Garrett Crouch
You are here
Winterim at Dartmouth
As I've discussed in my previous Q&A post on D-Plan-specifics, Dartmouth runs on a quarter system as opposed to the more traditional semester system. In this post specifically, I'd like to discuss how the quarter system affects Dartmouth's break schedules and what I'm doing over my first official break (winterim)!
Winterim
Winterim is Dartmouth's version of winter break—it covers both Christmas and Thanksgiving, around 6 weeks in length. Coming in as a first-year, I didn't really know what to expect from a 6-week winter break. I felt like that was an odd amount of time to be spending away from Dartmouth in the middle of the school year, but as I'm on break right now I've actually found it really comforting. Most of my friends at other universities get a Thanksgiving break and then go back to school, finish their classes and then proceed to their own version of Christmas break; however, through the quarter system, because "on" terms are only around 10 weeks long, our breaks aren't as standard.
My winterim schedule
After finishing week six or so of my first fall term, I knew I wanted to be home for winterim—some students go on vacation, some find small internships in nearby cities, and some do mixes of both. Pretty early on, I felt my time was going to be best spent recharging, visiting friends, and preparing for the start of winter term in January.
Although I'm taking time to relax and hang out with friends and family during the break, 6 weeks is still a substantial chunk of time. So, in order to both feel and be productive, I've been keeping up on a few school-related activities throughout my time being home.
One thing I'm really trying to emphasize over the break is keeping up with Dartmouth's pace of learning; the ten-week term moves really quickly so I'm utilizing my free time to learn new material before returning to campus. One way I've been doing that is by taking daily trips to my local library (the cover picture of this post) to start early on some of my coursework for winter term. I'm mainly focusing my effort on learning Python for CS 1, Dartmouth's introductory computer science course.
I've also been practicing guitar for MUS 9.01 and reading for Writing 5—check out my winter term courses here if you haven't!
On top of keeping up with school, I'm also blogging over the break as my part-time job. There aren't many opportunities in my hometown to work part-time with the holidays and all, so blogging has been the perfect option.
Final thoughts
Going back to my initial point, before the break, early on as a first-year, I thought winterim was going to be an extremely awkward and unsatisfying time in between terms; however, I've actually found it to be quite beneficial. Instead of an odd quirk, I now view it as a special highlight of some of the unique opportunities the quarter system is able to provide.
See you next week!
Your friend,
Garrett
Posts You Might Like
Dartmouth's liberal arts curriculum has allowed me the flexibility to explore diverse academic fields, shaping my journey as a pre-law student.
In this post, I write about what it's like returning to campus in the winter!
Dartmouth can win your heart in many ways, but it's always the people I meet here who win my heart.
Read on to learn about my trip to the Shattuck Observatory
A lot of fellow students and friends have asked me the question: "how did you join the People Places Pines team?" Let me tell you how students can join the team!
After slightly more than a month, I have returned to Dartmouth. Read about my weekend back on campus!
Dartmouth's dining options are reduced during winterim due to the significantly smaller number of students on campus. Find out about dining options during winterim, from a dietary, logistical, and financial perspective!
Here at Dartmouth, we have numerous terms that you will not hear anywhere else!
What I've learned about studying abroad, and what I'll be doing differently this time!