Hi everyone! My name's Daniel, and I'm a 25! I'm from California, but I also lived in Seoul, South Korea for almost half of my life. I'm hoping to major in Biological Anthropology. If I'm not under my sheets watching a new Netflix series, you'll probably catch me at Dirt Cowboy Café drinking iced mocha or hanging out with my friends on the Green. I hope you learn something new about Dartmouth today!
With finals coming to a close at the end of Week 10, I am officially done with my first term at Dartmouth! My first term was undoubtedly an invaluable experience, meeting new people, learning to live independently, taking thought-provoking, rigorous courses, and far more. However, at the same time, I missed my family and home in California and was beyond ecstatic to travel back. I'm from Irvine, California, a suburban region just south of Los Angeles. According to Google Maps, it's approximately 3,000 miles away, and I wanted to share with you guys how my grandiose trip went!
#1: Dartmouth Coach
The view from my seat in my Dartmouth Coach bus!
Dartmouth has a great bus service known as the Dartmouth Coach that allows students to travel from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire to main cities in the East Coast like New York and Boston. My flight was scheduled to leave at the Boston Logan airport, so I booked a ticket to travel directly to Boston Logan at 10:40. One tip is that if you're running late or need an earlier ride, you can simply keep your original ticket and use it for any time of the day; Dartmouth Coach is very flexible in time changes, at least for rides to Boston.
#2: Flight to LAX
Before going to the airport, I visited my friend's house in Boston really briefly.
After arriving around 12:40 at Boston Logan, I spent about 30-minutes checking in for my flight. Then, I completed some final project work for my anthropology course at the airport waiting to board (always have to be grinding!). My flight was scheduled to be around 6-hours.
#3: Car Ride to Irvine
Peaceful car ride through the greenery of Irvine! It was over 85 degrees this day.
Irvine is around a 1-hour drive from LAX. My mom and sister picked me up from the airport, taking me to my lovely home! It was beyond exciting returning to a more urban environment, something very different from Hanover. I consider myself lucky to be able to experience both the nature-y and beautiful Hanover town as well as the populated yet peaceful Irvine.
One of the really cool aspects of Dartmouth is that the college is located in a rural area but still has access to urban areas like Boston. Last week, I took a three-hour bus ride on the Dartmouth Coach for a weekend getaway in Boston.
Being in DC this summer and participating in the Rockefeller Center's First Year Fellows program, I've been able to really see just how special the Dartmouth alumni network is.
During a recent conversation with my HS friend who also goes to college in the US, we discussed what it's like experiencing culture shock especially as international students. I'd love to share the tips we developed to combat this feeling.
I can still vividly remember the combination of nervousness and excitement I felt preparing for my first year of college. After an eventful freshman year, here is some advice to '26s as you get ready for your first year:
The view from my seat in my Dartmouth Coach bus!
Before going to the airport, I visited my friend's house in Boston really briefly.
Peaceful car ride through the greenery of Irvine! It was over 85 degrees this day.
