Think about how many times per day you have the same conversation about how much you hate DDS or how you're already bored. I don't need to add anything here that you haven't heard already. It goes without saying that we find endless ways to complain about Dartmouth. Because we hardly come into contact with other schools, we don't understand what life is like there and have almost no perspective on the problems we face, and we fail to realize that, well, things could be worse.
As much as we say we hate our dining system, at least we can admit, with a bit of guilt, that we enjoy two-hour long FoCo dinners that include multiple courses of dessert. Students at the University of California, Los Angeles don't quite have that luxury.
"They must add 1,000 percent extra fiber in our dining hall food because you can't sit here for more than an hour because you need to run to the bathroom," UCLA freshman, Elbek Abasov, said.
We also fill our empty conversations with competitions of how "far" we have to walk between classes which us NARPs will use to justify the two cookies and ice cream we eat every day in FoCo. We forget, however, that students at other schools are in a better position for being fit, but a worse one for getting to class on time.
"I have a class that is a mile away," Elbek said. "It's a nice walk, but I have to leave 20 minutes early to get there."
Even though we call ourselves "the College on the Hill," we also fail to realize that there are places that might call themselves "the college on the hills," and no, the "s" is not a typo. If you've ever wanted an eternally sexy set of calves, Ithaca College is the place for you.
"One of the memes is that Ithaca is a fat camp because there are so many hills," Ithaca freshman, Sara McCloskey, said. "You don't gain the freshman 15 in fat, you gain it in muscle. Especially in your calves."
As spoiled as we can be, most would agree we are lucky to live in a town as safe as Hanover. So we wonder why Safety & Security would send us a blitz about a student who was told by a rando to get into his car. Reality check: Crimes get much more real when you go to a city school like Tulane University.
"We get these weekly or biweekly crime reports by email I've gotten 20 since January," Tulane sophomore, Caroline Sampson, said. "In my most recent one, it says that a Tulane student was riding their bike when someone struck them in the back of the head with a baseball bat and they suffered a laceration."
For all the lost souls at Dartmouth who aren't really sure what they want to do with their lives, changing their major 10 times and then again two seconds before graduating isn't really a big deal. But don't try pulling that at Ithaca.
"A lot of programs are really competitive, so a lot of people don't change their major," McCloskey said. "For example, in the Park School of Communications, if you change too late, you have to stay for an extra semester or year."
We also pride Dartmouth on its open and welcoming community, but... we've got hazing. Need I say more? At least sororities aren't as much a part of it all like they are at Syracuse University.
"I walked past a frat house, and girls were standing out front in bathing suits with whipped cream on them," Katie O'Brien, a freshman at Syracuse, said.
As much as our campus betches and bros lamented the fact that AD and Theta Delt were on probation for what seemed like forever or rather, "foreverrrrr (lashy eye roll)" at least most other houses could open their basements up, which can't currently be said for Tulane.
"After Mardi Gras, about half of the frats and sororities are on social probation," Sampson said. "And they will be for a while."
And when our frats are open, at least they are truly open, for free and for anyone. You're probably thinking that's how it is everywhere, but the same can't be said for the University of Delaware. Josiah Hannon '15 spent a night there over break and said that they had to pay to get into frats and house parties.
"Everything was so spread out, and we had to walk for 15 minutes between places," Hannon said. "Guys had to pay about $5 to get into most places, while girls got in for free."
Dartmouth's not perfect, and we obviously recognize that. But the next time you go to complain about DDS and your insane walk from the Life Sciences Center to Dartmouth Hall, just remember that you can rage anywhere you want that night for free. Which is to say, hopefully you'll be able to put things into perspective that is, laugh at other schools and enjoy the ways we get spoiled here.
