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.
A class studying how Christian language has permeated into how we as a society talk about economics. I have virtually no interest in either field as a major, nor am I really religious, but the class is super fun! It challenges you to think in ways that aren't outstandingly obvious, but get more and more interesting if you're willing to put the time in to thinking about them. It's by no means your traditional class. At least in the high school I came from, the idea of dedicating an entire term to a topic as niche as this is unheard of. But honestly? That just makes it so much more fulfilling. Like most Dartmouth classes, there's a ton of freedom to explore topics that interest you. For my final term paper, since I'm a huge hip hop fan, I wrote about the religious and economic underpinnings of Kendrick Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost." Without diving too deep into the jargon, I argued that money according to Kendrick Lamar, is defined by Western capitalism heavily intertwined with American Prosperity Gospel; its true nature, on the other hand, is a form of spiritual exchange. I loved this class so much that I was able to take my professor out to breakfast (on Dartmouth's dime, of course. Quick college lesson, never, ever pay for food. Live life Aladdin style.).
For those that don't know, Writing 5 is a class that's mandated for all Freshman. It helps you adjust to college writing, research, all that good stuff. There's a ton of topics to choose from, ranging from the criminal justice system to how food affects your mind. I personally chose "Pursuit of Happiness" because, well, who doesn't want to be happy? This class was my first intro to what the Dartmouth academic experience is really about. It was a small class of only 16 strong where classes were discussion-based and the professor's door is always open. It goes without saying that the course was immensely interesting (is there really a way to make happiness boring?), and we studied a vast majority of topics from Aristotle to Voltaire to Biochemical research studies. I tell incoming students all the time that if you want to make the most of your Dartmouth experience, take classes that interest you and make what you do with those classes interesting too. There's nothing more painful than having to write a paper on a topic you find absolutely mind-numbingly dull. Given my fascination with stand up comedy, I focused on viewing comedy as a form of happiness, starting from comedy in relation to Camus's absurd, the higher prevalence of mental illness in comedians, and what kind of comedians deserve happiness. Honestly? Even though this class was technically "mandatory," I would have taken it regardless.
This is the class I'm currently taking, and it's by far my favorite. You couldn't tell by my posts, or my favorite classes I listed earlier, but I'm actually a huge STEM guy. I'm a biomedical engineering major for a reason, and Dartmouth classes really make STEM fun. They're also so easy a child could follow them. Literally. I'm using the computer science 1 curriculum to teach my little sister coding. At a slower pace of course. She's not THAT smart (yet). I've never tried coding before, but the task-based approach of the CS department really makes things interesting. So far, we've drawn a children's book/ logo, a chalkboard drawing (I drew the Kanye bear), and a retro pong game. There's something fun about solving puzzles for a grade, and even though the course is admittedly pretty challenging at times, it's so worth it.
A year ago, I wrote an article about the Asian food the dining hall serves at Dartmouth, and the conclusion that I came to at the end of the post was "it's not authentic, but at least they tried." Well, a lot has changed since then. For one, FoCo (the '53 Commons, aka the main dining hall in Dartmouth) used to be a self-serve all you can eat buffet. Nowadays it's still a buffet, and you can still grab as much as you want, but because of COVID restrictions the DDS (Dartmouth Dining Service) employees have to grab it for you. But before we were even allowed to go to FoCo and dine-in, we had to quarantine for 8 days where we had to pick up our food for takeout only.
Dumplings courtesy of DDS
Now, before coming back for the Winter, I had heard stories from friends at other schools about all the administrative mess that came with trying to get everyone fed in quarantine, especially in the larger schools. I'm talking about dietary restrictions not being acknowledged, both religious and allergy-related, and even not getting students water, which I'm pretty sure they needed. And I'll be honest. I heard so many stories about just getting anything to eat that I had packed half a suitcase's worth of just snacks to eat in the event that everything here went wrong.
Though I'm proud to say that, 14 days into quarantine, I haven't touched any of that food out of necessity. I may have grabbed a pack of crackers or two, but for the most part I've been fine. Great, even.
You see, my second fear was that we would get food, but it would be some nutraloaf-type situation. Not true at all either. In fact, not only have DDS been trying their best to make the food good, they've been trying their hand at all sorts of different kinds of food. They've served stuff like Gyoza, Beef Bulgogi, Samosas— things I never thought I would see in Hanover, much less Hanover during a lockdown. And while the food might not always taste authentic, the point is that they're trying, and that means a lot especially during a pandemic. It really just goes to show you how above and beyond DDS goes for the students here.
Now, as I'm wrapping up the last days of my freshman year in college (UNBELIEVABLE), I want to share some things that I learned throughout my first year here as well.
