Ben Rachel is a columnist for the features section of the Daily. Ben is a junior studying economics and computer science, and can be reached at benjamin.rachel@tufts.edu.
If you have been keeping up to date with my column publications, you would know (based on my last column) that I was recently in the trenches and in the midst of midterms. As of this past Wednesday, I finished all my midterms for the fall 2025 season — just in time for finals!
Well here we are again. Midterm season. Let’s do some math together. This is my third year writing “A Jumbo’s Journey,” equating to just under five semesters. Given that each semester comes with a midterm season — some lasting months — this makes midterm piece number five. Wow, I am quickly losing content.
Telling people that I am a part of a DJ duo is super strange. It’s not because of the actual act of DJing, but because my first-year self would probably have a heart attack if I told him what I was doing with my time. My partner and I are going into our second year as the DJ duo known by the name rnr.dj (everyone should go follow on Instagram: @rnr.dj_).
Tufts is pretty unique — in all facets of the school. Ranging from the distinct and quirky clubs and organizations Tufts offers, such as Tufts Dance Collective and Alpha Tau Omega, to the eclectic style choices students rock in the Tisch Library basement, Tufts stands out as a university.
I was recently detained at the border between the U.S. and Canada. My friends and I decided that it would be fun to spend some time in Montreal before the school year got too tough. Unfortunately, to our dismay, the school year got tough before classes started.
Welcome all to another year of A Jumbo’s Journey! This is all very exciting, but also very strange. Three years of using the Daily as a platform to yap and rant about anything that crosses my mind is definitely not what I foresaw my college experience to be.
Wow. This is crazy. The semester is already coming to an end. Or, I guess we still have to survive finals. It’s definitely been a semester. To be honest, it’s definitely been a YEAR.
It took me a while to figure out what I was going to write about for this column. Initially, I was thinking about taking up a friend’s offer to ghostwrite for me, but I quickly thought otherwise because, come on, my loyal fans would’ve spotted an impostor. Later on, I found myself sitting on Prez Lawn, enjoying the beautiful weather and sun. It was one of those moments of peace and serenity — something that I realized I hadn’t felt in a while. I distinctly remember looking around and seeing an inordinate number of students lounging on Adirondack chairs and picnic blankets, smiling and laughing with each other. It brought a smile to my face.
Wow, I am so excited to be writing this edition of my column sporting my Nike Killshot 2 Leather shoes, comfortably lounging in my Nike Sportswear Tech Fleece sweatpants and bundled in my Nike Club Men’s Fleece Pullover Hoodie. What a day to be completely covered in Nike merchandise, sitting in the Nike library, writing this column on my NikeBook Pro using Nike Docs. I just love using Nike (not sponsored)!
This past week, one of my future housemates gave me a challenge for this column. She texted me (ignoring the very important text I had previously sent her) to say that I should make this column about “Tufts geese s-------ting up a storm all over campus and then like to draw some sort of moral parallel to that.”
