Gabrielle Kirlew

I wrote an entire blog post about my experience with First Year Trips and my experience being a member of this team, but I would be remiss not to mention it in my fall highlights because it was such an impactful part of my term. Who wouldn’t love spending three weeks welcoming freshmen while dancing in weird clothing? 

My sorority, Chi Delta hosted our second annual Oktoberfest during the first weekend of the term. I was not taking classes last fall (I was at home doing an internship) and missed our first annual Oktoberfest, so I was excited to experience the festivities this year. Like the real Oktoberfest in Germany, (some) people came dressed in dirndls and we feasted on pretzels and popcorn. 

As much as I love Dartmouth, and as much time as I’ve spent away from home at this point, I still periodically get very homesick. This was this case for me on a few occasions this term. Luckily, I had family members visit me during three separate times during the fall. Seeing my family members was the perfect pick-me-up in the midst of pending assignments, midterms, extracurricular commitments and any other stressor in my life

My last hoco as a Dartmouth student! It was a fun weekend, nonetheless. I ran one lap around the bonfire with my friend Allison for nostalgic purposes on Friday night, and then on Saturday I went to the homecoming football game against Yale. We were two touchdowns behind at halftime, but we came back in the fourth quarter to win the game.

Every year, the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock holds a half marathon in Hanover that begins at the center of the Green. Completing this race has been on my Dartmouth bucket list ever since I enrolled, and I finally did it this year! I did not train nearly as much as I should have, so the race was a struggle, but running across the finish line and seeing my friends and sister was such a good feeling

Back in October, the Dartmouth Football team played at Harvard. This is a very popular event for students (football-loving and otherwise) because the tailgate is tons of fun, and you can explore the city for a bit — I will admit, I snuck out of the game to get my Chipotle fix. Even though our team lost, it was well worth the journey

Harfest is an event held every fall at the Dartmouth Organic Farm where you eat great food, drink homemade cider and chill by the Connecticut River. Did I mention that everything was FREE? On the day of the event, it was an unusually hot 70 degrees, which made everything even more pleasant.