Hey y'all! My name is Natasha, and I am a junior at Dartmouth College. I'm majoring in history and minoring in public policy and Chinese. In my free time, I love to watch New Girl, hang out with my friends, and explore the Upper Valley. Dartmouth is a pretty neat place— I hope you enjoy reading my posts about life here!
Academic Program
History Major and Minors in Public Policy and Chinese
Chinese 004 was my first language class at Dartmouth. Although the class was fast-paced and a lot of work, my professor, Alan Li, was really engaging and I became close with my classmates.
I really enjoyed this class! My professor, Charles Wheelan, was so hilarious and an amazing lecturer. I still find myself applying concepts I learned in that class to my real life.
As part of Dartmouth's liberal arts mission, all students have to take a technology or applied science course with a lab component in order to graduate. I decided to take computer science 1 to fulfill this requirement. As someone with no prior coding experience, I definitely was challenged in this class. However, by the end of the term, I gained a valuable skill and was really proud of how far I came!
This class inspired me to be a history major! In this class, I learned about the major economic developments that occurred from the 1800s till now. I found this topic to be very fascinating, and I really enjoyed the way my professor, Stefan Link, taught the material.
In this class, I was taught the basics of conducting quantitative analysis. We primarily worked in STATA and utilized statistical concepts to analyze social science data. My professor, Kristin Smith, was so incredibly kind and made sure that everyone in the class understood the material.
I gained a comprehensive understanding of Chinese history from this class. As an asynchronous class, I had to be incredibly organized and diligent to ensure I was on top of the material. My professor, Pamela Crossley, was incredibly knowledgeable and was always available to talk to if I had any questions.
This was my first European history course at Dartmouth, and I loved it so much! My professor, David Petruccelli, was an engaging lecturer and was always willing to talk with me whenever I had a question. I learned so much about World War I and its implications on European and international politics.
I have really enjoyed Public Policy 45 with Professor Ronald Shaiko. As a public policy minor, I have found the material in the course to be both interesting and useful. In this course, we learn about different research methods and apply what we learn to conduct non-partisan policy research.
Without a doubt, winter carnival is one of my favorite Dartmouth traditions. Every year, I get excited about the myriad of activities there are to do, ranging from making ice sculptures to competing in a snowshoeing race and even doing the polar plunge. The polar plunge is a tradition where students take a quick dip in the freezing Occom pond. One of the neat perks of Winter Carnival weekend is that on Sunday, students get ski lift tickets for free at the Dartmouth Skiway, a Dartmouth College-owned ski area. Naturally, my friends and I wanted to take advantage of these free tickets, so we headed to the Skiway early Sunday morning! After all of my friends and I piled into our friend Sophia's car, we took a short 15-minute drive and arrived at the Skiway. Because I am currently taking ski classes at the Skiway, I headed to my class while my friends hit the slopes.
The Dartmouth Skiway offers great ski classes that count as PE credit for Dartmouth students. My class, which meets once a week on Sundays, has six other Dartmouth students and is led by a ski instructor. I've made a lot of progress in my skiing ability through taking these classes and have made some incredible friends in the process.
Me during my ski class!
Feeling invigorated after my ski class, I met up with my friends and skied down the slopes a few more times. We topped off our day at the Skiway by relaxing at the Sklodj, a shorthand form of Dartmouth Ski Lodge. We ate delicious fish tacos from the restaurant while recounting how our day at the Skiway went. Finally, we all climbed into our friend Sophia's car and reached campus late afternoon. Although it is hard to come to terms with the fact that this was my last winter carnival as a Dartmouth student, I am so grateful for the people I spent time with and the experiences I had this weekend. I had such a fun time and will definitely cherish this memory forever!
Growing up in New England and transitioning to living at Dartmouth, I'm all too familiar with the unpredictability (and beauty) of New England's weather. Let me tell you about it here!
