Hi, and welcome to my corner of the woods! I'm Lauren, a '27 from Munger, Michigan. In the winter, my favorite activities on campus are writing in Sanborn and watching hockey at Thompson Arena. I'm excited to share a bit about my favorite place with all of you!
I took this class as part of Dartmouth's first year writing requirement. We read a pro cyclist's life narrative, discussed research papers on controversial topics in sports, and wrote our own papers on a contentious sports technology of our choice. I really enjoyed this course's emphasis on discussion, and the small class size!
This was my first class in the classics department, which was super exciting as a classical studies major! We learned about the ancient Olympics and the connections between athletics and other aspects of ancient Greek society. I loved the final project in this class, which involved creating an argument about how the ancient pentathlon was scored!
To conclude my language requirement, I took Latin 3! This class was super exciting because we began to read ancient texts and poetry. We also took a class trip to the Rauner Special Collections library so we could physically handle and read some manuscripts. And as an added bonus, Latin counts as a prerequisite for my classical studies major!
As a part of my language study abroad in Italy, I also took a class on Italian history and culture! We went on field trips to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, participated in walking tours of Rome, and watched a lot of great cinema in this class! I loved it so much that I decided to minor in Italian.
This class, in addition to being a pre-requisite for my major, was super interesting! I loved learning about archaeology through hands-on projects and lectures that felt like TED Talks.
My favorite course on my Italian LSA+ in Rome is focused on Italian literature, which we are studying in a reverse-chronological order! It has been incredibly fun to see different topics and styles evolve over time and to learn from the works of the best writers.
I’m absolutely loving this hands-on introduction to paleography, and the fact that my class meets at Rauner every day! I can’t wait to hear from our guest lecturers, too, and I’ll be sure to share those experiences on the blog. All in all, Latin 10 was a great way to get back into the language after a term away in Rome.
I signed up for this Latin class after the FDOC (first day of class), and I'm so glad I added it to my sophomore summer schedule! Our class is combined with GRK 30.08 History and Structure of the Greek Language, and it has been incredibly interesting to compare the ancient languages and learn a bit of Greek.
FallIvrea, Italy
This term, I'm interning with the Olivetti Leadership Institute in Ivrea, a small town in northern Italy.
WinterHanover, NH
For my second off-term, I'm back on campus! I'm keeping myself busy by working, spending time with friends, and working on my to-be-read list.
Every time I pack my bags to head back to Hanover, my hometown friends ask me the same question: "Wait…when will you be back?" I usually pause, open the Google Calendar app, and then close it again with a shrug. Between off-terms, study abroad programs, and traditions like sophomore summer, the D-Plan isn't exactly intuitive to an outsider. It's flexible and empowering, but it also means I'm never quite sure how to answer their question.
I've written before about the D-Plan in terms of its pros and cons: the freedom to choose your own adventure, and the frustration of being on a different on- and off-term schedule than friends. What I hadn't spent much time thinking about until recently, though, is what it feels like to come back from one of those off-terms.
I was only gone for the fall, but because my last term in Hanover was sophomore summer—when campus was quieter and almost entirely fellow '27s—returning this winter required more adjustment than I expected.
I forgot how beautiful campus is in the winter!
Soon after arriving, I shuffled through the snow into the newly completed Hopkins Center for the Arts. I'd watched the Hop rise piece by piece over my first two years, but seeing it finished made something click. Dartmouth doesn't pause when I'm not here.
I came back to a library full of new faces, a Green buried in snow, and the new title of "junior." A different version of myself might have felt left behind or overwhelmed by those changes.
I'm so happy to be back with all of my friends!
Instead, I felt reassured. No matter how long I'm gone, Hanover keeps being Hanover. There's a steadiness here that I've come to love. I know I can leave and return and still have a home here.
The best part of being back has been the people. Because of mismatched D-Plans, there are friends I hadn't shared a term with in nearly a year. Reuniting over late-night board games, surprise attacking each other at the snowball fight, and catching up over three-hour dinners reminded me much I love the community I've built for myself here.
I'm not sure who built this snowman, but it brought me a lot of joy to see it!
I'll be honest: I'm still not the biggest fan of the concept of off-terms. I'd love a lifetime of creating memories with my friends in Hanover (which might explain why I'm spending an off-term here right now). But I now understand the D-Plan in a way I didn't before.
Dartmouth isn't mean to be consumed all at once. I took eight straight terms "on" before finally stepping away, and those ten weeks taught me nearly as much as the past eighty. I left, I grew, and I came back a little bit better. And now, I think that's the whole point.
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.
