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 study Linguistics, Native American & Indigenous Studies, and Spanish. I am passionate about social justice, language-learning, 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.
Before this class, I had no idea what visual and cultural studies actually encompassed. Every chat with Prof. Broner opened my eyes to a different analysis or method for interpreting literature, and for that, I feel truly lucky! We got to discuss films made by Indigenous women from all over Latin America, exposing the class to distinct ways of interacting with and stewarding the environment.
Now that the winter is officially over, I have been finding a lot of joy in rediscovering Hanover's unique beauty under much sunlight. Spring has officially sprung, and it brought along temperatures that range from 15 to 25 degrees Celsius – sorry, I don't speak Fahrenheit :(
With this warmer weather, many opportunities to get outside also appeared. A professor of mine has started to teach every other lesson on the Green; I have been finding a lot of joy in sitting on the grass to do my homework; my friends and I have been taking long walks across campus, and honestly, I even got a little bit of a suntan this past week!
Reading outside!
Going through the Winter in Hanover is not easy at all, if I am being honest. Personally, I am used to the warm, sunny tropical lifestyle. Before leaving Brazil, I could barely picture myself going to class wearing anything other than shorts and t-shirts. During the Fall here at Dartmouth, I sort of managed to keep up with that fashion: it was only sometimes that I found myself in need of putting on some trousers and jumpers. Nonetheless, when the snowy days of Winter started hitting, it was hard to not give in to sweatpants and puffer jackets.
But, as the Sun starts to come out more often, I feel my entire body react to the weather. As you can read here, I have had quite an intense experience navigating mental health issues since I got to campus. The weather, as one can guess, plays a great role in this. Currently, however, I can confidently say that I have never been so glad to be here. Not only being outside seems more pleasing, but the overall feeling of campus is a lighter one. I find myself smiling at the green grass, or perplexed by the way flowers are blooming all around us.
Outside with my friends :)
This weather is also a great opportunity to take my sunny outfits out of the drawer, sit outside to do my readings, and in general, just find better excuses to leave my room and be outside. It is undeniable that the Dartmouth campus is pretty all year long, but this season has done wonders to my everyday life, and I could not be more grateful for it.
Through Dartmouth's Guarini Institute for International Study, I am getting to take classes and experience life at Wellesley College, an all-women's school!
