Hi everyone! I'm Yehalah and I'm a '26 coming all the way from Colombo, Sri Lanka. My academic passions lie in Energy Engineering and Environmental Studies. I am a first-generation and low-income student, actively involved with the community. I love to paint and read during my free time. I'm excited that you're here, and I hope you enjoy this account of my life at Dartmouth!
The sequel to Drawing 1! Undoubtedly harder, but definitely a great class. I can now say, with confidence, that I am able to paint a mango successfully.
The Sacred Architecture of Asia is one of the most incredible courses I have taken at Dartmouth! The course is primarily discussion-based, with Professor Seher explaining and initiating conversation about the course material.
Thirty hours. That is how long I traveled to get to Dartmouth this August. As an international student, the journey back and forth from Dartmouth is a long and tedious one. It involves multiple flights, transits and exhaustion. If you are an incoming international student, this post is for you.
Pack light! Especially if you are travelling alone, packing light is extremely important. Handling multiple heavy suitcases in an airport is impractical. Bring only the essentials and purchase the rest when you get to campus. Every enrolled student is a part of the Hinman mail service, which allows you to order items to campus and pick them up. To find your unique Hinman box number, go to your housing portal on DartHub! Hinman is typically available for incoming students two weeks before fall classes start.
Chances are that if you are traveling alone, you will be taking the Dartmouth Coach. The Dartmouth Coach runs multiple times a day and makes a stop at Boston Logan Airport. You can buy your ticket to Hanover at the Dartmouth Coach website for about forty dollars. The coach makes stops at all the terminals, which will be terminal E for international students. When you land in Boston, you will go through US customs, collect your bags, and exit from the terminal. As soon as you exit, the Dartmouth Coach will stop at the far right end. There will be boards on which the Dartmouth Coach is listed. Do not panic if the coach is late, it is normal during peak traffic hours!
Dartmouth is known for being cold and I can confirm that. You may feel the urge to buy every winter-related item of clothing before arriving on campus. However, if you come from a relatively warm country, they most likely do not produce the best winter clothing. I found that the winter items I brought with me from home were of much inferior quality and did not keep me adequately warm. So, if you are looking to buy a warm winter coat, definitely consider purchasing one only when you get to campus.
Saying that, do consider traveling with a light jacket! Planes and coaches can get cold if you are not used to that climate. Furthermore, Dartmouth happens to have cold days even in the summer, especially when the sun goes down. Please note that post is not meant to make you feel intimidated or to instill a fear of traveling. The journey may be difficult, but the destination is so worth it in the end. Travel safe!
It's easy to forget how easy it is to access walking trails during the hustle of a Dartmouth term. As graduation nears, I am reminded of how special it is to step off campus and enjoy quiet moments in nature.
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont!
Over half of Dartmouth students study abroad at least once during their undergraduate journeys—quite a high percentage, right? Do you want to know how to best prepare for your own abroad experience? Come check what it was like for me.
