Cal Shin

If you had asked me three years ago what word I would have used to describe Dartmouth, I would have said, “Outdoorsy.” I imagined that everyone enjoyed camping, hiking, skiing, or pursuing some other adventurous activity outdoors. It’s true that the outdoors is a big part of campus. Most incoming students engage in First-Year Trips as part of their orientation program. While First-Year Trips can consist of more “traditional” outdoor experiences such as cabin camping, canoeing, and hiking, there is a wide variety of trips designed for all experience levels (including no experience at all). There are trips that sleep on campus, trips that sleep in cabins, and trips that sleep completely outside! First-Year Trips can be a fun experience, but it’s totally okay if your involvement with the outdoors mostly ends there. 

For the longest time, I thought that Dartmouth was completely surrounded by the woods, and that’s a bit of an exaggeration. What’s much closer in proximity is a quaint downtown Hanover filled with amazing restaurants, small businesses, and other useful locations—all within walking distance. 

Coming from an area where we might be lucky to get an inch of snow once a year, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about New England winters. While winters here can feel cold, especially if you’re from a warmer place, Dartmouth has plenty of resources so you can be warm while also having fun. We also have some really awesome traditions and activities, such as PE classes on skiing and a campus-wide snowball fight to celebrate the first big snowfall of the term. And the snow can be quite beautiful, as pictured above in the photo my friend, Faith, took. 

The first step to navigating New England winters is dressing for the weather. The Outdoor Programs Office (OPO) offers a comprehensive layering and winter preparedness guide that explains what layering is and how to do it effectively to stay warm and comfortable in the winter. This guide is especially helpful if you’re not familiar with colder winters, as it takes a lot of the guesswork out of preparing for the season. And to help make winter gear more accessible, Dartmouth provides free LL Bean gift cards for low-income students to ensure that they can purchase high-quality clothing. Additionally, the Free Market, Dartmouth’s on-campus thrift store, offers free winter gear (and other clothes) for any student to keep.

The cold temperatures aren’t the only aspects of New England winters to be aware of. The days are much shorter, with the sun setting as early as 4:30 PM. While the relative lack of natural sunlight may take a toll, sun lamps are available on tables in the third and fourth floors of the Berry Library, making them the perfect spot for studying. If you’re more inclined to study in your dorm, Dartmouth has free sun lamps available to borrow at the Baker-Berry Library circulation desk. 

One of my favorite underrated spots on campus is our on-campus greenhouse, located at the Life Sciences Center (LSC). It’s warm, humid, and filled with beautiful plants with vivid, colorful hues! You may find yourself itching to take off your jacket and hoodie as soon as you step inside the greenhouse. 

For students coming from warmer places, winters at Dartmouth may be a bit of an unknown. Don’t worry, you won’t be navigating the season on your own! Many people who have never seen snow leave with their own favorite winter traditions, cozy spots, and a deep appreciation for the season. And who knows, winter may become your new favorite season! 

Most clock towers chime right at the top of every hour, marking the time for anyone passing by. At Dartmouth, we’re fortunate enough to have our own Baker Tower. I always enjoy listening to its bells while walking around campus. For some reason, though, the Baker Tower bells ring exactly two minutes before the top of the hour, making it one of my favorite quirks. It’s such a small, mundane idiosyncrasy, but it’s one of those little details I miss while not being on campus.

I love the Baker Tower bells — so much so that I’m dedicating two spots on this list to talk about them. At 5:58 PM, two minutes before 6:00 PM, the bells do their usual chime. Immediately afterwards, the notes of our alma mater begin to ring throughout the campus. This occurs only once a day at this time, and I enjoy catching this familiar tune if I happen to be outside at this particular time.

If there’s one thing Dartmouth is big on, it’s tradition, and we have quite a lot of them. One of the highlights of winter term is the campus-wide snowball fight. During the first “big” snowfall of the term, everyone receives an email from alumnus Dr. Seuss inviting them to a snowball fight at midnight on the Green. Reading this year’s email and seeing all the photos of this year’s snowball fight made me miss campus and my friends!