Hey there! My name is Simon and I'm a Senior (which is scary) enjoying my time here in Hanover! In addition to being a Blogger, I am a Tour Guide, I am involved with Greek Life, the German community, Performing Arts, Club Sports, and a bunch of other things on campus! I blog a lot about whatever I am interested in at the moment, and also love to use this as a place to reflect on my time at Dartmouth. I hope you enjoy my blog and let me know if you have any questions!
I came to Dartmouth as a Bio-Medical Engineering hopeful, and after my first week in class with Professor Murphy studying the classics of political philosophy, I totally changed my mind! I had never taken anything even close to a philosophy class in High School, so this was an amazing opportunity for me to be exposed to a field that I had never seen, and now love! I also loved bringing in the work I did in my other class (German 1) to this class so that I could read some of the pieces in German!
With my new found love for Political Science, I decided to take one of the biggest requirements for the major, Gov 10. I worked with Prof. Horiuchi to do a really cool research project on the effect of fake news on American voters in the US! We actually looked into getting funding to work on the research and publish it in a journal. I was pretty worried about taking a super math heavy class, but it ended up working out pretty well.
This spring in Hanover was one of my favorite terms! I had my first Green Key (which was my first concert ever) and I got to work in the admissions department with all of our visiting admitted students! I ended up hosting 6 students across the 2 weekends of "Dimensions", our admitted students weekends and ended up getting really close with a few of them. I still see them around on campus and they have hosted students of their own now!
So I did kind of a crazy thing and decided that I wanted my first time abroad to be a fully immersive home-stay study abroad with Dartmouth! I flew almost 18 hours from Hawai'i to London where I stayed with a really good friend and fellow Sophomore before jumping on a plane to Berlin. My host family and I got on immediately over our shared love of Lucky Charms, and I skype them almost once a month still! I will never forget riding down the cobblestone streets in my suburb of Berlin every morning and stopping by the Backeri to pick up a muffin on my way to class. It was such a surreal experience and something I would never have thought of doing before I came to Dartmouth. Also, fun fact, I got my first tattoo in Germany!
I took this amazing class with Susan Brison where we not only analyzed case books and took an in depth look at how the constitution is interrupted in various ways by various justices, but also had visits from law professors from all around the world! The class worked really well for me because it met twice a week during the evening, so I had time to schedule other events during the day.
Through the help of one of my academic advisors and with the information I learned in my fall law class, I was lucky enough to get an internship at a non-profit law firm in my home town! I got the call while I was sitting eating breakfast in Collis, and because I was not in school during a time when a lot of other students are, I was the only intern and the first undergraduate intern the office had ever had. I got to work with the family law unit, and really made an impact that I was happy with.
On a limb, I decided to apply for a class that looked at indigenous ways of knowing and how they proceeded or are intertwined with scientific study. During this class, I got to scrape a moose hide to make a traditional drum, learn from one of the foremost black ash basket makers in the world, and do biodiversity studies on local streams. This class was definitely one of the best I have ever taken at Dartmouth, and professor Reo is now helping with an independent study project!
Junior Fall is turning out to be a really interesting term! I am suddenly an upperclassman and starting to look at what I want to do after Dartmouth, which is a really interesting thing to pursue. I am excited to meet the '22s and do all of my favorite Fall things, but also excited to be off next term and see where my plans take me.
This Winter I am back home, working for a law firm and spending tons of time with my family! My regular day starts with breakfast with everyone, going into the firm and working on some cases from about 9:00am-2:00pm, and then heading to the beach before coming home for dinner. I am super happy to be home, studying for the LSAT and getting some work experience, but am excited to get back to Hanover.
It feels kind of weird to be back on campus because most of my friends were also gone, so its this interesting amalgamation of seeing people for the first time in 4 months but also all getting re-acquainted with the campus we know so well. I'm excited to take some classes that are a little bit different than what I would normally feel comfortable with, and I will share all about them in blogs to come. I am ready for Spring so catch me outside on the Green or in the sun as much as possible!
For the first time since Sophomore Summer all of the '20s are back which can only mean one thing, its senior year! I am so excited to watch peek foliage from inside with some nice cold apple cider. I am taking two seminar classes to finish my double major, and am excited to jump back into academics. Hopefully, the cold will stay off just long enough for me to get some good fall runs in, but I am eagerly awaiting the first snow!
Without fail on almost every tour I have given or with every prospective student I have talked with, I get some sort of question-related to "Greek life." When I first came to Dartmouth I knew about as much about Greek life as I knew about Greek yogurt, because we didn't have anything even close to that where I was from and I had no idea what to make of the system I had seen portrayed on TV and in movies. While there are a lot of characterizations out there about Greek life, I wanted to take the time to show you what a weekend for me looks like being a member of a Greek house, and how Greek life at Dartmouth plays a role in my life!
First of all, it's important to know that the term "Greek life" is a huge umbrella term used to describe fraternities, sororities, and gender-inclusive Greek houses. I had no idea what these spaces were when I came to Dartmouth, and one of the super cool things about Greek life here is that you can't rush your freshman year, so it gave me an entire three terms to see what they were and feel out whether or not I wanted to join. I had already made tons of friends and had my strongest communities in place, so I knew that no matter what decision I made, it wouldn't change how welcome or included I felt on campus. With that in mind, here are some pictures from this weekend.
My weekend started off with me going to another fraternity to watch a student band called "Moon Unit" preform. The dance party and show was completely open to campus, all you need is your Dartmouth ID to enjoy some great student performances.
On Saturday morning, our fraternity teamed up with another sorority and rented a bus to go down to Boston and cheer on the Dartmouth football team. We spent the whole day in Boston exploring and got to see one of the craziest games of the season, a Hail Mary touchdown to keep Dartmouth undefeated. Getting off campus is really important to me, and it was nice to go with some of my friends in my fraternity and meet new people from the sorority as well!
The biggest take away that I like to leave people with about Greek life on campus is that no matter what you think you know about it, you would probably be surprised by finding out something new about it every day; I know I do. I never thought I would join a Greek house, and at any other school I probably wouldn't have, but these experiences from this weekend highlight just a couple reasons why I enjoy it so much.
Coming from a boarding school, I didn't get to work during the weekends. Coming into Dartmouth, I was excited at the prospect of being able to finally get into the workforce. There are many reasons why you would want to work.
Yes, my friends, it was time for the infamous Dartmouth snowball fight, where the entire college is summoned to the Green at midnight to have a massive snowball fight.
My faith is a very important part of my identity. Starting in the fall, I decided to join two Christian groups: Christian Union and Apologia, the Christian thought magazine on campus.
Long time no see, Hanover. How long has it been? Six months and three days? Not that I've been counting, of course. Oh, who am I kidding? I couldn't wait to see you again! How have you been?
The reason I tell this story is to pretty much show that Dartmouth is somewhat of a "nerd sanctuary" — a place where people can do whatever and explore whatever passion they want.
My friends and I had a board games brunch at the dining hall, with many of the games rented from Jones Media Center. It was a highlight of the term — when else can you play Cards Against Humanity with nine friends while enjoying brunch?
With the decade (and year) coming to an end, I thought I would do something fun and look back on everything that has happened this year for me at Dartmouth!
Sometimes I crave homemade Chinese food, which was part of my daily life for 18 years. Luckily, the Dartmouth Chinese Culture Society and the Office of Pluralism and Leadership Asian American Mentoring Program organized a dumpling making event!
This is a post for my blog but also a letter to my future self so that I can remember the strategies I used to make my first term at Dartmouth a successful one.
