Hey! I'm Nuna and I'm a '28 from Accra, Ghana. I plan on studying Biology at Dartmouth but I'm definitely on the lookout for any other interesting areas of study. When I'm not in class (and not catching up on sleep), I'm reading, cooking or winning card games with my friends (especially Uno and Hearts!). I plan on getting involved with a lot of organizations on campus, so come along and join me for the ride!
I had a little experience with calculus before I came to Dartmouth, but this course made it a lot more fun while still being appropriately challenging. We learnt about limits, derivatives, differentiation and integration methods. My professor was a lot of fun and I made a lot of good friends in this class because it was such an engaging class and a friendly environment. I’m not sure if I’ll be taking any more calculus classes, but this one was a really good way to kick off my journey.
This class is an even mix between an English, History and Jewish Studies class. By using articles, movies and memoirs, we learn to how write effectively on the topic of gender and sexuality in relation to the Holocaust. The main focus is on organizing arguments, using evidence and developing a distinct writing style. Though I'm not a big fan of History, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Not only do I think my writing has improved dramatically, but I also learnt a lot about World War II and the nuanced experiences of people of different genders and sexualities. Our professor was also brilliantly engaging and very constructive in her teaching style. I might end up taking more History classes after this!
Being from Ghana, which is located just north of the equator, adjusting to the winter has been an interesting experience. This made me super excited for Dartmouth's 115th Winter Carnival, which we hold every year. This year, the theme was Jurassic Parka: The Carnival Before Time. I was unfortunately feeling a bit under the weather during this week, so I didn't get to do as many things as I wanted, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. This is roughly how it went!
On Thursday, we had an opening ceremony dinner with Dino-themed decor and food, from Dino Nuggies to Jurassic Jello. There were so many different activities as well, such as building your own dinosaur terrarium and 'hatching' your own dinosaur eggs. It was a great start to the festivities, and there was a cool photo booth as well to take photos.
Jurassic Parka dinner!
The next day, there were activities throughout the day. I had class till 1:35 pm so I didn't do anything till then. There were ski races at the Dartmouth ski way, and a Prehistoric Plunge at the Occom Pond. People jumped into the frigid waters and swam the length of the pond in an ultimate test of willpower. I didn't because I was already sick, but there's always next year! There was also an ice sculpture carving contest, where teams submitted designs and spent hours painstakingly carving the ice into beautiful shapes. My favorite one was Aegis (the college yearbook). It was an intricate carving of an archaeopteryx sitting on a camera. My friend Claire worked tirelessly on it, and it came out amazingly! It didn't win the contest, but we knew it was the best anyway!
Claire and the Archaeopteryx statue, dubbed 'Archaeopter-pics'.
There was also a hockey game that weekend. We played one of our main rivals, who we beat (with ease, mind you). After this, there was a screening of Jurassic Park at the Visual Arts Center. I went to this with my friends and we had so much fun watching it. The next day, I did a lot less because I was truly out of it with the flu. There were more ski races, fun games on the Green and a Figure Skating Exhibition. After the exhibition, there was free skating in the Thompson Arena, where we hold our hockey games. Lastly, there was a Stuff-a-Plush Dino Edition, and we got to make our own stuffed dinosaurs.
Beating our rivals, because that's what we do best!
The last thing I did for the carnival was Carnival Bingo. I'm a huge fan of Bingo and I try to go whenever there's a game on campus. Although I'm usually quite unlucky, this time I won a Jurassic Park themed Chess set. There were other cool prizes like a dinosaur onesie, Lego sets and other Dinosaur costumes. Someone even won a pair of AirPods Pro, which was so cool except I wished it'd been me (can you blame me?). Either way, it was a great way to round off the Carnival, and I had tons of fun at my first ever Winter Carnival.
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.
