Hi y'all! I'm Catherine and I'm from the great state of Texas. When I'm not in class you'll find me carefully curating Spotify playlists, exploring the Upper Valley with friends, or finding ways to enjoy the great outdoors through different sub-clubs with the DOC. I am the Treasurer of the club lacrosse team, a tutor for the Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, and am involved with research in machine learning to improve healthcare outcomes with sophomore scholars!
It’s cold. It’s finals. You’re tired of doing work and holing yourself up in the stacks of Baker-Berry Library all day does not sound particularly fun. What do you do? Where do you go?
That’s the exact position I found myself in at the end of this winter term. Thank goodness there are other places on campus to study, especially ones with warmth and sun. During finals week, I discovered the greenhouse, located on the fourth floor of the Life Sciences Center, which is open to the public and has tables open that are a perfect place to study.
A view of my cozy study spot amongst the plants.
The minute you walk inside the greenhouse you are hit by the natural warmth of the sun and surrounded by the greenness of the plants. This may sound strange, but after a winter full of whiteness whenever you walk outside, the sight of green plants is oddly pleasurable. I set up shop at one of the open tables and was able to study for hours in warmth and relaxation.
As I previously mentioned, the greenhouse is open to the community, which makes it an incredible public space that fosters educational and research missions. They even give tours of the botanical collections. While students will often study at the open tables, and they're available for meetings or lunches.
My favorite part of the greenhouse—the cacti!
If you venture further into the greenhouse you can visit other rooms where different types of plants are grown based on their conditions. One room has dry, arid plants like cacti, while other rooms house plants that live in a tropical or temperate climate. There is also a beautiful orchid collection. While I am in no way an expert on plants or their biology, it is a nice relaxing study break to be able to go on a walk through the various rooms, looking at and admiring all the different kinds of plants. Especially coming off of ten weeks of winter, being able to enjoy the warmth of the sun amongst the many varieties of plants is both relaxing and invigorating.
I've found there are a ton of ways to have fun here, even outside of Dartmouth's well-known Greek system. Here are some of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday!
A place that I have wanted to explore for forever is Quechee Gorge in Quechee State Park. For my friend's birthday over the summer, we planned an adventure of a day with brunch, a trip to Quechee, and dinner at her favorite restaurant.
Winter Carnival is a weekend-long event that began in 1911 to admire the beauty of the Upper Valley in the winter and to celebrate the success of Dartmouth's winter sports teams.
Now, I did my online research before coming here, but even then I am easily overwhelmed by the sheer number of weird, quirky, but undeniably fun traditions Dartmouth has to offer.
Looking back at my housing selection process, I realized there is very little information available about the LLCs. I wrote this blog post to tell you five reasons why I love the Humanities LLC.
As a southerner, my biggest concern about Dartmouth was how I was going to cope with the cold. Luckily, I have a lot of friends that are also excited to embrace the snow with me, so I wanted to share how we've been enjoying winter term so far!
Being in West House means Tuk-Tuk dinners and fun house events almost every week, but this month it also means having the opportunity to join West House's Intramural (IM) basketball team.
I've taken to sitting and watching, treating myself to the slowness of green tea and silence of an uninterrupted morning. But that's one of the best things about college—it offers ample moments for reflection.
