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!
No one makes it to college on their own. I have received tremendous support from family members, peers, and counselors in my college application and transition process. Among the people who have supported me, my teachers were certainly the most influential. As part of the Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to thank all the teachers who helped me transition to college and the exceptional professors who welcomed me into their classrooms at Dartmouth. Though a mere blog post is not enough to thank them all, I want to talk about a few of them.
Junior and senior years of high school are a crazy time, especially for IB students in Turkey who are responsible for both IB requirements and the Ministry of Education's curriculum. Despite the constant stress, I have had the most fun in classes during my junior and senior years of high school. Fun in the classroom is not an oxymoron when you have exceptional teachers. My English literature teachers, Naomi Shooter and Richard Fower, made sure that we were not only intellectually engaged with the texts we were studying, but they also showed me how class material was relevant to our lives. I cannot count the times I have walked away from the English classroom with an existential crisis or a philosophical epiphany. They are not only inspiring teachers, but they are also exceptional human beings who were super understanding and accommodating during our times of need. Not to mention their great sense of humor.
At Dartmouth, I was lucky enough to have Professor Andrew McCann as my writing seminar instructor, who is as empathetic and exceptional as my English literature teachers from high school. The seminar he teaches, "ENGL 07.41: Tales of the Avant-Garde," had the best reading assignments I have encountered so far. It is not just the material that makes the seminar so enjoyable; it is mostly his genuine passion for what he teaches and his care for his students. As a non-native speaker, my relationship with writing in English has always been a complicated one, but Professor McCann inspired me to not only take more classes in English literature at Dartmouth, but to start doing creative writing again after a long break.
Speaking of epiphanies, my IB psychology teacher, Ms. Goksal, and my high school history teacher, Derya Yazici, made me realize I wanted to study sociology and psychology at college. My baseline reaction to critical mental health and societal issues was to get overly pessimistic, but thanks to their enthusiasm for teaching and the skills they have taught me, I have regained hope for the future.
I have had a similar experience in "WGSS 10: Sex, Gender, and Society" because Professor A'Ness was similarly realistic yet hopeful about social change. She was also genuinely interested in learning more about her students beyond the classroom. Grabbing coffee with her at Still North Books and talking about the international student experience, traveling and theater was certainly one of the highlights of my fall term.
The wonderful Professor A'Ness @ Still North Books!
Another professor I am grateful for is Professor Donna Coch, who I am working with as part of my WISP internship. She is the principal investigator in the Reading Brains Lab, which conducts brain-wave and behavioral studies in neuroscience, psychology, and education. Even though I have not taken her class yet, I can tell that she is a great teacher because she treats every part of the WISP internship as a learning experience. What I appreciate the most is that she makes sure every decision we make in the lab is collaborative. I am incredibly lucky to learn from such a model researcher.
I could not talk about all the teachers I am grateful for in a few hundred words, but I still want to dedicate this humble blog post to all the teachers who have made a difference in my life.
As I approach the halfway mark of my Dartmouth journey this spring, I find myself reflecting on the significance of distributive and world culture requirements in shaping my academic experience.
This is my final term before senior year, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. One thing I am excited about is the classes I am taking this term, so let me tell you more!
This is part two of me "nerding out" about my honors thesis! If you want to learn more about independent projects, theses, or the humanities at Dartmouth, check it out!
