The Blog is Back!

Dear Faithful Readers,

(OK - so I like to pretend I have faithful readers. Can you blame me?) After a long hiatus brought on by a rather busy (gross understatement) winter term, I'm back at the office and will be once again updating this blog. Seems like some filling-in is in order.

The end of the fall term seems like a distant memory. I'm sure I had some papers and finals... I guess they went well enough. Then I went on tour with my a cappella group, the Cords. Nothing too fancy - just a jaunt around New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. We did some college shows, some private events, and a few - my favorite - alumni club shows. I remember hearing a lot about how strong the sense of community at Dartmouth was when I was going through the application process, but it still sort of catches me by surprise that so many alums are still so engaged with Dartmouth 40, 50, and even 60 years after their graduation. And they always have such great stories to tell!

After that I was home for a bit, and then winter term happened. It was by far my most difficult term at Dartmouth, which is why I took the term off from the Admissions Office. One of the most important pieces advice you'll get as a freshman at Dartmouth is to choose your classes carefully - you'll hear people talking about their "class mix." Basically, you shouldn't take three science with lab classes at a time, nor should you take three heavy reading and writing classes. Well, after 3+ years, I seem to still not have figured this out. In 10 weeks, I had 17 books (plus thousands of pages of printed articles) and 19 papers to write. Oops.

The classes were great though. I took History 6 (soon to be 70-something - it was 6 because it was experimental), Guerrilla Warfare, and learned a ton about a lot of countries most people haven't even heard of. And I finally watched The Battle of Algiers, one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time, as it was on the syllabus. My second class was Environmental Studies 1: Humans and Nature in America. It was the last class I needed for my minor, but I took it mostly for the professor - Terry Osborne, my Writing 5 prof all the way back from Freshman Fall. Basically we used literature to explore the relationship between - you guessed it - humans and nature in America - and more than a few of the lectures were absolutely mind blowing. Take it if you come here. My last class was a government seminar called Techniques of Statecraft. We explored the three main types of statecraft: military, economic, and diplomatic, and how they can be used by a state to achieve its objectives. High-level stuff here - most of the material I'll encounter again in grad school if I decide to pursue a graduate degree in international relations.

The weather this winter was actually great. It seemed to me that we'd get maybe a foot of snow, then it would be sunny for a week, then we'd get a foot of snow; repeat. I took a skate skiing (one variant of Nordic, or cross-country skiing), which was a ton of fun. Can't say I was very good at it, but I definitely became much better over the course of the term. It's hard to beat gliding through snow-covered pine trees under a brilliant winter sun. I almost miss it. But you can bet I'm welcoming the coming of spring with open arms.

Which brings me to today. I'm actually sitting at my favorite coffee shop back home, but I can't wait to get back up to Dartmouth. Still, I anticipate the drive up will be a tad bittersweet - my last trip up as a student. It's been an amazing 3+ years. And I know this term is going to be a blast. I'll let you know how it's going. Thanks for reading!