Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Going on FSP Makes Mundane Details of Girl’s Life Deserving of Blog


Before heading off to Europe for her fall foreign study program, Melinda Grayson ’13 realized that all of her friends, family, Facebook friends, and even sorority sisters would be extremely interested in her experience. To share her experience, as well as keen cultural insights that only she could provide, Grayson decided to start a blog.

“It’s just so interesting. It’s like my life at Dartmouth but I’m in Europe!” Grayson told the Dunyun, “I’d imagine all my friends are reading. It isn’t like I’m doing something normal, I’m traveling around Europe!”


To document her unique experience shared by hundreds of Dartmouth students, Grayson has covered a variety of topics unique to life outside of America. Her first post, entitled ‘My Apartment’, consisted of a 700-word description of her new housing, its furnishings and the process of buying them. Other popular entries have included ‘SHOPPING!!!!’ and ‘Food: Here vs. Collis.’

Her most insightful posts have detailed going out and drinking in the strange land that is Europe. On the surface, her escapades seem narrowly different than drinking at Dartmouth and hardly worthy of a blog. However, a closer look reveals the nuanced differences that fill European nightlife.

“We went out to a bar last night. That’s European pregaming. It’s so weird that there are no frats so you actually have to pay for drinks. They also don’t have Keystone, which is weird. We got so drunk, pretty sure I browned out for a while and woke up on my common room couch. It was so so fun!!! I love everyone here!!!.”

Posts of this nature constitute more than half her writing.

Not limiting her writing to her own experience, Grayson provided interesting revelations regarding local culture with insightful comments such as, “It’s so weird that they don’t use dollars here”, “They drive on the other side of the road”, and most importantly “Things here are soOoOo much more expensive!”

At press time, Grayson’s estimate of “between 400 and 500 readers” has not been confirmed. Her sense of self importance has.
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 4, 2011 at 6:41 PM

    This is mean and inaccurate. Lots of people write blogs just for their close friends and don't expect tons of people to read them. Some people actually want to read about someone's experiences on an FSP, you don't need to be so cynical.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 6, 2011 at 12:18 AM

    that comment is too good to be true

    ReplyDelete
  3. calf lean mireOctober 6, 2011 at 11:02 PM

    sorry, meant to sign that. being anonymous is for bitchez

    ReplyDelete
  4. Frannie Mays '11October 7, 2011 at 1:34 AM

    wait whaaaat? who the fuck trolls me this hard? they know my fake name on facebook? i'm like a celeb. except way, way less cool.

    and i don't need to "sign" my shit. i still have an actual Frannie Mays account on here, thankyouverymuch.

    ReplyDelete

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