Hello, and welcome to my corner of the woods! I'm Lauren, a '27 from Munger, Michigan. On campus, I enjoy writing sports for The Dartmouth, going on as many DOC trips as I can, and hanging out with my friends. I also love Woccoming, doing the daily NYT mini crossword, and paddling!
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 both my major and my spring study abroad, was super interesting! I loved learning about archaeology in a chronological sequence, and I feel so much more prepared for my trip to Greece after completing this class.
If you're not already aware, the typical term at Dartmouth consists of three courses. However, for a variety of reasons, students sometimes either reduce or increase their workload to two or four courses. During your time at Dartmouth, you are allowed a maximum of three two-course terms and four four-course terms, but neither are required for most students. However, in my situation, it made a lot of sense to elect four courses this fall!
First, I need to quickly clarify some terminology. Students are only allowed to "elect" three courses—the fourth must be added during the college's "Add/Drop" period, which lasts for the first week of classes. There are a few more technicalities, but they're beyond the scope of this post. Here's a link to more information from Dartmouth's Undergraduate Deans Office website. My four courses are all (roughly) related, which will make this term super fun! I'm taking Italian 3, Latin 10.01 (The Landscapes of Latin Literature), Classics 6 (Introduction to Classical Archaeology), and Art History 11.01 (Art in Ancient Greece: Temples, Gods, and Heroes). Since I love Classics, art, language learning, and Reed Hall, I should have a great term!
My daily commute to class!
But how do I plan to manage this increased academic workload, along with my job, research, clubs, social life, and mental and physical health? GOOGLE CALENDAR!!!
If you have ever met me, or even just sat behind me in one of my classes, you probably already know about my love for Google Calendar. Some of my friends have asked me how I use Google Calendar, and since I'll be leaning on it a lot during this busy term, I figured I'd share that information with everyone here!
Color-Coding
In my opinion, one of the most helpful features of Google Calendar is the ability to visually differentiate between your entries with color labels. Before each term, I assign a color to each of my classes and extracurricular activities so I can quickly see what types of events are on my schedule for the day.
As an added bonus of these color labels, Google Calendar has a cool feature called "Time Insights" that allows you to see what percentage of your day is dedicated to each. This is a great feature, because it allows you to physically check on your work-life balance and see how you are spending your time.
Google Calendar makes it easier to spend less time here!
Schedule Meetings
It's no secret—Dartmouth students are incredibly busy, and getting a group of more than two or three people together in one room can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. To help make this challenge a bit easier, I like using Google Calendar's "Meet with…" feature. This little search box allows you to type in your friends' names and see what times they already have blocked off as "busy" on their calendars. Once you find a time that works for everyone, you can click to create an event and "Add guest," which sends them an email inviting them to add the event to their own calendar! This feature has made scheduling group projects, club meetings, and even just dinner with a large group of friends a million times easier.
Google Calendar makes big group dinners easier to plan!
I definitely had this Dartmouth Sports Analytics Club meeting on my Google Calendar
My love for Google Calendar is a little bit embarrassing—I'll be the first to admit that. Nonetheless, life at Dartmouth is busy, and I wouldn't be nearly as organized as I am without it. I hope that these tips have helped you realize that managing four courses (or just a normal term) is easy with the right tools!
During my time at Dartmouth, within the realm of medicine specifically, I was able to gain a broader outlook on what careers / optionalities are "really" out there, and I'm here to tell you the resources that were leveraged!
A bit about the different organizations celebrating Lunar New Year on campus, and a photo gallery of Dartmouth Chinese Student Association and the Chinese Language Houses' celebrations!
My first week back on campus– full of lots of hugs and an extensive amount of time spent making my Google calendar! Cold days and walking to classes after six weeks at home can be an adjustment, but my friends at Dartmouth make it all the more fun!
