Hey y'all! My name is Natasha, and I am a junior at Dartmouth College. I'm majoring in history and minoring in public policy and Chinese. In my free time, I love to watch New Girl, hang out with my friends, and explore the Upper Valley. Dartmouth is a pretty neat place— I hope you enjoy reading my posts about life here!
Academic Program
History Major and Minors in Public Policy and Chinese
One of the major celebrations during the winter term at Dartmouth is Winter Carnival. Winter Carnival is a weekend-long event that began in 1911 to admire the beauty of the Upper Valley in the winter and to celebrate the success of Dartmouth's winter sports teams.
My friends and I started the weekend off by watching Frozen 2 (I know...how wintery, right?) at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. In addition to Dartmouth students, many children and adults from the Hanover area came to watch the movie. After we finished watching the film (which was amazing, if anyone was wondering), my friends and I decided to check out the giant snow sculpture on the Green. Because the theme for Winter Carnival this year was "A Blizzard of Unbelievable Beasts," the giant snow sculpture this year was the Loch Ness Monster.
The Loch Ness Monster Snow Sculpture.
The next day, some people from my debate team and I participated in the ice sculpture contest. Even though I had no prior experience in ice sculpting, I was excited to try for the first time. After we started, I quickly realized how difficult it was to ice sculpt, especially when it was below freezing outside! After working for four hours, we finally finished our sculpture. Even though it didn't turn out *quite* how we wanted it to, I enjoyed spending time with my team!
Our finished ice sculpture!
Other than ice sculpting, there were a lot of different activities going on, such as the 99 Cent Ski Day and the Human Dog Sled Race. After ice sculpting, my friends and I decided to attend some political rallies. Because the New Hampshire primary happened to be the Tuesday after Winter Carnival this year, many presidential candidates came to campus. They spoke to students and members of the Hanover community. It was amazing to see these candidates speak and to see how passionate Dartmouth students are about politics. To end the night, my friends and I went to the Winter WhingDing, which is a wonderful music and dance show with performers such as the Decibelles (Dartmouth's oldest all-female acapella group), The Dartmouth Chords (an all-male acapella group), and Sugar Plum (a dance group).
The Decibelles performing at the Winter WhingDing.
Dartmouth students embrace the cold winters by celebrating the beauty of the wintery landscape and taking advantage of the cold by doing winter-specific activities such as ice sculpting, skiing, and sledding. I had so much fun celebrating Winter Carnival, and I can't wait for the next one!
Entering a new environment miles away from home, knowing little to no people at first, can feel daunting. However, Dartmouth's support systems, particularly through the First Generation Office (FGO), have been nothing short of incredible.
A key part of my Dartmouth experience so far has been my time on Sheba, one of many dance groups on campus! Read on to learn more about dance on campus!
Dartmouth's Winter Carnival is a beloved tradition that brings the community together to celebrate winter with a wide range of fun activities, from thrilling ski races to unique events like the Polar Plunge and ice sculpture carving.
