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.
This class explores French art, music, and history from the Middle Ages to the modern period, offering a broad view of the country’s cultural heritage. I especially enjoy it because many classes are held in museums and cathedrals, where encountering artworks and architecture in their original settings makes the material feel immersive and vividly alive.
There's something quietly magical about walking across the Green and seeing a familiar face after what feels like forever. After three terms away—off campus while my friends enjoyed sophomore summer, watching them scatter abroad in the fall, and then heading to Toulouse myself in the winter—junior spring feels less like a new term and more like a long-overdue homecoming.
Dartmouth's D-Plan creates the most unexpected adventures, but it also means the people you care about can vanish from your daily life for months at a stretch. Three terms is a long time. Long enough to miss inside jokes, late-night study sessions, and the comfortable rhythm of just being around people who know you.
What makes this spring even sweeter is a wonderful new addition: the friends I made through my study abroad program in Toulouse. I honestly wasn't sure how those friendships would translate back to Hanover, but they've woven themselves seamlessly into campus life. We share two classes, show up to each other's birthday parties with zero warning and maximum chaos, hold weekly dinners…
A picture of Toulouse study abroad friends supporting each other at their shows.
Beyond reuniting with people, this term also feels like a meaningful return to the work I love. I'm picking back up with two research projects that I've been deeply invested in, and—perhaps most excitingly—stepping into the role of president of Smart Woman Securities, a club I've been involved in since first-year fall. What started as a curious first-year finding her footing in finance, has grown into something I genuinely cherish, and getting to lead the organization now feels like a full-circle moment.
It turns out that junior spring isn't just about coming back. It's about coming back and stepping up—surrounded by old friends, new ones, and a sense of purpose that makes every part of it feel worth the wait.
Thanks to West House, one of the housing communities I'm part of, I got the chance to go on an overnight trip to New York City. Read on to hear all about the experience!
