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!
As the first weekend of my DCSI (Dartmouth Center for Social Impact) Boston cohort internship approached, I was excited but anxious. Amidst classes, student jobs, and the hassle of moving, this was the first time I would have time to do what I wanted. Yet, I was also feeling rather lonely. I had no friends who lived in Boston. Not to mention that it's scary to explore a city you do not know by yourself. That's why I was relieved and grateful when Ella, my friend from Spare Rib, the intersectional feminist zone on campus, texted me on Sunday morning. She was visiting another Spare Rib friend, Kat, who is staying in Boston over the summer to work on her Stamps Scholars project (you can read more about Stamps here). First, we met up in a cafe that was equidistant from both of our places, but because none of us knew Boston well, we ended up in a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. We decided to go to downtown Boston after we finished our drinks. We discovered a food market and stumbled upon Commonwealth Books, a popular used bookstore in Boston. Then, we walked to Boston Commons, the urban park downtown, to meet up with Caty, a recent Dartmouth grad and a former design lead in Spare Rib. Before going to medical school, she is working as a research assistant in Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Commonwealth Books in Boston.
It made me so happy to see how many Spare Rib connections flourished outside the campus context, not just during our on-campus events. Being the smart and dedicated Spare Rib member she is, Ella created a Google Maps for all Spare Rib people to share their locations with each other. I put my location as well, naturally, which led to Milanne, a '24 design lead in Spare Rib, to text me and let me know we were living in the same dorms for the summer. She is working on a research project in Art History. That's how I found out I would not be lonely at all in Boston as long as I am part of our small Spare Rib community in Boston. We decided to meet up in Boston when we could. Soon enough, Caty invited us to her house to cook lasagna together. I look forward to exploring more with other Spare Rib people in Boston and beyond. Stay tuned!
This spring in Spare Rib, the intersectional feminist zine and feminist collective on campus, has been quite busy and exciting with a bunch of new events. Keep reading to find out more!
I have written about being a student worker plenty of times in the past, but I have yet to talk about one of my favorite jobs ever: ticket selling at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
