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. ;)
What's the best way to wrap up a week of classes in the fall?Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) leader Mateo helped me find the answer: ice cream and foliage. It was a warm Sunday afternoon, and all of us trippees climbed into Mateo's DOC van to drive north to the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, lovingly known as the Lodge.
Dartmouth students (plus recent alumni), who work at The Lodge, cook and take care of the building and its guests, who are also often Dartmouth students and alumni. Mount Moosilauke and the Lodge hold a special place in Dartmouth Outing Club folklore. Moosilauke is the starting point of the Dartmouth Fifty (a fifty-mile hike from the mountain back to campus that enthusiasts do in one go). The Lodge also hosts students during First Year Trips—and any other time (except for winter)—for meals and overnight trips.
The trip I went on was not overnight. We drove to the Lodge, made ice cream, had a delicious dinner, and drove back. Wait, wait, Kalina, go back—you made ice cream?
Ari, Anvith, Taite, and Mateo stirring the basil ice cream. It's harder than it looks.
Correct. Mateo had prepared the base for basil ice cream. At the Lodge, we stirred it and let it freeze for a couple of hours. Having worked at the Lodge over the summer, Mateo knew his way around the kitchen. He was also familiar with the paths around and the locations of all the good blackberry bushes. It was early in the fall, so we still had hope that we could find blackberries—it ended up being a futile search. During our blackberry promenade, Mateo told us about working at the Lodge over the summer, and this one time when he saw a moose.
The blackberry picking crew. Only that there were no berries. Or meese. Or moose.
"Is the plural of moose 'meese'?" my friend Ari asked.
"No," Mateo said. "It's 'moose.' One moose. Two moose."
"It could be like 'goose'-'geese,'" I said.
"But that would imply that the singular for 'fleece' is 'flooce!'"
The basil ice cream is in the making!
We agreed that the plural of 'moose' is 'moose' and that there were no blackberries for us to find. Back at the Lodge, the cooks were busy making their incredible bread (I believe bread at the Lodge is better than Elven bread, even) while we played board games. Dinner was delicious—our basil ice cream was even more delicious.
A reflection on how Dartmouth offers countless ways to stay connected to literature and writing—even as a side passion—through blogs, courses, campus publications, and creative communities.
