Ei! My name is Antônio Jorge Medeiros Batista Silva (yes—four last names!) and I'm a '25 from Governador Valadares, Brazil. My journey to Dartmouth has crossed two continents, three countries, and over 10 schools—and I'm a strong believer that everyone's path to the Big Green was unique in a way. At Dartmouth, I am interested in studying Linguistics, Native American & Indigenous Studies, and Spanish. I am really passionate about social justice, learning languages, and the oxford comma!
This class is an introduction to the Spanish minor and major courses and, although I did not expect to particularly like it, it not only turned out to be my favourite but it made me start considering a degree in the department!
In this class, we analysed different productions of Latinx American theatre. Prof. Analola Santana was probably the best person I met this year at Dartmouth. Being her student was a very important experience as I try to navigate my potential majors and minors.
In this class, I was able to carve time out of my busy Dartmouth schedule to study and learn my Indigenous language: Krenak. With the help of Prof. Gokke, all students were encouraged to develop a final project that spoke to their community's needs for language learning and revitalisation. It was an extremely important class for me, not only academically, but also for my personal healing process.
I had the honour of spending my sophomore fall in Madrid, taking part in the Spanish FSP. There, Prof. Martín was not only a great professor, responsible for my favourite lecture of the program, but also an incredible company throughout our classes and in-country trips. Great way to wrap up my Spanish minor, honestly!
This was my second class in the NAIS department, and thus it took me one step closer to wrapping up my major. Nonetheless, it was Prof. Powell's genuine charisma and caring personality that made it my favourite of the term!
This course was definitely life changing! Prof. Pochedley, a visiting post-doc of the Potawatomi nation did a great job at keeping the students engaged while teaching us to see the land we inhabit as a source of knowledge and spirituality. In a majority Indigenous classroom, we got to develop individual projects related to our traditional homelands, learning to navigate the world through Native world lenses.
Prof. Gómez is one of those profs I've always wanted to take a class with. His work with the Horror genre in Modern Spanish literatures amazes me, and it was an honour to guide in-class discussions and develop my own research on the themes of science, testimony, and fear.
LING54 is an umbrella course: the actual content of the course may vary each year, but it is the common letter-number code to refer to the course taught abroad by your accompanying Dartmouth Linguistics professor. In this year's Linguistics Foreign Study Program (FSP), LING54 was a 'Language Documentation' class, wonderfully taught by Prof. David Peterson.
Honestly, it was hard for me to picture myself in an Ivy League. As I write this, flashbacks of my time writing application essays hit me like bullets. That was not an easy time, and I acknowledge the stress, pain, and confusion that came with it. Nonetheless, I am also struck by the memory of my friends, family, and teachers helping me in all ways they could. Now that this period is over for most high school seniors who shot their best shots to get into a college in the United States, I am bringing myself to another mindset. As I start to meet the incredible people who constitute the class of 2026, the idea that, in three weeks, my last term as a freshman will to an end, shocks me.
The thought of coming back to campus as a sophomore is as scary of an idea as the thought of attending an Ivy League back when I was in high school. But, now, I feel better equipped to face the adversities that might come my way and adapt to the circumstances that I will find myself in.
My favourite study spot at McLaughlin!
For starters, it is fair to say that everyone's experience at Dartmouth is one of a kind. No one will live the same four years as you. And, illustrating this, if you are an avid reader of my blog, you might be aware that I will not be seeing Hanover until the spring term of 2023. In both trying to escape the New Hampshire winter and planning ahead for my intended majors, I applied to Foreign Study Programs (FSPs) that will have me studying in two different countries for the fall and the winter terms.
If everything goes well, in the fall I will be in Madrid with the Spanish program, furthering my knowledge of the language and fully immersing myself in the context of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Right after that, I will be heading to Auckland, New Zealand, where I will enroll in the Linguistics FSP – taking two lessons in LING, one in ANTH, and lessons in the Maori language.
Although being a second-year student at Dartmouth is a very scary idea currently, I know that I will make the best of my time here – whether on campus or not. I look forward to living in three different continents throughout the year, and to all things, I will learn. If reading this, the fear and anxiety of starting a new life at college hit you as well, I want you to know that, although scary, these four years will forever change your life.
Traditionally, Dartmouth students take three courses during a term, but I decided to take four courses this term! Learn about course load and the academic system at Dartmouth.
Coming back from Spring break usually means coming back to an entirely different campus than the one you left in the Winter – but that was not the case this year! Read on to hear more...
