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.
Time at Dartmouth flies by really fast. Every quarter is ten weeks long, but once on campus, my perception of time stops obeying the laws of physics. The constant inflow of assignments siphons into my life and blurs the beginnings and endings of weeks. There are constantly new friends to make, new ideas to fall in love with, and new goals to pursue.
My sophomore fall term has been very busy, but I'm trying to keep my spirits high, and humor's never a bad idea. Here's a Douglas Adams' quote that could serve really well as my motto for this week: "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." :)
On a cloudy Wednesday morning, when I'm rushing to my French drill session, avoiding thinking about my CS 10 assignment that's due right after that, time is slow and sluggish, and a given week feels as long as a month. But then, on a warm Sunday (like today), when I've had the luxury of waking up at nine (and not seven), my week feels as short as a minute. I look back and think to myself, "Wow, have I really spent five weeks on campus already?"
Indeed, I've spent five weeks in Hanover, and it somehow feels like it's been a year since September 15th. Apparently, taking three STEM classes (Problem-Solving via Object-Orientated ProgrammingCOSC 10, General Physics I PHYS 3, and Computational Neuroscience PSYC 40) while also doing research for aneuroscience lab and getting up at dawn to teach French drill at 7:45 am was not the wisest of ideas.
Back in September, after hearing about my sophomore fall-packed schedule, a friend asked, "Is it that you can't say NO to people that you've taken on so many responsibilities?"
No, it's not that I can't say "no;" it's that I really wanted to do everything! You know, like Hermione Granger, who wanted to take an impossible amount of classes in her third year at Hogwarts because they all sounded really cool (I told you I was an expert on Middle Earth and Hogwarts studies). Of course, Hermione then realized that it's best if you operate under a schedule that respects human biology and doesn't require you to travel through time
Well… maybe I'm at the point in the term where I'm having this exact realization. But I still have five more weeks to go—too late for a change in strategy. All I can do is change my mindset, so here it is:
The next five weeks will probably be very busy, too, but given how many times I was pleasantly surprised by life at Dartmouth during the first half of the term, I'm not afraid to dive into the second half either.
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
