Hey! My name is Taylor, and I'm a '27 from Beijing, China. I'm majoring in Mathematics and Quantitative Social Science, with a potential minor in French. Outside of the classroom, you can find me going on hikes with the Dartmouth Outing Club, in the Spare Rib office writing creative pieces, or reading books in Sherman library
Coming to Dartmouth with a solid background in French (Delf B2), I find French 3 a perfect fit for me -- it helps me to consolidate a lot of key grammar and vocabs, and fun weekly cultural activities like coffee hours and french lunch table offers me chances to relax in busy times. While the class is very rigorous and requires a lot of hard work, my professor is so nice and makes the class very fun! I also look forward to going to Dartmouth's Toulouse LSA program after completion of this class!
This course explores how Buddhist concepts of embodiment affect daily life and society in Southeast Asian contexts, and how the intersection of religion, sexuality, and gender impact broader understandings of authority, wisdom, beauty, death, and loyalty. The class takes on many forms beyond mere lectures -- a visit to the Hood Museum of Art, mindfulness practices, and small Buddha-crafting projects. Our professor (the sweetest Prof. MK Long) also invites many of her colleagues at other institutes as guest lecturers to our class so that we can learn from real experts specializing in different countries in Southeast Asia. I have learned a lot from the class and decided to become a religion major after this course!
Having never enjoyed math classes before college, I'm surprised (again) by how I'm becoming a math major and falling in love with math here! My professor (Prof. Shu Longmei, who graduated from the best university in my hometown) is incredibly good at teaching the concepts -- not just explaining things clearly but also showing us the beauty and elegance of calculus. I really look forward to taking more math classes in the future!
SummerVietnam & Beijing, China
I first visited pagodas in Vietnam for a couple of weeks and had days of conversations with monastics! Then, I returned home to savor time spent with my family and old friends, focus on my mental and physical health, and study and work a bit.
This is a really fun and engaging class taught by an award-winning professor. The mini-ethnography assignments provide a lot of hands-on experience in conducting fieldwork, making the methods we study feel real and applicable. From participant observation to interviews and field note coding, this course offers an immersive introduction to ethnographic research on religion. Plus, the discussions on research ethics and methodology are both thought-provoking and relevant, making this an incredibly useful class for anyone interested in studying contemporary religious communities through direct engagement.
This class is incredibly interesting because it feels like traveling through time—from the philosophical foundations of Laozi and Zhuangzi to medieval Daoist traditions and contemporary practices in northern and southern China and Taiwan. Even as a Chinese student, I’m realizing how much there is to learn, not just about Daoism but also about the broader religious landscape and practices in China.
QSS 17 offered a rigorous and creative introduction to data processing and visualization. From replicating Florence Nightingale’s iconic rose plot to designing animated graphics and exploring datasets that captured my own interests, the course deepened both my technical skills and my ability to communicate insights visually. It taught me not just how to make graphs, but how to tell compelling, data-driven stories.
SummerHong Kong & Beijing, China
I completed an internship in Hong Kong and spent the rest of the summer with my family in Beijing.
The class featured an incredibly engaging range of readings—from Virginia Woolf, Kafka, and Shakespeare to Almodóvar’s films, as well as theoretical works by Butler, Žižek, Lacan, and Freud. I learned a great deal from the diverse perspectives these texts offered and benefited immensely from the in-class discussions, which were always thought-provoking and inclusive. The professor also made a genuine effort to get to know every student (all of us invited him to the Pine restaurant for lunch during the term), creating a warm and intellectually stimulating classroom environment.
As someone who has always loved literature and enjoyed writing myself, I've really appreciated the opportunities Dartmouth offers to keep writing as a side interest (and even get paid for it sometimes!). If you're like me—someone who loves literature, languages, and writing, but may only have the space to pursue it as a hobby alongside other academic or career goals—there are plenty of ways to stay connected to writing at Dartmouth. Here are a few of my favorites:
1) People, Places, Pines What's better than writing for passion and getting paid at the same time? This very blog, People, Places, Pines, is an amazing way to keep your writing skills sharp and reflect on your Dartmouth journey while sharing it with prospective students. Bloggers typically write 5–10 posts a term (roughly once every week or two), which creates a steady rhythm of writing and reflection. Beyond the writing itself, it's also a wonderful community. Many of my friends today are people I first met through this blogging team, either directly or later in classes where we recognized each other from our work here.
A few of the books we're reading for the Psychoanalysis class
2) Interesting Courses Dartmouth's curriculum is full of classes that allow you to read and write widely. The first two weeks of each term are known as the "shopping period" because there are simply too many fascinating courses to try. The English and Comparative Literature departments are rich with opportunities to study classics and theory, while the Creative Writing department offers workshops across genres — fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, and more. For example, this term I'm taking Psychoanalysis and Literature in the Comparative Literature department, where we read everyone from Freud, Lacan, and Kristeva to Shakespeare, Proust, and Virginia Woolf—all in a single course. If you're interested in exploring literature tied to specific cultures, departments like Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages offer classes that engage foundational texts from across Asia, in both translation and the original language.
3) Clubs Student publications and journals are another great outlet to write about what matters most to you. I currently write for Spare Rib, Dartmouth's first feminist magazine, where I've found an inspiring community of artsy, intellectual, and creative friends. There are also many other student-led journals with different focuses—such as the Anthropology Journal—that give you space to explore your passions while connecting with like-minded peers.
4) The Dartmouth As the oldest college newspaper in the country, The Dartmouth is not only a historic institution but also a vibrant community. With sections ranging from news and opinion to arts, sports, and data, it provides opportunities for writers to develop a broad set of skills: not just writing and editing, but also interviewing, conducting surveys, and analyzing data. Many former writers have gone on to careers at major outlets like The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News.
