Class of 2013: Freshman Blog

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.

Last few days were really tough. Packing and moving out has become one of the least favorite activity. You know, when I first came here last year, I only had 4 baggages of stuff. Now it doubled to 8 baggages plus furniture.. Renting a storage space was an expensive option for me, so I separated the baggages and had them stored in my friends’ houses. So imagine me driving an SUV full of stuff in and out of Baltimore.. yea it was wonderful. I can’t wait for move-in. yay. After I moved everything out of the apartment except for the luggages I’m bringing with meto Korea, I took a train to DC where one of my vocal chords friends is currently staying for his internship. It was time for Deadmau5 concert!! I know, it was a bit crazy to go to such gig right before my flight which was scheduled to leave the next morning. But I really needed this! I mean, it was fun doing research and stuff, but gosh it had been so stressful I really needed to brush everything off.

After the two months of summer in Baltimore doing summer school and tissue engineering research, I have finally come back to Korea to visit my family. Yes I was still very tired from the Deadmau5 gig, I could not let it last too long; when I came back to Seoul, I was busy dealing with many cultural differences that I had to get used to once again.

Heavy traffic is probably the number one problem here in Seoul. Most of the main streets get packed day and night and it always frustrates me to just sit in the car with little progress. Also, there are a lot of reckless drivers who do not hesitate driving through red lights and changing lanes without turning on any signals. Even taxi drivers let their passengers off in the middle of the road, worsening the traffic situation. Being used to driving on the relaxed roads of California, I basically gave up driving in Seoul (At first, I thought it was something like “Asian people can’t drive” thing, but after driving around Baltimore and hearing some people calling them “Baltimorons,” I realized it was just a big city thing…). Public transportation system is good in Korea, subway stations placed in almost every major part of the city. Plus, the tickets are very cheap, costing just over a dollar each no matter. Using trains and buses instead of driving a car not only saves time, it also saves money and frustration.

There are motorcycles everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. It wouldn’t be a problem if people ride them with great care, but most of the times they are unlicensed and the motorcycles unregistered. In addition, they tend to ride not on the center of the lanes, but between the lanes, squeezing themselves out through the crowded streets. I myself got into an accident when I hit a fast-moving motorcycle with the door while getting out of my car. Fortunately, no one got hurt, but I heard similar accidents even took some people’s lives. So whenever I’m about to get off the cab, I now use the side mirror to check the back.

Working in Korea is a very interesting experience. I realized how “respect” plays a very important role in Korean workplace. You have to show respect not only to the people of higher position, but also to the people who are older than you. So, even when I have the same job as another person, I would have to show respect if he/she is older than me. There are many ways to show respect: speaking with more polite terms, running errands, bowing instead of waving a hand when greeting, coming to work earlier, and covering for them when they’re not present. I did not understand such need for doing these for people who are just one or two years older than me and I still don’t, but it was something I had to do in order to have a smooth work experience. Whenever I meet new people, I now first ask them how old they are so I can treat them appropriately and avoid making them upset.

Even people in grocery stores look all dandy and stylish. Appearance and being in trend is a big deal for majority of Koreans. Here, guys put as much effort as girls to look nice; they often carry hair-wax with them to fix their hair, and some even put make-up powder on their faces. Many are also very trendy, committing themselves to skinny jeans with bright-colored shirts and sneakers In addition, shiny leather man-purses are must-have items for Korean guys. When I came here and saw them all carrying handbags, I JUST had to get myself one as well (plus i’ve always wondered how it would be like carrying a man-purse around me… lol). So yea, people in Korea, or at least people in Seoul, are very trend-oriented.. When I was working at an SAT institute here, I could easily tell whether  a student was born and raised in America or Korea.

Just about five years ago, there weren’t a lot of foreigners visiting/staying in Korea. But now I see them everywhere. Most of them are here to teach for a short amount of time (Not just English, but more like SAT, TOEFL, ACT and all that kind of fun stuff), and others are here for religious or military service. Now that I’m in college, I’m starting to think about where I want to work after I graduate. It would be nice for me if I get a job here in Seoul where I would be able to visit my parents often. But at the same time, I’m as much comfortable living in America (if not more). I still have another 3 years. I’ll see how it goes.

Hey. It’s Greco.

So I thought July would be a pretty easy-going month for me, since I’m not taking summer course and just doing research at the lab. But it turns out it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. By the time I get back from the lab, I get so tired that I’m not up for doing anything productive other than lying on my couch and catch up on TV shows.

Today I’m going to try micro-blogging. I guess it’s kind of like posting tweets on twitter, but in one entry. I’m also trying out this iPhone app that I got for posting blogs here. Anyways, check out a day in my Summer life at Hopkins !

8:30 am

Heard the alarm. Snoozed.

9:00 am

Waking up and getting into the shower. Total sleep time: 8hours

9:50 am

Todays breakfast: Cinnamon Toast Crunch!!

10:00 am

I got on JHMI shuttle and am heading to the medical campus. The shuttle has no AC on again :( It’s like a sauna in here!!! Not cool. Currently listening to Smile by Telepopmusik.

10:20 am

I’m here! and one of our graduate students, Erin, is back from her vacation!

10:30 am

Brian and I are transducing hMSCs that we plated yesterday with p-LECYT. p-LECYT is DNA that codes for photo-sensitive electric channel. We’ve done this transduction last week, but for some reason the MSCs didn’t get transduced. This time, we planted the cells with lower confluency and transduce them in higher concentration than last time.

10:50 am

The wells with MSCs are now filled with media containing viruses with p-LECTY. Now we put the MSCs in the incubator and wait 3 hours.

11:00 am

Just chillin’ at my desk… Deciding on weather I should go on facebook or read some articles..

12:00 pm

Lunch time. I’m going to the outpatient center cafeteria to get chicken gyro…. yum! and maybe iced latte to keep myself awake…

1:00 pm

Passage HUVECs. Currently, these cells are growing in 12-well plates and are pretty confluent. I’m going to trypsinize them and replate them in more plates. I’m also freezing the left over cells for later use.

2:00 pm

I need to feed MSCs plated the other day, but first I need to make some more media. The media contains 10% FBS, 1% p/s and rest with DMEM. I’m also adding FGF, which is a growth factor. To feed cells, I basically would aspirate all the old media and just add new  media with a pipette. After, I put them back in the incubator. I usually feed them once every two days.

2:30 pm

Chillin’ with people in the lab… talking about our lab group “outing” tomorrow afternoon! we’re going to Erin’s house for some major BBQ :)

3:00 pm

Today’s not a busy day, so I’m going to take off. Usually I leave around 5 pm. I’m going straight to Jessica’s house to make cheesecake for tomorrow’s lab outing!

4:40 pm

Jessica made her own cream cheese yesterday, so we’re using that for our chocolate chip cheesecake. We are also preparing sesame chicken for dinner! Normally around this time I would take a nap because I get really tired after work, but today I’m trying to stay awake so I can go to sleep earlier tonight.

5:30 pm

Putting the cheesecake in the oven… now marinating the chicken.

6:10 pm

Dinner is ready! The sesame sause is delicious! I think garlic makes everything taste so much more sophisticated and awesome. However, the chicken could have been crunchier..

7:20 pm

Back at my apartment. I’m catching up on Lie to Me on Hulu.

Hey, everyone!

It’s Greco, and yesterday, I made a cribs video of the apartment that I’m staying over the summer! It’s at the bottom of this entry, if you just wanna skip to the video. It’s one of Hopkins upperclassmen dorms, Bradford. It’s located right across the street from Barns and Noble, and my room is on the Saint Paul St. side. Since there’s a gigantic Charles Commons right across the street, I thought my apartment would never get sunlight, but it actually does which is nice. However, my room is still pretty dark, so I turn my light on the entire day.

This is a pretty big update from AMR I, the freshman dorm I lived in last year (you can check out my AMR cribs blog entry here). Now I have my own living room, bathroom, and a kitchen. But most importantly, I get my own A/C. Now I don’t have to turn on 50 fans all at the same time like I did when I was in AMR. That was painful.

I’m currently living here alone. It’s actually a two-bedroom apartment, but the person who lived in the other room terminated her contract and left before I moved in.

When you choose your dorm for sophomore year and later, you can choose 11 month housing which lets you stay in your house all year long except August. I’m doing this for my Charles Commons apartment next year. It gets very frustrating when the housing office kicks you out the day after the final period. For example, if the final period ends on Friday, you have until Saturday to pack all your stuff and get the heck out. The only option is to pack your belongings during your final period (which is pretty ridiculous and stressful) or pull almost an all-nighter the night before the dorm closes. Also, my parents live in all the way back in Korea, and like for thanks giving break, which is only 5 days, I can’t go visit my parents so I basically have nowhere to go. That’s why I chose 11 month contract for next year. If it turns out you are not going to stay over the summer, you can always sublet it to someone.

Currently, my friend is subletting this apartment to me, and I pay her around $690 per month which isn’t bad (but not good either but whatever). I personally think it’s way better than living in Wolman (the official summer dorm you get through the housing office) because you pay more for less stuff.

One thing I don’t like about this place is that the hospital is right behind the building, and I always hear a siren like every hour, sometimes even in the middle of the night. I guess I just have to get used to it since my apartment for next year is only across the street and I live in Baltimore…

Living alone is quite awesome. It’s usually very quiet, so I don’t have to go to the library to study. In fact, I only went to the library three times this month to study Organic chemistry. And this was for group study. And I get my own air conditioning here in my room, so I really don’t feel the need to go to the library to study. Also, sometimes I like to play loud music, and now I don’t have to worry about disturbing a roommate or anything. I’m wondering, though, if my neighbor can hear it… I don’t know how thick the walls are. I don’t hear anything from the other side of the wall, but I don’t know if it’s just because the neighbor’s a really quiet, non-confrontational person…

I do not know if FFC is open during the summer, but I honestly don’t care since it’s so far away from my apartment now that I’m not gonna go there anyway. I usually cook noodles and stuff, or go out (there are a lot of places to eat here and I recently found a little Korean place about two blocks away from here!). For grocery shopping, I go to Eddie’s Market just down the street or get a Zipcar and go to Walmart if I need to buy a lot of things. But I recently realized Giant is better if you are going to buy just food and stuff especially if it’s right beside Walmart. Hmart, which is an asian version of Giant, is right next to them too, so it’s worth renting a car and driving down there.

Anyways, check out my Cribs video below and have a look around my apartment!

So, I was packing up the other day in the AMR, and I found a big plastic bag that had this label on it – “Hyun Ho Song, AMR I Royce 204.” Basically, when you move in, the upperclassmen volunteers give you these label stickers to put on your luggages just in case they got lost. This plastic bag I found was the bag I had my pillow and blanket in, and this really had me thinking; I can’t believe my freshman year is over. This white plastic bag, although it’s now all torn apart, useless, embodied all the emotions I had my first day of college. I really couldn’t believe it’s now all over.

It’s time for a wrap-up, blog-wise. I’m now moved into my new apartment, unpacked everything, and my freshman year is all behind me now. But now I need to pack up all my blog entries and prepare for moving out of this freshman blog (this is not my last entry, though, since I am still required to write two more entries during the summer or i get into trouble…).

Going over my past entries, I feel like I focused too much on my extracurricular activities relating to photography and a cappella which blows a little bit. And I’m sorry If I was being too unacademic and rubbing same stuff in your face. I guess I was just not inspired enough haha. And writing blog is really not my thing. Hopefully next year I would be able to find something funner for me to do (maybe video blogs…?)

Anyways.. here are my past entries starting from the oldest. This isn’t the most exciting blog entry, so bear with me.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/09/my-source-of-inspiration/

So this is my first blog. I was very excited about joining the Vocal Chords, so I wrote about my audition and what I expect for my first year of college.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/10/a-month-already/

It says I wrote it, but this is not my entry. It looks like Sarah wrote about. Sorry about that.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/10/rehoboth-beach/

Here I wrote about my trip to rehoboth beach, Delaware, with a few of my photography class people. It has pretty pictures.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/11/my-schedule/

Here I talk about my first semester classes. Looking back, Physics II and IFP I was the hardest course I took that semester. But in the end, they turned out to be the most rewarding classes. It has a pretty picture.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/11/love-hopkins/

Here I talk about Love. My a cappella group went to sing at a wedding dinner party at the Peabody Library. Also, my partner and I went to Penn Station to take photos of people hugging each other for my photography project.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/12/first-snow-at-jhu-and-a-cappella-concert/

I talk about the first snow at JHU and my a cappella group’s fall concert. Coming from California, snow was a pretty big deal for me. It has pretty pictures. It also talks about how excited I am for the winter break.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/12/winter-break-2/

I’m in my winter break, and I talk about how excited I am and what I have planned for the four-week vacation.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2009/12/why-i-miss-hopkins/

About half way through my winter break, I got really bored and started missing my being at Hopkins. so here, I list some of the reasons why I want to go back to Hopkins. From the tone of this entry, you’ll be able to detect how hyper I am and how everything around me at the moment is failing to entertain me. It ain’t got any pic.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/01/student-admissions-advisory-board-saab/

Here I try to be a nice SAAB member and introduce to the prospective students what SAAB is all about. This is my Student Activity blog.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/02/and-here-it-goes-semester-2/

Semester 2 comes and I talk about the classes I’m taking. I ended up dropping the philosophy class two weeks after I wrote this. so yea. It has a pic of me lying creepily on our JHU sign….

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/02/what-is-up-greco/

Here I talk about my busy life and how I’m dealing with it. Seriously, taking 18 credits was very hard, which is why I dropped the philosophy class and ended up taking 15 credits instead – probably one of the best choices I have ever made at Hopkins. I was also in the middle of finding a lab position.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/03/research-research-research/

So this is the one talking about how I got my lab position I have right now. Hopkins is really known for research opportunities, but they sure don’t just land on your lap.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/03/the-must-haves-how-to-make-your-college-life-chic/

I probably wrote this right after watching Project Runway on my computer, so the word Chic was really stuck in my head. So I decided to write about how to make the college life chic. Here I list my necessities that helped me survive college.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/04/my-tidy-but-tiny-double-in-amr-i/

This is my required Cribs blog. I talk about my tiny dorm room. It has a youtube video embedded so you can see moving pictures of my room. You can tell from comparing the pictures and the video that I have later fully-lofted my bed hoping to get out a few more square inch of my room.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/04/more-a-cappella-pls/

A cappella concert again. This was our 15th anniversary spring concert, so it was a very big deal for us. We had a lot of our alums come over to sing with us at the end, and that was a very powerful, enlightening moment for me as you will see as you read through it. It also has a poster that I created for the concert.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/05/concluding-my-ifp-journey/

Finally I write something academic and talk about my IFP experience at Hopkins as an engineer. I was very inspired when I was writing this, and I think it shows. It’s gotten a couple of nice comments.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/05/summer-shenanigans/

Here I talk about my plan for the summer.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/06/vc-does-imogen-heap/

If someone tells me to erase all my blog entries except two, it would be the IFP entry and this one. Singing with Imogen Heap was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had in my entire almost-twenty years of life. I love Imogen Heap. I hope she adopts me. I wish I had put like those carbon-copiable adoption document underneath her poster so when she signed my poster I’ll be like hey guess what was underneath! you have just adopted me, Mother. and I’m changing my name to Greco Heap.

Oh BTW when Imogen Heap introduced us, she said John Hopkins University Vocal Chords. We need to change the name of our school. Cuz Imogen said so.

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http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/2010/06/wrapping-up/

Here I wrap up my blog and list all my previous entries… oh wait, it’s this one…. ;)

So here I am, wrapping things up. Look at me, I’m all grown up. The other day, this guy asked me about my Organic Chemistry class: “Hey so everyone in your class is a freshman like you?” and I was like “EXCUSE ME? (snap snap snap drawing a zigzag in the air), I ain’t a freshman no more. I’m a sophomore.”

So yea. I’m a sophomore now, guys. and I have three more years to go… It’s gonna be the longest three years of my life, but at the end, I’ll probably say “OMG that went by so fast!” like I did in the first paragraph of this blog entry.

This is not a forever-bye-bye-freshman-blog. Remember, I have two more entries to go, so keep checking our blog and get the latest information about Hopkins life. Oh, and if you have tumblr and want to see some of the photos I took my first year at Hopkins, follow me! (http://photolegrec.tumblr.com)

Bye now!

-Greco

Hey, guys. It’s Greco again.

So the last photo on my previous blog entry is a photo of Imogen Heap trying on our a cappella group’s t-shirt. In case u missed it, i’ll post it here again.

Yes, the Vocal Chords went to Imogen Heap’s concert in Washington DC. THAT’S NOT ALL! We opened her concert! THAT’S STILL NOT ALL! We sang one of her songs with her soloing our arrangement! The experience was totally surreal, and is one of the best moments of my entire 19 years of life.

So this is how all this thing happened. Imogen Heap tweeted on twitter, announcing video auditions to sing one of her songs “Earth” with her at her concert. She also said the winning group would also get a chance to open her show. Luckily, we had already arranged the song for our concerts last year, and all we had to do was post our video from the concert on Youtube! A week later, we got an email from Imogen’s tour coordinator asking us if we can perform at her concert at DC! That was SUCH an ecstatic moment. I was in Korea with my family when one of our members sent out a mass email about this. My dad told me I screamed like a girl.

Even more luckily, the concert was on the 29th of May which is exactly the day I was going to arrived at IAD!!! So on May 29th, after 14 hours of flight, I arrived in DC airport. I was DEAD exhausted, but my day had only just begun. My friend picked me up from the airport and I went straight to her house where all the members gathered to practice.

Our sound check was at 6, and we went to the venue a little earlier. As we walked to our designated room, I heard a familiar voice from the other side of the wall. It was IMOGEN HEAP! She was rehearsing and doing soundcheck on stage! The whole time we were waiting, we creeped on her in the backstage haha. And finally when it was our time, we ran to the stage to greet Imogen. She was so chill. You imagine a popular musician like her to be like cocky and stuff, but Imogen was so chill. She thanked us for coming and shook EACH of our hands! and her hand was so nice and warm………………………. oh wow this sounds a bit creepy haha but OMG Imogen..

Oh were we sooooo nervous! We had never sang in front of such a big audience in such a big venue. I was even more nervous because one of the songs that we were going to sing was Rehab which is the song I do the solo.

It was 8pm and the crowd was keep getting bigger and bigger. The lights on stage darkened and Imogen Heap came out on stage. Her hair was not even done but she insisted on introducing us herself. It was so kind of her to even speak of our group’s name! “And here they are, The JOHN HOPKINS VOCAL CHORDS!” (btw, our school should officially change its name to John Hopins cuz Imogen said so.)

We sang 4 songs and my solo was the last. People loved my solo! Some even started clapping in the middle of the song along the rhythm and I was so excited as an entertainer. And later I heard that Imogen was behind the stage the WHOLE time we were singing though her hair needed to be ready like ASAP. I mean, what kind of awesome fan-loving, famous-but-approachable-at-the-same-time musicians would do that!

After we opened our show, we went to our seats to watch the rest of the show. It was the first time I went to a legit concert, and it really set a high standard for me! I think she is so talented, and truly an artist. She makes all her songs by herself, and a lot of the sounds in her songs were inspired by the sounds around our lives (dripping water, rubbing wine glass rims, people talking at parties, burning fire, etc), so her songs often gives this organic feeling. But at the same time, she also uses electric synthetic sounds, and the harmony of those two kinds of sounds is truly synergetic.

It was time for us to sing Earth with her. We went back on stage and sang the a cappella background of the song while she sang the verses. The moment was so surreal and crazy I made mistakes in a couple of parts! But at the end, the audience LOVED it and the whole thing just worth every hour of my flight time back to the US.

I think joining the Vocal Chords was the best decision I have ever made. I had just a tough freshman year, both physically and academically, but being a part of the community really helped me appreciate my college life and endure the hardships. I also love how Hopkins is really close to major cities. If it were located in the middle of nowhere, a rando place that Imogen wouldn’t have her concert in, we wouldn’t have been able to get such an opportunity.

Anyways, I have school tomorrow, so I should really try to go to sleep now. Bye!

-Greco

(Last two photos were taken by Geoffrey Franz)

Hey prospees, this is Greco.

It’s been a while since I posted my last entry. I was really busy with finals and right after the finals I went to Korea for my two-week break before the summer school and all those fun shenanigans. So in this entry, I would like to give u a quick list of shenanigans that’s happening during my summer at Hopkins.

1) Summer School

I decided to ease my workload for my sophomore fall semester by taking Organic Chemistry I during the summer. The course is taught by Professor Klein who is one of our senior lecturers in the chemistry department. I heard he’s pretty famous for his organic chemistry workbook, Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, which is used widely for a class supplemental material. Some people told me he’s easy, some told me otherwise, so I guess I’m going to have to find out myself… I’m just really glad a lot of my friends are taking this with me during summer so I won’t be suffering alone. I’m only taking Organic Chemistry I.

2) Lab

I got a lab position for the summer over at the medical campus (read about it here) and it starts on the same day as my summer school. Since I am taking organic chemistry I over the first session, I’m only working in the afternoon. But after the first session, I will be working full time. I’m not getting paid, but I will be getting college credit and the number of credits will be determined at the end of the summer by my faculty advisor and personal investigator (head of the lab). I’m kinda new at this, so I won’t be doing actual independent research, but I will be assisting grad students and upperclassmen undergrads currently working in the lab. There’s going to be a lab meetings every week as well. I don’t know what this is going to be about.

3) A Cappella Arrangement

I’m currently working on an arrangement for my a cappella group. At the end and beginning of the summer we select new songs for the next semester and people volunteer to arrange the songs. I’m currently working on a cappella arrangement of The Wonderer by Marc Broussard. This is my first time arranging so it’s gonna take a long time, but I’m sure at the end it will be rewarding.

4)  Photography

I’ve been very lazy with taking photos after taking Intro to Digital Photography I in first semester. I’m afraid my photo skill’s got a bit rusty and I hope I’ll have chance to take more photos over the summer.

I just came back yesterday and it’s been very frustrating.. I got a summer housing in Bradford, and I’m currently in the process of cleaning and unpacking. Maybe later when I’m all done, I’ll show you guys my awesome apartment!

Later!

On the next, Greco’s blog…

My IFP (Intro to Fiction and Poetry) journey is about to end. On one hand, I feel like I could have pushed myself further and get more out of the course, but on the other hand, I’m happy with where I am right now. I definitely feel more mature, and although I still have some problems, at least I learned what kind of fictions and poems I like and dislike—after all, college is all about self-exploration, right?

I’m really glad I took IFP II and didn’t stop at IFP I, despite it not being a requirement for my chemical engineering major. I also feel very lucky to have instructors of two very different perspectives, and although at first I struggled adjusting, it only helped me later broaden my perspective both as a writer and as a human being.

So what did I learn in IFP? First, you can never be a selfish writer and defeat the whole purpose of writing. I also learned I need to be more empathetic to create more believable scenes, settings, and most importantly, characters. In addition, I learned I like short stories better than poems—I thought the opposite when taking IFP I. I feel more comfortable taking time developing scenes and characters in short stories than trying to convey as much in short poems (well, I can try writing lengthy poems, but I just don’t do long poems…). I’m also proud of myself for taking risks and experiment with stuff especially vulgarity. What I like to do in my work is to take absurd, vulgar scenes and characters, make them believable and find unexpected beauty in them. Although some people in my class might think I’m weird, to say the least, after reading my fictions and poems, but I really don’t care because I believe my work is separate from who I really am as a person. Plus, the instructor really likes my objective, so that’s good. Honestly, it’s been a pretty cathartic experience since my high school teachers would have never approved of a lot of elements in my work of creative writing. I felt free.

I’m an international student whose first language is not English. Before taking IFP, English for me was just a tool for me to communicate with Americans. Now I know by heart that English is a beautiful language, which I now learned how to use with an aesthetic sense. Again, I still make a lot of mechanical mistakes in my work, but I’m very satisfied with what I have achieved in a short amount of time.

I do not know as of know if I’m going to continue this journey. I did sign up for a short fiction class for next year, but I’m still not sure if I’m good enough or even will be motivated enough to be in that class. Maybe I’m pushing myself unnecessarily hard. I don’t know. I guess I have some more self-exploration to do over the summer. But certainly, I enjoyed my IFP experience this year and it has surely put some sparks in my Hopkins life.

Hi, this is Greco.

First of all, it was great to see you all at the open houses. I especially appreciate those who came to me and said hi personally! I’m really glad a lot of you are reading my blogs! Really, this really motivates me to be a better person haha. Thanks for recognizing me! :)

Anyways, last two weeks has been very hectic. Last Saturday, my a cappella group, The Vocal Chords, put on our 15^th anniversary concert and basically, we had rehearsal everyday from 6pm to 12am. Plus I had a few midterms and papers due during those two weeks, so they were literally, Hell Weeks.

Being a chemical engineering major and trying to involve in extracurricular activities, to be honest, is very hard. The workload isusually a lot, and during the last two weeks, I had no time to study before the rehearsals, so I often went to bed really late. It was really challenging time for me, both academically and physically, and I was actually seriously considering quitting a cappella next year—I felt like everything was falling apart.

But I feel like the concert really paid off everything. All the hard times and sleepless nights paid off with one of our most amazing concerts. Throughout the songs, we were dead on with rhythms, pitches and everything! Oh, and at the end, we had our Vocal Chords alumni come on stage and sing with us some of the songs from the past. WE SOUNDED AMAZING. It was totally a historic moment for us, having alumni from recent years to the very beginning, and we were all on stage, singing in harmony. I’ve never met them before, but it didn’t matter—we were already connected to each other, and we were a family.

And did I tell you it was a full house? I really didn’t expect this, since we had some empty seats last concert. I actually wasn’t nervous at all before the concert, but when I actually saw that large of a crowd, my heart started pumping freakin fast. Oh, and my solo was really good as well, according to my friends and other strangers I met at the end of the concert! I actually felt the same way—last time, I went a bit sharp during the song, and we also sped up, but this time, we were dead on. We’re still working on our videos, and I’ll let you all know when we post them on Youtube!

And after each concert always follows totally uber awesome after-party! I was actually thinking about not going since I was really really behind in academics and had a midterm on Monday, but I was like f- it—I deserved this party, yo :)

Anyways.. Imma peace off now.. I need to read some poems for my IFP II class tomorrow. Bye!

-Grecs

oh oh oh oh oh and look at this AWESOME poster! I designed it, and, not trying to boast about it, but I think it’s pretty baller hehe

Hi, everyone. It’s Greco.

Today I’m going to show you my room. I live in AMR I, Royce House. Each AMRbuilding is divided into different houses (although in the end, they are all connected) and this is where your RAs are assigned. Royce is the farthest left of the AMR building. My room is kind of divided into two parts by the closets in the middle that separates my side from my roommate’s.

My room is probably the smallest double ever, and I’m going to be honest. I’m not really enjoying my time in AMR. I mean, of course I’m thankful of all the amazing people I met and befriended in my house, but with AMR not being my first choice dorm, I’m not really happy with it. But living in AMR, especially my tiny double, I am learning how to use the space efficiently and make the most space out of this tiny room.

First, I fully lofted my bed to make space under the bed. I only had my bed half lofted for the first semester of my freshman year and as the time went by, I just could not find any space to fit all my clothes and stuff. So in the beginning of this semester, I lofted my bed so I could fit in my bookshelf, printer, and luggage bags under it.

I have tons of clothes and the dressers I get are not big enough to fit everything. So I bought stackable drawers and stacked them vertically beside my desk. I like having colors in my room so it is a pretty good addition. I store towels, socks, underwear, and some cleaning stuff in there.

I also have a hanger that is hooked on top of the door. As you can see in the photo, I just hang some hoodies and jeans. I have some stuff over my closet as well. I put my shower caddy and laundry utensils..

And my desk! Very messy, yes. That’s why I usually don’t study on my desk. I often just go to the library. I have a laptop stand that raises my MacBook Pro so I don’t get bad posture from using my laptop for too long.  I have awesome speakers on the sides. I love love love them.

My roommate bought a mini refrigerator that stores a decent amount of food. We didn’t rent microfridge (microwave + fridge) from the school since it’s a bit too expensive for us. Plus, we don’t really store that much of food in our fridge. And we can always use our neighbor’s microwave.

Ok that’s about it guys. My room is not that interesting and I can’t really think of  other things to talk about in my room. So… um you don’t gotta go home, but you gotta get the hell outta here (am I saying this right? O_o)