Kalina Duncheva
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Hello from the Woods
Welcome to the woods! I'm Kalina Duncheva, a '27 with too many interests to pick a major. I'm going to be one of your guides as you embark on your virtual journey across the pages of People Places Pines!
How am I so prepared to take you on an adventure through the New Hampshire woods, you ask. Well, I'm coming from the woods, albeit the Bulgarian woods and not the New English ones.
I grew up in a log home in a mountain village near Bulgaria's capital, Sofia. I used to ride the bus for an hour or so to Sofia every day, the city being the epicenter for everything in my life—school, friends, shopping, you name it. People often found my desire to live that far away from the city rather baffling. When I was seven, one kid was so shocked by the fact that you can live in the woods with no TV or internet connection that she asked me wide-eyed, "Kalina, do you really live in a cave?" I have no idea why she thought I was living in a cave, but I believe the place where I grew up explains loads of things about me—from why I chose Dartmouth to why I love the things I love.
The second thing you should know about me is that I love books. I love writing them, I love reading them, and I love talking about them (just so you know, I'm a Gryffindor and would love to live in the Shire). Maybe I developed my love for reading and writing simply because there wasn't much to do in my "cave in the woods" but read and write. Who knows?
All that said, you can trust that I'll be telling you loads of stories about the things that happen here in Hanover. I have to warn you, I won't be covering the flashy stuff; The Dartmouth (the oldest college newspaper in the country, by the way) does a much better job at that than me. The stories I'll be telling you will be about the little things—like that time when I accidentally put three spoons of butter into my soup instead of cheese (American butter looks just like Bulgarian cheese), or when I went on a hike with Flora and Fauna (subclub of the Dartmouth Outing Club) and saw ten deer and a blue mushroom!
So final words: I solemnly swear that I'll be on the watch out for good stories to tell you about my time at Dartmouth, so you can hopefully find your own place in the woods, too.
Posts You Might Like
Here's a day in my life, sophomore spring edition. Maybe it can help you visualise a day in your life at Dartmouth too.
As I look forward to week 5, I wanted to share some photos that show what I've been up to so far this term!
Here are some of my favorite sunsets in Hanover—enjoy!
Spring is back and so are (the birds and) loads of DOC trips!
Come learn more about one of my favorite classes of all time!
Fellow blogger Joanna '26 and I rented a Zipcar to check off a long-time item on my bucket list: visiting the Ben and Jerry's factory in Vermont!
Turns out we have a new café in town since I've been gone: The Works! Of course, I had to put them to the test.
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!