Hello friends! My name is Diana D'Souza and I am pursuing a double major in Economics and Chinese. On campus, I live in the Humanities LLC and write for the Opinion section of The Dartmouth. I also serve on the Women in Business (WIB) Executive Board as the Co–Alumni Relations Chair. In my free time, I enjoy swimming, curating Spotify playlists, and baking with friends.
Hey there! Thank you for stumbling upon my blog and taking the time to get to know me. My name is Diana, and I hail from Edison, NJ, a large town known for its cultural food and home to the Thomas Edison Memorial Tower. I live with my parents and my twin brothers, Adam and Adrian. I am half-Vietnamese, half-Indian and have an unhealthy obsession with hotpot and ramen. In short, the life that I led in my hometown is drastically different from the one I am currently living at Dartmouth. As I left Edison on September 10th to make the six hour drive to New Hampshire, I was reluctant to leave my family, friends, food, and most importantly, my bed behind. However, during orientation week (O-week), I was reminded by plants (yes, plants) of why I so desperately wanted to come to Dartmouth.
On the second day of O-week, my roommate Abigail texted me that Roberts Plants of Hanover was offering free plants to all 23's (that's Hanover hospitality for you right there). We decorated pots for our plants at the Collis Kickoff only to realize that we didn't have any dirt. As the devoted plant moms we are, we ventured to the Life Sciences Center in pursuit of dirt only to discover that the greenhouse was closed.
Fortunately, Professor Schaller noticed us milling around and unlocked the greenhouse for us. Not only did he give us a tray full of dirt, but he showed us a corpse plant (which emits a rotting smell when it blooms), took us around the labs, and spoke about his research. The acts of kindness that Roberts Flowers and Professor Schaller showed us only confirmed that Dartmouth is where I belong.
The corpse flower, AKA "Morphy."
Now, I promise you: my blog will not be entirely about plants. I am interested in speaking about working on campus, writing and business opportunities, concerts, and much more. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
My plant Snowball (on the right) and Abigail's plant Rosie (on the left).
As senior year begins and as my time as an undergraduate at Dartmouth comes to a close, people begin to gingerly tip-toe around the question of asking me what my post-Dartmouth plans include.
After a 23-hour flight, 2 transits, and 2 delayed check-ins, I finally found myself (plus a recently discovered love for The Office) at Boston Logan Airport.
As I have just started my last year as a Dartmouth student, I have been reflecting on my time here and I have come up with a list to things I wish I knew my freshman year.
