Hello, Eda here: full-time learner, part-time writer, and pretty much a happy amateur at everything else. My hobbies include reading, discovering new movies, and looking at the pictures of my cat. On campus, you can find me peer supporting for the Mental Health Union and SAPA, writing for Spare Rib, doing research in psychology, or listening to Turkish & English alt-rock. Feel free to ask me about taking a gap year, transitioning to a new cultural space, or college in general!
This class discusses the concepts of sex and gender in the broader context of issues related to race, class, national identity, and more. I loved this class because it helped me better understand how systemic inequality affects individual lives and made me think about ways to change it. Professor A'Ness is such an inspiring prof!
In this first-year writing seminar, we discussed how avant-garde movements from futurism to punk rock have constituted a rebellion against the status quo. I loved all the readings for this class and Professor McCann inspired me to take more courses in the English department!
In this course, we learned all the basics of fiction: character, plot, setting, etc. My favorite parts of the course were receiving feedback from other students, reading my peers' work, and having fiction readings as assigned course work! I also appreciated all the guest speakers we had, who were experienced writers in their respective genres.
As an aspiring clinical psychologist, this course has been one of the best classes I have taken at Dartmouth so far. The class focused on the etiology, diagnosis, characteristics and treatment of various mental disorders. Professor Hudenko has been one of the greatest lectures I had the pleasure of meeting. As a clinical psychologist himself, he had extensive knowledge in not only the theory, but also the practice of clinical psychology. He also succeeded in making a lecture-based class feel interactive and dynamic.
We covered the complex neural and biological mechanisms of multiple mental health disorders ranging from common conditions like anxiety to more complicated illnesses such as schizophrenia. In addition to reading about the cutting-edge research in this area, we also read memoirs and watched documentaries about the mental illnesses to focus on how these conditions are affecting people in real life. Professor Funnell is one of the best profs I had!
As an aspiring clinical psychologist, this has been one of my favorite classes at Dartmouth. We learned about different therapy methods, how and when to use them, their advantages, and shortcomings. The class was incredibly engaging with Professor Hudenko's frequent demonstrations of methods, therapy videos, and guest speakers. I would recommend this class to every psychology major.
I worked at Dimock Health Center as part of my community health internship. I was part of a team of summer interns who were college students like myself. We worked as patient advocates that helped people reach out to resources regarding housing, food, utilities, etc. Most of our work involved calling patients, helping them fill out forms, and researching resources. I learned so much about community health resources and how to communicate with a diverse set of patients. It was an invaluable experience!
I took classes in the School of English and Drama at Queen Mary University of London. My favorite class of the term was called London Performance Now, which involved going to different performance events in London and discussing them in class. It was the perfect opportunity to explore the cultural landscape of London.
As the title of the course suggests, this class was about food: its history, economics, and cultural practices. I learned a lot through this course thanks to guest speakers, thought-provoking readings, and engaging assignments. My favorite assignment in this course was writing about a family recipe; I learned so much about my family's history as well as the cultural conflicts in my home country. Overall, it was among the best classes I have taken at Dartmouth. Plus, we even got to eat delicious food cooked by our classmates!
A lot has changed since my freshman year. One of the best changes for me was having roommates once again. Let me tell you more about it!
Growing up, I always lived with other people. I shared a room with my younger brother and stayed with cousins and relatives on holidays in crowded households. I was also a boarding student for three years in high school. Though I was in a one-room double, meaning I had only one other roommate, I shared the same living spaces with eight other girls on my floor. I could not ask for a better roommate, who ended up becoming one of my best friends, not only in high school but for life.
Despite being used to living with other people, when Dartmouth sent me the housing survey the summer before freshman year, I asked for a single. I liked living with other people well enough, but I also needed my alone time and had sleeping issues that I did not want to burden anyone else with. I was lucky enough to have a big single in Bissell Hall, in the Choates freshman dorm cluster. I do not regret asking for a single, but in spring term I realized I missed sharing a room with people I genuinely liked being around. That's why I was more than happy when one of my closest friends on campus asked me to room with them. When it was time to pick a room through the housing selection process, one of my other friends ended up joining us. I felt incredibly lucky that I was bringing these two amazing people together.
Flash forward to sophomore fall. We now live in Gile Hall, which is part of the Allen House dorm cluster and is next to the Cube, the student center for Allen and School house. The best thing about Gile is its location. Located near the center of the campus, Gile is only a five-minute walk away from our main dining hall and the Baker-Berry Library. We have a two-room triple with a private half-bath: two rooms for three people. The room felt a little small, especially considering how all three of us had lived in spacious singles the previous year. But with a little configuration, we made the room a more comfortable living space for all three of us. We even got an avant-garde centerpiece to represent our trials and triumphs in making the room truly our own. We still have a bit of decorating to do, but that is always hard for us international students who cannot bring much stuff to put in our room. Speaking of international students, let me talk about the best part of the room: the people in it.
I am proud to say we have a very international room. Tianwen is from China, Julie is from Mauritius (look it up!), and I am from Turkey. There are times when three different languages are spoken in our room when we are all on the phone with our loved ones, and none of those languages is English. We share a lot in common; our values, worldviews, and principles are more than compatible. It also helps that we go to bed around the same time. We still have a lot of differences, which enrich our conversations and our time together.
Some of my favorite memories from this year are with my roommates, just chatting in our room. Sometimes, very little work gets done because we are great at distracting each other through many interesting discussions regarding mental health, gender politics, or just gossip. But I would not have it any other way. I am so lucky to have met people that I can learn from, look up to, and share a living space with in harmony.
Tianwen and Julie - I dedicate this blog post to you!
Many small classes at Dartmouth are seminar-style and are the cornerstone of the intellectual exploration and intentionality that define the learning experience at Dartmouth.
It's not every day that my Intro to Chinese Culture and Understanding the Universe classes were both canceled, but the cosmos had other plans. Welcome to a rare weekday in my life with no classes!
