<p>glad that's over....... banged out my 10 page paper last night..</p>
<p>strange thing is, I don't feel I really obtained any introspective insight over the past month. Winter Study seems to be a bastion of nostalgia for Williams Alums, but I feel like my January was mostly wasted. No disrespect to those who enjoyed it.</p>
<p>On a positive note, I did enjoy dinner with hedge fund manager David Kane. That was probably the highlight of my month..</p>
<p>What class did you take? Sorry it didn't work out well for you. There's a lot of variation - I personally loved my class this year and got a lot out of it. (it was a songwriting class; the sort of thing that would probably never be offered during a normal semester) </p>
<p>My class last year as a freshman wasn't as interesting, but then again I don't think the point of winter study is necessarily in the classes. They say the majority of the learning at any good school takes place outside the classroom, and winter study is the perfect opportunity for that. When you don't have a crushing homework load every night, you can afford to spend more time with your friends, or getting to know new and interesting people. My entry last year bonded really well over winter study because we so much of the time we had nothing to do but hang out in the common room and spend time with each other. I think that sort of thing can be worthwhile in and of itself.</p>
<p>(of course, winter study can also be a time of bad decisions. like being drunk at 3:30 am and trying to write a final paper due in a few hours, and procrastinating by posting on random online discussion boards...)</p>
<p>My brother, Williams '11, absolutely adored his winter study. I've already brought up the idea of instituting it at Swarthmore with the deans here ...</p>
<p>As a student who didn't like Williams (yes, we do exist), Winter Study is one of the few things about the school that I can talk about positively. I thought it was great. For one thing, having free time was really nice. I went skiing 4 or 5 times a week and was able to hang out with my friends a lot more. Freshman year I bonded with my entry and took a weekend trip with them to New York, where one of my JAs lived.
And to be honest, I thought the classes were more interesting than some of the regular semester classes I took. Sophomore year I took a class on corporate leadership, where each day a different business leader came in to speak. I got to go out to dinner with a retired CEO and heard him tell a number of interesting stories, including one about his involvement in a whistleblowing event when he was younger. I met John Kraft, the son of Bob Kraft, owner of the Patriots. Senior year, I took a class on Bruce Springsteen and learned a hell of a lot about his lyrics and the meanings behind much of what he has written.
Overall I would say Winter Study was the best part of the year, and I know I am not the only one who has expressed that sentiment.</p>