Hi everyone! I'm Tess, and I live 30 minutes outside of London. I love everything Dartmouth, including the sunsets, the traditions, the classes, and the merch. I'm super excited to experience everything I read about in this blog over the next four years. Come along with me as I explore the ins and outs of life in the woods.
A course that definitely surprised me, I did not know what to expect and had very little philosophical knowledge before taking this course. It was a mixture of current and past readings, with the final project to make a group video, testing my technological ability. Professor Bumpus was amazing, and I got to know her more when I took her to breakfast at Pine through the Take Your Professor to Lunch Program.
I was recommended to take a history course, specifically a history course with Professor Lu, and it has not disappointed! This course is cross listed with Asian Studies, my major, but it has made me consider a history minor... We start every class off with a song relating to the topic of that class, and then we move on to discussion based activities.
A preemptive celebration, organized by the Chinese Students Association, happened about a week before the actual date, which was perfect to get me in the mood. This was held in the Engineering and Computer Science Center, perfect for the large number of students that came to celebrate. The food from Han Fusion (a local Chinese restaurant) was amazing. I had noodles, dumplings, tofu, fortune cookies… Huge tables were set up so people could gather and celebrate together. And, of course, there was Chinese calligraphy, where we could try our hand at making some beautiful signs. I bowed out of this activity, but I gave mental support to my friends who did try! To top it all off, there was a photo booth. Our first round was kind of a flop since we didn't realize where the camera was or how long we had to wait between taking the pictures, so we had to go for a second time, which turned out better. All in all, the CSA Lunar New Year celebration was a huge hit.
guess which one is mine…
包饺子！
There was also a mini celebration in our School House weekly teas, with dumplings, sushi, and more calligraphy. This time I decided to give it a go, and, well, it turned out fine…
my friends and I munching in the Chinese Language House
The host of Chinese New Year celebrations wouldn't be complete without an event thrown by the Chinese Language House. Students can choose to live in Language Communities, where they become fully immersed with the language and culture, and the Chinese House is about a three-minute walk from the library. In our Chinese class, we had been preparing a song to perform, and so the evening kicked off with a performance from each class. After all of our practise—we sang 北京欢迎你 (the song from the 2008 Olympics 'Beijing Welcomes You')—I fully expected us to outperform everyone, but this was not the case. Some classes incorporated complex dances that we were totally blown away by. The Chinese House also has a live-in visiting professor from Beijing Normal University, and her son gave us a beautiful show on his trumpet.
CNY packets
We then made our way into the kitchen, where we made dumplings and chatted. With all the dumplings and huge menu of Chinese food available, we were definitely not going to go hungry. I met people from different Chinese classes, people who had grown up in China, and people who were just interested in Chinese culture and joining in the festivities. And, it was a great opportunity to practise my Chinese! It really was the perfect Chinese New Year.
IT FINALLY FEELS LIKE SPRING! Inspired by "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles, read about my first experience in the Hanover spring sun! From lounging on the Green to playing games with friends, see what Dartmouth students do in the spring!
Inspired by my fall term recap post, I wanted to share a similar recap at the end of these nine weeks of the winter term. Read on to see what I've been up to!
From meeting some of my best friends to sitting in classes and exploring new parts of campus, read on to see how Dimensions got me excited for college!
