This past spring, I was lucky enough to be in Rome on the Art History Foreign Study Program. I explored the city, spent hours in museums and traveled across Italy on weekends with the 14 other Dartmouth students who were a part of the program. Dartmouth became a distant memory and Hanover a dot on a continent an ocean away. During prior on-campus terms, as much as I loved trips to the Skiway and chatting with my friends in the Collis Center for Student Life, Dartmouth’s insular nature had become suffocating. To preserve my waning love for Hanover, I needed to leave and experience something different.
Rome gave me the opportunity to reevaluate my relationship with Dartmouth and what I deem worthy of stress. I feared I would spend the term wondering what I was missing back in New Hampshire, but I was pleased to discover that my FOMO was nonexistent. As the term wrapped up and sophomore summer grew closer, I was filled with anxiety about returning to the Dartmouth bubble. Will I be able to pick up where I left off? Do I even want to pick up where I left off?
Although campus looks the same — apart from some new construction — changing social dynamics have left those of us who were gone in the spring playing catch up.
“There’s a sense that I’ve missed something,” Claire Cohenruam ’26 said. “It wasn’t like everyone went home for summer and wasn’t seeing each other, even though it felt that way to me. But friend stuff went on and other dynamics happened that I was maybe told about but didn’t really know.”
Cohenuram spent her spring term on the Spanish FSP in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Between staying with a host family and her classes on Argentine history and art, Cohenuram developed a deep appreciation for Buenos Aires without the stress a typical term on campus holds.
“My host family was great,” Cohenuram said. “I loved them so much. I enjoyed [my classes] because they were easy and very chill and laid-back. I still learned a ton about Argentina, but I did not feel stressed one bit.”
After laid back classes abroad, returning to a normal course load has proven challenging for some — particularly during sophomore summer, which carries a unique set of expectations. Anja Grover ’26, who also studied Art History in Rome, came into the summer intending to lean into the sophomore summer hype by joining new clubs, meeting new people and exploring the Upper Valley.
“I came into the summer thinking that I’m going to say yes to everything, and I’m realizing that I actually have to say no to a lot of things,” Grover said. “There’s so many opportunities to do fun things, and you have to be super selective on what you choose to spend your time on. Otherwise, I think I’m going to come out of this term super scattered and not in a great place with schoolwork.”
Hannah Krueger ’26, on the other hand, intends on saying yes to new opportunities this summer and relishing the beautiful weather and inclusive clubs. The past two terms, Krueger studied abroad in Paris before heading home to work as a lifeguard at her local pool.
“Whatever comes up, I’m going to try to take advantage of as many opportunities as I can [and] have some fun along the way,” Krueger said.
Unfortunately, between extracurricular ambitions and classes, the summer term is less like summer camp than anticipated. The urge to return to campus life in full force is strong but also requires significant commitment.
“I think it’s hard having the energy and the capacity to be around all of these people all the time and jump back in and see how friend groups have shifted and social aspects of Dartmouth have changed while we were gone,” Grover said. “I think there’s so much pressure on sophomore summer to be this huge, fun, amazing time. … All the clubs feel a lot more important to me right now than schoolwork.”
Despite the term’s high social expectations, Catherine Jewitt ’26 — who spent the spring term working in a lobby shop in Washington, D.C. — noted that it is still important to rest and spend time alone.
“The first week [back] I had no break and then I was also taking my classes way too seriously,” Jewitt said. “I definitely need to remember that I still need time to myself and to do things for me.”
In an effort to continue spending much-needed time alone this summer, Jewitt has resolved to go on occasional solo adventures off campus.
“I feel that I need to catch up with everyone again and I need to make all these new memories with a lot of people, but I also learned in D.C. that I enjoy doing things by myself,” she said. “I think it’s hard to do things by yourself here and feel that ‘I’m doing things because I want to’ versus ‘no one is free.’”
After her off term in Washington D.C., returning to academics felt odd and ate into Jewitt’s downtime.
“It was weird having homework again,” she explained. “I liked that when I was [at my job] I was working, but when I wasn’t, I could totally relax.”
Like Jewitt, Krueger took the spring off and away from academics to decompress.
“I think [my off term] was a great way to center myself and organize my life a little bit,” Krueger said. “I think there was a little bit of burnout after fall term last year, and then going abroad was a stressful experience. Even though it was amazing, I needed that time to recover and fully figure things out before I came back to campus.”
Cohenuram emphasized the importance of taking time away from Dartmouth for wellbeing as well as regaining an appreciation for campus.
“I think it’s so good to have a break not just away from campus culture, but also having the academic break,” she said. “I was excited to get back and be back in the Dartmouth environment, especially because it’s sophomore summer and I knew summer was going to be fun regardless.”
Upon returning to Dartmouth, I’ve thrown myself right back into campus culture, from problem sets to dance practice, with a renewed sense of joy and energy. Although I am picking up where I left off, I’m approaching the term with heightened perspective and a deeper understanding of the fun, yet limited importance, of campus culture. I do not need to go out every Friday night to feel like I am experiencing Dartmouth as I should. Instead, Dartmouth is about creating new and unique memories over the course of the D-Plan and sharing these experiences with other students.
As she settled back into life on campus, Jewitt has loved hearing about her friends’ experiences and anecdotes from their terms apart.
“The most interesting thing about being off and coming back is that people have their own journeys when you’re not there,” Jewitt said. “I was also growing a lot in ways that people here won’t understand, but I won’t understand what it was like for them to be abroad or what their experience [in Hanover] was.”
As I walk across the Green and smile at familiar faces I haven’t seen since winter, I look forward to grabbing a meal or sitting by the river as we exchange stories from the past 10 weeks. I know the next several weeks will bring us even closer as we form lasting memories to cherish through our future terms apart.
