Oh S**T

You know when you have those horrible realizations, like when you forgot to turn off the stove in your house and you just left for a three week vacation and no one's around to turn it off and you live in the center of a densely packed wood in a dry season?

Well, that's what realizing I have to leave Dartmouth is like.

I haven't written in a while because I've been extremely busy and have been really all over the place at Dartmouth. But today is June 8th, and I had my last final yesterday morning (Chemistry...don't ask). I refused to accept anything yesterday and am still a little bit in the dark, but this morning I woke up to a half-empty room as my roommate left on the 7am Dartmouth coach.

And then I realized: I....have....to leave Dartmouth soon.

I'm luckier than most in that I get to stay until this upcoming weekend (most people are kicked out - with love, of course- tomorrow) because of my a cappella group (The Dartmouth Dodecaphonics, I wrote about them a WHILE back). We have a cabin retreat tonight and we do this thing called Sing Out on friday where we stand on the porch of Collis commonground (basically the student center- 14s, you'll see soon enough) and sing for many hours. (Sounds super cool, right?) A bunch of alums come back and watch us and we just have a great time.

But that fact remains that I have basically reached the end of my freshmen year. The end of the beginning. A year ago I was dying to jump ahead three months, and now I'm dying to jump back. Every day I realize more and more how attached I am to this place and how a whole term (w/ breaks = 3 months) will affect me. No more CONSTANT blitzing!??!?! No more classes (which is nice, for a little)? No more fro yo from FOCO at whatever time of the night it is when I'm going insane on work?

But most of all, I won't be with my friends. I sometimes forget how luck I am to live with some of the closest people in my life to me who are actually my age.I was so excited for that as a senior and I seem to have forgotten it as I get through my busy days here. Now they're not so packed, but there's not as many people to here to help full up the time.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I will be forced to leave my dorm and move to the river because my dorm is made into a little hotel for parents. All the rooms (seniors are allowed to stay) are cleaned and students are actually paid to make beds and prepare rooms for the parents (coming for graduation). It will be ridiculous, and crazy. I have not started packing. It is 3pm, I am leaving for a retreat tonight at 5 until 9am tomorrow, and then I have to be out of my room by 12pm to make sure I am not fined.

This will be tough. But at least I'm not leaving, yet.

DIMENSIONS AND MIDTERMS: One is far better than the other.

DIMENSIONS @ NOW. Welcome '14s!! With almost 700 prospies (what we call prospective students) coming this year, I don't know if I'll be able to navigate the sea of people here. I'm really excited to meet some '14s and see them explore and enjoy Dartmouth and our campus!

There are a bunch of activities going on from now until Saturday afternoon, which can be found here. If you are unable to come up and visit campus this weekend, don't fret! On the admissions web site there will be some more web chats and a live streaming of some of the events, one being the official welcome event for the '14s with some special speakers that is usually pretty fun and enjoyable! (Here's the link for that.)

On a slightly less exciting note, midterms are well underway and I have now had one in every class. Just as exciting as it sounds. But now I can enjoy the weekend for a bit since I've finished the first round of midterms!! Ah quarter system.

For those who are here/are on their way, WELCOME AGAIN! I hope you can see in just a few short days how great Dartmouth is and why I'm writing a blog about it (which I would normally not do!). If you are unable to be here, please watch the video chats and live events and enjoy Dimensions as much as you can!!

May 1st is nine (9) days away... where's it gonna be?

It's Been Really Busy Here

Midterm tomorrow, tons of meetings, class work, class itself, rehearsals, etc. WHAT A TERM but it's a lot of fun so far...I shall try to write again soon.

Spring Term!!

I'm only three days into Spring Term and yet I've fallen back in love with Dartmouth (not that our relationship ever really ended...this isn't THAT weird). It's been raining since classes started, forcing me to 1)Give my first tour in the rain (successfully, I think, though really wet); 2)Begin classes on a drearier note ( though i'm really excited for them, they seem really interesting); and 3)Bring out the mud to follow the slush that we'd been kicking around at the end of winter term. Even though I normally dislike anything that takes away the sun, the rain was actually really nice and will make tomorrow (supposed to be sunny in the 60s...I'm so pumped) more exciting and rewarding!

I was speaking to a friend the other day about what we thought of the seasons, and we both agreed that while it would be nice to go to school in the South or out in California, being in the Northeast and having the 4 season are something I don't think I could do without. Having all four variations in the weather and nature encourage me to appreciate each one of them for their unique qualities they bring. While winter is sometimes held in disdain, I LOVE snow and only wished that we had more of that cold white stuff than the rain and slush that we ended up with. The first snowball fight was a fantastic experience (midnight snowball fight on the Green after the first real snow) even though I had a midterm the next day.

But now, after a term of cold, I'm more excited than ever to bask in the sun and wear shorts and flip-flops (which I've already begun doing). I'm excited to sit on the Green and welcome future '14s to campus when they visit, and show more future students the place I call home.

This term has only begun, but I am more excited than I've ever been for the next ten weeks, and I know this energy will help make Spring my best term yet!!

Back on Campus!

I got back to campus yesterday afternoon so I'd have enough time to move back in and chill for a while. I rearranged my room a little (which I seem to do every term) and hung out with whoever was back here. While it was nice to be home and not have any work (which I'm kind of dreading) and to wake up every day without much to do, I'm really excited to be back on campus and especially for spring term!!

While the forecast for the next few days is rain (boo) Spring is going to be WARM and SUNNY which was not always present in the winter (though I will miss the snow...not the dirty slush, just the snow). I'm excited to spend more time outside! I plan on taking a tennis PE class and going on a bunch of DOC (Dartmouth Outing Club) hiking and rafting trips (be it a day or weekend one) throughout the term.

Apart from that, I'm also excited for my classes! I'm taking:

1. Psychology 1 (Intro to Psych)
2. Chemistry 6 (the second part of the intro chem sequence)
3. Education 16 (Educational Psychology)

A bunch of psych, but the Ed department here is really interdisciplinary and I'm interested in looking into it as my major. We shall see.

April 1st is D-Day (decisions day) I believe? Good luck to all prospies!!

AND IF YOU GET IN- GO TO DIMENSIONS.

(I'm apparently quoted on the 2014 facebook group, so here is is straight from me!)

Finals: Obliterated. Winter Term: Over. Spring Term: Coming Soon

Finally, finals are over! This term I felt like the work was more sustained throughout the entire finals period and that I was consistently working on something. But I think they went well, and now I'm sitting in the comfort of my home writing about it!

Spring break is great for a couple of reasons: First, we obviously don't have school or work and get time to chill out (at home or otherwise). Second: You have the opportunity to go somewhere nice with friends for a while and STILL have time to come home! Dartmouth's spring break is really a term break, as it falls in between the spring and winter terms. That gives us almost TWO weeks, while almost everyone else has only one week off. Which brings us to the Third reason: You and your friends, since you'll all have different spring break schedules, will be able to visit one another at school (or home if they fall together!). I'll be going to visit a friend at Yale next week, and while I'll probably feel really drained and unexcited about being there (sorry, New Haven- you don't have anything I want over Hanover) I'm excited to hang out with my friend and see everything Yale has to offer.

Otherwise I'm just seeing friends and family and hanging out! It's really nice to be able to do that and not worry about timing and everything...but at the same time I am REALLY excited for Spring term, I hear it's amazing and of course will be WARM!

This is about the time that acceptances are coming out, so good luck to everyone with that! I'm assuming Dartmouth is letting people know around April 1st again, but I'm not sure. Best of luck to all that applied!

Evan

Sitting Outside

I haven't been able to post in a while because the pre-finals rush has definitely hit me, but I just wanted to talk about how nice it was today! The snow is almost all melted (which kind of stinks) BUT the temperature was in the high 40s (scorching!) and it was sunny all day! I woke up and was able to walk outside with only a light coat and flip flops! (I don't like wearing normal shoes/sneakers, not sure why). For a couple of hours I sat outside on the the porch of Collis (see picture- it wasn't this green today, though) doing some reading and other work with some friends. It was so nice out, and I can't wait for Spring term to come so it's nice like this all of the time.

Though at the same time, it looks like there might be a bit of a wintry mix next weekend (i.e. more snow?) and could always come back in a flash at the end of March or beginning of April.

That being said, I love the snow and wouldn't mind for a little bit more before Spring term! We'll see if I regret that or not!

Tomorrow is March? / Finals Are Coming

When did this happen? We have about two weeks left in this term (including finals!) and I can't believe I'll soon be done with my second term at Dartmouth. And then, I'll begin the last term of my freshmen year! It saddens me.

But this is the time when the last midterms are being stuffed in (I have a test on Wednesday, though technically there shouldn't be any more tests given after this past Friday) and the last papers are assigned. This is our last full week of classes, and next Wednesday is the beginning of Reading Period. Reading period is the time in between classes and finals (usually around 2 days) that you have to study and begin those dreaded final papers before testing begins. It's a nice time without classes, but the large amount of studying left to do can seem overwhelming and requires a lot of planning (unless you decide to wing the final, which I HIGHLY discourage). It's the last bump before finals and academic freedom for a few weeks, and I'm preparing myself for the occasion.

I've included a picture of a book in case you've stopped using/looking at them (second semester senior year is tough, I know). It was my calc book from last term:


Enjoy!

Have you taken a tour of Dartmouth?

You should if you haven't! During my college application process, I found the tour to be one of the most influential parts of a college visit (and visiting a college is usually the best way to know if you feel you'd belong there or not). Going through the tour guide training process (I'm a Tour guide now!) has reminded me of all of the things I loved when visiting Dartmouth and the excitement in seeing colleges for the first time and discovering new colleges and the things you love about them. While I do not envy the waiting and the actual application process, I was always excited to see new colleges and all the opportunities I had waiting for me after high school. Here's where to plan your visit to Dartmouth, and the times of info sessions and tours; the campus is generally accessible as well if you'd like to poke your head into a classroom so feel free to look around!

I just realized...

...that there are only three weeks left in this term. WHERE DID THE WINTER GO?? While I'm extremely excited for the spring and the warm weather, I can't believe that I'm so quickly approaching my final term as a freshmen...I actually really enjoy being a freshmen. We don't have to worry about majors, D-plans, real jobs, post-college realities, and have plenty of opportunities to try new things! Next year will kind of be the end of that...but I'm trying not to focus on that now!

Anyway, random event of the weekend: I went to the Barbary Coast Ensemble show on Saturday! Barbary Coast is a jazz group that does all types of jazz-related music, from blues to swing to more contemporary stuff. It was a really excellent show, and not something I get to hear everyday! It was also awesome finally realizing that I could go to a semi-professional show five minutes away from my dorm. That's so cool!

It's Winter Carnival!

Happy Winter Carnival! There's no school today, which is GREAT (though of COURSE one of my professors decides that having a midterm essay due by noon today is fair and just) and it's a beautiful day outside!

Also, I just participated in the Polar Bear Plunge!! It's as it sounds: The school cuts a chunk of ice out of Occom Pond and students line up to jump in, in just a bathing suit, swim across and get out! Completely normal, right? (Welcome to Dartmouth.)

It's been a tradition for almost a century (Winter Carnival centennial -100th anniversary - is next year!) and is a lot of fun. Standing, waiting with my friends, signing a waiver for the activity - and it is HEAVILY patrolled; EMS, S&S, etc. - and finally having the "leash" put around me (some rope in a slip knot around you basically) all leads up to that fateful jump with everyone watching you--

AND THEN FREEZING. My body went into overdrive and immediately started paddling to the other side. I was cold and numb all over, but five minutes after felt so refreshed and relaxed! And the beautiful day made it all better.

Moral of the blog post: Do the Polar Bear Plunge.

Study Abroad!

I'm sure that many of you are looking at study abroad programs during this drawn out college process, so I just wanted to talk about a program I applied for next year!

At Dartmouth we have different types of study abroad programs: LSA (Language Study Abroad) and FSP (Foreign Study Program), along with exchange programs to other schools. LSAs are programs created specifically for studying a language in their native country. For example, there are LSAs for Spanish to Barcelona, Spain or Pueblo, Mexico, a Russian LSA to St. Petersburg, Russia, and a Portugese LSA to Buenos Aries, Brazil. I applied for the LSA+ (the plus just means it's at a more advanced level than the LSA) for Italian to Rome, Italy. I applied for next Winter or Spring (Winter or Spring 2011), and would be in Italy for about ten weeks.

I took Italian in high school and will be taking Italian 3 next fall in preparation for the trip (every trip has prerequisites) and am excited to restart my Italian education. Since we have a language requirement (every student has to take the 1,2,3 sequence of classes in any language) everyone basically fufills the prereqs for the LSAs (which require the 2 class, i.e. Italian 2, as a prereq, and you take 3 on the trip) or LSA+ (with 3 as a pre req). The applications for programs in the next year's fall, winter, and spring term are all due in the first week of february, and you find out in early March if you've been accepted, waitlisted, or declined from the program. I really hope it works out, because I'd love to be in Italy for a term and speak Italian as my main language for that time!

Oh, and here's a list of all the study abroad and foreign exchange programs (FS means foreign study)! Enjoy.


 (Lower: Urquhart Castle on the Shores of Loch Ness; Upper: South Africa's Kosi Bay on the 2006 Environmental Studies Foreign Study Program in   Southern Africa.)

Lower: http://ocp-prod.dartmouth.edu/ocp/prod/
Upper: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2007/11/16.html

One Wheelock

I'm currently trying to write an essay for my bio class (yeah, it's essay based, which has it's positives and negatives) but am pretty unfocused. SO I thought I'd talk about one of my favorite places on campus!

Right now I'm sitting in 'One Wheelock,' a cafe-inspired lounge located in the Collis Center on campus. It's a hang out zone, study area, and performance space on various occasions for student bands or groups. Until this past spring this space used to be the Lone Pine Tavern, but had to be closed because of budget cuts. Somehow, though, the money was found to renovate the space into a lounge and, thanks to Collis Governing Board (the organization that oversees all activities that occur in Collis) provide free coffees and teas to students. Along with the free drinks, comfortable couches and chairs, and cafe-atmosphere, soft jazz/r&b music is played throughout the day to the pleasure of our ears.

This is one of my favorite spaces because of all of the above, and because this sort of space can't be found anywhere else on campus! While living up here in New Hampshire surrounded by nature is serene and beautiful, there are some things lost to the trees. A cafe to sit, eat, drink, study, and socialize in is one of them. Of course, we have the Dirt Cowboy right across the street from the green that has some of the best coffees and teas I've ever had, but:

1. It's pretty tiny, and even if you do find some space to sit it's far from ideal for studying or reading a book and 
2. The drinks cost REAL money. When you're used to using DDS money, which is prepaid, it's not very attractive to have to drop some dough for something you could get on campus (not to mention One Wheelock's drinks are free).

The cafe atmosphere has always been very relaxing to me, and I love being able to listen to some nice music while calmly attempting some work. So, sitting here in One Wheelock, even though I still have a bunch left to write in my paper, I'm glad I have the smooth tunes and free caffine to help me through it (the later only if necessary!).

 Recently Heard in One Wheelock:

• Michael Buble - A bunch of his covers
• Frank Sinatra - Fly Me To the Moon
• Coldplay - Clocks
• Sara Borelis- Many the Miles
• Ella Fitzgerald
• U2
• & Many other jazz, r&b, and soft rock artists

It's still winter...right?

Winter in Hanover is supposed to be one of the best and worst times of the year- snow everywhere, ice skating on Occom Pond, Winter Carnival snow sculptures and festivities, and of course skiing/snowboarding at the Dartmouth Skiiway (among other mountains), while the temperature goes low enough to chill the bone. But recently, apart from a few frigid days, not only has the weather been sunny, but temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s, clearly breaking the trend of normal winter woes. It's been so warm, in fact, that there's very little snow left on the ground...I can see the grass. THE GRASS. It's still JANUARY! Nature is just playing a trick on all of us, because now I'm starting to think that spring is coming- except it's NOT. Which is unfortunate, because I'm really excited for the warm weather! But winter here is really nice too; here are some pictures of Winter Carnivals past (this year's theme is "I Came, I Saw, I Carnivaled" a la Gladiator, so they're building a colosseum on the green!):

Sources:
Poster: http://rlv.zcache.com/dartmouth_1938_winter_carnival_poster-p228629041324285557t5ta_400.jpg
Dr seuss: http://www.dskendall.com/images/200402.jpg
Ship: http://bigpicture.typepad.com/writing/images/_20050211news11_1.jpg
Wizard: http://image24.webshots.com/24/6/85/63/101268563oKXJGS_ph.jpg
Dragon: http://image55.webshots.com/155/0/33/13/462503313uginaS_fs.jpg

Winter Wonderland

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1150897.jpg

This is a nice picture of Dartmouth Hall in the winter. Not my picture, and wasn't this winter, but Dartmouth Hall hasn't changed much (it's the oldest building on campus!)

Workin For the Weekend...and Weekdays

This week has been so busy...and it's only been four days! I completely forgot we had Monday off for MLK weekend...it seems so far away! Along with classes and a ton of work this week I have a bunch of extracurriculars I've been juggling. They're pretty random, so I'll share them with you!

• Speed Reading- There's an organization called 'Collis Miniversity'  on campus and it offers a bunch of classes and activities students can take along with their normal classes. "Now, wait a second," you might say. "Additional classes?!? Who would want that?" Well for starters, the classes that miniversity offers range from 'DJing 101' to Wine Tasting (sorry, over 21 only- you'll get there soon enough!) to Salsa Dancing (which may be a Physical Education class as well...yup! It is! It's under "special (spec)") to what I'm taking, Speed Reading. Seems a bit more fun now, eh? 
• So speed reading is really a course to teach you the techniques that you have to go and practice on your own. There is improvement within the course, of course (I didn't intend for that) but in order to retain the improvements and actually improve your reading you need to practice it on your own readings for class (which only helps, since you have to do them anyway). It's definitely helped me already, but I can tell some people haven't gained as much. I guess it's all personal preference.
• Tour Guide- As I said in a past post, I applied to be a tour guide! The application was kind of long and a bit random, but I've wanted to be a tour guide since I first toured Dartmouth (that's about all I remember from my first tour- wanting to be a tour guide if I came here). I had an audition on Wednesday in which I just spoke for a couple of minutes and answered a question to show the tour heads that I can be articulate and friendly, and not say anything too stupid. I think I said some stuff that was a little generic, but I hope it went well! We'll see. 
• Dodecs- If you haven't read the other posts, I'm a member of the Dartmouth Dodecaphonics, Dartmouth's oldest co-ed a cappella group on campus. Every week we have rehearsal for about two hours a day about three days a week, excluding performances and extra rehearsals for those. On Wednesday, we had our first show of Winter term! At Zeta Psi (called Zete, the reason for which I do not know) fraternity. It went really well and was a lot of fun, but still took up some time.
• Spinning- I'm taking a spinning PE class twice a week, and it's actually a great workout! And not stereotypically female, either- there's a 2:1 ratio of guys to girls in my class. It's hard work but definitely rewarding as well.
• Snowboarding- I snowboard, and even if you do not, there are lessons that you can take through Dartmouth to learn! I haven't been on the mountain in two years, so I'm taking lessons to undo any mistakes I may be making right now. Dartmouth has its own Skiway that's only a 20 MINUTE bus ride away! I'm used to many-hour car rides to get to the mountain, so it's cool that I just have to hope on a bus for a little and can ski almost anytime! It works out so that you can just go for a couple of hours and come back home- no need to feel like you have to stay the whole day!

And that's most of my life, I believe. I'm off to bagel brunch- free bagels on sunday from Hillel, no need to be jewish to go- then to do all my work! Oh college.

Class, Take 2. Add Snow.

I'm back at the center of the world, and am very happy to be on my own again (though break was a great time for seeing friends, relaxing, and not stressing about work!). Right now I'm working on an application to be a tour guide, something I'll talk about later if I (hopefully!) become one...it's pretty competitive, from what I hear. We'll see! And then I need to do some homework...but it's for friday. I tried to plan ahead but ended up doing very little to get ahead. Oh well.

Happy 2010! And congrats to all Regular applicants who finally submitted their apps to colleges! (i.e. Dartmouth!) I was in this boat last year...and won't start talking about it now. Good luck!