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.
I had trepidations going into Winter term—I dislike coldness and darkness. But my experience this term has been amazing, and a highlight has been Winter Fun Days at Occom Pond. Organized by the Outdoor Programs Office, this happens every Thursday and Saturday afternoon. Occom Pond is a five-minute walk from my dorm, and in the summer it is lovely to stroll around, but now it is all frozen over. This makes for perfect ice skating.
skating on Occom!
Everything is frozen around here, which can be difficult when trying to get between classes, but so much fun when skating! With only our Dartmouth IDs, we can rent a pair of ice skates for free, figure skating or hockey skates. We can do this at the Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC) House right next to Occom, or in Robinson Hall. Whether it be an intense game of ice hockey, or a leisurely skate around the pond, it is always so much fun. Sometimes, the a capella groups on campus even give us a show on the ice!
at the bottom of the hill
Once we get cold, we can go back to the DOC House and roast marshmallows around a fire. There is always abundant graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows for s'mores making, and also some warm hot chocolate or apple cider.
trekking up the hill!
Arguably my favorite sport of the winter is sledding. When it snows, the old golf course is the perfect destination, and it just so happens to be right next to Occom Pond and the DOC House. The golf course has hills just steep enough to sled down, that are not too tiring to climb back up. Again, students can borrow free sleds from the Dartmouth Outing house (catching a theme here?).
I recently went sledding with a group of friends, on a day after we had an amazing snowfall. We traipsed down to Occom, secured our sleds, and went flying down some hills. Truly exhilarating! Yes, I was freezing, but all I needed to do was continue the fun by sitting by the fire and munching on some s'mores. A perfect Winter day.
While many people might associate cold, long, snowy winters with hardship, I've found that winter at Dartmouth is full of potential to be just as fun as other seasons.
