The weekend started early this week with a choice between staying on campus for Mr. and Mrs. Barter's showing of French Film, Les Intouchables in Fentress, where students also ate les biscuits Francais and jumping on a school van headed for Hotchkiss and the Boys' Varsity Soccer showdown, which ended with a game-winner from Kevin O'Neill. Final score: Berkshire 4, Hotchkiss 2.

See the film trailer here.

Saturday morning Berkshire's Quiz Bowl team, Shuvam Charkraborty ('16), Captain Merit Glover ('14), and Noah Faison ('16) headed to MIT for its Fall Academic Tournament. The twelve rounds are one-on-one and organized into groups of teams. Those with the best records in the early rounds play each other in the late rounds, with poor records the same thing. It's kind of like the World Cup. Berkshire's team finished the prelims 4 to 2. Go Bears!

See the slideshow from a surprise visit to MIT's Media Lab here.

On Saturday afternoon, students chose between the Festival Latino in Lenox and seven different home games before all heading to the football field to watch the Varsity Football team take on Hotchkiss in a nailbiter under the lights. In the end, Hotchkiss prevailed, but the Bears really put their hearts into this game and made a 4 point loss feel more like a victory.

Saturday night, 9 students from CORE hiked up the mountain with Ms. McGovern, Ms. Loose-Brown, and Mr. Spear to the Russell Shelter, where they cooked pasta and lounged around the fire, making it into their tents well before the rain began. On Sunday, they hiked back down into a gorgeous fall day.

Sunday found kids with the ArtsReach group at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, community members at a blood drive in the gym, and playing Ultimate in Buck Valley. Students from Vietnam, Korea, China, and Japan met at Dr. Wu’s house on Sunday to enjoy a belated Moon festival. The food included Chinese dumplings, bean curd, vermicelli, barbequed chicken, and most importantly, moon cakes from ten thousand miles away! With lights dimmed and lanterns lit, Dr. Wu reminded students to call their parents and wish them a happy Moon festival.

Postponing the inevitable pre-Monday studying has to end sometime, but it's hard to do on a day like this!

Watch a slideshow of the weekend here.