Hi everyone! I'm Julia from Seattle, WA. Reading this blog during my junior and senior years of high school helped me to envision myself on this campus, so this all feels very full-circle. I'm studying QSS, Education, French, and Religion (I know, it's a lot at the moment!). I love cooking/food, watching old Modern Family episodes (my favorite character is Mitch), and finding cozy places to study on campus. Talk to you soon!
This class served as a great introduction to the Quantitative Social Science department. My favorite part of class was working with real-world data in our problem sets each week. I also adored my professor, Elsa Voytas. It was her first term as a professor here, and she was constantly eager to answer any questions you might have. I'm really looking forward to taking more QSS classes in the future!
I loved this class and especially my professor, Michele Tine. My favorite part of the course was watching the "Up!" documentary series as a class. The episodes began with a cohort of children at age 7, and has continued to follow them throughout their adulthood. We got to analyze the children's decisions and lifestyles in the context of what we were learning about, culminating with a paper highlighting one of the cohort members.
Paris and Literature and Film was the last part of my first-year writing experience. Professor Kane did a great job of bringing a variety of sources into our classroom discussions (books, movies, articles, etc.) which made the course very engaging. Plus, it was so much fun to learn about France before visiting in 25W!
Data Visualization was one of the best classes I've taken at Dartmouth so far. Professor Cooper was very engaging, and I learned that I really LOVE making data meaningful and accessible. I'm even taking Professor Cooper's Advanced Data Visualization in the winter to continue building on my skills.
I'll let you in on a little secret: winter is my favorite season at Dartmouth. Now, if you were to tell any other Dartmouth student that, they would come find me on campus and ask what is wrong with me. But, for me, I find the cold comforting and cozy. I feel closest to my friends and nature.
The first Saturday of the term marked the first "real" snow day; in other words, the roads were messy at times and snowflakes covered my hair whenever I went outside. At some point on this day, I texted my family: "Pretty sure that life here is fake." Maybe by the end of this post, you'll see why I am so infatuated with this season.
I woke up at 8:45 ready to head to Lebanon (around a 15 minute drive away from campus) with my friend, Kelby. She's in a podcasting class right now (learn more about CRWT 40.15 Intro to Nonfiction Radio and Podcasting here, and she needed some street interviews for an assignment. I decided to come with her to have some time off campus. I went to Lucky's Coffee Garage to study while she worked and had a great breakfast burrito and chai. I love seeing students on campus—don't get me wrong, but I also adore seeing regular families from around Hanover and the Upper Valley.
After Kelby finished her interviews, we headed back to campus. I was all ready to take a nap when another friend, Juliet, texted both of us: "HUGE NEWS OCCOM ICE SKATING IS OPEN." Occom Pond, located on the north end of campus, freezes over in the winter and is (when we're lucky and the weather is on our side) open for skating. Kelby picked me up from my dorm and we went over to check out the scene. When we got to the Dartmouth Outing Club house to rent our free skates, we were met with friendly faces and free hot cocoa. What is better than that?!
Kelby decided to pick back up the microphone to get some stories about opening day at Occom Pond.
Once I spent a bit of time on the ice, I went upstairs to the Cabin and Trail meeting room where I started a fire while working on some more homework. A few friends dropped in and out to study with me as the hours passed by and the sun began to set. Soon, it was time to leave and have dinner.
My cozy study spot in the Cabin and Trail room in the Dartmouth Outing Club house.
While the vast majority of students live on campus all four years (around 90%), I have quite a few friends who live off campus. So, for dinner, we headed to an off campus house where a couple friends were making daal, rice, and homemade naan. It is hard to explain how wonderful home cooked meals taste in college.
After going for a long walk and picking up a free pair of Darn Tough socks at an event at Collis Student Center, it was time to head to bed. I set my alarm, ready to teach ski lessons the next morning. Now, don't you get why I love winters here so much.
After experiencing this Dartmouth winter term, I am ready to write an ode to this cold weather! Here is what a weekend in the Hanover winter feels like.
My first week back on campus– full of lots of hugs and an extensive amount of time spent making my Google calendar! Cold days and walking to classes after six weeks at home can be an adjustment, but my friends at Dartmouth make it all the more fun!
Let's Get Lost in the Library! A deep dive into the known, unusual, and hidden study spots all around Dartmouth's campus! Up first, the Berry Library—the iconic modern half of the central Baker-Berry Library!
50% of Dartmouth students are unaffiliated and find community through non-Greek social spaces. One such space is an undergraduate society. In this post, I interviewed Marion Caldwell '25, who has been a member of Amarna since her junior fall
