Outside the Bubble

Ah, the glories of an off day. I got to sleep in (8am!), mess around on facebook for a while (photos from Dominica are up on my profile), write blog entires, and soon we'll be off to go check out a local swimming hole, go shopping in Roseau, and learn to drive a standard transmission. We may even have time to go to a local bar and watch some World Cup action. Tonight could be interesting as well, we're going to a disco party which starts at midnight. I'll likely be kicking myself Sunday morning when we have to get up at 7am to go set up/take down more GPS sites.

This summer is my first time in two years outside of the Dartmouth bubble. Yeah, I've been off campus a couple times, but always with Dartmouth groups. Not since freshman summer have I been the only Dartmouth person around. It's interesting. Mainly it has hardened by belief that every Dartmouth student is ecentric and crazy. It's odd that no one automatically laughs and/or understands whenever I saw "pwned" or "I'm the juggernaught, bitch!" (the got a couple weird looks) or Yidit or blitz or rosham. And that's not even attempting to bring ultimate into conversation, which requires a whole other list of vocabulary words. I find it odd that while I normally consider myself quiet and reserved, in this group I'm the outgoing, funny one with consistently the best stories and conversation skills. I won't class clown because I'm not that funny and our TA does a pretty good job of that one himself. I think this says tons about the Dartmouth experience and how it allows everyone there to really go out and have a spectacular time at college, both educationally and socially. I've realized it's a place where every student can be themselves without concern of what others think about them. Plus, at least in my case, this environment also builds up a self-confidence that enables the students to continue to be who they are when they leave the bubble. This is what I was hoping to find at college, and I'm glad I was able to find it; and I'm glad to hopefully be spreading the reputation that Dartmouth guys (and gals) are pretty sweet dudes... who like to hang out. See, there's another one no one here gets.