Hi there :) My name is Bryanna and I'm a '23 who was raised in Singapore. On campus I co-direct Sugarplum Dance Team, am involved in the Dickey Center's War and Peace Fellows program, do oral history research on the Vietnam War, and am writing a history honors thesis on the Cambodian Genocide. In my free time, I work as a barista at a local cafe called the Nest, listen to The Daily, and watch Masterchef (I'm trying to get into cooking).
With only 12 people, this course was the perfect seminar style course to introduce me to the history department at Dartmouth. We learned about pre-Columbus America up until the American Revolution, exploring a vast period of American history that is largely swept over in high school curriculums.
As someone who hopes to attend law school one day, this course was the perfect introduction to legal jargon, briefs, and the like. Professor Kalish helped me improve my writing my leaps and bounds as we explored judicial philosophies, current Supreme Court cases, and court history.
Despite my inability to sing or act, I've always been a big fan of theatre. Quite frankly, this course is one of the reasons I applied to Dartmouth in the first place. We read plays written from the early 1900s up to Hamilton, engaging with each deeply through class discussions and essay writing.
This summer I interned with a food bank in Philadelphia called Philabundance through the Dartmouth Partners in Community Service (DPCS) summer internship program. Each year, students apply to be matched as interns with non-profits in San Francisco, Philadelphia, or Boston. I completed the 10 week internship remotely from Asia, working a 9pm to 5am shift 5 days a week. It was an incredibly timely experience, as I worked primarily on Philabundance's COVID-19 relief efforts.
It was surreal to see Instagram flood in with 27s celebrating their acceptances on Thursday. I will never share campus with them, as this Spring is my last at Dartmouth. Spring -- as it is for many -- has always been my favorite term on campus. There is something about the way each day gets warmer that makes people on campus progressively happier through the term. Eventually the leaves are back on the trees, the water is warm enough to swim in, and I'll trade my jeans out for shorts.
Here are ten things on my spring bucket list:
1. First off, there is a tradition called the "daily dip" that seniors partake in, where every day of the term we submerge ourselves in the Connecticut River. Yes, even in March. It's bone numbingly cold but definitely wakes you up!
Me and my friend Rachel doing the "Daily Dip"
2. Spring skiing! I went to Stowe this weekend, which is a full sized resort just an hour and a half away from campus. It was the perfect day -- 60 degrees and sunny.
3. I'm finishing my history honors thesis on US policy during the Cambodian Genocide. It will end up being around 120 pages and will serve as the perfect bridge between my childhood growing up in Southeast Asia and history degree.
5. As director of my dance group Sugarplum, I'm choreographing and setting our senior showcase that will be performed in May.
6. I'm taking a tabla (Indian drumming) class this term called "Music and Dance of North India." Sandeep Das, a world-famous tabla player and composer, is driving up from Boston twice a week to teach us.
My first Dartmouth friend, Kealia, in our tabla class
7. I'm also taking a class called "Buddhist Meditation Theory" with Professor Gregory Seton. All my friends who have taken it have phenomenal things to say, and I've loved it so far!
8. Making the most of the Norwich Farmers Market when it opens for the season! They sell the absolute best grilled cheese sandwiches in the Upper Valley.
9. Lounging on the Green. It's almost warm enough to do work on the Green, which recently got wifi coverage. There's nothing better than laying out after a long morning of classes.
Sleeping on the Green!
10. Working at the Nest in town! It's a tiny little coffee shop that is staffed predominantly by Dartmouth students. It has the best coffee and breakfast sandwiches in town -- no question. It's also a great place to study off campus.
I have written about being a student worker plenty of times in the past, but I have yet to talk about one of my favorite jobs ever: ticket selling at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
It's not every day that my Intro to Chinese Culture and Understanding the Universe classes were both canceled, but the cosmos had other plans. Welcome to a rare weekday in my life with no classes!
