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.
I knew when I moved into this room that I only had 10 weeks here—but that doesn't stop me from feeling a bit sad about having to leave so soon!
It can be difficult to adjust to living in a shared space for the first time. Last year, I had a three-room double in French Hall, which meant my roommate and I had our bedroom to ourselves and shared a connecting room. But this summer, during my FIRE Dartmouth Italian study abroad program, I shared a single (albeit quite large!) room with my friend Jada.
I had a lot of fun collecting mementos to decorate my corner of our room in Rome!
My room this term is kind of like a combination of my two previous dorms—I live in a two-room double, which means my roommate and I each have our own connecting rooms and she has to walk through my bedroom to get to hers. I was worried this would make it difficult to make my space feel like my own, so I made sure to bring lots of decorations this year!
I figured that before I have to start packing, I could give you a bit of a tour.
Books
The first thing people usually notice about my room are my (non-required) books.I don't have much free time, and when I do, I don't often feel motivated to reach for a book. But when I do, I'm always grateful I brought a few from home.
Wall Decoration
My favorite part of my room are my walls. I spend a couple of hours at the beginning of each term decorating with posters and photos, and I think the effort is always worth it. I love coming back to my room at the end of each day to a space that feels like a physical representation of my personality!
It may be difficult to tell from the photo, but this map is covered in small red dots made by my friends to mark their hometowns or a place that is important to them when they visit my room!
I decorated the space above my bed with a map and postcards from two of my favorite places—Greece and Italy!
Bed
The most important part of my room, obviously, is my bed. I knew that I wouldn't feel motivated to make my bed each morning if I had too many things on it, so I limited myself to the bare necessities of comfort.
I'm glad that this year, my bed is lofted a bit lower—I no longer need a stool to jump up onto it at the end of each day!
I brought a lot of the same decorations back for my second year!
That's about it for my dorm, but I hope you enjoyed the little tour!
This fall, Dartmouth provided me with incredible opportunities to get involved in politics. I registered as a New Hampshire voter, joined civic organizations, canvassed, and more! Read on to follow my journey leading up to Election Day!
