to Spanish Literature and Civilization from the Middle Ages to the Baroque with Professor Surtz (aside - it's the most unwieldy course title ever, there's no easy shorthand except 'Spanish 221'). </p>

<p>SPA 221 se enfoca en la literatura de Espa</p>

75

<p>haha, if I skied I would probably be like homer in that episode where the Simpsons go skiing, ie injuring myself in an extremely painful manner. No, I prefer to stay in the lodge :)</p>

76

<p>And drink hot chocolate brewed from the finest Swiss chocolate. I enjoy skiing, but that part most of all.</p>

77

<p>tiger08, how do you like Surtz?</p>

78

<p>i want to do both greek and latin....</p>

<p>Yeah i'm enthralled by the humanities sequence. how hard is it to get in?</p>

79

<p>Technically we're not supposed to post in any language besides english, but w/e</p>

80

<p>The difficulty of getting into the Humanities Sequence varies from year to year. I don't know how many total people applied for this year, but I do know that several people who applied to it did not get in. If you have an interest in enrolling in the class or an interest in Classics, as you do, I suggest reading Robert Fagles' translation of the Iliad and/or the Odyssey -- they're part of the summer reading for HUM and as a classicist, you'll be reading them in the original language eventually should you study Greek. If you would like to talk more about the HUM sequence, feel free to IM me @ TunanFish (AIM). </p>

<p>As far as Greek and Latin go, I think taking both Greek and Latin and the HUM Sequence would be a daunting first semester. If you did that, your first semester schedule would be:</p>

<p>LAT 101
CLG 101
HUM 216
HUM 217</p>

<p>This means your schedule 2nd semester would be fixed, as well. If you do the HUM sequence I strongly suggest you try to move your writing seminar to Spring Semester, as HUM is much more difficult first semester than second semester. Another option for the budding classicist would be to take an assortment of classes first semester, then take CLG 103 (an intensive course that covers CLG 101-102 in one semester) second semester. Following that, you could take 105-108 sophomore year and be well-prepared entering your junior year to take on Greek texts. Unfortunately, the Classics department doesn't offer a LAT 103 class, so if you'd prefer to do Latin, you should start your first semester. Again, I would stress not to take two languages and the HUM sequence at the same time. You could probably reasonably take the HUM sequence, SPA 307, and an intro language at the same time, but I think a more balanced option might be HUM, a language, and perhaps an ST or QR to knock out of the way.</p>