New Fitness Center!

With shame, I have to admit that I am the embodiment of the feared "freshman fifteen." I first heard the phrase during my senior year of high school – the myth that college students gain fifteen pounds their freshman year - and foolishly dismissed it. "Shouldn’t I lose weight because I’ll miss my mom’s home Korean cooking?" I thought. Well, here I am, third term of college and my scale tells me I am significantly heavier. I should have known better.

Dartmouth makes people way too happy – I love school, the food here is great, and the midnight snacks are even better. With Food Court open until 1 AM and the local pizza place delivering until 2:10 AM, freshman fifteen traps are everywhere. I have friends who gained 10, 20 pounds. Without much choice, I have decided to become a gymaholic this term, and lucky for me, our amazing new fitness center was unveiled just last week!

The new Kresge (pronounced KREHZ-kee) fitness center is a 14,000 square-foot facility. It has a corner for yoga and yoga DVDs, free weight machines, and dumbbells, as well as a mezzanine where you can use the cardio machines while looking out to the streets through the giant windows. The best feature, however, are the cardio machines with personal TV screens! I can just go over to the gym with my headphones and work out while watching VH1’s ‘100 Greatest Red Carpet Moments’. My friends and I also have fun trying out all sorts of new weight machines that I can’t even name or describe. Dartmouth students can use the fitness center anytime (it is open until 11 PM) and you can enter and exit with just a swipe of your student ID card. The fitness center will also be used for some of Dartmouth's many physical education courses.

Although I wish that I didn’t gain weight in the first place, and didn’t have to go to the gym so much, this new fitness center will definitely make things easier for me and my friends united in losing our freshman fifteen.