Welcome to my page, I am a '27 from central New Hampshire! I came to Dartmouth for the liberal arts curriculum, so I plan to explore the academic disciplines before deciding what to focus on. I am currently looking at environmental science and religion. In addition to blogging, I am part of the Interfaith LLC (Living Learning Community) and Great Issues Scholars. I enjoy mountain biking, running, skiing, singing, and drawing.
Academic Program
Intended: pre-health, environmental science or biology, and religion.
This discussion and reading-based class was incredible and relevant! Content ranged from the historical impact of the printing press to AI in the workforce and transhumanism, and all of the topics were grounded in religion and some of the frameworks religion provides. I pondered on ideas from this class all the time.
I was captivated by the first class meeting of the term reading Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' and eventually chose to focus on it for my research paper at the end of the term. All of the readings captivated my attention, however, Kafka, Han's 'The Vegetarian', and Kristeva were the authors that made the biggest impression on me. The class discussions resulted in wonderful insights relevant to humanity at a macro level. My favorite aspect was our professor instructing us to focus on the ideas before picking apart the writing style.
Today I went to the Dartmouth Skiway Lodge (aka sklodj) for the first time, so I felt compelled to write an 'outdoors' post. Around halfway through my time at the lodge today, the snow started to lightly flurry (snowfall) and a little while later my phone started giving me weather alerts and then it was a whiteout snow squall. Today the only lift open was the two-seater and during the snow squall, I could not see clearly beyond the chair in front of me! It has been a rough winter in NH this year and by that I mean we have not had much snow. It has also been rainy; because I live nearby I also witnessed these patterns over winterim (winter break). This means that ski hills did not open until late December or January and not all trails are open. However, I am optimistic that in the next month a solid snow pack 'base' will form and more trails will be open. I have been skiing for quite a few years now, but Dartmouth is a good place to learn how to ski/snowboard even if you have never seen snow.
Close-up of Sklodj in a Whiteout Snow Squall
Me in Sklodj!
Something I think is important to note is that these outdoor activities take 15-30 mins or a few hours, not a whole day. This allows for time for other priorities like studying, sleeping, eating, and socializing.
I brought my mountain bike to school with me in the fall term but I frequently chose to run since it took less time. My first term at Dartmouth was also a learning experience for me in terms of figuring out how to reorient my time management skills, so a run was just easier. This picture is in Brophy Field, which is near the golf course and the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse, less than a mile from Hanover.
View from a Mountain Bike Ride
A view from one of my Occom Pond runs, I am not sure if it is a coined Dartmouth term, but I have taken to calling them Roccoms (pronouned rock-uhms)! If you are acquainted with the People, Places, Pines blog already then I am fairly confident you have come across the term Woccom :). Roccoms were my go-to when I had about a half hour of free time and enough energy. Frequently I like to do interval running (high speed then walk or jog) so this allowed me to see if there was any action in the pond.
Wildlife in Occom Pond
Note on affordability: If this is a consideration for you there are numerous ways to approach accessing things like mountain biking and skiing. The Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) has mountain bikes that can be borrowed, season passes at the Skiway are under $100 for first-year Dartmouth students, and if you are doing a PE ski course you get gear and can request discounts. You should be able to explore your outdoor interests regardless of your socioeconomic situation! PE fee discounts
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont!
Over half of Dartmouth students study abroad at least once during their undergraduate journeys—quite a high percentage, right? Do you want to know how to best prepare for your own abroad experience? Come check what it was like for me.
At Dartmouth, there is an undergraduate requirement for language; after all, it is the liberal arts! Fulfilling this requirement looks different for various people and I will focus on my experience.
I have written about being a student worker plenty of times in the past, but I have yet to talk about one of my favorite jobs ever: ticket selling at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
