Do Dartmouth students suffer from Dartmouth withdrawal when they leave campus? No, I'm not talking about alcohol withdrawal. Nor caffeine withdrawal. Nor amphetamine or black mold withdrawal. I am referring, instead, to a noted Dartmouth phenomenon: When Dartmouth students leave Hanover, they insist on bringing Dartmouth with them, wherever they go.
Returning to campus this winter, it's apparent that our numbers have dwindled significantly. But what has become of those poor souls who are no longer with us for the term, unable to experience the joys of not giving a f*ck about the real world because it's really far away and there's beer here? Surely their re-entry into the real world was fraught with peril due to the friction of reintegrating themselves with societal norms, much as a space shuttle is threatened by the friction of Earth's atmosphere upon re-entry.
However, thanks to Dartmouth's McDonald's-esque global reach of foreign study programs and delightful Ivy League exclusivity that pretty much ensures only Dartmouth students attend these programs, you can now have your very own Dartmouth in the city of your choice! Just be culturally aware enough to realize that just because someone is holding your hair back as you boot does not mean you share a special connection and will be besties forever.
One might ask why anyone would ever dream of leaving this little winter wonderland in the first place my initial hunch was that Hanover's winter is colder than Satan's sack in Bizzaro-World, and many students might find this climate unpleasant. Sure enough, a considerable number of students who are currently on off-terms or have taken Winter term off in the past confirmed that the frigidity of the still North is a common cause for fleeing Hanover.
However, winter weather is a sneaky thing, ever-present and always on the prowl. When I arrived in Lyon two years ago for the French LSA, I was shocked to discover that winter is not merely a New Hampshire phenomenon, but occurs just about everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere during these months.
John Finkelberg '13, who is currently enrolled in Dartmouth's French FSP in Paris, rationalizes his decision to leave Hanover with the philosophy that "winters in Hanover are shitty, so I was like, if I'm going to be cold why not be cold in Paris?"
Danielle Short, a '13 also on the French FSP, adds, "In cities [like Paris] there are so many things to do besides be outside ... you can go to bars, museums, clubs or small Euro trips, or just walk around even if it is freezing because you're so in awe of the beautiful architecture that you don't mind freezing in exchange for a breathless visual experience."
Finkelberg added that he elected to go abroad during Winter term rather than during the Fall because he "wanted to rush and didn't want to have to do it next year or in the Winter." Clearly, when weather and the Greek system team up, they create a force of unspeakable power.
This all sounds perfectly reasonable, but isn't anyone concerned about that pesky Dartmouth withdrawal? Of course not, because anyone who's been on a Dartmouth-sponsored study abroad program knows that campus culture comes right along for the ride. While in Lyon, I found myself traveling with a small coterie of fellow Dartmouth students. It was not long before I began to realize that we didn't quite fit in with the Lyonnaise, but rather stuck out like cold sores. I'm not sure what gave us away, but I have a few guesses. Perhaps it was that we wore colors other than black. Perhaps it was because every now and then we smiled, and sometimes even laughed. Or perhaps it was because we did not appear to have eating disorders. Regardless, it was clear that we were not adapting to French life.
In reality, it probably had to do with the fact that we made every effort to replicate Dartmouth life in Lyon. No early classes on Thursdays meant Wednesday nights were for "meetings." Soon, it became clear that American male students in French bars were analogous to male freshmen in Dartmouth frats. We began each night with a healthy pre-game sesh the only difference from freshman year was that instead of cheap vodka, we had cheap wine.
And there's no question that my personal experience on a Winter off-term wasn't unique. Jonithan "Bug" Odland '12, recalls his sophomore Winter experience in New Zealand: "While it was an exchange program and not actually Dartmouth-sponsored, I knew a bunch of Dartmouth students on the trip and hung out with them all the time."
Odland remarks that Dartmouth-style partying largely characterized the experience. In all fairness, however, this could probably be considered a legitimate New Zealand cultural experience.
In the most extreme cases, students unable to handle the separation from Hahaland fashion homemade pong tables as a constant reminder of the culture from which they came and to which they crave a return. But it would be unfair to say that such students have completely failed to embrace a foreign culture. After all, they substitute wine for Keystone Light.
So let's face it: students here have a real problem letting go of Dartmouth as they struggle to embrace foreign cultures that do not so nearly resemble hedonistic lunacy and utter surreality. Of course, it is only logical that Dartmouth students feel the need to make every second of these four years a Dartmouth second. Because after the four years are up, so is the Dartmouth lifestyle. Unless of course you are one of the 99 percent of Dartmouth students who moves to New York immediately after graduation and frequents that bar that has beer pong at least once a week. You know, that bar in Murray Hill? The one where everyone gets really drunk and hooks up with a random Dartmouth alum and then eventually gets married to that other Dartmouth alum and then has a little Dartmouth kiddie who invariably becomes a sixth-generation legacy to Dartmouth and continues that beautiful cycle of Dartmouth life? Yeah, that bar. I'll meet you there in a couple years.
