Hi, and welcome to my corner of the woods! I'm Lauren, a '27 from Munger, Michigan. Outside of academics, I'm a member of the Ledyard Canoe Club, the Dartmouth Organization of Rural Students, and Dartmouth Sports Analytics. I can't wait to share stories from my final year at Dartmouth 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.
I signed up for this course to complete my final distributive requirement for graduation, and it has turned out to be one of my most rewarding classes! It’s been fascinating to explore a region of the world I hadn’t formally studied before. As a bonus, the lectures are incredibly engaging and I always leave class feeling like my perspective has been broadened.
SummerMunger, Michigan
This summer, I'm spending time at home working on post-graduate applications and hanging out with my family. I'm also working remotely for the Hood Museum and spending a lot of time traveling to visit Dartmouth friends across the country!
I've been thinking lately about the concept of "third places"—spots that aren't my residence hall or classroom, but where I spend a lot of time. They're some of the things I miss the most about Hanover during my off-terms away from campus, and I wanted to share a bit about them!
The Ledyard Clubhouse
In the warmer months it's where Ledyard Canoe Club holds Council, our weekly meeting. My sophomore summer I spent weekends there renting out canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards to students and people from town.
I love studying or reading at the Clubhouse and watching the river pass by!
The porch has old sagging couches, fairy lights, and whatever water bottles and sunscreen got left behind that week. My favorite spot is the chair with Grateful Dead lyrics carved into it: "Listen to the river sing sweet songs to rock my soul." Inside, there's a kitchen where we cook our weekly feeds, and the walls are covered in photos and memorabilia from past Ledyard trips.
Collis Microbrews
Every Monday night, "Microbrews" takes over a room in the basement of Collis called One Wheelock. There are oversized, worn-in leather chairs, a small stage, local microbrews and non-alcoholic options for anyone who wants to come and hang out. Student bands play, and the lineup shifts week to week—indie one Monday, country the next, punk after that. I've gone in for "just a few minutes" and stayed the full two hour set more times than I can count.
Somehow, I don't have any Microbrews photos…but here's a band warming up at One Wheelock a different day!
What I love the most about Microbrews is that it turns a Monday into something to look forward to. You can sit at a table and work quietly on your homework, or stand right in front of the stage and cheer on your friends. Either way, it's quickly become one of my favorite campus traditions.
Fayes Common Room
This one doesn't exist anymore, but I couldn't write this post without including it.
The common room was the first thing you saw walking into the old Fayerweather Hall (which has since been renovated). It had a long table, so people gravitated there—especially early on during our first year on campus, when we were all still figuring out where we belonged.
Lots of studying (and not studying) was done in the common room!
People did homework there, painted their nails, threw birthday parties, and did puzzles (sometimes simultaneously). I met some of my best friends in the world, danced badly, and got way too competitive at Among Us on more than one occasion within the four walls. I'm sure the new Fayerweather has a great common room too—I can't wait to check it out when I get back to campus!
The 1902 Room
In "1902," long tables in various states of wear are lined up in neat rows. On a typical day, the surface of those tables is anything but neat. Chargers, snacks, and unsolicited advice are tossed around (and sometimes end up on the floor).
I've played more Catan and Bananagrams in 1902 than I'd like to admit, on breaks that probably kept me sane enough to be productive later.
Guilty-as-charged.
A few weeks into spring term, word got out that the room might be redesigned. People pushed back hard—enough students participated in a Dartmouth Libraries survey about what the space meant to them that its iconic layout was preserved.
That's what happens when a place means something to you. And all of these places mean a lot to me. As I head into my senior year at Dartmouth, I can't wait to get back to them—maybe I'll even find another to call home!
Last September, a friend and I crafted a ten-item bucket list for our final year as undergraduates. It's the end of our senior spring now. These are some of the boxes I've checked.
