Welcome! My name is Serena and I'm a '28 from NYC. I'm so excited to be here at Dartmouth and share my experiences with you! On campus you can find me organizing events at Hillel, hosting socials for the women's club frisbee team, trying every single Dartmouth tradition, and yapping in the library. I also love to run, play volleyball, hike, knit, and read fantasy books! If you want to hear about a city kid's adventures in rural New Hampshire, follow along as I experience life in the woods!
In this dynamic class, Visiting Professor Vera Kallenberg taught us a survey of Jewish history and culture from the European enlightenment to the establishment of the State of Israel while also sharing her wealth of knowledge with us! Our small, seminar-style class lent itself to profound conversations around the difficult topics that arose during our discussions. From the Haskalah to discourse around the modern-day Israel-Palestine conflict, our class approached these topics with respect and care for one another. We read historical texts and fascinating personal narratives for homework, and then wove our knowledge about the past and present together in class discussions. What an incredible course!
I absolutely loved this Junior Colloquia English class taught by Professor Beckman. This small, discussion-based class is designed to prepare an English major for the type of work they will do in their Senior year. Professor Beckman is such a brilliant and kindhearted professor, and, especially as the only first-year student in that class, I really benefited from meeting with her in office hours. We read King Lear, The Alchemist, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Roaring Girl alongside various other academic papers. I left every class amazed, my brain filled to the brim with new and exciting knowledge about Renaissance literature. I loved engaging in fascinating topics and discussion in this challenging, high-level class!
In this class, we studied fascinating literature from the 18th and 19th centuries in order to explore what the novel as we know it today emerged from. We studied scandalous female libertines, rogue nuns, and other criminal female characters! We started off reading the surveillance chronicle Oroonoko by Aphra Behn, and we also read Anti-Pamela by Eliza Haywood, A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne, and Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe. I loved how Professor Garrison brought every reading to life through a mix of lecture, discussion, and even a book arts workshop visit.
I really enjoyed my first comparative literature class, “Literature and Psychoanalysis.” It was evident that Professor Kritzman cared about each and every one of his students. This was my first exposure to psychoanalytic theory, and I loved exploring concepts such as repression, desire, fantasy, truth, what it means to be human, and more. Just some of the authors we read included Freud, Zizek, Woolf, Mann, Kafka, Kristeva, Fanon, Sophocles, and Shakespeare.
Wow, I can't believe I've finished the first term of my sophomore year of college already! I feel like it was only yesterday that I arrived on campus for the first time. I'll never forget the beauty of my first New Hampshire fall, and I can still remember desperately trying to hide the fact that I was using Google Maps to try to navigate to the dining hall. Though I retain those vivid memories, I now know my way to the dining hall by heart, and this is my second exquisite fall in Hanover.
Anyways, the term ended yesterday, which means that today is the first day in our reading period (the time between the end of classes and the start of finals that is devoted to studying).
I started this reading period on the right foot, and I woke up bright and early at 10 am. I expeditiously ate a breakfast bar in my room before heading over to Blobby (Baker Library Lobby. See my blog post for more info!) to work on my essay for my comparative literature class "Psychoanalysis and Literature."
Baker lobby
At the same time as I was working in Blobby with a few friends from my course, a Hillel scavenger hunt was going on. Our amazing Hillel Springboard Fellow, Hannah, had organized a "Find your Springboard Fellow Scavenger Hunt" with prizes for anyone who found her! She posted hints on the Hillel Instagram story and in the Hillel GroupMe page.
While changing locations, Hannah happened to walk by our study spot. Technically we found her, so we each got a 'finals goodie bag' filled with snacks, fidget toys, and more!
My computer and set-up!
Blobby was a great place to work this morning. Many students choose to sleep in during the first day of the reading period, and I found I appreciated the calm atmosphere. Blobby was relatively quiet, and the warm bright sunlight streaming in felt nice as I wrote my essay. I always like working in Blobby because at least one person I know will inevitably walk by and say hi. Indeed, today a few friends stopped by my study spot and chatted with me!
Later that day, I played pickup frisbee with players from both the women and the men's teams. It was a nice study break.
Then it was sweet treat o'clock. Hillel was offering free Starbucks as a study snack. I walked over to Hillel with my friend Rose to pick up our pre-ordered beverages. We had a great time sipping our drinks, hanging out with friends, and doing absolutely no studying.
Study break at Hillel!
I am currently getting over a cold, and I had been experiencing a bad headache. However, as I left Hillel, I noticed that my headache was gone. Laughter (and probably caffeine too) really is the best medicine.
I then drove 15 minutes out of town to have an end-of-the-term dinner with my teammates from the women's frisbee team. We went to a delicious Thai restaurant and reminisced over all the memories and inside jokes we had created that term (special thanks to my teammates for putting up with all my caffeine-fueled jokes).
After dinner, I went home to my residence hall. I (finally) did my laundry. I then briefly studied in my room before I went to bed, making sure to get enough sleep for my second and final reading day.
Thanks for joining me for the first day of reading period!
True to the theme of a liberal arts education, Dartmouth requires students to take one or two classes each in several different subject matters, or distributives, in order to graduate.
This fall, I took INTS80.06: Multilateralism and US Leadership. The course was taught by visiting Professor DeLaurentis. We finished off the term with a trip to New York City to visit the UN and various UN Embassies.
Welcome back to Open Doors—your inside look at life in the Woods! This week, Sarah Getraer '26, a studio art major, showed me around her dorm room, where we discussed Dartmouth residence halls, classes, and campus life.
