Class of 2013: Freshman Blog

Thank you for visiting the Class of 2013 Freshman Blog! We hope you’ve enjoyed reading about the freshman year adventures of eight members of the Class of 2013. You can still connect with them on their current student blogs here:

Behind the Scenes with ’13 – 2010-2011 Shared Blog with Becca K., Cate W., and Sarah S.

The Not So Confidential Confessions of Cate – Cate W.

Long Story Short – Sarah S.

Miranda Writes – Miranda B.

You can also connect with @JHU_Joe and @JHU_Greco on Twitter.

Remember to check out the rest of Hopkins Interactive for more blogs, photos, videos, and more!

I thought about writing this entry a week ago.  However, I just didn’t know how to put what I was feeling into words.  A part of me was coming to the realization that home would never be home again after you’ve left it for a significant amount of time.  Home becomes some interim place between where you were and where you will go next.  It’s as if you try to relive all your old ways, memories, patterns like it’s a movie you’ve seen a million times.  But once you come back, it plays in black and white, and no matter how familiar all the lines are, something feels distant.  Last week, I couldn’t care less if I didn’t come back for years.

A lot changed from last summer to this.    This summer I said good-bye to a lot of friendships, many as old as elementary school.  To be honest, I couldn’t tell you what went wrong.  The thing is when move away, you hope it’s the memories of the times you spent together that will keep you close.  However, the experiences you have when you are apart inevitably cause you to change, and some friendships just can’t bare that weight.  A year ago, I thought those friendships would last forever, and, now, they have come to an end.

In the few days before I left, it finally hit me, I was home all along this summer.  Suddenly, I was met the same feelings I possessed before moving to Hopkins one year ago; a stomach full of fear, sadness, and anxiety.  Saying goodbyes are always hard.  Last year, I knew that I would be home in a matter of months, but this time that certainty isn’t present.  I bought a one-way, without the slightest notion of when I would come back.

Upon my arrival to the Chicago Midway airport, I discover that the seating at the gate for my flight to Baltimore was full, so I wandered to find a gate with some open seats.  I found an open chair, and thinking nothing of it sat down and relieved my back of the excruciating pain my carry-ons were producing.  Then I glanced up, and the sign above the gate read Minneapolis, Departs 11:50 AM.  Then I thought if I had a blank ticket to go anywhere in the world, where would I go?  There I was in the Midway airport, almost exactly mid-way between Minneapolis and Baltimore.  Would I turn back and return to a place where the faces, places, and feelings are familiar?  Or would I carry on to a place that I love, but at the same times elicits all these feelings of fear, giddiness, and anxiety?

But then I thought, I felt the exact same way last year.  There were moments in the early part of my freshmen year that I would have given anything to go home.  Of course there are moments of apprehension, and loneliness, anxiety, and nausea.  Things always get better.  So I finished my lunch at the Minneapolis gate, then wandered back to the gate to Baltimore, knowing that I couldn’t give up Hopkins, no matter how much I would miss Minnesota.

After to returning to Hopkins, I was filled with excitement, butterflies, and an unexpected and unwarranted surge of energy.  It felt good to be back.  But after my first night in my room, I woke up startled early in the morning.  Something was missing.  I glanced to the foot of my bed, to realize that my twenty-pound, oaf, and blob of cat, Pantaloons, was missing.  There are always things and people you have to leave behind, and that’s the hardest part.  But you have to learn to find the things that make this new place home.

Unfortunately this blog post will not be as lengthy as my posts normally are. As you may or may not know Orientation Week officially started yesterday (August 22nd) and as a result I am currently working full-time for Orientation. What does full-time mean? Well I was out of my dorm at 7:45AM this morning and I wasn’t back until 9:45PM. It’s certainly been a hectic day since I was running around for almost the entire day aside from the 30 minutes of peace I had for lunch. But there was a bright side to all of this: I’ve been driving around campus in a golf cart for almost the entire day. It’s much more fun than you could ever imagine, and I’m excited that I get to do it for almost another 1.5 weeks.

The main focus of this post will be Orientation from a Freshman’s perspective vs. planning Orientation from an administrative perspective. The best part about now being in charge of Orientation is that I can look at my experiences from the program last year and know exactly what I would like to change. It’s much easier for me than for some of the other staff members who are upperclassmen, and that’s what I believe played a major role in the quality of this year’s program.

Coming in for Orientation as a Freshman is an experience that is both difficult and exciting. It’s difficult since you won’t know anyone (until you meet your roommates, or if you know a few people from your school/area) but its also exciting because part of the Orientation experience is meeting new people through these Orientation events. I remember going to all these events and wondering if the people that I’m sitting next to or near would become some of my greatest friends at Hopkins and interestingly enough they were NOT. I can’t event tell you how I met my best friends at Hopkins, most of them were through some of my other friends because the Orientation events weren’t as social last year, and that’s one of the main things that we sought to change.

Planning Orientation was a lot more fun than I could have imagined, but it was also a LOT of work. Over the summer I basically worked whenever I was awake excluding the times I was allowed to go home. But that’s the beauty of the Orientation program – it’s student run. Without all of these rising sophomores running the program, wouldn’t have the the Hopkins Passport Program, the entire Orientation website, the outstanding Move-In planner thats been created and will be responsible for Move-In going so smoothly, etc. (I could go on for days).

The main goal for the Orientation program this year (according to my boss, the Student Director of Orientation) was to show them that the program can be student run and still continue to improve each year. I think we’ve definitely exceeded that goal, and I hope that all of the incoming freshmen will agree with me after they experience Orientation for themselves. Finally, I’d like to conclude by thanking my readers since this is the final post that I will make on the class of 2013 blog. I hope you’ve enjoyed my ramblings and I hope that you’ll continue to follow whatever I may do with Hopkins Interactive next year.

The President's Tent which will be used for Convocation, and the Blue Jay Ball! Photo credits go to Admissions_Daniel! This tent is RIDICULOUS. I don't remember it being this nice last year, the Class of 2014 is gonna love this.

The summer after freshman year. It’s a transition period. It’s a chance to have a fun summer job or a chance to try and prove ourselves in the adult world. It’s a chance to reconnect with old friends after a year filled with changes. It’s a summer of memories and fun. The past fourteen weeks (and two days -- totally one hundred days!) have been a wonderful experience for me…here are the highlights, in no particular order.

1. Mudfight/mudsliding – Many of you have probably read in novels or seen in movies about people having mudfights but never thought they actually happen. That was pretty much my thought at the beginning of the summer. Whatever appeal they may have had as a four year old mud pie connosieur was certainly practically all lost by the time I was eighteen – I liked to think of myself as having slightly more refined taste. It wasn’t really supposed to become a mudfight either. What began as two friends playing in the sprinklers and trying to persuade JHU_Keith that we could slide down the beach on cardboard boxes turned into a full-on mudfight complete with over half the RAs and about fifty residents on the freshman quad, complete with rain and sprinklers. At some point, it turned into sliding down the minor incline on the quad, and it ended up with us covered in mud and grass running around the beach and on top of the Hopkins sign. It was amazing -- I’d have never expected myself to do that, or to have fifty others convinced it was fun, either, but it was one of my best experiences at Hopkins!

2. Exploring Baltimore more – Before I came to Hopkins, I’d heard a lot about what Baltimore had to offer, and I was excited to take advantage of that. I don’t think I did very well with that during the school year. I did get out and explore some, but I found that I was often just doing things on campus. This summer, I really explored Baltimore more, thanks in part to the Inner Harbor and Beyond Scavenger Hunt with PreCollege, as well as just exploring with friends and by myself. Baltimore’s got some great neighborhoods, and I’m eager to explore more during the year.

3. Polo games/Connecticut Mondays – For one of our programs with Pre-College, we went to a polo game in Monkton, Maryland. We dressed to impress, learned all about polo, and had a blast. We decided we couldn’t go every weekend, but we wanted to keep that same enthusiasm alive, and so for part of Spirit Week we started Country Club/Connecticut Mondays. Here’s a picture from one of the first Mondays!

Some of us dressed to impress...

4. Music video – What can I say? I don’t think most people had a summer job quite this awesome. As the JHU homepage put it, we turned Homewood “Upside Down!”

5. New York adventure – Something I love about the east coast is how easy it is to travel between places. In June, I had a weekend-and-then-some adventure to the New York area, staying with friends in the city, Long Island, and Connecticut. It was my first time being in Connecticut when I wasn’t on a Bolt Bus, and my first real chance to explore the City and Long Island. It was great to see friends I hadn’t seen since school ended, as well as go to the beach, see the sights in New York, and learn what a forest really was!

6. Summer jobs – I had two jobs this summer. I was working in the Admissions Office as a tour guide and a general student worker (with JHU_Brian and JHU_Mandy!), and as an RA for the JHU Pre-College program. Both were good learning experiences, and I’ve gained quite a few skills, from all the interesting facts about this school to creative impromptu programming to walking backwards to keeping track of forty kids at an Orioles game!

7. Summer class – As one of my earlier posts this summer detailed, I had an absolutely fabulous summer class (Applied Forensic Psychology). It was the sort of class I imagined when first thinking of college – subject matter that really interested me, reading in an amount that covered the topic but wasn’t overwhelming, classmates who cared about the topic, lots of classroom discussion, and an engaging professor. Sounds cliché, but it was what I dreamed of, and this class fit all of that.

8. Appreciating California – As my parents (and most people who’ve spent any amount of time with me) can attest to, I love living on the east coast, and often speak pretty negatively of Los Angeles as a result. Still, on my last two visits to LA I’ve been trying to look at the place much more positively (not just because I don’t have to live in it anymore – which would be my normal cynical attitude – but because I’ve been finding much more about it to appreciate this year. Here’s a snapshot of why California should be appreciated.

Beautiful California...

9. All the meals in the FFC  - This post isn’t a shout-out to the food in the FFC. It’s a shout-out to all the hours I spent there this summer (usually somewhere between 3-5 hours a day). I’m not sure how we managed to spend so long there, or how we avoided the Summer 15, but every meal seemed to turn into one big conversation, and we knew that there were always other RAs in the FFC to go eat with!

10. All the new friends – At the beginning of the summer, I could probably count on both hands the number of people I knew who were in Baltimore for this summer. I made an amazing group of friends this summer – people who I’ll be friends with for a long, long time even though I only met them weeks ago. It’s true during the normal school year as well as the summer, but college brings people together. And that’s why I love it so much!

Summer nights in Fell's Point

Oh hello there! I’m currently writing from my actual real live home. I feel like Dorothy with her Toto and all wrapped up with a little Kansas loving. I’ve been away in D.C. for most of the summer getting my intern on, so since coming home I’ve been sitting in either a beach chair or lounging on my sofa.

And here I am at home, spending my wholesome Sunday evening the all American way — with muh teevee. I got through most of my usual TV lineup – “Sixty Minutes” (while muting the insufferable Andy Rooney part); some “Law and Order” episode that my dad figured out waaaaay before I did; and finally I got to the coup de grace: “Mad Men.”

Now nothing gets between me and my television. Or so I thought! You see, despite criticism and absolute disdain- I have stood by the often distasteful “Real Housewives” franchise, sat through entire marathons of “I love New York” on VH1, I even bought into that whole “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” nonsense for a few episodes. So in a quick summary: I LOVE TRASH TV. Lack of propriety? Questionable morals? You know I’m watching. I am more loyal than a politician’s wife during a sex scandal (cough Jim McGreevey).

But along came “Mad Men.” I know the Emmy award winning show isn’t exactly on par with “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” but this evening, when I started watching a perennial favorite …. I just couldn’t do it. WHY? That’s what I was asking myself! I mean, come on, we have some Don Draper, we have some fabulous get-ups, we have POCKET SQUARES. But I just couldn’t do it. Every time I heard Betty get dismissed, or Peggy get shot down, or Joan skeeved on – I started to get upset. Because all of this nonsense really did happen, be it to my mother or her mother or even her mother.

This summer I interned at a renowned feminist organization, and it really changed things for me. I’d always identified as a feminist, but I became like exponentially more dedicated through this experience. It’s been one of those experiences, where I hadn’t realized that I had changed until I was placed back in my old surroundings.

I remember the exact moment where I decided that the ongoing feminist movement was something I was going to commit to. I was sitting in a lunch with Ellen Malcolm, who founded EMILY’s List (where I interned). As everyone was doing introductions, she suddenly cut one girl off and made her stop. The girl who she had interrupted obviously looked petrified and I am pretty sure I made a Scooby Doo inspired “HUHHHHHHH?” noise.

Ms. Malcolm then said something I will never forget: “Say your full name. Women so often just say their first name- like they shouldn’t be taken seriously. Say your full name.”

Oh man was I intimidated! I was all: “I always say my full name. I’m a baller.” Then I started giving it some thought…. I thought about all the times I introduced myself in that annoyingly high tone, “I’m TY-LER.” Oh, yuck.

And sometime between that point and right now, I’ve changed. And believe me, Imma jump aboard that Obama train like the groupie I am. So of course, I’m excited/nervous to see how my new, ULTRA PC personality meshes back at Hopkins. But I’m going to stand by that. Because I can.

YOURS FOREVER AND ALWAYS LOVES OF MY LIFE THE REASONS THAT I BREATHE,

Tyler D.

(I know that it would have been more dramatic if I had signed with my full name … but I don’t think I’m supposed to use it here. IRONY!).

In case you were wondering, the title of this blog has been borrowed from a catchy Hairspray ballad. I’m currently sitting on the balcony of my room at the Colonnade, sipping a One World cappuccino, and trying to think of clever ways to entertain you, my dear reader, with this blog. You could say that I’m channeling my inner F. Scott Fitzgerald. My dad and I just landed in Baltimore from Dallas and as much as I am attempting to conceal my less-than-24-hours-before-move-in zeal, I am utterly and completely failing. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I’ll be running around reeking havoc in Baltimore city. Look out, Charles Commons: here comes Becca K. with her 537 suitcases, 915 UPS boxes, one jam-packed rental car, and one exasperated father. Just kidding about that last one, Dad. Not only will I be adjusting to an apartment-style living arrangement as of tomorrow, but I will also be reuniting with most of my friends that I haven’t seen in what feels like forever! On top of all of that, I am preparing to be a Peer Ambassador (or Orientation Advisor) for a group of incoming freshman this coming week. Shout out to Joe N., who has been in Baltimore all summer working tirelessly to make Orientation a success…we are so thrilled to have all of you on campus soon, Class of ’14! Basically, there is a lot going on around the Hop and I can’t wait until it’s bustling with people tomorrow. There are no words to describe my excitement levels right now!!!!

Becca's suitcases invade hotel room

As much as I have enjoyed being back in Dallas for the summer, I was definitely ready to come back here—it almost felt like home driving in from the airport today! My summer has been so different from what my life was like as a Hopkins freshman. There are of course the obvious differences: no classes, no longer living in Baltimore, and lucky for me, no late night runs to Uni Mini to get a 1,500 calorie sub. Oops. But even weirder was being surrounded by different people, having family around most of the time, spending time with high school friends (who have all had very different college experiences), having more downtime, the whole concept of being bored…etc. etc. I also had a retail job this summer and worked most days during the week, which gave me a little taste (however small) of the real world. It felt weird driving to work each morning alone instead of walking to class with friends, as I was accustomed to last year. In Dallas, I worked with people who were quite older than me, and consequently, my friendships with them were different. I did have a retail job in high school, but it was only once a week (just on Saturdays), and most of my friends would come in and visit every weekend since it was near our houses, which made it feel a little more like school. School, I’ve decided, is what I’m most passionate about right now—specifically, Hopkins! While working this summer did provide me with some useful real-world experience, I’m so thrilled to be back on campus and to be preparing to start a whole new year—new classes, new dorm, new people on campus…new outlook on life!

I’ll be keeping y’all updated on how move-in and Orientation Week goes. We’re headed out to dinner now…until next time…thanks for reading! -BK

After reading Jessica’s entry about building a pile, I’m realizing that I have the opposite problem.  My “back to school pile” is actually a big mess of stuff that was crammed into my desk drawers last year, and I have to go through it all sometime in the next week.  Yayyyyy

And next to the big pile of stuff is this GIANT box of textbooks.  Because I’m doing research in a lab for credit this semester, I only have three classes – how could I possibly need so many textbooks!?

big box of textbooks.

Once the textbooks came in the mail, it really hit me that summer was almost over.  As I wrote about in a blog entry last month, I spent most of the summer volunteering at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.  I would highly recommend hospital volunteering to anyone who is thinking about entering a medical profession.  I thought I knew what hospitals were like because I’ve stayed in one as a patient and because my dad works there, but being a patient or visiting a parent at work are totally not the same as actually observing the team of nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, secretaries, supply managers, and everyone that contributes to the successful operation of a floor unit or an intensive care unit.  I had my doubts at the start of this experience whether it would actually help me decide if I wanted to be a doctor, but it was actually very worthwhile.

On top of the volunteering, I tried to take advantage of what could be my last summer at home by learning how to cook, and I think I made a lot of progress.  I’m still no Emeril, but at least now I’m reasonably self-sufficient and can make my own meals.  I also learned how to flip an omelet without a spatula and without splattering egg all over the stove.  I’m sure my suitemate will be impressed.

last year's textbooks neatly put away on the shelf

I’m a little in shock that the summer is almost over but could not be more excited to head back to Hopkins!  There’s so much to look forward to this year.  I’m living with my best friend in a suite in Charles Commons, and since she moved in last week for soccer preseason, she gave me a Skype tour of the suite yesterday.  It looks pretty spacious!  I’m also very excited to start researching in the Spradling Lab at the Carnegie Institution.  Being at the lab for several hours every week is going to be a big change and a big commitment, but it’s a great opportunity and one of the reasons that I chose to come to Hopkins in the first place.

On top of all that I’m so excited to join a few more student groups and to meet the new freshmen!!   It’s weird to think that at this time next week, we’ll be seeing the class of 2014 all over campus!

Hey guys! It’s Greco.

wow this summer has gone by so fast, and I can’t believe it’s almost time to go back to school! Yea, it’s pretty sad. But to be honest, I’m mostly excited to go back! Don’t get me wrong — my summer in Korea was pretty baller. We took two family trips to some awesome places in Korea, including this village that UN recently designated as UNESCO World Heritage. Too bad my camera was out of battery when I visited there… There were so many things to photograph.. story of my life.

Oh, and I was meaning to work out over the summer. Well, I did go to the gym nearby once, work-out too much, and ended up being unable to move my entire body well for over a week, and decided working out is not my thing. There. I quit.

Other than that, I pretty much didn’t really do anything except meeting up with some old friends from here and there. The textbook I brought to Korea thinking that I might do some reading is now sitting far down my desk (my desk here is pretty big) covered in dust.

I guess the reason why I’m so excited to go back is because right now, I’m not being productive at all. Time sort of… stopped. But at the same time, when I actually think about it, it’s not like when I’m at Hopkins I feel like time is ticking. There’s no adventure in my life. no anything.. I’m going off tangent so I’ll end this here.. maybe I’ll talk about it in my later entry if there will be one.

So yea, it’s time for me to wrap up my summer, and by summer I mean everything after my freshman year until now. Let’s check out my summer blogs:

Summer Cribs! – Bradford

So I wrote this after I moved into my new apartment for the summer. I was really proud of myself for finally finishing unpacking everything, only to be packed again after two months. I also made a cribs video with my new iPhone 4. Check it out.

July 15, 2010

This was my attempt on microblogging. I think it’s a failure, but now I know it doesn’t work for me. Especially on that day, I got sick from the Chinese food that I made with a friend, and ended up writing things that I didn’t mean and get in trouble (it’s erased now. phew.) I prefer Day in the Life videos.

Korea. Yay.

I wrote this when I got here in Korea. I was born in Korea, and the majority of my life was spent there, so naturally thought Korea was in my hands. But it wasn’t. Korea is changing so fast that everytime I visit, I need some time to catch up and readjust.

Summer Wrap-Up

This is the entry you are reading right now.

So yea. My summer is all nice and wrapped-up now. yay.

I’m looking at my fall schedule right now and I don’t know how I’m going to survive. I’m taking 18 credits on top of research that I will be continuing, and this includes one 400-level seminar course. last semester, I ended up dropping a class, but this time, I can’t really do that because most of them are requirements for my major. We’ll see how it goes.. well at least I will. I’ll also be having a bigger responsibility in my a cappella group as a publicity officer, and this year, we’re actually preparing for ICCA, which is an a cappella competition for college students. So my life would become more like the people in Glee. yay. But I feel like if I survive this semester, I will be able to survive anything and anyone.

But truly I’m excited to see my friends and meet new interesting people. I’m really anxious to meet new SAAB members and Vocal Chords newbies! I think meeting new people and making new connections is one of the best things about college.

Anyways, if you are pre-frosh, I’ll see you at Hopkins! and if you are still a prospective student, see you in one of our open houses! I’ll keep you all updated. Bye now.

Okay, so this is going to be sort of a targeted post. You know those rules in “Never Have I Ever” where you’re not allowed to hone in on just one person’s embarrassing moments? Yeah, well throw that out the window because this one’s for you, incoming freshman. I’m giving advice here, and I would advise you adhere to it.

As your orientation nears, expect to start playing the “get to know you games.” You’ve played them at camp; you’ve seen them in the movies, and they’re coming right to the Keyser Quad near you. The Orientation staff LOVES the “get to know you” classic: “Two Truths and A Lie.” So get ready because they’re going to happen, whether you’re ready or not.

Personally, I ALWAYS have trouble coming up with my “truths.” I can never think of anything interesting enough to share that isn’t mortifying (I couldn’t ride a bike until I was ten?!?!). Therefore, I resort to a terrible strategy/ habit: using all lies. This tactic had fared well up until the that scorching summer of ’09 when I arrived on the hot boundary of AMR II Griffin House. There, I met my RA Austin. He seemed friendly enough. Or did he? It was the gleam in his eye that led me to concoct that we would soon be playing a so-called “ice breaker” game…. okay sorry, I just got a little too into the Phillip Marlowe there ( I need to simmer down).

Anyway, with my RA Austin and my AMR “housemates” I did my first round of get to know you’s on my first night of college. Of course, I panicked on the spot. What were my “truths” that night? Let’s see…

[Scene I: A tan, sweaty Tyler in a meeting with approx. 40 other excited freshmen. Tyler tries to position herself near the room's only fan  but still sit far enough away from her crazy roommate. She's zoning out about the Cold Stone she saw on her way to campus. Suddenly, all eyes are on her. Wait?! When did it become her turn? Quickly, she comes up with her three things.]

1. “I used to live in Canada.”  [Ding! Ding! That's a lie, Ms. Tyler. You spent a summer in Maine, yes, and it was relatively close to the Canadian border, sure. But that does not a Canadian make!] Lie #1
2. “I’m a vegetarian.” [Okay, sure. You're a vegetarian if Big Macs are made out of leafy greens and crab cakes are actually just chick peas in disguise. I don't have the self-discipline to be a vegetarian.] Lie #2
3. “I’m Ted Kennedy’s Niece.” [WHAT? The late Ted Kennedy?!? The humanitarian, brother of the beloved JFK  Kennedy? Oh no you didn't Tyler. Your Roman Catholic grandmother is going to stop saying prayers for you and leave your soul in Purgatory!"] Lie #3

And then I don’t know what happened. An alien must have come down from the heavens and forced me to shake my head first when the crowd guessed that my lie was the thing about being a vegetarian. Then I really dug my hole when I shook my head to the Canada question.

All of a sudden, despite a genealogy that stops back in  New Jersey, I became apart of the Camelot lineage! Oh, snap!

I spent the rest of that first night awkwardly nodding when people talked about my beloved uncle; his death; his legacy. I must have looked embarrassed and chagrined when they approached me with questions about him. Instead, I was too mentally embarrassed of my childish actions. What eighteen-year old does that?

Lying about things is okay at camp, when Lars the cute Swedish counselor gets back on the plane back to Stockholm, and he never needs to know that you aren’t actually going to pay for his plane ticket back to the states next December. I’m not going to pretend to regret those kind of lies (Lars was really cute).

However, I did regret my silly “icebreaker” lie that required me to slowly come clean to my classmates during orientation week. I would quietly do it; explain that it had been a joke. Oh, what a reputation I was making… not just a liar- but an unfunny liar!

Now this story is just a laughing point among friends. But at the time, I pictured myself transferring to the University of Alaska and pulling a Joan Rivers to disguise my face.

And while I only went on to embarrass myself in infinite ways throughout freshman year, oh how I wish that I had never made that silly lie!

Moral of this post: Be yourself. I don’t care how many self-help books you have read this mantra in, believe me now. Because no one wants to be the late Ted Kennedy’s fake niece this orientation. Save yourselves! And if you’re going to pick a politician to fake be related to …. a least pick a Congressperson (they’re only famous if they’re cray cray).

And for the inevitable “Two Truths and a Lie”  game – just admit that you rode in a stroller until you were seven. It could be worse. You could be me.

Me standing outside of the Senate Building.... where my "uncle" Ted Kennedy would have worked if we were actually related.

“A good roommate is like a good pair of jeans. You hold on to them.” -Lauren Conrad

Greetings, blogosphere! Hope you enjoyed the deep epigraph from none other than LC of The Hills. What do you do when it’s the summer after your freshman year, you’re bored, not cool enough to have a glamorous job, fed up with hanging out with your mom and dad, briefed on every poorly written ABC Family sitcom out there, and unfortunately just can’t go back to Hopkins just yet? Easy! Bring Hopkins to your doorstep! That’s precisely what I did this past weekend—I was lucky enough to have my roommate Kimber from New Orleans fly down to Dallas to come visit me and another friend from Hopkins who also lives in the Dallas area. We met up with yet another Hopkins student (and fellow Royce resident), basically adding up to one big happy Hopkins hoedown in Texas (OK, not quite. I honestly speaking don’t even know what a hoedown is, but it sounded so quintessentially Texan I couldn’t resist).

Chloe and Kimber

Don't mess with Texas

Mini Hopkins reunion in Dallas, Texas

It was SO MUCH FUN getting to hang with my roommate and other Hopkins friends and reminisce on old times (err, “old times” were only two months ago but it feels like a lot longer). I took her to some of my favorite places in Dallas—predominantly shopping and eating—that’s pretty much all we have to offer here in good ol’ Tex—but we still had a blast. She had the opportunity to meet some of my friends from home, which was neat. When someone visits you at home, I feel like they get a better sense of who you are as a person. Kimber and I have grown close after having spent a whole school year in the same room, but her visiting me at home was a much more personal experience. In a dorm setting, it’s all about starting from scratch and creating an environment that feels like home, but it never quite comes close to the actual thing. We were also able to catch up on every aspect of our lives, even if it didn’t have any relevance to Hopkins. Plus, we weren’t busy with the daily distractions that college often presents (hence the multiple shopping sprees). Having Kimber here in Dallas to hang out with Chloe and I created a little preview for what the coming month will be like back at the Hop. It also made me realize how much I appreciate the friends I’ve made at college this past year! It was kind of different socializing with my college and high school friends together, but it taught me a lot about how I’ve grown as a person over the last year. As Chloe remarked, it really does feel like I have known my college friends for much longer than a year—literally living alongside someone, going through the ups and downs of your first year on your own in college, embarking on a completely new journey and entering an entirely new chapter in your life side by side. My best estimate is that 60% of my blogs mention Kimber. We’re kind of a package deal (“Kimbecca”), especially if you consider that I will be rooming with her again next year in Charles Commons. Basically, in order to understand me as a person, it is imperative that you know a little bit about my roommate. So here goes!

1)   Her real name is Kimberly but call her Kimber (as the man at an Austin, Texas bakery so cleverly stated, it rhymes with Timber).

2)   She is from New Orleans, Louisiana.

3)   She easily gets the prize for most devoted Hopkins Saints fan. Geaux Saints!

4)   Like me, she attended an all-girls school, but in New Orleans.

5)   One of her favorite clothing stores is J. CREW…when she receives her J. CREW catalogue in the mail, it might as well be Christmas Day.

6)   Kimber is SUCH a fashionista!

7)   So this seems like a complete contradiction to the last statement, haha, but she is a Mechanical Engineering major.

8)   She was born in Dallas, Texas. Yeeeeeehawwwwww!

9)   She recently got back from a trip to Honduras, where she SCUBA dived! Her pictures taken from her underwater camera are amazing.

10) She was an artistic genius at the age of 3. Just kidding. She did paint amazing scribbles with a gigantic tin of red paint though. (Photographic proof at her house in NOLA).

11) She likes Andrew Bird, The Beatles, Matt and Kim, etc. but has recently taken a liking to the Rap and Country music genres. If there was one word that could sum up her music tastes, that word would be “fratmusic.com”…LOL.

12) She’s a fan of Banksy, the anonymous graffiti artist.

13) She has two brothers, two dogs, cats, a miniature horse, and two pet chickens. Naturally.

14) She likes candlelight dinners, long walks on the beach, etc. etc.

15) She and I will be Orientation Ambassadors in a few weeks! Look out for us when you’re moving in, Class of 2014!

For all of you Class of 2014 readers, I know you are close to (or probably have already received) your rooming assignments—it ultimately doesn’t matter whether you’re friends with your roommate or not, as long as you create a favorable rooming situation for yourself (respect for each other’s space and belongings is key to not having a roomhate). In either case, I can assure you that you will learn a lot about your roommate over the course of your first year! Thanks for reading! -BK