I'm Kalina, a '27 from Sofia, Bulgaria. I love books (I love reading and writing them), and I particularly love fantasy (i.e., I'm an expert on Middle Earth and Hogwarts studies). I'm fascinated by the human brain and the real-world magic of science. I also love hiking, bird-watching, climbing, and em dashes.
Instead of taking a normal Writing 5 course, I decided to fulfill my first-year writing requirement by taking HUM 1. This course helped me strengthen my relationship to literature and writing. It changed the way in which I thought about classics, both books and movies (we saw Wall-E, by the way). And it also changed the way I thought about academic writing and literary criticism. A third of the course was made up of lectures by professors from different departments, while the other two thirds were discussions with a single professor and a small group of 15 students.
Intro to Neuroscience was the first course I was truly excited about. It wasn't an easy course; we had a weekly quiz of ten to thirteen questions covering the lectures from the past few days, but it was very interesting and also very funny (Professor Winter's humor is legendary). We learned about the human brain at the level of individual cells. We also studied it at the level of different systems, from the olfactory system to the parasympathetic nervous system. And last, we learned about cognition: learning, attention, language. We saw a real human brain with formaldehyde dripping from it. We saw a real sheep's brain. And a rat's brain. And we pocked each other with paper clips to determine the sensitivity of our touch receptors.
Journalism with Professor Alexis Jetter was an enjoyable class, sometimes challenging but very satisfying. We covered a lot of US history through the lens of the media, and we started every class with a discussion of the current news and events (thanks to these discussions, I feel like a real adult now—not so lost when the conversation turns toward politics). Several guest lecturers—from former students of Professor Jetter who're now journalists to a New York Times war correspondent—brought us real stories from the field. In the middle of the term, each of us had to find someone over 30 years old in the Upper Valley, spend a day with them, and write a profile.
SummerSofia, Bulgaria
I'm spending my first summer back home, helping my family care for my newborn sister. In my free time (changing diapers takes a lot of time!), I'm doing research for the cognitive neuroscience lab FINN Lab, preparing for my classes in the fall, and working on a new book.
Computational Neuroscience with Professor Richard Granger is a multidisciplinary course taught by a multidisciplinary professor and designed for multidisciplinary thinkers. The class covered brain anatomy and physiology and the biology of learning; it covered linear algebra and the architectures and characteristics of several neural networks. Last, we had a module on "brain engineering"—how some brain circuits function and how we can get inspired by them as engineers.
The first focus of Discrete Math for Computer Science was learning to think like a mathematician: how do we use logic to find proofs to problems and our solutions? Next, we learned how to apply this thinking in computer science contexts — how do you prove that a recursive program works? How do you prove what its run-time is going to be? These were the kind of skills we were building in preparation for the next course in the theoretical computer science sequence: Algorithms. Before we can build algorithms, we need to know how to think about the steps we need to take to solve problems with the rigor of mathematical logic.
This term I decided to venture out of my comfort zone and fill out of my distributive requirements with a government class. Taught by Professor Steven Simon, America and the Middle East was one of the most interesting classes I've taken at Dartmouth. The class covered the evolution of US foreign policy toward the Middle East from the early days of the Republic to modern times. The books and papers we were assigned to read for each class were complemented by Professor Simon's lectures (his storytelling style made his class one of the few classes with 2-hour-long lectures that keep my attention till the very end), and he shared fascinating anecdotes from his work and trips.
Welcome to the second edition of my Alpha Theta Room Tour.
In the fall of my sophomore year, I rushed the gender-inclusive Greek house Alpha Theta, and I've been living in the house since my sophomore winter. (This will be my second term as a resident.) I also got nominated for and was elected as the secretary of the house, so now I have the privilege of sending my long notes from meetings and events to all our members :)
Gender Inclusive Greek House Alpha Theta this winter.
So, where's the house located? You ask.
You can find our house at the north end of campus, really close to Occom Pond and Pine Park. (Thus, I have no excuse but to go on my lunch-break jog because the park is right here!) Alpha Theta is also near Moore Hall, the Psychological and Brain Sciences department, which is great because I'm a neuroscience major, and I often have my first class of the day in Moore Hall. (I can leave my room and three minutes later be in the classroom.)
Occom Pond last fall.
And what about your room, Kalina? That's a room-tour-post, isn't it?
Yes. My room. This term, I live on the third floor of the house. (Last term, I lived on the second floor–room tour vol. 1 here.) My previous room, fondly called Trophy, had a window looking north, and while I'll miss the tree in front of the window and the cardinal that often hung out in the crown and serenaded me, I much prefer my east-facing window in Abyss (my new room). I love waking up to the morning sunshine!
Here's my room - judge for yourself what colors are the walls.
My new room, Abyss, is a little less spacious than Trophy, but I managed to make it way more cozy.
Now here's what my friends and family from home have said about my room:
"Kalina, why have you painted your room in ORANGE?", my friend Krista was aghast.
"Wait, why are your walls orange?", asked my godmother.
"Ah, the ceiling is such a beautiful color!", commented my grandmother.
Everyone I Face-Time-ed from my room seems to notice the color of the ceiling and the walls. In my room's defense, the ceiling is peach-colored, not orange. And I actually like it, thank you very much.
When I look back on my time at Dartmouth, and it is hard to believe I will be graduating in just two weeks, I know that Africa Week will always stand out as one of the moments when this campus felt most alive, most joyful, and most like home.
It's my first spring ever (!!!) and I have been blown away by the beautiful scenery that continues to bloom right in front of my eyes. Here are some of my favorite scenes from campus in spring!
