Hey! My name is Taylor, and I'm a '27 from Beijing, China. I'm majoring in Mathematics and Quantitative Social Science, with a potential minor in French. Outside of the classroom, you can find me going on hikes with the Dartmouth Outing Club, in the Spare Rib office writing creative pieces, or reading books in Sherman library
Coming to Dartmouth with a solid background in French (Delf B2), I find French 3 a perfect fit for me -- it helps me to consolidate a lot of key grammar and vocabs, and fun weekly cultural activities like coffee hours and french lunch table offers me chances to relax in busy times. While the class is very rigorous and requires a lot of hard work, my professor is so nice and makes the class very fun! I also look forward to going to Dartmouth's Toulouse LSA program after completion of this class!
This course explores how Buddhist concepts of embodiment affect daily life and society in Southeast Asian contexts, and how the intersection of religion, sexuality, and gender impact broader understandings of authority, wisdom, beauty, death, and loyalty. The class takes on many forms beyond mere lectures -- a visit to the Hood Museum of Art, mindfulness practices, and small Buddha-crafting projects. Our professor (the sweetest Prof. MK Long) also invites many of her colleagues at other institutes as guest lecturers to our class so that we can learn from real experts specializing in different countries in Southeast Asia. I have learned a lot from the class and decided to become a religion major after this course!
Having never enjoyed math classes before college, I'm surprised (again) by how I'm becoming a math major and falling in love with math here! My professor (Prof. Shu Longmei, who graduated from the best university in my hometown) is incredibly good at teaching the concepts -- not just explaining things clearly but also showing us the beauty and elegance of calculus. I really look forward to taking more math classes in the future!
SummerVietnam & Beijing, China
I first visited pagodas in Vietnam for a couple of weeks and had days of conversations with monastics! Then, I returned home to savor time spent with my family and old friends, focus on my mental and physical health, and study and work a bit.
This is a really fun and engaging class taught by an award-winning professor. The mini-ethnography assignments provide a lot of hands-on experience in conducting fieldwork, making the methods we study feel real and applicable. From participant observation to interviews and field note coding, this course offers an immersive introduction to ethnographic research on religion. Plus, the discussions on research ethics and methodology are both thought-provoking and relevant, making this an incredibly useful class for anyone interested in studying contemporary religious communities through direct engagement.
This class is incredibly interesting because it feels like traveling through time—from the philosophical foundations of Laozi and Zhuangzi to medieval Daoist traditions and contemporary practices in northern and southern China and Taiwan. Even as a Chinese student, I’m realizing how much there is to learn, not just about Daoism but also about the broader religious landscape and practices in China.
QSS 17 offered a rigorous and creative introduction to data processing and visualization. From replicating Florence Nightingale’s iconic rose plot to designing animated graphics and exploring datasets that captured my own interests, the course deepened both my technical skills and my ability to communicate insights visually. It taught me not just how to make graphs, but how to tell compelling, data-driven stories.
SummerHong Kong & Beijing, China
I completed an internship in Hong Kong and spent the rest of the summer with my family in Beijing.
The class featured an incredibly engaging range of readings—from Virginia Woolf, Kafka, and Shakespeare to Almodóvar’s films, as well as theoretical works by Butler, Žižek, Lacan, and Freud. I learned a great deal from the diverse perspectives these texts offered and benefited immensely from the in-class discussions, which were always thought-provoking and inclusive. The professor also made a genuine effort to get to know every student (all of us invited him to the Pine restaurant for lunch during the term), creating a warm and intellectually stimulating classroom environment.
This class explores French art, music, and history from the Middle Ages to the modern period, offering a broad view of the country’s cultural heritage. I especially enjoy it because many classes are held in museums and cathedrals, where encountering artworks and architecture in their original settings makes the material feel immersive and vividly alive.
Learning is always most meaningful when it happens on site, surrounded by the very history and culture being studied. This past Friday, my French study abroad program took us on a day trip to Montauban and Moissac to deepen our understanding of art through direct experience rather than lectures alone. The trip perfectly reflected the philosophy behind our art history curriculum, which is divided into two complementary parts taught by two professors: one focused on medieval architecture and the other on French art since l'Ancien Régime.
We began the day by meeting in our classroom in Toulouse before heading out together for the trip. One of the advantages of studying in southern France is how accessible nearby historical towns are. Montauban and Moissac are both located in the Occitanie region, just an hour drive from Toulouse. The easy travel allowed us to maximize our time on site rather than spending hours in transit, reinforcing how closely connected these cities are through history, geography, and culture.
In Montauban, we visited the Musée Ingres Bourdelle, which houses an extensive collection of works by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, one of the most famous Neoclassical painters and a native of the city. Seeing his drawings and paintings in person emphasized his technical precision and classical influences in a way that reproductions cannot fully capture. The museum's location in a former episcopal palace also added architectural and historical depth to the experience.
Cloister in Abbey of Saint-Pierre
In Moissac, we explored the Abbey of Saint-Pierre and its renowned medieval cloister, one of the finest examples of Romanesque art in France. The sculpted capitals, carved with biblical scenes, animals, and symbolic figures, created a vivid visual narrative that brought our lessons on medieval iconography to life. Walking through the cloister made the Middle Ages feel tangible.
What I appreciate most about these art history classes is that they are never confined to the classroom. Lessons on medieval architecture are often held inside the buildings themselves, allowing us to study Romanesque and Gothic structures while standing beneath their arches. Instead of viewing murals, sculptures, and cloisters through slides, we encounter them directly, noticing details like texture, scale, and the way light interacts with stone. Similarly, artists we study during lectures reappear in museums, where their works feel more immediate and human. Experiencing art together in these shared spaces has also brought our group closer, as we spend hours walking, observing, and discussing what we see. These moments outside the classroom make it easier to connect with one another, turning classmates into friends through shared discovery.
Have you ever wanted to read one of Shakespeare's first folios, touch a lock of George Washington's hair, or just learn more about the past through archival textual research? Well, then Dartmouth is the place for you!
Since 1911, Dartmouth has hosted the annual Winter Carnival. This year, we celebrated the 116th Winter Carnival, The Blizzard of Oz, filled with winter-themed activities and campus wide fun!
