Colby College

The steps leading to Miller Library are a symbolic beginning and end to life at Colby. One of the first things new students do, after dumping all their stuff into their dorm rooms and meeting their roommate, is go to the steps with their parents to listen to a welcome to Colby speech. Commencement ceremonies also take place on the steps.

On the last day of classes, seniors gather on the Miller Steps (surprise, surprise) to toast the school. This sounds like a perfectly respectable and mature thing to do, until you realize that the seniors aren't toasting with glasses, they're toasting with multiple bottles. Waterville's liquor stores actually sell out of champagne in the days before the toast—many students end up going to stores in Augusta. In the past, this toast has been followed by a swim across Johnson Pond, but this was forbidden a few years ago.

Doghead is a huge party that takes place the weekend closest to St. Patrick's Day. It's usually held at an off-campus house, and people wake up as early as 4 a.m. to start drinking. One year, the police heard in advance about the party, and it ended up being cancelled, but the party just ended up moving on campus. Everyone still started drinking before breakfast and partied all weekend.

This is an amazingly well-attended beauty pageant featuring men rather than women. Mr. Colby is a great opportunity for the men of Colby to show of all their assets (especially their senses of humor). Runners-up are crowned Mr. Bates and Mr. Bowdoin.

Colby is situated on a big hill in the middle of Maine, so obviously sledding is popular here. While people can get pretty creative about coming up with things to sled on, your college experience isn't complete until you've stolen a cafeteria tray and slid down Chapel Hill. Be careful—trays go really, really fast.

The first and last weekend of each semester are called Loudness weekends. Bands perform and activities are planned. The first Loudness is especially great, because classes are just starting, and no one is too bogged down in homework yet. The end-of-semester Loudnesses typically feature stress-busting activities to help people get through finals.