Getting Ready for Sophomore Winter
A week or two before starting my sophomore fall, I thought I was extremely well prepared for a new term at Dartmouth. "I've seen it all," I was thinking. "I've already been here one fall, I know how things work." I was relying on the maxim that history repeats itself and time is cyclic–I thought I knew what a fall term at Dartmouth looks like.
It was nothing like my first fall, and I had a number of experiences—academic, social, and professional–that I had never had before.
This past fall was my first term taking three STEM classes (CS 10 Problem Solving via Object Oriented Programming; PHYS 3 General Physics I; and PSYC 40 Computational Neuroscience). And I learned that people were indeed right when they warned me about terms like these–it's a lot of work. But it was fun work.
This term I'm also taking three STEM classes (CS 30 Discrete Math, CS 70 Intro to Applied Computer Science, and PSYC 38 Cognitive Neuroscience), and even though I already know what it feels like, work-load-wise and vibes-wise, to take three STEM classes in the same term, I'm yet to discover what taking two classes in the same department is going to be like. (This will be common for me in the future if I decide to indeed stick to my idea of a double major.)
In the fall, I also started working as a drill instructor for French 2 (Introductory French). Drill instructors help students practice their foreign-language speaking and pronunciation skills. I realized I loved this job—an unexpected realization on my part. This term, I might continue–or I might find another teaching opportunity. We'll see :)
Most importantly, last term, I started working at a neuroscience lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Through the FINN Lab (Functional Imaging and Naturalistic Neuroscience Lab), I learned about the life cycle of research papers, research ideas, and the inner workings of a neuroscience lab. This term I'll be continuing.
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And even though I've already had a taste of all these activities—I'm wiser now. My sophomore fall surprised me and delighted me in terms of the new ideas, people, and passions I found at Dartmouth, even though I thought I had seen it all and knew how it all worked. I'm sure my sophomore winter will surprise and delight me as well. Over the next ten weeks (Dartmouth terms are ten weeks long), I'll keep you posted on those moments of delight and surprise. :)