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 equally fascinated by the human brain and storytelling, and I often think about the importance of stories when trying to understand the human mind. 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.
SummerHanover, NH
I am spending my sophomore summer on campus, doing full-time research at the FINN Lab (Functional Imaging and Naturalistic Neuroscience Lab). This summer I get to do a little bit of programming, stimuli writing, and data analysis and run a pilot study that will pave the way for a bigger neuro-imaging experiment. I am also serving as the house manager of Alpha Theta Gender Inclusive Greek House. I'm still deciding which is more challenging: navigating academia or the intricacies of taking care of an actual house. ;)
Molecular Neuroscience with Professor Michael Hoppa is one of my favorite classes in the Neuroscience major. Professor Hoppa wrapped every dense lecture on myriads of proteins, enzymes, synapses—you name it—in stories; he wanted to teach us who the scientists behind the discoveries were, how they approached their work, and what impactful science looks like.
A singular line of yellow tape separated us, the audience, from the fake blood spraying from Julius Caesar's (Wesley Mitchell '29) chest when the Roman senators stabbed him on stage. Just three feet away from us, listening to the voice and guitar of Lucius (Yi Gao '28, header image), Brutus (Ari Rabinowitz '28) sat on the ground, lost in guilty rumination.
Left to right, Lilla Bozek '27 (costume design and company manager), Jack Glass '28 (director,) and Sabrina Chu '26 in the roles of Popilus Lena, Cinna the Poet, and Cobbler. Photo courtesy of Lilla Bozek and Jack Glass.
Every term, the Dartmouth Rude Mechanicals (the Rude Mechs), Dartmouth's oldest student-run theater group, performs a free-for-all, open-to-campus Shakespeare play. Julius Caesar, sophomore Jack Glass's directorial debut, is so far my favorite Rude Mech's production. Action-packed and captivating, it was as emotionally-moving as a good fantasy novel (that's how I measure the worth of fiction), and when you experience something so well executed, you get curious about how it all comes together—the vision of the director and the costume designer, the organizational mavericks of the production manager, the acting magic on stage.
Left to right, Anna Cooper '28, Ari Rabinowitz '28, and Yi Gao '28 in the roles of Portia, Brutus, and Lucius. Photo courtesy of Lilla Bozek and Jack Glass.
It all starts, I discovered, with a love for language and storytelling. What sets Dartmouth's fantastic actors apart from the rest of us bookworms and writers is a passion for performing, for living in the moment, immersed in another's life under the bright stage lights and the intense gaze of the audience.
Ford Springer '26, who played Decius Brutus, has long been enamored with poetry and "the sonic component" of language, whose rhythm you don't feel as viscerally unless it's performed live. Ari Rabinowitz '28, who masterfully won Brutus the audience's compassion (remember the line Et tu, Brute?), approaches acting as an exploration of stories and characters—the only way to bring a character to life is to truly understand them. The director Jack Glass '28, I learned, didn't always enjoy Shakespeare, until he performed in his high school's production of no other play than Julius Caesar.
Left to right, JT Powell '29, Erik Beck '29, and Ford Springer '26 in the roles of Trebonius, Metellus Cimber, and Decius Brutus. Photo courtesy of Lilla Bozek and Jack Glass.
"If you pitch a play [to the Company]," told me Ari Rabinowitz '28, "you're pitching yourself as the director." The Rude Mechs will not stage a play that has been produced in the living memory of the Company (for example, no one will be able to direct Julius Caesar until the '29 members of the troupe graduate), so a director and their play have a very special relationship. This relationship involves long hours studying the script, cutting scenes or characters, and selecting the right theatrical tools.
"Our job is to take that Shakespeare from Elizabethan times," said company manager and costume designer Lilla Bozek '27, "and bring it to the present day for present-day audiences." The World War I aesthetic, the additional sword-fighting scene in the finale, and Yi Gao's fantastic performance of "Fear No More" (lyrics and guitar arrangement adapted or originally written by Jack and Yi) were some of the executive decisions the Company made in pursuit of their mission with Julius Caesar.
Left to right, Illeas Paschalidis '28, Wesley Mitchell '29, and Kay Alvito '29 in the roles of Soothsayer, Julius Caesar, and Calpurnia. Photo courtesy of Lilla Bozek and Jack Glass.
One of the most important decisions, of course, is casting the actors through whom the audience will meet Shakespeare's characters. Just like Sabrina Kim '29 and Wesley Mitchell '29, some of the Rude Mech's new members, I was surprised to discover that this is a very democratic decision. After having auditioned for a role, all auditioning actors wait in the hallway while the rest of the Company—no matter whether they are seniors or first years—discuss who is best for the role.
Left to right Aleksa Sotirov '26 (production manager), Sabrina Kim '29, and Mateo Suarez '26 in the roles of Casca, Cassius, and Cinna. Photo courtesy of Lilla Bozek and Jack Glass.
"It was a really unusual experience to have such a collective […] discuss what they think is best for the show," said Sabrina Kim '29. Apart from the dedication to listening to all voices in the decision-making process, Sabrina and Wesley (who played Cassius and Julius Caesar) were also impressed by the meticulous organization of rehearsals and allocation of responsibilities. As production manager, Aleksa Sotirov '26, the actor behind Casca, has to sift through numerous Google Calendars and find the rare time windows when all actors present in a scene are available. No easy feat, given the busy Dartmouth terms.
And yet these student actors make it work, producing a magical performance each term.
If you want to learn more about the Rude Mechanicals, make sure to check out People Places Pines blogger and Rude Mechs actorAlex Campbell's posts for a peek into the behind-the-scenes. And if you recognized yourself in one of the Rude Mechs' talented actors, make sure to check out Dartmouth's Theater Department,Classics Department, or English Literature Department.
Welcome back to Open Doors—your inside look at life in the Woods! This week, Gabe Brigham '26, a psychology and sociology double major, showed me around his dorm room, where we discussed Dartmouth residence halls, classes, and campus life.
