Welcome to the (virtual) woods! My name is Natalie and I'm a '25 from Oakland, California (3035 miles away from Dartmouth)! I'm a political science and crossword puzzle nerd who's excited to dive into the millions of activities we have on campus. I'm a Politics, Philosophy, and Economics major at Dartmouth, and am considering both a History and Human-Centered Design minor. I'm also the President of the Parliamentary Debate team! Go Big Green!
Hi everyone! Wow… week 9 comes to a close! I feel like I'm staring the finish line right in the face. I'm starting to prepare for finals: drafting my final paper for Writing 5, constructing my final presentation for ENGS 12, and studying my butt off for my Government 4 final test. There is lots of work to be done in the next week, but my brain is already starting to wander to Winterim, Dartmouth's winter break. We head home before Thanksgiving, on November 23rd, and don't go back to campus until the first week of January … almost 6 weeks of break!
You might be thinking, "6 weeks?! What am I supposed to do for 6 weeks?" I had the same reaction when I heard about Winterim. After settling into life at Dartmouth, 6 weeks seems like a long time to go home for. Maybe, if I tell you how I plan on spending the time, it'll convince you that 6 weeks isn't too long at all.
1. Sleep.
Dartmouth really wears a girl out! Our 10-week terms are a sprint from beginning to end, and as we juggle academic and social commitments, it can be easy, no matter how good your self-care skills are, to get behind on sleep. My first priority for Winterim is making sure I'm well rested. No alarms, no platform Twin XL bed. Just sleeping in for sleeping in's sake.
2. Eat.
Hanover has great food! But everything pales in comparison to my dad's cooking and the amazing restaurants of the San Francisco area. I want to eat poke, dim sum, mission burritos and home-cooked meals until my stomach can't take anymore.
3. Hike an Island!
I know what you're thinking … what happened to eating and sleeping! You gotta get moving at some point! In what is arguably the most exciting part of my Winterim, I'm traveling to Catalina Island off the coast of Southern California with the Dartmouth Outing Club. We're doing a 7-night backpacking trip of 8-10 miles a day. The trip is through the Viva Hardigg Outdoor Club (VHOC), which is a sub club within the DOC. VHOC is a outing club that focuses on people who's gender identities are historically underrepresented within the outdoors, so women, trans folks, and non-binary people. The Catalina crew is a group of 8, with people from every class year! The DOC subsidizes the trip as well as provides the equipment and financial aid for flights — such a unique opportunity.
4. Summer Job Search!
Winterim is a great opportunity to start applying for summer jobs! It's nice to be able to look through Handshake (Dartmouth's career website) while we're not also doing schoolwork. I will probably sit down and apply for a few different internships just to keep my options open for the summer.
I'm sure there will be many more fun activities — I cannot wait to pet my dog, see my brother, go to the farmer's market and just enjoy my time in the California sun. But those are my 4 main objectives for break: sleep, eat, hike an island and find a job!
Before coming to college, I was afraid of not finding an academic mentor during my undergraduate studies. However, I have found that Dartmouth's community of professors to be absolutely astonishing and I could not be more grateful.
No matter your experience or budget, I'm sure you can make skiing a fun part of your winter Dartmouth experience if you would like. So how easy is it to ski at Dartmouth? I couldn't imagine it being easier!
