Class of 2013: Freshman Blog

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

I’m sure most of the followers of this blog are high school students. I’m sure they’re pretty driven high school students, who are extremely focused on academics. That’s only natural – they’re looking at a school known for academic excellence, and they want to make sure that their transcripts reflect the fact that they’re striving for academic excellence too. Don’t get me wrong – doing well in school and grades can be important. But at the same time, those same focuses can easily overwhelm students.

Over the past year, I’ve seen a lot of students affected by this. Practically all of here at Hopkins are very academically focused, and as incoming freshmen, we were used to aiming for (and getting) top grades. So we came here, and we kept trying for those grades, and some of us got way too caught up in that struggle. I admit, I’m definitely not perfect. I’d like to say that I’ve always been focused on learning for the sake of learning and on enjoying life. While I’ve certainly never taken grades to the extremes, I know that I have gotten caught up in the grade rat race.

But this year, something changed. I’m not sure what it was. Maybe it was first semester covered grades, and knowing that I could focus on learning, and not just cramming for tests. Maybe it was knowing that I was surrounded by hundreds of other equally (or moreso-ly) intelligent people. Maybe it was subconsciously realizing that in 10 years, I won’t care about any of these grades. Maybe it was realizing that the memories I’ll have of college should be more than grades and late nights in the library. Memories aren’t made of letters and test scores. They’re made of experiences. They’re made of laughter and tears. They’re made of struggles and triumphs. They’re made of spontaneity and planning. They’re made of late night walks around the campus. They’re made of mud fights on the freshman quad. They’re made of 4 am conversations with friends. They’re made of explorations to Hampden and Fell’s Point. They’re made of pillow fights. They’re made of late nights watching movies and stuffing your face. They’re made of first experiences. They’re what we want to remember.

This probably all sounds very cliche. It probably is very cliche, but more importantly, it’s also very true.

I was wandering in AMR II today, and I saw this quote: “Our memories of the ocean will linger on, long after our footprints in the sand are gone.”  Moving beyond the beach and into the college arena, the footprints are the grades. They’re something tangible, something physical we can fixate on when measuring our time spent in college. But ten, twenty, thirty years from now, we won’t remember the grade on the first micro midterm. We won’t remember our score on the orgo final. We won’t remember the strange way anthro participation grades were calculated. But we’ll have memories of experiences and friends. And making the memories is what really matters.

At this time last year, I was in your shoes.  I was an indescribable mix of emotions: nervous to move to an unfamiliar place, anxious to be more independent, sad to leave so many old friends, and excited to meet new ones.  At the same time, I was busy ordering textbooks, shopping for dorm supplies, searching the Class of 2013 Facebook group discussion threads for answers to my seemingly endless questions, and, most importantly, working part-time at a soft pretzel factory.

When I used to tell people that I worked at a pretzel factory, I usually got a reaction like, “Wow, twisting pretzels would get really old after a day or two!  You must be so sick of it!”  Truthfully, they couldn’t have been more wrong.  This job was perfect for anyone like myself with a really short attention span.  Just as I got bored of twisting pretzels, I’d fill the mustard cans.  When I got sick of that, I could stock the sodas, put together the party trays, assemble the boxes, answer the phone, sweep the floor, dip the cinnamon pretzels, stamp the frequent buyer cards, manage the cash register, and salt the pretzels once they came out of the oven.    Twisting pretzel dough all day would have been incredibly monotonous and boring.  For my own sanity, I needed all this variety in my job description.

The best part was that my boss didn’t seem to mind at all that I switched frantically from job to job.  In fact, I think she appreciated variety just as much as I did since she was constantly coming up with new promotions (my favorite being her idea to pay a middle school kid to dress up like a giant pretzel and wave at the cars passing by).  As part of these promotions, she always liked to switch up our pretzel varieties.  One week she would tell us to make dozens of pretzel dogs, the next week we’d be making pretzel sausages instead, and the following week, cinnamon pretzels would fill the glass case.  Running a factory dominated by regular salted pretzels was clearly not an option.

That being said, one day while I was helping a customer at the cash register, my boss came through the door pushing a giant freezer.  I helped her get the enormous freezer into the corner of the store and realized that inside were ten huge tubs of water ice (or Italian ice as they call it in Baltimore).  Since her store was part of a pretzel franchise she technically wasn’t allowed to sell water ice, but to avoid getting caught, she instructed us to quickly push the freezer into the back of the store if we saw any franchise representatives about to enter.  Just for practice, we even did a few “hide the water ice” drills.

The water ice was a huge hit!  The factory became significantly busier in the following weeks, and this water ice became my boss’s new pride and joy.  She raved about it all the time and seemed to like the mango flavor about as much as the pretzels themselves!  The only drawback to the water ice idea was that once a week when the franchise representative came around, all of us would scramble to get the giant freezer in the back of the store and smoothly answer the rep’s questions about why little kids were exiting the store with purple faces.  (Why did they always have to get the grape!!?)

Unfortunately, a rep came in one day and found the water ice after we failed to hide the freezer fast enough.  Our boss’s mood was much more solemn during the week that followed.  She clearly missed raving about the flavor varieties, seeing kids run around with sticky fingers, and occasionally snacking on mango ice around lunchtime.  Even though we still sold all of our pretzel varieties, the lack of water ice made the pretzel factory an entirely different place.

This (finally) brings me to my point and to the reason that I decided to come to Hopkins in the first place.  At Hopkins, there’s no need to hide your water ice, and there’s no one to tell you that you can only sell pretzels.  You can diversify your college years as much as you want!  Every one of you 2014ers should strive to make your Hopkins experience about taking a variety of classes, becoming involved in a variety of activities, and putting yourself in a variety of new social circles.  The more diversified your Hopkins experience is, the better it will be.  Here’s why:

1) You many love your intended area of study as much as my boss loved pretzels, but whether you’re attending Johns Hopkins or running a pretzel business, you’re eventually going to want some variety to keep it exciting.  Math major?  Try reading to kids at a local elementary school to mix things up!  Cognitive science major?  Try taking Italian!  Take advantage of the options available to you.  Let’s face it, nobody wants to have just pretzels for four whole years.

2) There’s nothing like having 123890813 humungous pretzel orders to fill at once to make you never want to see a pretzel again.  After standing next to the burning hot oven for hours upon hours working to finally get all of those trays and boxes filled, water ice is the perfect remedy.  It’s enjoyable, much less labor, and completely different in every aspect from a pretzel.  The same scenario applies to pursuing any major at Hopkins.  There will be times when you’ll get frustrated with your major and never want to do another integral, read about another important figure of history, or write another word.  In times like these, you’ll be happy you took a completely different class or joined a student group just for enjoyment.  You’re going to need some kind of water ice to pull you through.

3) Customers love water ice!  Having water ice is going to make your business more successful.  Think about how many pretzel places there are in the world.  Now think about how many of those pretzel places also serve water ice.  See?  The same thing will apply to you in the next four years.  There are tons of political science majors out there, but at Hopkins, you have the power and flexibility to be a political science/biophysics double major, pre-law student, admissions volunteer (hint hint), athlete, campus emergency responder, and member of the Art League all at the same time.  How many people in the world can say that?  You truly have a lot of opportunities ahead of you, so keep in mind that it’s good to be unique!

4) There are other flavors of water ice out there that you haven’t had yet, and who knows, you might end up finding a new favorite flavor.  Do you think my boss, one of the world’s biggest pretzel fans, ever thought she would love mango water ice so much?  Of course not!  If there is one thing to take away from this story, it’s that if you never try anything new, you’re not going to figure out what your true passions are.  You won’t get to attend Hopkins forever, so if there is any ideal time to discover your true interests, it’s now!

So, class of 2014, I leave you with these parting words of advice: attending Hopkins is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and in order to get the most out of it, you need to explore both academic and extracurricular areas that are outside of your comfort zone.  I’m telling you this as I’m sitting here with my brand new, bright purple book of Spanish plays for next semester wondering what in the world I was thinking registering for a theater course as a biology major. Aside from participating in a Shakespeare coloring contest back in eighth grade English, I have pretty much zero experience reading plays, so this course has a lot of potential to go horribly wrong.  However, I have to keep reminding myself that this is exactly what the Hopkins experience is about.  By next semester, I might be going around campus quoting Cervantes and Lope de Vega, or I might decide to never read another act or sonnet ever again.  Either way, for the next four months, theater will be my water ice.  What will yours be?

The title of this post may seem very cryptic and confusing at first but if you know what I’ve been doing for the past 8 days you’d understand. As I’m sure most of you know finals week started for Hopkins students on Monday with the reading period only being Saturday and Sunday last weekend. It was a bit annoying but at the same time all the students were happy that they’d be getting out at the same time. I want to apologize in advance because this is going to be a fairly short post, but I’ve had about 12 total hours of sleep in the past week so I’m probably not entirely coherent.

I had 3 finals this past week and the worst part of everything was having my hardest final on the last possible day of the finals period, not to mention it was a Sunday. Yup you read correctly, my last exam began almost exactly 12 hours ago and the subjects covered on it were: Electricity, Magnetism, Electromagnetic Radiation, Optics, Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and Atomic/Nuclear Physics. Surprisingly enough it wasn’t as ridiculous as it seems, the questions were mostly simple and about conceptual topics because in this class the math involved is ridiculous so the professors just want to make sure you understand the conceptual topics.

Maxwell's equations - the four equations that govern the entire section of physics known as quantum mechanics aka the hardest/most annoying section of physics 2.

I’m not even going to try to say that all my finals were extremely easy and I got through them without any issues. The whole 12 hours of sleep this week contributed to my frustration during the week, and it was mostly because of my roommate who basically has no consideration for others even when they’re trying to sleep because they have an exam the next day. Once I finish writing this post I’m going to bed and I’m going to sleep for at least 15 straight hours so I can catch up on all my sleep. This week was definitely one of the hardest things that I’ve had to go through. Aside from the no sleep factor some of the physics concepts are really counter-intuitive and take a lot of mental gymnastics (as my psych professor calls it) to understand what’s happening in the world around us. It was also the fact that my exam was literally in the last possible slot and my summer vacation didn’t start until the last possible moment. Furthermore I missed a couple of crucial physics classes because of a family emergency. But somehow even though all of the circumstances seemed to hinder me, I studied as much as I possibly could, I stayed sane, and I think I’m going to end up doing very well in the class.

I don’t think that this is a typical situation that most Hopkins freshmen would find themselves in, but at the same time it’s not too uncommon for Hopkins students. Sometimes things happen that you can’t control, but you have to deal with what the world throws at you and make the best out of the situation. The thing that constantly drives me is my long-term goal (to become a Neurosurgeon for those of you who don’t know). I’ve known I wanted to be a doctor since 3rd grade and I’m constantly aware that you need to do as best you can with everything if you want to be a good doctor. Since I know that’s what I want to do I know what grades I need for all of that, so I make sure that I don’t mess up and regret not studying as much as I could.

If I could give one piece of advice to all the incoming Hopkins class, or anyone really its find the one thing that motivates you to do well, and never forget what that is. Always have some sort of higher-level goal that you can look forward to. Once you’ve made it through all of the tough parts of your life and you’re looking back on your education you won’t regret it. Studying may be boring but there’s two things you can do about that: 1.) don’t study at all and do poorly and regret it once you can’t get a good job or 2.) study even though it may not be what you want, do well, get a good job, and look back and be happy that you studied even though it drove you insane. I guess there could be a third option: develop a completely idetic (photographic) memory so all you have to do is look at books for a while and you’ll remember everything but that doesn’t seem as possible.

Well that’s all I’ve got for this week. What’s weird now is this is my last post as a Freshmen (well not even cause I’m done with my 2nd semester) which means that I’m now a Sophomore. Aside from that I’m on summer break. I haven’t fully understood any of these things yet but when I do I’m going to be ecstatic. I also just realized that I haven’t left you with a YouTube video in a while, and I just came across a good one that my friend from high school made. It’s really awesome and I have no idea how they did all the things they did. Enjoy, I’m about to try to sleep for 15 straight hours. See you in two weeks!

Hey, everyone!

It’s the end of the school year – some real exicting stuff, eh?!  I’m writing final papers right now and am studying for a final, too.  Summer’s nearly here.  For me, that means I’m about to board a flight for three months in London.  I’m really stoked about this, though I’m worried, because I don’t have my visa here and because it doesn’t look like I’ll get it in time.  Oh, and by the way, if anyone has any connects at the British Consulate in LA, now’d be a great time to hook me up! =]

To be honest, I’ve been hit with a tidal wave of nostalgia in the past few days.  I mean, my freshman year of college is pretty much over – I’m out of here this week, and my finals are right around the corner.  I know this sounds cliché, and I apologize, but I just can’t come to accept that it was in August that I first came to Hopkins.  I mean, seriously, if you would ask me, I would probably say that it feels like just a few weeks ago I got my keys and J-Card after driving from Little Rock.  A lot’s changed, and I’ve met a lot of great, new people, and, to tell the truth, I’m really quite grateful.  It’s been one amazing year, and I can only begin to anticipate what next year will bring.  But let’s hope I don’t get in a rush right now: I’m having so much fun, and I just want the recess to continue.  (That said, I’m in the libs, writing this, inter alia.)

There was a mech. bull on the beach Saturday. I lasted 6 seconds. This is JHU_Cate trying to beat me at it...

In high school, I lived by a single rule: ‘In every school, there must be recess.’  When I came to Hopkins, I sort of lost track of that idea and became consumed with school work, and, to tell you the truth, that really bummed me out.  I made a goal to ensure that I fit some fun, memorable times in my days here at Hopkins, and I’ve really been successful thus far.  I had a great weekend that was as impromptu as possible: I spent 72 hours with people I didn’t really ever know, and we all had the times of our lives.  We had a dance party at night, went all night long, and cooked some amazing food in the process.  It was a lot of fun, and it was a spectacular way to put an end to classes, which ended on Thursday for me.  I have another friend coming in on Thursday, my last night in Baltimore before London (assuming some reader of this post makes some calls for me =]…sorry for the shameless plug!), and I’m looking to some memorable times before heading off for the summer.  It’ll be great, and I’m really excited to see what the night will bring.

Congrats to all the high schoolers on finishing your AP/IB exams, if you’ve done so already.  They were a massive bummer last year, but those AP credits are oh-so-valuable here – it’s a really nice thing to get credit for some classes (puts you further ahead, so recess can come, too!).  Have a great end of the year, seniors, and enjoy your last day with people you probably won’t see for a long time, if ever.  And have a great graduation, and make some memories!

Until next time and hopefully from London,

Daniel

It’s currently 12:30 am in the MSE library.  This is not to say that I am turning into a study-a-holic.  In fact it’s quite the opposite.

Today I watched the first three episodes of Mad Men, and I find it quite good.  I am still hoping that three hours of watching characters chain-smoke will positively reflect in my exam tomorrow.  We’re all allowed to hope, right? Oh, and by the way, I do not approve of chain-smoking if you somehow derived that I did from the previous sentences.

The semester is spiraling to an end!

It’s been awhile since I have felt the need to write introspective blog, not that the others are uninspired by any means.  It’s just that now I am feel less inspired to work on this proof of Euler Toitent functions, and more so to write some starting out with a line other than “Let n be an integer less than m such that phi(n)=2^{2^n}+1….” So I’ll let the illogical, poorly structured rhetoric commence!  I have been lacking on the interesting picture front, so this blog will showcase more of my sister’s amazing art!

So, there’s only one week of classes left!  That means 13 more lectures, and two more sections, and I am free!  Well, after finals that is.

Recently, I have been thinking a lot of how I have changed since last August.  In some respects it feels like I turned the corner off of W. University Ave onto the Hopkins campus for the first time nearly minutes ago, and in other respects I feel like I have spent an eternity here.

I have forgotten the feelings of October that were filled with missing home, and the sentiments of winter, which were filled with hatred for the snow.  Now, I am starting to forget the sentiments I had so many months before that.  The smell of my yard at home in the spring, the cherry pink blooms on my apple tree, and the memories from grade school, and middle school, and high school.

Yum... Coffee

There’s no doubt that you will change after a year at Hopkins, but that doesn’t mean in a bad way.  I think I came to Hopkins a starry-eyed, barely 18-year old.  In many ways, I was very naïve.  I think my ego super-seceded my credentials.  Some people have commented that I have “lower my standards” or given up hope.  That’s not it at all.  I am not a pessimist.

I am a realist, who doesn’t set unrealistic expectations.  I think that is the difference between the pre-Hopkins Cate, and Hopkins Cate.  I have learned to accept myself no matter what, and I am proud of everything I do, and I have stopped obsessing over perfection.  I have garnered enough faith in myself to take those crazy leaps, knowing that I am not afraid of the outcomes.

I know a lot of high school students are so focused on growing up.  It is as if life gets better or simpler when you’re in college.  Not that the grass isn’t greener on the other side, but we’re all stuck in the yard we’re given.  So for you high school seniors who are preparing for your first year of college next year, I know it’s exciting and you can’t wait, but you need to relish in the last remaining moments of your high school careers.  You only get to experience them once, so live them to their full potential.  Fall will arrive soon enough, believe me.

One of my sister's senior showcase pieces. Colleen- Sorry I couldn't be there for your graduation! Congratulations!

As for me, my end of the year is a bit bittersweet.  I am going to miss Hopkins.  If I could just stay in this limbo between midterms and finals forever, I would.  Sadly, I have yet to learn how to stop time.  So for now I have let these final weeks pass, and then go home for summer.  In many ways, I am ready to go home and spend some time with my family and my cats.  I miss them, especially my cats.  I will also be taking organic chemistry over the summer.  I guess if you want to find me I’ll be laying on the shore of one of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes with an organic chemistry textbook.

Now for an amazing song.

I have a whole box of fortune cookies just for finals!

I am beginning to think that the university’s replacing of our reading period (study time before exams) with extra days of class (thanks to Snow Week) is actually a good thing. As counterintuitive as it seems, I am actually cherishing these last few days of remaining of my classes. It’s quality time spent with my friends, time spent learning and being productive (I am really enjoying my classes this semester!), and time spent having fun, all at the same time. This year has flown by so incredibly fast—especially second semester, with Greek rush, Phi Mu events, and an impressive variety of spring activities that are quite unique to Hopkins. As Joe N. has blogged already discussed in his last blog, our 39^th annual Spring Fair went on last weekend. Think college meets circus (if you can imagine that!!), plus an awesome concert with cool bands: State Radio, Forever the Sickest Kids, and the Time Columns. My friend Chloe is actually on the Spring Fair committee, and I’ve been seeing her and the rest of the Spring Fair team work tirelessly for the entire school year to put on this event. It’s certainly evident that all of their hard work paid off. Everything was extremely well organized, the committee did a great job of getting the word out and promoting the bands through banners, t-shirts, brochures, and web announcements, and the vendors that signed up to sell at Spring Fair were amazing! Clubs and Greek organizations also came together and purchased booths to raise money for charities, etc. It was great to see the whole student body coming together not just for the concert, and it was nice seeing alums and other members of the Baltimore community at large walking around campus. Though it tends to get overlooked or forgotten, there really is a pervading sense of school spirit and community here, and it especially comes through over Spring Fair weekend.

Apologies for the fact that I don’t have many pictures for you all summing up the Spring Fair experience…I do wish I had taken some pictures this weekend (especially of those fried Oreos! I can’t even begin to explain my love for anything fried). I had quite a busy weekend in addition to Spring Fair festivities. I had my Peer Ambassador interview on Friday (JHU_Joe was my interviewer!), and then a pre-frosh from my high school visited with her mother the same day. I met with her, as she had some questions about the International Studies program here at Hopkins (which is great, for any of you considering it at all), residences, and life here in general, but we also chatted about how things were at my high school. Although it’s feels as if someone hit the “fast-forward” button on my freshman year, it feels like years since I was a senior at my high school—I was shocked to discover how much my high school has changed and I’ve realized how much I’ve grown as a person since then. A lot of my high school teachers are leaving and moving on, the headmistress is also stepping down, and my school welcomed a new head of Upper School this past year. TOMS shoes have since created specially designed footwear for my school, replacing the old uniform saddle oxfords (of course this happens after I leave), graduation parties have already begun, and even weirder to fathom is the fact that the class below me, the Class of 2010, are college bound!

Phi Mu picnic

For those seniors who are reading this (I understand the seemingly incurable senioritis, but I assure you, you’ll make it!), appreciate the few remaining days you have with all of your classmates—as sad as it sounds, you may never see some of those people again. At the same time, get ready for an amazing freshman year to come (no matter where you end up). I may be slightly biased, but freshman year at Hopkins was an awesome experience—I’m a bit disappointed that it’s winding to a close and am dreading the goodbyes before summer, but cannot wait for what’s in store next year… Thanks for reading! -BK

high school graduation - May 2009

Hey, guys.  Daniel here.  I feel inspired by Carl Weathers.

This weekend, I was at the Coachella music festival in Indio, California.  Tickets were really expensive, so since I’m on a limited budget, I was pretty much the cheapest guy there  ever (save the In and Out Burger visits; you can’t mess with an addiction).  For example, my friends and I stayed at the most sketch motel ever – about 35 miles away (LONG time when you leave a place such as this) in the middle of the desert on the shores of the Salton Sea (which, per environmental concerns, is entirely fenced).  To spend one less night at said hotel, we made an epic drive back to LA (where I was staying before coming back to Bal’murr), getting back really, really early (I got stuck with this task….probably because I speed a lot – see my cribs vid to see my wall of insurance horror).  Anyway, while I realize this sounds like a corny TV commercial, I’ve got to say that the transportation we’ve got at Hopkins and Baltimore really did help me save money.  I spend $7 dollars on transportation in Maryland.  How?  The JHMI shuttle and the MARC trains.

Penn Station is near the Peabody Conservatory and is on the way to the Hopkins Medical Campus, so Hopkins provides a free shuttle along this route – the JHMI (I pronounce it ‘Jimmy’).  It runs every day and pretty much all the time – until like 11 or something like that.  It’s pretty handy, since it drops you off at Penn Station, which you can either take a train from or take a one minute walk to get a crepe and a movie at Sophie’s Crepes and the Charles, respectively.  It’s entirely free, which I love, and its price – rather lack thereof – makes it my preferred method of transportation.

When I jet in and out of there, I always try to make it on weekdays, which is when the MARC train runs.  It’s commuter rail and connects Balto with DC.  Since BWI is south of here, the MARC hits it.  To get from Penn Station to the BWI stop, it costs me $3.25 each way – it’s a little bit higher in actuality, but at the beginning of the year, I bought a Student Advantage card – something you should really do – so I get a student discount.  Tickets to DC cost $5.50, by the way, and the ride’s about an hour, while it only takes about 15-20 minutes to get to BWI.  I lived and worked in DC for a bit, so I try to get down there pretty often – it’s nice being so close and having a cheap way to visit.

Anyway, guys, that’s all I’ve got on that.  I’m going to Burger King to get a refill.  Before I do, thought I’d throw up a few pics of the weekend – it was a ton of fun.

Until next time,

Daniel

Even though I had a great time at the admitted student open house last year as a high school senior, I have to admit that being at the open house this year as an admitted student was even more fun.  Maybe it was because I had a little too much sugar after sitting behind the candy bowl at the Ask-a-Student table all afternoon, but the whole day was really fun meeting and chatting with all of the admitted students.  Throughout the day, a shocking number of parents all asked me the same question: “what is the most bizarre question that you’ve been asked all day?”  While I wouldn’t really consider any of the questions I was asked on Thursday to be bizarre, I did have a few favorites that went beyond the typical “Why Hopkins?”  While “Why Hopkins?” is a perfectly legitimate question to ask, the less conventional questions that students asked were what really made the open house a lot of fun.

-How often do you get off campus? Probably about once a week.  There are free shuttles that can take you pretty much anywhere within like twenty minutes of campus, or else you could take a cab or rent a Zip Car for a few hours to drive wherever you want.  This weekend alone, I went to the Hunt Valley Mall, Panera Bread, and a tulip garden for a Phi Mu sisterhood retreat.  Some of my favorite spots are Sabatino’s in Little Italy, Towson Mall and the nearby Vietnamese Restaurant, and Tapas Teatro and the Charles Theater.

My Phi Mu Family at a Local Restaurant

-Do you think your freshman year was more stressful than your hardest year of high school, and will people at Hopkins be as competitive as my high school class? In all honesty, I felt a lot more stressed out in high school than I do here at Hopkins.  The work is definitely harder here, but I know I can handle it all and I have a lot more time on my hands.  As far as the competitiveness of Hopkins, I would say that while my friends at Hopkins are more driven and intense than my high school friends, they’re actually less competitive.  Ever since like day two of classes, we’ve figured out that classes are a lot easier when you’re collaborative, so we work together on homework and we’re really only concerned with doing as well as we can individually.

-What kinds of things do you cook in your dorm room? I wish I could give a more exciting answer to this question, but since I live in the AMRs I don’t cook very often.  Occasionally we’ll buy pre-made cookie dough and bake it in the AMR common kitchen, but we’re really bad at cooking so aside from that we eat at the FFC.  Judging by what I’ve seen in Miranda’s blog, it seems like she’s a much better cook.

-How big is the closest mall to campus? I live right by the second biggest mall in the country at home, and I still consider the Towson mall to be pretty big.  It has like four floors too, so prepare to climb some steps.

Towson Mall at Christmas time

-Are there a lot of people here from the East Coast? I’ve met a lot of people here from New Jersey, and it seems like there is a good number of East Coasters, but overall I think Hopkins is extremely geographically diverse.  A lot of the students I’ve met here from farther west consider it really convenient to have close friends from the East Coast because whenever they get homesick, they can always take the train home with their friends and get a home-cooked meal away from home!

-What is there to do besides run, lift weights, and play basketball in the Rec Center? There’s a rock wall, a huge variety of equipment for students to rent and use in the enormous indoor gymnasium, and there are several racquetball courts.  A lot of students here also purchase passes to attend unlimited classes throughout the semester – anything from spinning to Pilates to boot camp.

Laura's schedule

-If I come to Hopkins, do I ever have to take a foreign language course again? Nope, there are hundreds of other humanities classes to chose from to fulfill your distribution requirements.  That’s the great thing about not having a core curriculum.  However, as a Spanish major, I’d encourage you to give foreign languages another chance!

-Do people complain about the food? Not really – the general consensus among freshmen is that the Fresh Food Café is pretty good.  The only complaints are that people are bored of the food in the FFC, but this is easily resolved by using other on and off-campus dining options like Nolan’s, Levering, Pura Vida, Charles Street Market, Silk Road Café, Einstein’s Bagels, University Market, Subway, Chipotle, and many others.  In terms of dining, there’s something here for everyone.

-With a Hopkins workload, will I still be able to watch Bones every week? Yes, there are TVs in the common/lounge area of every dorm building.  The second floor of Wilson House hasn’t missed an episode all year.

Wilson House excursion to the Baltimore Comedy Factory

-Is there anything that you feel like the admissions office really exaggerates? I really don’t think so.  Back when I was a prospective student sitting in the info session, I thought that they were for sure exaggerating the whole research aspect of the university and maybe the security, but now that I’m here I realize that they really weren’t kidding around.  This campus has been ranked by Reader’s Digest as the Safest campus in the country, and the research opportunities for undergrads here are in my opinion even more significant than admissions describes.

-Is there a class you can take about food? Yes!  I took Fiction for Foodies over Intersession, and there are a lot of other really random and fun classes to take during Intersession.  The best part is that Intersession is completely covered by your fall tuition, so classes, meals, and housing during the month of January are free for anyone who wants to come back.

food at Charles Street Market

-Did your sorority give you those sunglasses? Why yes, they did!  Just another reason why you should consider rushing.

-How often do you talk to your parents? I talk to them just about every day, usually when I don’t feel like doing work and my friends are all at class.  I call frequently enough for my sisters to complain that I should stop interrupting their TV shows.

So whether you’re an admitted student coming to the open house this week or a prospective student browsing the blogs, ask us something!!  Looking forward to meeting more of the Class of ’14 on Thursday!