Chidera Duru

I always say that the best thing about Dartmouth is the people. Dartmouth’s campus community is made up of so many kind, supportive and fun students, faculty and staff. A new term brings new opportunities to make new friends in my residential community, classes and clubs. Being together in the woods during the cold winter also makes me so much more appreciative of being able to spend time with other people.

Although classes at Dartmouth can be challenging, learning new things is always fun! This term, I’m taking a writing class, a mathematical economics class and a public policy class, each one more exciting than the next. All my classes this term are related to my intended major, economic policy, so I’m always looking forward to my classes. I’m especially excited about my writing class, where our goal for the term is to write a research paper on any topic of our choice, which is something I’ve never done before!

Before coming to Dartmouth, I had never seen snow before, so seeing the campus complete surrounded in a gorgeous blanket of snow has been a sharp but beautiful change. I will be honest with you, it is very cold, but the new season brings new and fun activities. From sledding on the golf course to hitting the slopes at the Dartmouth Skiway, there are so many ways to have fun outside. This past weekend, I experienced my first campus wide snowball fight, one of Dartmouth’s unique traditions, where Dr Seuss sends out an email inviting Dartmouth students to a snowball fight on the green!

Writing 2 is my first class of the day and it’s such an amazing way to start my day. There are different writing classes that Dartmouth offers for first years depending on how comfortable you are with college-level writing, and I picked Writing 2 because I felt that, as someone who had basically no experience with academic writing, this class would be best for me. Nine weeks later, I’m incredibly more confident and comfortable writing essays and papers. There are only fifteen of us in this class so it’s often very discussion based with a lot of peer-reviewing. It’s amazing how we’ve all grown as a class and have all become more confident and competent. Our professor and a TA have been so helpful and are so dedicated to helping us improve as writers.

Taking this class was actually a last-minute decision I made on the last day of course election and it’s one I definitely do not regret. I was slightly interested in anthropology and the course description sounded really interesting, so I decided to take it! We covered so many interesting topics about human evolution, from Neanderthals from a hundred thousand years ago, till the way that modern humans are still changing and evolving today. Most importantly, I learnt how a field like anthropology that sometimes seems to be more focused on past events has so much significance in the way we view human society today.

This was definitely the class I was most nervous about coming to Dartmouth. Before college, I had never taken any calculus classes and never really liked math, but as an intended economics major, I knew I was going to have to take math classes. Overall, I’m so proud on how I’ve done in this course this term. With the help of the amazing professors and TA for this course, I’ve been able to keep up with and understand the material. I’m even taking another math class next term and I’m feeling more confident about being an economics major.

Sanborn library, home to Dartmouth’s English department is one of the most beautiful study spaces on campus. It’s almost too easy to get lost in the intricate wood columns, iron railings and leather cushioned chairs and forget about the work you actually set out to do. Sanborn is great for when you need to be in a quiet space to get a lot of work done. Pro-tip: get a seat by the window so you can sit in natural light as you work.

I think these rooms are some of the most underrated spots on campus. These are rooms where groups of people can come together to collaborate on projects they are working on together. There are several study rooms in various buildings all over campus, but my favorites are the ones on the first floor of berry library. There are whiteboards so you can write stuff down to help you learn or perhaps explain something to a friend. There are also large tv/monitors you can use for slideshows and presentations. I usually study with other people, so these rooms are really helpful when you want to study in a group but don’t want to be noisy and distract other people.

There’s nothing quite like studying right at the center of campus, surrounded not only by nature, but also by other members of the Dartmouth community. The green is one of my favorite study spots because you get to see how much of a hub of activity this campus is, while also being able to sit back and get some work done. It’s never so noisy that you wouldn’t be able to concentrate, neither is it too quiet that it would make you fall asleep. It’s the perfect combination of activity and calm natural vibes.