13 days from now, the Dartmouth Coach will take me away from Hanover and will likely not bring me back until next fall. 13 days from now, I will say goodbye to the friendships I’ve had since freshman fall and those I’ve made this term, to my current favorite study spots — the Foco tiny booths and Novack high tables — and to the ridiculously cramped bathroom stalls in my dorm building. 13 days from now, my D-Plan will force me — or allow me, depending on how you look at it — to take a roughly nine month break from campus.
Yes, I am aware that I am being rather dramatic about the situation I imposed upon myself in deciding to be off in the winter, abroad in the spring and off again in the summer. I know that this goodbye is only temporary, and I’ll be back soon enough. However, considering I am nearing the end of my fifth straight “on” term and have not been away from Hanover for more than a winterim since last September, I feel like my need to process my upcoming extended period of time away is justified.
I’ve told a few friends in the past that it feels like my life happens at Dartmouth and goes on pause when I’m at home.
It doesn’t seem like much of a statement — I have spent the majority of the last two years of my life in Hanover. Furthermore, the time I have spent at home has mostly been spent recovering from the previous term’s burnout by watching TV, scrolling through internship listings on Handshake or at a medical appointment of some sort.
However, Dartmouth is not just the place where I spend most of my time, but also where I feel most like myself. This is where I get to learn about social psychology and the seven-point plot structure, where I get to write and perform and teach and be heard, where I get to grow on account of being challenged. This is where I get to create and contribute, and those are the things — to put it plainly — that make me happiest.
Last summer, I relocated to Iowa City, Iowa for an internship — the last, and only, off-term I’ve taken so far. It was the last time I’ve had the time away from Dartmouth to grow in a multitude of new ways, from learning to live alone for the first time to working my first full-time job. When I board that trusty Coach in two weeks, however, I’ll have my first chance since then to not just recover, but rediscover what it means to feel like myself away from the 269 acres of this campus — however much I love it here.
I don’t yet have set plans for either of my off terms — winter or summer. I could spend them near home on the West Coast, or in an East Coast city or perhaps another Midwestern town. Regardless of where I end up, I think it will be good for me to be somewhere other than here, but still finding a way to learn and grow through challenges.
I want to read books that make me want to craft my own stories. I want to make new communities for myself, whether through a job or a volunteer position or a performance group. I want to compose, maybe even start the musical I’ve been talking about creating. I may even tackle one of the many recipes I’ve saved from Instagram Reels.
I’m so proud of who I’ve become and what I’ve done at Dartmouth, and I want to continue to make my life happen, to create and to contribute, even when I’m no longer here. Isn’t that why we’re here in the first place?
This week in Mirror, we explore relationships on every level. One writer speaks to students in long-distance relationships, while our new writers reflect on their fall terms and first term writing for Mirror in a new edition of “Mirror Asks.” Our relationship advice column “Freak of the Week” advises a reader unsure about how the impending six-week winterim will affect their situationship. Finally, our cooking column “Cooking with Kent and Vidushi” leaves us with a final recipe before the winter: stuffed mushroom caps.
Thank you so much for reading, Mirror. I’ll see you soon.
Vivian Wang ’27 is a Mirror editor and writer from the California Bay Area pursuing majors in Psychology and Music. In addition to journalism, she enjoys experimenting with storytelling in its many other forms, from arranging music to playwriting.
