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 and I'm looking forward to taking my French skills abroad next year in Toulouse and Paris. I love cooking/food, watching old Modern Family episodes (my favorite character is Mitch), and finding cozy places to study on campus (preferably in my PJ's). Talk to you soon!
Sometimes, going to a school in rural New Hampshire can feel pretty darn isolating. It can feel like a lot to live without easy escapes to places that aren't centered around Dartmouth. However, last Friday night I was reminded just how special being in Hanover is.
At Dartmouth, all students refer to social nights as "on nights", but does not necessarily mean it always surrounds Greek spaces. Our on nights are Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. First-years tend to go out more on Fridays and Saturdays since Wednesdays mainly revolve around Greek life. However, some students still find fun all three nights.
On Friday, I decided that after Drill (part of my French class) from 3:30-4:20, I was going to spend the rest of the day away from academics. It was time for some self care! My first treat of the afternoon was heading over to the Dartmouth Co-Op to pick up a much needed Dartmouth hoodie. I had been eyeing them for weeks and I figured that it was finally time to snag one for myself. On my way back to campus, I saw a cute dog. As I said in my first blog posts, there are always cute dogs around. Anyways, back to my story.
When I got back to campus, I met up with one of my friends behind Robinson Hall ("Robo"). It was time to head to the Organic Farm for pizza dinner! We loaded up in a Dartmouth Outing Club van with six other students and made it to the O-Farm in under 15 minutes.
The O-Farm is a pretty extensive spot and I still haven't been able to explore all of its wonders. However, I do have a pretty solid understanding of its wood-fired pizza oven that was built by some Tuck students many years back. I gained my knowledge during a pizza certification class a few weeks ago, when a few of us learned how to build the fire for the pizza oven. The fire has to burn for four hours before you can make a pizza, though, so we didn't get a chance to eat the fruits of our labor then. All of that to say, I was pretty psyched to finally eat some of my own wood-fired pizza.
By the time that we made it to the farm, the sun was already setting. The light was beautiful! We spent some time chopping vegetables and listening to music (specifically Noah Kahan because Dartmouth students are OBSESSED with him). Once it was time, we loaded our pizza in the oven and got ready for some delicious dinner.
My friend, Flora, poses with our beautiful pizza.
Once I made it back to campus, I headed to a Ledyard social. Ledyard is our canoe club and is made up of some awesome outdoorsy people. This social was at an off-campus house, primarily featuring string lights and a trampoline. I love how laid back socials are here and it's so much fun to socialize between grades. Everyone is there for a good time without any internal pressures.
After the social, my friend and I headed to Late Night to grab some fries. We ate our fries on the way back to our first college sleepover. We went to bed just before midnight after watching some of Superbad (would not recommend). All in all, I had a great evening. This, simply, is why I love Dartmouth.
It's easy to forget how easy it is to access walking trails during the hustle of a Dartmouth term. As graduation nears, I am reminded of how special it is to step off campus and enjoy quiet moments in nature.
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont!
