Reunited!

After a winter spent all over the globe (literally), our volleyball team is finally reunited again in Hanover, New Hampshire. Even the rain that hasn’t stopped pouring down since the minute I arrived on campus can’t dampen my spirits.

I spent this past term in hustling, bustling New York City. I interned at a small public relations firm called Nike Communications, where I worked on the “travel team,” making clips, keeping books, and pitching stories for the Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a luxury hotel line with 22 properties all over the world. One of my favorite parts of the internship was being able to help out at events for various clients. I worked at Vino 2010, the largest Italian Wine Conference ever held outside of Italy, and also a couple parties for fun companies like Betsey Johnson and Esquire Magazine. It was my first exposure to PR, and I loved learning more about the field. I have grown to appreciate any experience that helps me understand just what I might want to do with my life, seeing as I am asked that question more and more often as I get older. Every day I feel blessed for the amazing opportunities I’ve been given, but with that realization comes the desire to do something that will fully take advantage of those opportunities – I guess figuring that out is really what college is all about.

Practices start up again this week, and I think everyone on the team is excited to be back on the court together, doing what we love. Our team has gone through a lot of changes over the last year and it has been so great to see everything clicking into place. It is always a bit uncomfortable getting back into the swing of volleyball, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel like a fish on dry land for a large part of practice. But we have all spent so many hours of our lives playing this game that it really doesn’t take much to get back on track. Especially when you’re out there with your best friends.

Our team is in a great place right now, emotionally, mentally, and physically. In our team meeting to kick off this spring season, we all felt like we were on the same page, and the energy in the room was extremely positive, enthusiastic, and open. I know I’m not just speaking for myself when I say that I am so happy to be back, and so proud to call every one of these girls my teammate. Can’t wait for spring season!

-Jessie Hartman '11

Opportunities Galore!

Hello everyone from sunny San Diego! I am currently enjoying my winter off term in my hometown of San Diego, CA. This term has been a great break from the Dartmouth lifestyle and has really allowed me to get some great work experience as well as life experience. In terms of work, I was given the opportunity to intern with the Planning and Conservation League and helped to plan and organize their annual legislative symposium which occurs in Sacramento, CA every year. The Planning and Conservation League (PCL) is a major non-profit environmental organization in California as well as a significant lobbying power in the California State Legislature. Through this experience I not only learned a lot but also met some of the most influential people who are shaping the face of how California deals with the environment and the effects us humans have on it. Seeing as I am an Environmental Studies major, I was in HEAVEN.

I have also been interning for another firm, Crotty Consulting, Inc, which is a small governmental consulting firm in downtown San Diego. Chris, my boss essentially runs politicians campaigns from outreach to mailings to speeches. The main project we have been working on through my time there is the California Valley Solar Ranch, which is a proposed solar array “ranch” located in San Luis Obispo, CA. I have mostly been working on outreach to the public to get them behind the construction of the project.


But enough about work, I am sure no one really cares about that especially after reading about Annie’s adventures in Spain! So besides working, I have been traveling around California a lot. I have managed to see a lot of my close high school friends over the last 2 months. From Berkeley to UC San Diego to Cal Poly I have had a great time really exploring California. It is such an awesome thing that Dartmouth allows us to take this time off to work, explore and mature, but I still have a heck of a time trying to explain to people why I am not at school this quarter. People think I flunked out or something! Haha.

Besides traveling, the other fun part of my life is playing volleyball. I have been lucky enough to be able to practice weekly with my old club, Encinitas Wave. I practice with the 18-1s which is a BLAST and keeps me sharp on my game. Even though I will admit, I sometimes feel old playing with those 18 year olds. Since when am I almost a SENIOR in college?! Crazy! Anyway… it has been incredible playing with these girls, because I have really seen them grow up as players, from their freshman years in high school to now and I serve not only as a fellow player but also as a coach. On top of playing I have been training at a gym that is specifically for volleyball players. To put it bluntly I have been getting my butt kicked, which is good (when I can move again after the soreness recedes) because I am feeling strong and healthy and ready for spring season.


Last but not least, to continue with how amazing and wonderful Dartmouth is, I just found out that I received acceptance to the Environmental Studies Foreign Study Program to South Africa!!!! This is the same program that Katie mentioned in her entry, and I actually applied because of some encouragement I received from her. I am so incredibly excited to go and feel so blessed that Dartmouth has opened these kinds of doors for me. I am loving being home but I can’t wait to get back on campus this spring and see the team.

-Kelsey Johnson'11 (Carlsbad, CA)

The Best Adventure of My Life

Hola from Espana! As Katie Hirsch said in her entry recently, Dartmouth has provided us with some amazing travel opportunities, not just with the team, but on our own as well. I am in the middle of experiencing that right now!


I, along with teammates Kendall Houston and Madeline Baird, took this Winter as a transfer term to the Universidad de Salamanca, in Salamanca, Spain. I am not even sure where to start about this amazing adventure we are in the middle of! Since I was young, I’ve had the dream of studying abroad in college. This dream was part of the reason I chose Dartmouth volleyball: the fact that we have the freedom to follow our passions (no matter where in the world they take us), while still competing on a division I college team is spectacular. People always talked about it, but I never really appreciated it until this winter when we went away.

We’ve been here in Spain since the beginning of January, and I can’t believe it’s already March. Time is flying! We’re taking Spanish language, Spanish Literature and History classes here. Salamanca, the city where we are living is great. It’s absolutely beautiful, pretty small, and full of young people because of the University. We’ve done lots of exploring here, and lots of traveling in Spain. We went to Sevilla and Madrid, and we are going to Barcelona next week, and Basque country the week after that! Our Spanish has gotten SO much better already, and keeps getting better every day. We have class every day, but usually take Fridays off to travel, including to Morocco, London, and Rome. I can’t believe that this life I am living right now is real! We’ve been taking tons of photos, and writing in our journals, and I am having the time of my life. Being with my teammates makes it even better. This week, we went and practiced with the University of Salamanca women’s team! The girls were so nice, and it was good to get some practice. They taught us all the Spanish words for “I go!” and “Your ball!” and “set me!”. Maybe we’ll bring those back to Dartmouth!


In addition to being the best adventure of my life, being abroad has made me appreciate Dartmouth. I can’t wait to come home and tell stories, share pictures, and be with the rest of the team again! I think that after realizing how much traveling you can do in a weekend, we will explore New England a lot more and take advantage of all the opportunities around us at Dartmouth. We are so lucky!

-Annie Villanueva '12 (Santa Barbara, CA)