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.
Having never taken a Geography class before, I had no idea what to expect from Professor Alvarez León's course. By the end of the term, I was obsessed with all of the topics of the course. We spent the majority of the time talking about space versus place, and we constantly had fun group activities in class. Plus, I took the class with my godsister (a '28) which was a dream come true!
Last year, I promised myself that I would keep a record of all of my birthdays in college. So, here I am. This is the second rendition of celebrating my birthday in Hanover (you can read the first one here).
Before we begin, I need to preface that the photo at the top of the page is a bit of clickbait. While I was *technically* celebrating my birthday, it was about a two-week early celebration since my parents were in town. Ok, now that I have that off of my chest, let's continue on.
At around 11:15 the night before my birthday, I was getting ready to leave my friends' off campus house and sleep before classes the next day. At the same moment, my friend asked me if I could stay a bit longer. "I'm making grits," she said. You can always get me to eat grits, especially as a midnight snack.
So, when midnight struck, I was eating my grits while being serenaded with "Happy Birthday" like I had been the year prior. A pretty good start to 20 if you ask me.
After finishing my bowl, I headed back to my dorm to get a good night of rest. I woke up the next morning before I really wanted to because it was time for the main birthday event: Birthday Dinertoure.
Dinetoure is a sub-club of Cabin and Trail which makes it a sub-sub-club of the Dartmouth Outing Club. Each week, students load up into a 12-person van and have breakfast at one of the diners around the area. You can learn more about Dinertoure here (featuring Kevin Donohue '21, a current Admissions Officer). For my birthday, I invited 11 friends to head to Four Aces Diner in White River Junction with me. Not only that, but they were all required to wear flair (our term for wacky clothing like tutus and pineapple t-shirts). After a yummy breakfast of chicken and waffles and cinnamon bun pancakes (I split with a friend), as well as another birthday serenade, it was time to head back to campus.
While I didn't manage to get a full group photo, here I am with my godmother who was in town for my birthday (and Dinertoure, of course). We were very proud of our matching purple sweaters that are hidden behind our big jackets (it was cold out!).
After a quick nap, class, and some extra studying, it was time to make dinner! As I've talked about in other blog posts, I absolutely love cooking dinner for my friends. My birthday was no different. I made dinner for two of my friends (pasta with white beans and homemade tomato sauce). It was so much fun to cook and dance in the kitchen together. As we sat eating our meal, I felt so grateful.
This birthday looked a lot different than the big party I had last year. And yet, it was truly one of the best celebrations yet.
The Dartmouth Green is more than our school color. These words describe Dartmouth's commitment to sustainability. If sustainability is important to you, read through this post to discover a non-exhaustive list of sustainable initiatives on campus.
It's hard to fully express just how meaningful Cabin and Trail (CnT) is to me. Since coming to Dartmouth a year and a half ago, this community has shaped me in ways I never expected. It is a source of hope and a new home.
When I first came to Dartmouth, the last thing I wanted to experience was the infamous, chilling New England winter—but I've discovered that Dartmouth's climate was a blessing in disguise, and even perhaps my favorite thing about campus.
