Fall Weekend at Connecticut College is a time for celebrating the fall and seeing your parents, all while trying to attended every event the College puts on. This year was only the second time my family came for Fall Weekend; their first visit came during my first year.

During my first year, I was craving some mothering and TLC while also trying to prove to my family that I was a successful college student. This year, I was trying harder to savor my last Fall Weekend by balancing my event attendance with time spent simply hanging out with my family.

Traffic on I-95 prevented us from going to the a cappella show on Friday night — I heard it was wonderful — but I did get to have a fun, late-night meal with my family at Groton Townhouse Diner, which is open 24-7.

On Saturday, my family wound our way through the Harvestfest tent, looking at all the goods the Conn clubs had to offer. We ended up getting a cactus from the equestrian team, a fanny pack from Best Buddies and hot sauce from the Sprout Garden.

After lunch, my family met my friends’ parents and my dog got all the attention she wanted. Afterwards, I went to the theater department’s production of “Elephant’s Graveyard.” It was a moving piece about an incident involving a circus elephant in Tennessee in 1916. The show was poignant and dark, but the actors were brilliant and the production was impeccable.

Once the performance finished, I ran home to change quickly for the next two events of the evening: The Goodwin-Niering Center for the Environment Banquet and the onStage performance of Belá Fleck and Abigail Washburn. At the banquet, I gave a presentation about my internship this summer, along with the other seniors, and enjoyed a delicious meal that was locally sourced.

The evening performance afterwards was amazing. Belá and Abigail are both world-renowned banjo players and their spellbinding playing was an honor to attend. One memorable moment was when they asked the audience what rhymed with “New London” so they could add a new verse to one of their songs. The final result? Sour onions.