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.
Personally, I am not the biggest fan of the Winter. I do not particularly enjoy the snowy days, nor the outdoors during that time. With that in mind, I was scared that at Dartmouth, I would feel like an outcast. In the last two months in Hanover, temperatures have dropped drastically. Waking up early in the morning, heading out to class, and grabbing coffee on the way – the routine I got used to during Fall term – became very difficult at -4 °F temperature (or -20 °C for my fellow internationals!). However, Dartmouth offers many opportunities to make this time enjoyable, even if you are not into traditional Winter activities.
As the temperatures outside get lower and lower, my friends and I have developed a new routine. Since the beginning of Winter term, we all gather in a study room near Novack after class – our favourite café on campus. Here, I get to be comfortable, surrounded by people I like and going for a caramel macchiato every now and then. Besides that, I have got a lot of work done, which is turning out to be great.
I have found myself a group of friends that, like me, are not the biggest fans of the outdoors. As an international student from the tropics, I miss the Sun and the warm days. But now, I am learning to adapt to my new surroundings. Although Winter hikes and ice skating are still not particularly attractive to me, I have managed to find a sense of home even in this crazy weather.
My advice, thus, is for one to accept the challenges found on your way. Coming to the United States for college, I knew I would have to face certain adversities – I forgot to account for how much my mood varies according to the weather. However, Winter here has still been able an extremely rewarding experience as I've been able to enjoy my friends' company and explore activities that might not be the traditional winter activites we immediately think of. Overall, I get to learn to adapt and find new ways of calling Dartmouth my home.
On Monday, April 8, 2024, a phenomenal total solar eclipse occurred — and we happened to be within the path of totality. As a result, Dartmouth hosted a variety of eclipse-related events on- and off-campus. Find out how I spent the eclipse!
