Last summer I was working a ton of hours at a new hotel in Hanover, New Hampshire. My thoughts on that time period are that I got to meet some of the nicest people but I also met some of the biggest entitled bunch of jerks. Hanover is where Dartmouth College is. In fact I could throw a stone and hit the Dartmouth Green. Suprisingly it was not the students who were jerks, nor was it the many parents it is some of the former graduates! Lets say that many of them are polititians, and CEO's, and news personalities. Now this is not to say that all of these people are jerks but there are about 3% who overshadow the nice people. Having said this, we had the class of 1942 come to the hotel for their class reunion.
These were the coolest people I have ever met! Think about it they are in their late 80's and early 90's. I wish I had half the energy these people have! They were kind and polite and they all asked us if we would like to accompany them to their events. This included a hike up MT Cardigan and a dance. They never got back from the dance until after 2:00 am and they were all up and out the door again by 7 am for their next function. I remember asking our General Manager " Could we keep them?" They were just amazing people.
A couple of months later, I met a guest who explained to me why that generation was so awesome! In December of 1941 Pearl Harbor was bombed. By January of 1942, the US Navy had taken over Dartmouth College and several other Universities as a naval installation. This meant that if you were a Dartmouth College student and you were male, you were instantly drafted on the spot and shipped out. All other students were sent home. This went on for the years that the war was going on. Many of the male students never made it home! So when the war was over and life resumed, there was a celebration. But in reality the class of 1942-44 never graduated.
Now put this in perspective for a minute. We all remember how we felt or even where we were on 9/11. Now imagine your in college on campus and it happened. With in less than a month, your either drafted or kicked off campus, your studies are put on hold for a few years, and you are not getting any money back for not being able to go to school, oh and your still having to pay for your student loans while there's a few years of war even though you can't go to school. Oh and your classmates are dying in war overseas. Life changed drastically for these people just as it did for us on 9/11. So when the Class of 42-44 has their reunion, these people are to be in awe over.
Another cool fact about Dartmouth is that they do the Steam Tunnel Tours on occassion. Everything was run on the coal and steam boilers that are over 150 years old. So you can get a better appreciation of how things were and still are by taking the tour. Some of the buildings on and off campus are over 200 years old. Now cool side note that no one knows.: the steam tunnels are how the liquor was smuggled in to Dartmouth College during Prohabition. The Green Mountain Boys would go through the tunnel under the Norwich Inn (which was a Speak Easy during the 1920's) to the river ,1 mile down the road, and then loaded on a small boat and brought to shore,and up through the steam tunnels to Dartmouth and beyond. This went on for years.
The movie Animal House was written by a Dartmouth College Student and Dartmouth was were the movie was based on. That generation still comes and thinks its PARTY Time! ( Rent it on Netflix)
Now why is it that I can remember all this cool but useless trivia???? but I have a hard time remembering what I read? I admit that if I am ever on Jeapordy or Cash Cab and they ask about the above I am covered! But what are the chances of that ever happening. So I decided that in order to remember what I read I need to act like its trivia that I may have to use. I don't know if this will help anyone or not but: I figured that my strategy may actually work.
No comments:
Post a Comment