Welcome to the woods! Dartmouth is hands-down my favorite place, and I look forward to coming back every term. I'm not even kidding. After a day and a half of traveling, I step off the Dartmouth Coach and breathe in the crisp Hanover air. Dragging my two humongous suitcases, I trudge across campus, climb three flights of stairs, fumble for the key in my pocket, and finally open the door to my new corner dorm. I let out a sigh of relief at the sight of my bare twin XL mattress.
Before I arrived at Dartmouth, I always had pictured the campus as academic buildings and dorms surrounding the Green. I literally thought the whole campus was just centered around a big lawn and there wouldn't be much traveling to do. (I mean, can you blame me though? The only tours I've had were virtual. Though it is packed with helpful information and beautiful scenery, it was still challenging for me to imagine what the real campus looked like.)
My point is, I thought that Dartmouth's campus was tiny. By tiny, I mean not me having an average of 10,000 steps per day. Depending on how active you are, that number may or may not surprise you. However, for me, that is a whole lot of steps. That said, I am absolutely not complaining. I have never thought that walking around campus would be this pleasant.
As I've said, Dartmouth does not seem pretty big, but there is a lot of moving around to do! Getting in those 10,000 steps is quite simple; just make sure you stride to Foco (our dining hall) every morning, afternoon, and evening. From where I live, that's about a 20-minute walk away and back! To study, march your way to the Irving Institute (institute for energy & society), which stands at the very west of our campus. Once it's time to hit the gym, you can walk for another 12 minutes to the Alumni Gymnasium. The autumn leaves that decorate the road and the cool breeze that sweeps through your hair will make your walk less straining and quite enjoyable. Lastly, to get your good night's sleep, you can take the 11-minute route back to your dorm sweet dorm.
Me and my friends after the rugby game :D
Of course, there are days when I camp inside my dorm and never peek out to see the sunlight. Things happen. There are also days when I have to walk around in big loops to catch up with some friends, go to office hours, or find a new study spot. Yesterday was quite an extreme day when some of my friends and I decided to go watch a rugby game at Brophy Field. Now, Brophy Field is a 25-minute walk from my dorm (the closest dorm). It took us 50 minutes to get there and back. Some of us were huffing and puffing while we tried to walk and sing along to Taylor Swift songs at the same time, and the walk was interrupted by snapping of pictures every once in the while. Was it worth it? Absolutely — we beat a school I shall not name 79 points to 0 and the fall foliage was amazing. Please look at the pictures I took!
Walk to Brophy Field :)
Though there is a lot of walking, I think Dartmouth is the perfect school for it! Buildings and centers are spread throughout, the autumn vista is stunning, and you will likely bump into one of your friends. Bikes and scooters are commonly used, but I think I will continue walking. At least in the fall, the walks are totally worth the view.
When I look back on my time at Dartmouth, and it is hard to believe I will be graduating in just two weeks, I know that Africa Week will always stand out as one of the moments when this campus felt most alive, most joyful, and most like home.
It's my first spring ever (!!!) and I have been blown away by the beautiful scenery that continues to bloom right in front of my eyes. Here are some of my favorite scenes from campus in spring!
