Joanna Jou

This was the first hike of WHEATSTARCH, and also my first snow hike. Although it was a steep and tough hike, my fellow trippees kept me entertained with jokes and laughter along the way. After we got to the top, we enjoyed a beautiful snowy view of Dixville Notch and ate a delicious lunch consisting of pita bread, hummus, red bell peppers, corn nuts, trail mix, peanut butter, jelly, and very delicious dried mango (thank you to one of my trip leaders Abigail for introducing us to Wellsley Farms Dried Mango! ) that we devoured after a beautiful hike.

The next day, our group of 9 trippees split up into two groups for two different morning hikes: Tumbledown Mountain and the 4th Connecticut Lake. I decided to do the International Peace Trail of the 4th Connecticut Lake because it is located between the line of what separates New Hampshire and Quebec, and marks the beginning of the Connecticut River that also runs through Hanover. Throughout the hike, our phone signals switched over to Canada and we even got text messages from our cell service provider that said “Welcome to Canada!”, which was definitely a highlight. After we regrouped back at the cabin, we had delicious vegetarian taco burrito bowls for dinner and reflected on how each group’s hikes went.

This photo was taken by Kelby, who was the second trip leader for WHEATSTARCH. I really appreciated this moment being captured as my fellow trippees and I sat at the dinner table talking about a variety of things, and learned more than a few things about each other along the way; this was basically how we would end our nights after dinner - crazy how five days can change the social interaction as we shared various storytimes while also learning so much about one another.

The Choates Cluster, located northwest of the Green and next to Occom Pond, comprises 4 halls: Cohen, Bissell, Little, and Brown. Cohen and Bissell connect to a common room (known as Bisco), while Little and Brown also connect to their own separate common room (known as Brittle); the two buildings look identical to one another as they are also located next to each other. On my housing application, I had indicated that I would prefer to not have any roommates, which the residential life office (blessedly) granted as I currently live in a single inside Cohen Hall.

The Fayes (short for Fayerweathers) consist of North Fayerweather, Mid Fayerweather, and South Fayerweather, which are externally connected in a linear form right behind Dartmouth Hall. Because of its close proximity to the Green, it is often the hotspot for first-years to hang out as the Fayes host only first-years and house a good amount of the first-year class given its basement and four additional floors.

The River Cluster, consisting of French and Judge Hall, is located closest to the Connecticut River (hence why it is called “The River”); students often joke about how it is closer to Vermont than the rest of campus as it is also the farthest from the Green (maybe it isn’t even a joke?). Nevertheless, many of my friends who live in the River Cluster vouch for the tight-knit community they have amongst the people on their floors and dorms as they spend more time in their common room together and get to know one another beyond just being floormates or hallmates. A bright side of living near the River is that you have the closest access to the Connecticut River to go swimming, canoeing, paddleboarding, or anything else water-related during the warmer seasons.

Pictured: My friend Lili and I with matching lone pine temporary tattoos!

Dartmouth has 6 residential communities which we are randomly sorted into before arriving on campus, and are affiliated with for the rest of our time here. Before the start of the Bonfire, each residential house hosted a spirit station where we gathered with our house community before the start of First-Year Sweeps that leads into the Bonfire; this was also a great way to get all the first-years affiliated with the same house to gather in one place as it is not often that we all happen to be at the same place at the same time. Each residential community’s spirit station was unique to its own house color and accessories. For example, my residential community Allen House had temporary tattoos and red glow sticks while other house communities had similar and other various paraphernalia such as blue balloons (School House), purple glue sticks (West House), light up sunglasses and headbands (North Park House), facepaint (East Wheelock House), and beaded necklaces (South House) - just to name a few, but overall a very spirited and prideful way to kick off the rest of the night.

Pictured: Stopping by each house to pick up the rest of the '26s before entering Bonfire.

The First-Year Sweeps is a large parade for first-years where we walk all around campus and stop by each area where the first-years are rallied (from the pre-bonfire house gathering). The Sweep starts from the river cluster and makes its way around to pick up the rest of the first-years to join in. After the House Gathering, Allen House lined up at the intersection of Choates Road and North Main Street, where we heard bagpipes that signaled us to join in; we were the third house (after West and School House) to fuse into the crowd, then made our way to North Park, East Wheelock, and lastly South House. 

Pictured: Fellow '26 blogger Chelsea and I at the bonfire

The Bonfire, a tradition that goes way back to 1888, holds a deep sense of community as Dartmouth alums and students gather around the outer ring of the bonfire to celebrate and support the first-year class. Every year, the bonfire is built by members of the first-year class with the rest of the events during Bonfire planned by the Bonfire Committee. After First-Year Sweeps, we entered into the inner ring of the bonfire (don’t worry, there is a fence that surrounds the actual bonfire) where we walked one lap (fun fact: first-years used to run around the bonfire, but was changed to only walking due to safety and security concerns). After one lap, we exited to the outer ring and watched the bonfire while enjoying this moment with our friends, classmates, upperclassman, alums, and family. For the rest of the night, the Bonfire Committee got us covered with events to do after such as live music by the Black Tie Blackouts (a band formed by a group of my fellow classmates), late night breakfast, cookie decorating, and a dance party.