Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 planning to double-major in Economics and Philosophy. Outside of academics and blogging, you can find me drawing (perhaps even designing for The Dartmouth), hosting my radio show as a proud deejay at WebDCR, perusing the Free Market, or hanging out with friends. Ultimately, I am an artist and a storyteller. I hope you enjoy reading about my Dartmouth experience; the journey has just begun!
I took this course with Professor James Binkoski and loved it! I had never taken a philosophy course prior to Dartmouth, so this introductory course in the department was perfect! After all, it combined my interests of philosophy with time and time travel — at least, how time and time travel are depicted in the media. This course may initially seem to be on the more technical side, but Professor Binkoski made sure to break down the various time travel theories — various ways scientists and philosophers think of time and its supposed movement — in a manner that’s easy for anyone to understand. A very popular course overall; I am fortunate to have been able to take it during my first term here!
I took this course with Professor Ha Yan Lee and it was absolutely amazing! I had my initial reservations about this course, mainly because I knew a lot of my classmates would have had some background knowledge while I had none. Professor Lee did a wonderful job of breaking down concepts in a manner that, as she often put it, is easy for even “your grandparents to understand”. Even beyond the course, the level of care Professor Lee exhibited towards her students is significant. She’s one of the most popular professors at Dartmouth, and for good reason! I ate lunch with her at The Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Lunch program, and she gave me tremendous insight and advice! Because of this course, I have been inspired to explore more courses within the Econ department and potentially major in Economics.
I took this course with Professor Jasmina Savic and examined how the vampire figure evolved over time, starting with Slavic literature, going through Dracula and Twilight, and ending with “vampire” political figures. I realized what the portrayal of vampires could tell me about the thoughts of that society, including the fact that the early notions of vampirism are akin to modern-day diseases. For my final project, I wrote a research paper comparing the gumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox) to several Western vampires.
SummerNew York City, New York
I had the opportunity to visit New York City for the summer! I met up with a good friend of mine, explored the city itself, and went to a networking event with other college students.
ECON 10 is one of the required courses for the Economics major. Based on my stellar experience with Professor Ha Yan Lee during ECON 1, when I saw that she was teaching ECON 10 this term, I immediately jumped at the chance to take the course with her. Once again, Professor Lee did an amazing job of breaking down concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. (The fact that her slideshows were colorful and featured various pictures of cats helped.)
Some of you readers may have caught upon a tradition of mine by now: I tend to write an overview of my classes for each term. (You can find my reflections for fall and winter term here and here, respectively.)
Disclaimer: I haven't quite yet wrapped up spring term. The campus is abuzz with the inevitable stress that comes with taking a third midterm (admittedly more rare, but I am one of those students) to the excitement of Green Key and all its related programming. As I am working on my final projects for my classes, I thought this would be a good time to reflect upon the classes I chose to take this term.
ECON 21 Microeconomics:This class builds upon the concepts I learned in ECON 1, and is another requirement for the economics major. This class is notoriously difficult; in fact, it's one of the three most difficult courses in the economics department! While most people choose to take this class during their sophomore or junior year, I decided to take ECON 21 this term with Professor Doyle since I knew most of the concepts I learned from ECON 1 would be fresh in my mind. The course requires a little bit of a calculus background, but as someone who doesn't classify herself as a "math person", the calculus aspect has been manageable so far! I really enjoyed connecting the concepts I had learned in ECON 1 in a mathematical sense, and Professor Doyle managed to explain everything in a clear and methodical way.
RUSS 7.07 Monster Trafficking: The second part of the first-year writing requirement is a first-year seminar, which people need to take following their Writing 5 course. Just like Writing 5, I had an extensive list of first-year seminars on a variety of topics ranging from colonialism in Asian-American literature, to zombies, to gender in science fiction. I chose to take a course in the Russian department about vampires in Slavic literature to fulfill my first-year seminar requirement. When I thought of vampires, figures that came to mind included Edward Cullen from Twilight and The Count from Sesame Street. Taught by Professor Savic, through this class, I learned that vampires go beyond the stereotypical pale, tall, cunning figure with fangs. There are a lot of interesting meanings in the way vampires have been portrayed in Slavic literature—especially through the lens of sexuality.
ENGS 15.05 Blockchain Explored:This class does not meet a major requirement, nor does it fill up a distributive. Therefore, I am taking this class solely for my own enjoyment! Some of the things I learned about in the class with Professor Goodenough include the history of blockchains and how they have evolved over time, the effects of blockchain in society, and different policies that have been implemented as a result of blockchain and cryptocurrency. We even bought and sold (fake) cryptocurrency to gain hands-on experience via a simulation! I am currently working on a final paper examining blockchain technology and its risks from an ethical perspective.
I traded cryptocurrency — although I did end up losing money. Luckily, all the money I lost was fake!
That is all for this post, my friends. This blogger must resume writing essays and studying for an upcoming midterm. Until next time!
Unlike some other universities, many of the STEM lecture classes at Dartmouth require concurrent enrollment in a laboratory section. What is it like navigating that time as a student?
