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 and computational humanities through Sophomore and Neukom scholars!
This term is cold. It is 2019 winter and I’m just here trying to survive, but in the meantime, I’ve been learning all about how to have fun in the snow.
Last Friday my history professor, Professor Monahan, took a whole group of us down to the golf course near Occom Pond to Nordic ski. Professor Monahan is visiting professor from the University of New Mexico, but she's also a Dartmouth alum. When she was in her first year here, her Russian professor took her class out to Nordic ski, and from then on it has become a lifelong hobby of hers.
She wanted to be able to pass that down to another generation of students, many of whom, like me, have had little access to snow time activities (there's not a lot of opportunities to go skiing in Houston, TX). It was deemed “experiential learning” by the university, and all costs were covered by the history department. Score!
Group photo of all us skiers! That's Professor Monahan down there kneeling in the blue jacket... big plug - she's the best!
When we're not learning Nordic skiing, Professor Monahan is teaching my writing seminar on Catherine the Great, in the history department (yes, I know, my name is Catherine, yes I’m taking this class on her, yes I get this a lot). We headed over to the golf course right after class, and on the way, Professor Monahan told us about the history of Nordic skiing in Russia.
Me and my classmate Blake! We actually met about 20 minutes before taking this photo...but now we're buds!
I’ve never cross country skied before, but let me tell you it's so much fun. They aren’t like regular skis where you clip these huge clunky books into these huge and heavy skis; these skis are light, thin, and the boots simply slip in at the toe. When you move you can walk or run somewhat normally, except you are gliding on skis through the snow. It is truly a blast. Plus, you get to experience Hanover in its prime – aka, when it’s covered in snow.
I mean look at this view. Truly, winter time is Hanover in its prime.
I mean overall, it wasn't the worst place to spend a Friday afternoon. Hey, I might've found a new hobby!
Thinking back, this winter has been a whirlwind. I wanted to use this final blog post as an opportunity to organize my thoughts and share some reflections as I move into my final term!
Dartmouth is home to 35 Division I varsity teams, 33 club sports, and a variety of intramurals, so I assure you that there is a place to get involved here for student-athletes of all levels.
I mean look at this view. Truly, winter time is Hanover in its prime.
