Welcome to the transition diary from a big, cold Brazilian city to a small, very cold American town! I fell in love with Dartmouth soon as I got to know the College, and the last three years have expanded my love, as there is a lot to enjoy here in the woods: majors and minors, extracurriculars and clubs, many new open doors to a curious mind like mine! Hope you all like the content!
Introduction to the amazing language of Chinese, taken with Mao Lao Shi. Really got my mornings going! I think all Dartmouth students should make the most out of their language classes, as they offer unique cultural opportunities and stick with you for life. I'm grateful for all who shared that classroom with me, and I am very happy to realize how much I have progressed in a subject so new to me.
My writing seminar, themed on Asian Conflict and Cooperation. I got to discuss a topic beyond my comfort zone, and had a blast! My classmates were really giving their best, and professor Rezvani gave us an incredible learning experience and an organized debate environment. This class opened my horizons , and I am really happy I took it, having looked forward for each class! My writing style improved greatly due to this class, which makes it all the better!
The class that first got me into CS, and eventually led to me choosing my major! I believe this class should be a requirement to graduate. Most students at Dartmouth take it already, and it figures. Great class, provides you tools you can use in whatever field you choose!
I took three Chinese classes this term, so I chose the last one to show off. This was the term I had my LSA+ experience in China! Got to travel all over, and improved my Chinese a ton. I encourage every Dartmouth student to take a language, even if you start at intermediate level, so you can go on an LSA+ or FSP experience!
A blast of a class! Discussion, great readings and a lot of amazing topics to learn. Also, Professor Joe Vignone was a bright spot on my term. A perfectly quirky man, I loved being one of two people to laugh at his jokes and his novelty t-shirts. He is also superbly smart and got me interested on a class I thought I was just taking to fulfill a graduation requirement!
Great Professor, great TAs, great class. I didn't think I'd like this class: it is infamous for being a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, it is, but it is work you do with a smile on your face. The teaching team is great, there is a lot of awesome material to cover and it's great to have some smartphone programming ability. Greatly recommend to CS majors!
Professor XD Yang is one of the faculty teaching this incredible course. Generally, CS classes focus on programming and Math; it was great to spend some time just designing, and thinking about the why, not the how. I recommend this class to all curious minds who are willing to come up with some creative ideas!
Full disclosure: I picked this course for the distributive requirement, SCI. And yet, I fell in love with it! Professor Osterberg gave us not only an incredible overview of the world we inhabit and of the life upon it, but also perspectives on the future of humanity.
I will just go and say it: Professor Tine is my favorite. She is so nice, and has such a strong didactic structure, that I would trust her to teach me anything, and so should you if you ever come across one of her courses. I know a lot more about humanity, development, and even about myself now.
A question as old as time: where do bands go in the spring? We play throughout the football season in the fall, and become a hockey pep band in the winter. In the summer most bands hold a camp and practice. But what do we do come the spring showers and May flowers? Turns out we spend our time building up our relationships!
This permeates many events. We hold weekly movie nights, try and eat at least a meal a week together, and have even considered playing some casual volleyball together. Without the pressure of weekly rehearsals and performances, we can dedicate ourselves to each other. And a highlight of our springs is always our cabin trip. Every year, the band gets together one Saturday and hikes up to the Cabin of '66, about ten minutes from campus. We enjoy cooking over a campfire, playing games, and generally enjoying each other without the distraction of modern life. I want to take you with me today in this small adventure!
You may remember I wrote a post about a cabin trip two years ago. That trip was during winter, and at this point I remember not only the good times, but also the rough times I had treading through the snow. I must say, I much preferred hiking up the hills in the spring. The mud was an obstacle, sure, but one much more traversable than inches upon inches of snow. After a couple miles, we finally saw her: the famed Cabin of '66. One of the tens of cabins Dartmouth owns, '66 is probably the best equipped. A small water wheel on a creek nearby provides enough power for sparse lights throughout the cabin. Water from said creek comes out of a tap, but it is not drinkable, and so we brought our own water for drinking and cooking. Just behind the cabin there is a small outhouse, so we didn't even need to get the shovels out. The cabin also has mattress pads for sleeping, a kitchen, a living room with a beautiful stonework fireplace, and a porch with a hammock. I spent many hours up on that porch, admiring the New Hampshire wilderness, the peaceful creek slowly jogging by below.
Another memory I'll carry is roasting marshmallows and hotdogs by the fire, and eating the pasta some of our bandies most kindly cooked for us. Few things lift the spirit like sharing a warm meal, huddled by the crackling fire, sharing stories of cabin trips past. One final highlight came from playing games with fellow bandies, such as telephone and pictogram. You all already know the DCMB is the funniest marching band of the Ivy League (if you only count the Ivys in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont), but I found out some of us are truly world-class comedians. I hold promise that our next fall season will be funnier than ever.
Leaving the cabin always feels bitter-sweet. Even more this year, as I leave it for the last time. But I bring a lot back with me. Not only the trash and leftovers (leave nothing behind), but also memories and friendships I know will stick with me for a lifetime.
Now, as I'm wrapping up the last days of my freshman year in college (UNBELIEVABLE), I want to share some things that I learned throughout my first year here as well.
Dartmouth is a fantastic place that can be nearly impossible to explain to those who haven't stepped foot on its campus. This was the case with my parents, until this week!
