Hi everyone! I'm Rika, a semi-international '28 from Japan, India, and Malaysia. I'm interested in studying women, gender, and sexuality studies, as well as public policy, global health, and biology while also being on the pre-health track! In my free time, I love to read books, cook and bake, play violin, spend time with animals, be sarcastic, and drink hot drinks (especially teas)! I'm so excited to share my exploration of Dartmouth with everyone :)
A few weeks ago, I went to pick some apples at Riverview Farm with School House, one of the six housing communities that each Dartmouth student is sorted into. It was my first-time apple picking in almost 10 years, so it was such a wonderful fall experience.
The (empty) blueberry shrubs
The farm was huge, and had plots of land for apples (15 different types!), blueberries, raspberries, elderberries, pumpkins, and flowers!
The Farm Map
We were in the latter half of the season, so my friends and I opted to pick some raspberries and apples. I had never seen what a raspberry looks like still on the vine, so it was super cool to see how they grow. The raspberries were juicy, sweet, and just the right touch of tangy. It was hard not to eat them, but in the end, we were each able to get a box of raspberries!
The results of our raspberry efforts!
Apple abundance!
As for apples, the rows of trees seemed never-ending and were full of perfect-looking fruit. We tried five different types of apples; some of them were crispier, some sweeter, yet all of them were absolutely delicious. I was also reminded how satisfying it is to actually pick an apple; the twist and pull for that rewarding snap of the stem resulting in a sublime apple in your palm is very hard to beat. We chose to pick a bunch of different apples and left the farm with a hefty bag of apples that we snacked on the following days.
Maeve working hard!
The plumpest apple I've ever seen and our final haul!
On the way back to campus, we stopped by Mac's Maple, a gorgeous farm that makes the most delectable maple syrup. We were greeted with maple glazed and sugared donuts that were a little warm, crispy on the outside, and perfectly soft and fluffy on the inside. We also bought their famous Maple Creemee, a delicious maple ice cream that, even in cold, rainy weather, was some of the best ice cream I've ever had.
The sweetest welcome! And my first maple creemee!
By the end of the day, I was exhausted but so fulfilled. Apple picking was at the top of my fall bucket list, and I fulfilled it at a quintessential fall farm—complete with a corn maze! The maple farm was also somewhere I was looking forward to visiting since I'd heard a lot about it from my older friends on campus. My friends and I view this trip as a "core memory" that we think we'll reminisce about later in life, or when we go apple picking again. I can hardly wait for next fall to roll around so we can hop back over to Riverview Farms and maybe get some blueberries with our apples!
The River Cluster (the group of residence halls closest to the Connecticut River, including French and Judge Hall) has a reputation…and some of it is warranted. But there's more to living in the River than you might expect!
If you are interested in pursuing medicine after graduating from high school, as I was, you'll be looking at how different universities design their "pre-health" experience. What does that experience look like at Dartmouth College?
