First, I'll explain who I am. I'm Nicholas Sugiarto, a '23 from San Diego, California. Second, a quick disclaimer. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Prior to Dartmouth, I've never hiked, skied, or seen snow. So yeah, you could say that Dartmouth is quite a bit different from what I'm used to. You'll probably find me on campus lost. I have no sense of direction. Please help.
Admittedly, coming into Dartmouth, one of my greatest worries would be that I would miss a lot of the stuff from home — specifically, the food. Coming from California, I was used to being able to eat a variety of Asian food: ramen, boba, curry. But, given the fact that Hanover is in New Hampshire and not California, I wasn't expecting much good Asian food.
Matcha tea from San Diego. I miss it already.
And Indonesian food? Not a chance. Even in San Diego, the only place I could get that was in my own house. In my mind, there was absolutely no way I would find any of it in Hanover.
Unfortunately, I was right. There is no Indonesian food in Hanover. But, on the bright side, I was also pleasantly wrong.
For one, FOCO, which is Dartmouth's all-you-can-eat buffet, serves sushi every Saturday. And, since it's all you can eat, let's just say that my friends and I have already eaten an embarrassingly large amount of it. Like, bordering a dozen plates.
Singaporean Street Noodles at FOCO.
There's more, too. FOCO also rotates in a variety of other Asian dishes, like Vietnamese Banh Mi, or Singaporean Street Noodles. I ate them back home, so finding out that Dartmouth has them was a nice touch. But what really surprised me was their "hot sauce."
Indonesian people love spicy food, so naturally I grew up eating a lot of it. There's just something beautiful about the masochism involved in eating something so spicy that your nose runs and your eyes cry.
So understandably, I was a bit disappointed when I found out that I couldn't get that here. That is, until I went to Collis.
For the uninitiated, Collis mostly serves stir fry. Once they cook your food, you have a choice of a few sauces. Hoping to rekindle the magic from back home, I opted for the "hot" sauce. Initially, I thought I recognized the fire-alarm-red color and rounded chili seeds, but I thought nothing of it. It wasn't until I tasted that familiar heavy-on-your-tongue kind of spice that I knew.
"Is this? No. This can't be… no way…"
The inspiration from this post came after watching The Farewell, which featured Chinese food prominently throughout the film. I watched it in one of Dartmouth's screening rooms. Highly recommend it!
It was. More specifically, it was Indonesian sambal (aka Indonesian hot sauce aka the single most important thing to me and my life.) Needless to say, that won't be the only time I go to Collis.
I've talked a lot about Asian food at Dartmouth, and I know what you're thinking. Is it authentic?
No.
It's not authentic. Not by a long shot. There's no way around it. I'm sorry, Dartmouth, but it tastes very much like an Americanized version of Asian food. Still, that's not the important part. It's just a nice gesture that they try to add a little bit of diversity to their food. As I adjust to my new life here, it's nice that there's something that even resembles what I had back home. My tongue and I are both thankful.
Wow, my freshman year at Dartmouth has really flown by! Towards the end of summer 2020, I received a warm welcome email from my Orientation Peer Leaders inviting me to join a Zoom call with around ten other of my classmates.
As we approach graduation day, I continue to reflect on my time at Dartmouth. I've learned a lot about myself over the course of the last four years, but here are three of the most important things I've come to realize...
In no particular order, here are a few places and ways I love to spend my free time as a student at Dartmouth. I hope this post can give you a glimpse into how wonderful campus life can be!
Here is a glimpse into the gorgeous outdoors that sits on and hugs Dartmouth's campus. On this fine May afternoon, my friends and I paddled down the Connecticut River for the first time now that the Ledyard Canoe Club opened services. We had a blast!
Spikeball on the Green, cherry blossoms in front of Baker….as spring is arriving here in the Upper Valley, I thought I'd write a quick post about my favorite things to do near campus this time of year!
There's more, too. FOCO also rotates in a variety of other Asian dishes, like Vietnamese Banh Mi, or Singaporean Street Noodles. I ate them back home, so finding out that Dartmouth has them was a nice touch. But what really surprised me was their "hot sauce."
It was. More specifically, it was Indonesian sambal (aka Indonesian hot sauce aka the single most important thing to me and my life.) Needless to say, that won't be the only time I go to Collis.
