On Saturday, I went to the Dartmouth-Harvard football game. After riding on a cramped bus to Boston for over two hours, standing amidst a packed crowd for an hour and finally wandering to find a bathroom for 15 minutes, I decided to venture outside of Harvard stadium. As I strode across the Charles River, mere blocks from my parents first apartment in Cambridge, I wondered whether their 30-year-old selves had any plans for the future. Did they plan on moving to Washington D.C. soon after? Did they think they would have three kids? How did they know how to figure out their lives?
My senior self is beginning to think in this way, about life after college, about “the real world.” Questions arise about how to make the most of the time I have left, as well as how to best prepare for the future. Often, these two square up with each other, unfurling cocked fists and threatening to seize control of any available headspace — but such is the life of a Dartmouth student. When I later stood on the rooftop bar of Felipe’s Taqueria in Harvard Square, chatting to alumni a year or two out of Dartmouth who are in the process of understanding themselves, I realized something: no one has figured it out. The whole of life, especially that of a Dartmouth student, is a balancing act. It’s full of regrets of studying too little, of missing a moment to go to bed early, of an embarrassing moment that could have been glorious if only you had said something else — all for those times when that little nagging voice in your head falls silent and maybe cheers. I believe that, much like my parents undoubtedly did in that little Cambridge apartment, there is no master plan one must have, no grand illustration of how to navigate the ride of life. There are only things that happen along the ride.
This week at Mirror, our writers cover many facts of a Dartmouth student’s life. One writer covers the dogs that several fraternities on campus own and care for, while another details the factors that go into how students choose campus and near-campus jobs. A third writer explores the dynamics between “Big-Little” relationships in Greek houses, while a fourth investigates Halloween. Finally, in her bi-weekly column, one writer advises students on friend groups.
As you hit the midpoint of Week 8, we at this section hope you settle any voices that may be nagging in your head, while also crushing whatever Halloween costume you chose. See you next week.
