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.
In addition to standard class meetings, mastering foreign languages at Dartmouth includes going to 45-minute "drill" sessions three days a week. The drill sessions are based on the Rassias Method, which focuses on pronunciation and speaking skills. Drill at Dartmouth usually looks like this: one instructor "drills" around seven students on phrases in their target language, practicing grammar structures, vocabulary, pronunciation, and most importantly—the ability to develop a sentence in the foreign language on the spot.
I've never taken a foreign language class with drill sessions at Dartmouth because I satisfied the foreign language requirement by takingFrench 8, a more advanced language class that doesn't require drill (you can read more about the foreign language requirements at Dartmouth here). So, I didn't know what drill was about until a friend recommended that I become an instructor, and I started doing the training during my first week this term.
That's me and my friend Ari. Ari is also a French drill instructor and they are the reason I became one, too. :)
As a drill instructor, I need to meet with my professor once a week. During our weekly meetings, I tell my professor-mentor what I've noticed about the students, their progress—what they find easy and difficult—and their motivation. One of the most intellectually stimulating things about being a drill instructor—or being a teacher—is finding ways to aid someone's progress that aren't necessarily very obvious.
During drill sessions, I go over the grammar cards with my students. Each card has a phrase and a list of verbs/adjectives/pronouns, etc., that have to be conjugated or transformed in some way and then added to the phrase—it's my students' job to find the right way to construct the sentence and then say it out loud. Sometimes, I also have to act out a scenario—a dialogue between two people—and that's when my students get to laugh a little bit at my not-always-very-entertaining impersonations.
So far, I love my job as a drill instructor. I get to practice speaking French, and I get to think about the grammar and the language itself with more attention than before. I also love seeing people light up when they realize they've gotten better at something.
Applying early to a university can be overwhelming and confusing. As someone who did not apply to Dartmouth through early decision, here are a couple tips that I could have used when thinking about applying early to a school!
As a second-year at Dartmouth, I've embraced leadership roles that foster community, creativity, and support! Here's a look at how each role has shaped my journey.
