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. ;)
My friend Ari Ghavami '27, a trip leader in the Dartmouth Outing Club's (DOC) Surf Club, has been in love with surfing and the ocean for a long time. Even though Ari and I have been friends since our first-year fall, I only discovered Dartmouth's Surf Club in my sophomore year (I take full responsibility for this delay). My sophomore summer, Ari invited me to a surf overnight trip to Jeness Beach in New Hampshire—and that's how the story began.
My friend Ari, surfing at sunrise.
Since that first overnight trip, I've gotten to learn much more about the trip leaders who make surfing at Dartmouth possible, and I've gotten to appreciate the allure of surfing and the passion Dartmouth surfers have to share these experiences with beginners.
It was a cool fall morning. I stood behind Robo (aka Robinson Hall, the DOC's headquarters), eyeing a couple of students who, like me, carried backpacks that I assumed were full of warm clothes for a night of post-surf camping. Before we even had the chance to properly greet each other, Randle Young '27 strode toward us, energetic and widely smiling as always:
"You three, are you here for the surf trip? Let's go, let's go!"
The back of Randle's truck.
I followed my new friends Ethan and Rebecca to Randle's truck, noticing the stack of surfboards in the back of his car. During the drive, we learned that Randle is an Air Force veteran and a transfer student who has spent his whole life pursuing adventure and everything that seems impossible. Why? Because Randle is not going to follow any rule that doesn't make sense. Randle refused to take rejection as an answer and applied for multiple years to Dartmouth until he got in. Now he's passionate to put all his impressive outdoors-adventure competence in the service of the Dartmouth outing community, whether that's his surfing, climbing, or mountain biking crowd. Thisovernight trip was the trip on which Randle officially became a surf trip leader.
We arrived at Jenesse Beach, where my friend Ari and surf leader Jimmy Krupka '21+5 were already waiting for us. They had left Hanover before us to check out the conditions, driving in a white DOC minivan, filled to the brim with surf gear, food, and camping equipment. Last time, Jimmy, whose skiing career has allowed him, like Randle, to chase (surfing) adventures around the world, shared with us stories from his life as a surfer: you can spot someone who's surfed for a long time by their sun-bleached hair and their salt-water lightened eyes. Jimmy also shared his favorite book–William Finnegan's Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life, which turned out to be one of Ari's favorite books as well.
So this time around, I had done my homework. I had read Barbarian Days, and I knew what to look for in the ocean. I knew to recognize the grounding feeling of seeing the waves crash and the peaceful fatigue you feel after you get back on the beach. I knew how to appreciate the beauty of the turns surf leader Wesley Icken '26 could make on his short board. And I didn't feel out of place when I shouted over the breaking waves at Michael Crockett '26, the trip leader keeping an eye on me that first day in the ocean, "Michael, did you see me catch that wave?"
"I saw you!" Michael smiled widely, mirroring my joy.
I found it too cold to get into the ocean with a surfboard that morning, but for some reason, I had no problem going in with a camera. I was waist-deep in the water (still wearing pants) when Ari fell, and their surfboard gently hit me in the right arm. I humbly think that's a phenomenal shot.
When we returned to campus the next day, I stayed with Ari, Jimmy, Michael, and Wesley to help them wash and bring the surf gear back to where it's stored. I got to see a bit of how the Surf Club is run. I got to hear the passionate conversations sparked by leaders asking, "How do we make Surf Club better? How do we make the next overnight trip even better?"
It's inspiring when you see people care so much. I appreciated how many hours they put into organizing those trips, preparing the gear, and overseeing everyone, whether beginner or intermediate. And while they freely give excellent technical advice (I'll be forever grateful to Ari, who stayed with me in the shallow water until I managed to get beyond the break), I appreciate how freely they also share their stories.
My off-term in Hanover full of winter magic: I'm already daydreaming about the annual snowball fight, hot-cocoa fueled Woccoms (walks around Occom Pond), and cozying up in the Tower Room with a good book.
