"Surprisingly enough, I am surviving the cold..."

Winter term has been great so far. Surprisingly enough, I am surviving the cold, but I’ve heard the real test comes in February. This term has been very different from fall term, but equally as enjoyable.

This past Saturday was the Men’s Hockey game against Princeton. I dressed up in green and went with some friends down to Thompson Arena to watch the game. It was exciting to see such a huge crowd of Big Green Hockey fans, including a group of Dartmouth students who painted “GO DARTMOUTH!” on their chests! There is a well-known rivalry between these two hockey teams, and traditionally, when Dartmouth scores their first goal against Princeton the crowd throws tennis balls onto the ice at the Tigers. Of course I had to partake in this great tradition, but unfortunately my tennis ball didn’t quite make it over the net surrounding the ice (I’m working on that shoulder strength :-)). I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many tennis balls before in my life. I really enjoyed supporting the hockey team, showing my school spirit and participating in a legendary Dartmouth tradition.


Volleyball workouts are going great with Amanda Bayliss. I love getting into the gym after a day in the classroom. This coming week Lexi and I will be starting to practice with the Men’s Club Volleyball team to get in some extra touches on the ball. We are excited to show them some real defense.

This term I am taking a freshmen seminar class, which focuses on skepticism of the paranormal. Professor Pfister, a professor of psychology here at Dartmouth, teaches this course in East Wheelock. I have found this course particularly interesting and my favorite topic of research thus far, has been superstitions and athletics. I researched into this topic and got to discuss some of my own volleyball superstitions with my professor. I then proceeded to write a paper on why superstitions were/are created: to give people a sense of control over situations that are sometimes out of their control. I look forward to learning in this class every week. I now look at the world through skeptical eyes.

-Alissa Santa Maria (Yorba Linda, CA), Freshman, Setter