Julia Snodgrass

The Class of 1953 Commons, affectionately known as “Foco” (short for food court), is the main all-you-can-eat dining hall on campus. This wouldn’t be a post about food at Dartmouth if I failed to mention the infamous Foco cookie. Foco has perfected the art of the chocolate chip cookie–think crispy around the outside, soft and gooey middle, and an abundance of melty chocolate chunks. There seems to be a never ending stream coming out of the oven–and there has to be. They disappear as quickly as they come out. One of my favorite “hacks” is to scoop some ice cream into a mug and stick a warm cookie on top, so the ice cream gets all melty and you’re left with a mug of deliciousness.

Generally, the Collis Student Center is known as the place to go for a quick breakfast. Collis is a bustling scene in the morning hours, as students weave in and out of lines, grabbing custom smoothies, coffee, pastries, and made-to-order eggs. While I appreciate the efficiency of a quick Collis breakfast, Foco is an underrated breakfast spot. If I have some extra time in the morning, or maybe an assignment to finish up before class, I’ll find a little nook and camp out with my custom omelet and everything bagel (Goose & Willie’s bagels are the best!!). I enjoy taking my time with breakfast and feeling the stillness of the early morning, before the start of a packed Dartmouth day.

Apart from breakfast, Collis is also known for more a-la-carte dinners, like sushi, stir-fry, and soups. The big dinner surge is around 6pm, and a line always forms for the pasta station. While waiting in line, you’re guaranteed to run into someone you know...whether it’s an old freshman floormate, or a partner for a group project in your class last term, I really miss the random encounters in Collis. It’s a simple, but strong reminder of one of the biggest things I love about Dartmouth–the bonds you form, however seemingly insignificant, are lasting.

Getting involved in extracurricular organizations is a great way to make connections with people across campus. There’s clubs for nearly every possible interest out there and if one that you’re looking for doesn’t exist, you can easily create your own! Continue with older interests, explore new ones, BUT don’t think you need to join a bunch of random clubs to fluff up your resume. In reality, engaged, sustained involvement with a group you’re passionate about–whether it’s singing, farming, or real estate–will be much more rewarding in the long term.

Even if it doesn't seem productive, sometimes you just need to take a breather. During finals week one term, a professor told my class: “The less you think you can afford a break, the more you need one.” Take a walk around Occom Pond, get a socially distant lunch on the Green, or call up a friend from home. Also, take time to reflect and journal...I’d highly recommend 'One Line a Day' which is a five year journal where there’s only enough room to write a few lines. You could summarize your day, write something you’re grateful for, or jot down a new fact you learned–it’s totally up to you! I started mine in January of my first year at Dartmouth and have been writing in it every single day since then. It’s great to be able to look back and see the ways in which life has shifted over the course of college.

Use a physical or online calendar to keep track of class times, upcoming assignments, club meetings, and other items on your agenda. I’ve found it helpful to have everything in one place and visualize what my schedule looks like in the coming week. If you’re especially organized, you could even include things like exercise or time with friends, to ensure that you’re building time for those things into your day.

There are myriad ways to find happiness, even in adverse situations. A Spanish class I took in the spring exemplifies this lesson. Although very few would prefer a Zoom class over an in-person experience, our professor found ways to make the class personable and engaging. At the beginning of most classes, a student would lead us in a meditation, or recite a poem, and in one case, a classmate even taught us a Bollywood dance routine with her mom! Our last class was a "Zoom party" where we introduced our families and our pets and celebrated a term's-worth of hard work. Given the remote format, we could have easily become disillusioned by the circumstances and disengaged from the course. Instead, we were encouraged to find joy in unexpected ways, connect with each other on a personal level, and ultimately create a memorable experience.

After not being on campus for a full year, I found myself feeling a little disconnected from the Dartmouth community. However, over the course of the spring and summer, I have been pleasantly surprised by the effort put in by organizations across campus to continue their programming. One example is the Dartmouth Student Union, which hosts weekly “Internet Commons” to explore themes like respectability politics, the redistribution of resources, and other topics relating to the fight against racial and economic inequalities. It’s been exciting to see ’24s participating in, and even leading, these calls before they’ve stepped foot on campus! My sorority also meets weekly to discuss ways to be actively engaged in anti-racist work, reflect on the problematic history of our house–and the Greek system more broadly–and strive to foster a more diverse and inclusive space. Seeing the faces of fellow students in little boxes on a screen cannot compare to real-life interaction, but I’ve appreciated the opportunity to voice my own thoughts and see that my peers are grappling with similar challenges as well. Logging into a Zoom call may seem impersonal, but it’s a nice reminder that we all want to stay connected to the Dartmouth community, even while remote.

If your physical and mental health isn’t a priority, you will not be able to dedicate yourself as fully nor as effectively to the pursuits that matter to you. I have certainly struggled to navigate the balance between “taking advantage of this time” and taking care of my own wellbeing. Blame it on my dad’s brochure or my tendency toward overcommitment, but at the beginning of the lockdown, I had these grandiose ideas about all the new skills I had to develop–learning French, or how to code in Python, or becoming an Excel whiz. The reality has been much less glamorous, but no less valuable...my days have been filled with working remote jobs, grocery shopping, hiking with friends, watching Netflix, and spending time with family. Of course, we should strive for self-improvement and not become complacent, but oftentimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to ‘achieve’, that we miss out on enjoying (and being proud of) where we find ourselves.