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 work as an Interfaith Trip Fellow with the Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Life. I enjoy mountain biking, running, skiing, singing, and drawing.
Academic Program
Intended: pre-health, anthropology, environmental studies, 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.
This class made me think about the bigger picture of health in a systems focus. Ultimately this class helped me realize that there are a lot of structural health system challenges in the U.S. and around the world. I particularly liked learning about the histories and anthropological side of things. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were my favorite topic in the class because the frameworks are very limited, so some do not receive enough focus and funding.
My Spanish language study abroad was wonderful. In addition to improving my Spanish proficiency, I learned a lot about the culture and history of Spain- especially in the autonomous community (region) of Cantabria where Santander is located. My favorite class on this trip was literature, every class had a different theme relevant to the history and culture of Spain and this was explored with movies, videos, and readings that resulted in some great insights during class discussion. The homestay aspect and excursions bolstered the conversational and cultural aspects of the LSA.
On my summer Language Study Abroad (LSA), we had weekly day-long excursions on Fridays and two longer excursions to Madrid and Bilbao. These excursions were an enriching part of the academic and cultural part of the LSA but sometimes it was exhausting to have 12-hour excursions on a Friday after 4 days of classes totally in Spanish. Although I will say that by week 5—when my brain had really adjusted to the Spanish—it was not as challenging. These excursions were also the times when we consistently had group restaurant meals. All of the photos are in chronological order! A quick note on affordability: if financial aid is a consideration for you, Dartmouth adjusts financial aid to cover more costs if an abroad term costs more.
Week 1: Cueva de Castillo, Museo de Cueva de Altamira, y Santillana del Mar (cueva= cave; museo= museum)
We took a tour inside the cave of Castillo with an archaeologist.
Atlatl practice, which is the prehistoric equivalent of a bow and arrow, outside the Cave of Castillo.
Outside of a church in Santillana del Mar which is a medieval town.
Week 2: Picos de Europa
This was in the Picos de Europa mountain range.
Photo of the town Pembes on our hike in Picos de Europa.
Week 4: Madrid
Day 1 - Traveling to Madrid from Cantabria (Northern Spain)
San Martín church in the town of Frómista, one of our destinations on the way to Madrid. We also stopped at the Roman Villa La Olmeda which was incredible.
Restaurant Meson Los Templarios had Castilian food and was part of our bus trip to Madrid.
Day 2 - Tour of Madrid, Royal Palace, and a Group Dinner
We saw some awesome street art in Madrid the morning before going to the royal palace.
A photo of me in the royal palace in Madrid.
This was one of my favorite rooms in the royal palace.
I love to look up at the ceilings to see all of the incredible artwork and this was one of my favorites in the royal palace.
Inside the house of Lope de Vega in Madrid.
Day 3 - Museums and time in Madrid
The Museum of Prado is incredible, unfortunately we were there for under two hours which is a very limited experience with the sheer amount of works.
This was part of an exhibit series about white people in various careers, in this case social workers, inside the Museum of Queen Sofia that I found particularly powerful.
The museum of Reina Sofia houses contemporary art, so there were a lot of unique exhibits. This was entitled 'Another Possible World'.
Week 5: Semana Libre (free/vacation week)
Granada
A picture of me in the Generalife palace gardens at the Alhambra.
A gorgeous wood ceiling in the Nasarid palaces in the Alhambra.
Puerta de Birrambla is in the public part of the Alhambra, and in Granada in general there is a lot of monuments from the Caliphates when Spain was Al-Andalus.
Córdoba
An extremely important landscape in Córdoba is the Cathedral which was formerly a mosque and now it is a mix between a mosque and a catholic space.
Sevilla
The Plaza de Espana is an important monument in the city of Sevilla that represents all of the old cities/kingdoms of Spain.
I was excited to find the tile location for Santander when I was exploring Plaza de Espana.
Week 6: Camino de Santiago y Comillas
A view of the ocean and a beach from the Camino de Santiago.
A group photo during our 'hike' on the Camino de Santiago.
A former private residence designed by Gaudi known as El Capricho is a hallmark of the town of Comillas because most of Gaudi's works are in Catalonia (the autonomous region of which Barcelona is a part).
Week 7: Bilbao
Day 1 - Museums
The Guggenheim museum at night after a dinner that went until midnight!
My favorite exhibit inside the Guggenheim was the traveling exhibit of Yoshimoto Nara and this was one of my favorite works within that exhibit.
This was a small artwork in the museum of fine arts in Bilbao but it was one of my favorites due to its details and the history of ports in nothern Spain.
Day 2 - Hike
I was still recovering from a cold so I was sadly unable to go down to the ocean and climb all the stairs for this experience, I made the choice to let my body recuperate.
Week 8: Atapuerca y Burgos
This archaeology site at Atapuerca is very important in the study of human history. We received a tour with an archaeologist.
This is one side of the main part of the cathedral in Burgos. I loved the detail on the wood carving in this room paired with the Portuguese style organs and the rose window in the background.
The Main Sacristy was one of my favorite rooms in the cathedral and it has ornate details from the late Baroque period.
The outside of the cathedral is just about as impressive, or maybe more so depending on opinion. This is a view from the interior courtyard.
Week 9: Viaje de Barco y Cocinando (Boat trip and Cooking)
A view of the lighthouse on Mouro island on a boat ride.
My classmates, Helen and Ella, dicing an onion as part of the process of the group cooking our own dinner. We made gazpacho, Spanish tortilla, and paella.
Week 10: Farewell Dinner
Our final dinner of the program was with our professors, our excursion guide, and our program coordinator for homestays and social activities (we got to know her very well!).
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