Hi everyone! I'm Oscar, a '28 from Flushing, NYC. My academic interests are a mix of the arts (studio art, graphic design), the sciences (psychology, biology, sustainability), and maybe even anthropology? All of which I'm thinking of merging with a major in Cognitive Science with a focus area on Design. Outside the classroom, I'm passionate about giving back to my community, fiber arts, and em dashes. Welcome to my blog—I'm excited to explore Dartmouth together!
COSC 1 was the most challenging but rewarding class of this term. I had minimal coding experience prior to this class, but the course is manageable because of all the support available. COSC 1 is one of the largest classes offered at Dartmouth—a total of 200 students split in two sections—but there was always ample help from Professor Vasanta's classes and concept hours and the TA team's recitation and office hours. I enjoyed that assignments had creative flexibility—I recreated "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book cover, wrote an adventure story, and made games for assignments.
I had completed my language requirement by taking CHIN 4 in my last term, but I was interested in further pursuing Chinese through CHIN 22. CHIN 22 is very similar in structure to CHIN 4—small class size, vocabulary exams, and drill sessions. I was lucky to take CHIN 22 with the Beijing Normal University's exchange professor, Professor Yin, who often adds color to lessons by explaining cultural element of China. Some interesting topics we've discussed include the effects of China's One Child Policy, transportation regulations in Beijing, and the symbolism of snow in Chinese culture.
Lunar New Year is a collective term of the various celebrations for the end of the lunisolar calendar. The 2025 Lunar New Year was on January 31st. Some examples of Lunar New Year celebrations include Chinese Spring Festival (春节), Vietnamese Tết, and Korean Seollal (설날). Although each culture has different traditions, all Lunar New Year events are filled with gatherings with family and/or friends, good food, and blessings for the new year.
Lunar New Year On Campus
Although I didn't have the chance to celebrate the Lunar New Year with my family this year, I was able to ring in the new year with friends through on-campus events. In the weeks surrounding January 31st, the Chinese Language Department, the Hood Museum, and multiple cultural-identity-based student groups hosted Lunar New Year celebrations. Included in this post are Dartmouth Chinese Student Association and the Chinese Language Department's events. Check out this post for photos from Vietnamese, Korean, and Malaysian Student Association's celebrations!
Dartmouth Chinese Student Association (DCSA)'s Lunar New Year Banquet
DCSA's event was held in the Class of 1982 Engineering and Computer Sciences Center (ECSC) atrium, a suitably big space for the huge crowd. An entirely student-run event, we likely fed over 500 attendees! We had tons of catering from Han Fusion and Happy Dumpling, two Chinese restaurants local to the Upper Valley. There were a few exclusive dishes like roast duck from Han Fusion! Besides food, DCSA also planned a few other activities, like a photobooth, designing your own red envelope, playing mahjong, and making Chinese knot bracelets.
A view of the event in full swing! Photo by Kate Yin ' 26
Photo by Nathaniel Chen '25
Chinese Language House (CLH)'s Chinese Spring Festival Celebration
The Chinese Language House hosted their Spring Festival Celebration on January 31st, the first day of the new lunar year. Although the CLH's venue is much smaller than ECSC, it was just as lively. Some of the activities included singing performances from the Chinese language classes, paper crafts, Chinese calligraphy, a Chinese culture trivia and raffle (with prizes!), and of course, food.
CLH's Spring Festival Celebration was integrated into the curriculum for my section of CHIN 22 Intermediate Advanced Chinese, as my professor is also the faculty advisor for the CLH. So we learned a few Mandarin Pop songs and New Years songs to perform at CLH. Learning often goes beyond the classroom at Dartmouth, it might even bring you to perform songs in front of an audience!
A few CHIN 2 students singing "恭喜恭喜" (Congratulations), a Chinese New Year standard
My CHIN 22 classmates, Hyun and Selina, performing "月亮代表我的心" (The Moon Symbolizes My Heart)
We had catering from Han Fusion and dumplings!
My CHIN 4 professor, Professor Zhang, writing the character for spring, "春"
My friend and CHIN 22 classmate, Iman, won a raffle prize!
I'm incredibly grateful for the Dartmouth Lunar New Year celebrations I was a part of. Celebrating Lunar New Year is one of the most important events in my family, so I'm glad I could fill that gap by celebrating with friends on campus.
These Lunar New Year events are also an interesting way to get to learn more about other Asian cultures on campus. More info on exploring how more cultures celebrate Lunar New Year in part 2!
During my time at Dartmouth, within the realm of medicine specifically, I was able to gain a broader outlook on what careers / optionalities are "really" out there, and I'm here to tell you the resources that were leveraged!
The first-generation community at Dartmouth is an extremely tight knit and supportive community! This past week, we celebrated first-gen week, with a myriad of activities and lots of chances to meet new people!
One of the most important aspects of being a Dartmouth student is knowing how to be a college student and manage your time effectively. As a first year student, these are resources that have helped me.
