Class of 2014: Freshman Blog

If you haven’t read any of my other blogs, you may not know that I love Europe and hope to marry into royalty to get EU citizenship (and some crown jewels of course). Normally, when I want to be European, I wear my purple-knit beret when it’s cold out, eat chocolate croissants and crepes at Carma’s and Belgian waffles at Dominion Ice Cream, and if I’m really motivated, I fais la grève (strike) about the lack of AC in the AMRs like the French (just kidding!).

Last week, that wasn’t cutting it, so I decided to study abroad next semester. Unfortunately, I’m already enrolled in all my classes and those last minute flights to Europe are just so darn expensive (and the Charm City Circulator is completely free and doesn’t have a carbon footprint like planes do), so I decided to just study for a few hours in Little Italy, Baltimore instead. Armed with some books, I decided to go straight to a cafe and get some studying done. However, I got a little sidetracked along the way.

One of the reasons I normally get sidetracked is because I have a horrible sense of direction. To avoid this, I went to the Baltimore Visitor Center. This is a great resource even if you aren’t a visitor because they have lots of information about Baltimore, coupons, free tours of the area, and a great, free map of Little Italy. I would definitely suggest getting one because they are really pretty and it really find interesting things in the Inner Harbor.

 

After I visited the Visitor Center, I started to walk over to Little Italy. However, I couldn’t help but stop and notice the pretty fresco-type artwork.

Even though those lovely frescoes might have had some subliminal messaging, I tried to stay focused and find a cafe to get some studying done. It was very hard though. Little Italy has lots of boards pronouncing the food available at their restaurants. When it gets towards dinnertime, you’ll see lots of people outside their restaurants encouraging you to come in and try their food (and if you’re skilled in the art of bartering, you can even get cheaper food– when I went here with a friend, we got free dessert!).

As I continued to walk around the neighborhood, there were lots of people on their stoops (oops, they call them front steps in Baltimore) talking and chatting. It was very fun to walk around. I even learned some Italian from process of elimination on the chalkboards; I learned that “have a good meal” is “buon appetito” and “insalata” is salad. The pronunciation- I’m still a little unsure.

I decided to look for an interesting place to take my parents when they come to visit. I walked around the neighborhood and got very confused when I saw Max’s Empanadas. But, never fear- even though the cuisine is Argentinian, the owner is half-Italian.

I got averted from studying once again by this sign.

Apparently, Nancy Pelosi used to live in Little Italy with her father, the former mayor of Baltimore. I was curious about other people that lived in Baltimore, so I pulled out my Baltimore history guide from the Visitor Center and apparently Babe Ruth, Emily Post (the queen of politeness), and Michael Phelps were all born in Baltimore!

Since I considered that a considerable amount of studying for a summer day, I then decided to walk back to the Inner Harbor to go home, but I was sidetracked by the bocce courts. I wanted to play a game of bocce, but unfortunately no one was there to play with me and that was the only day I forgot to put my bocce ball in my bag. I talked to a man for a little bit and he said that the games get pretty rowdy after dinnertime.

After all that sightseeing, I got pretty hungry. I was about to turn around and go to Max’s Empanada’s. However, my mind was swayed when I saw restaurant with my favorite quote.

I walked inside Vaccaro’s and instantly, S Club 7′s “Never Had a Dream Come True” popped into my head. It’s filled with cannolis, tirasmisu, cookies, cakes, and gelato. Since it was a hot summer day, I settled for a mint chocolate chip gelato. It was delicious. Needless to say, the lyrics to the song still ring true.

Lessons Learned:

1). For some reason, I am persuaded to do things by street signs.

2). If you’re itching to go to Italy, you can go to Little Italy for a much cheaper and quicker journey. You don’t have to worry about culture shock (or reverse culture shock when you return), exchanging money or credits, or finding an apartment. And this is one of many cultural neighborhoods in Baltimore, so you have lots of options of where to study.

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“On an evening in Roma!”

-JHU “Non capisco italiano” Kate T.

When I watched the celebrity Cribs, I was in awe of their houses. Some celebs had movie theaters in their basements. Others had huge home gyms. What was I most jealous of? Mariah Carey had a shoe closet. I was jealous of these people and wanted a dorm complete with a shoe closet, but I loved my freshman dorm. Let me show you around the coolest things about it.

#1: My walls were made of cork.This is probably the most important one.

This was awesome. I was able to add posters to my wall easily- all I had to do was find a thumbtack. I didn’t have to worry about finding toothpaste to patch up the holes in my wall either; I really am going to miss that wall next year. Since people had cork walls, it allowed people to have more posters and things on their wall. My roommate and I added things throughout the year to remind us to things we went to and it was made possible with the wonderful cork board.

#2: Customization

You could choose to change the furniture around and loft the bed. I decided not to loft my bed because I am not coordinated and would trip trying to run and jump onto the bed, but my roommate lofted hers 1/4. You can make bunk beds or even fully loft it and make a hang out space (or fort) like some of my friends.

#3: Cool Doors

The AMRs had message boards on the doors. This was awesome: people would write messages, funny quotes of ours, and random notes. It was really awesome. All the RAs also make nametags on the door with themes; our theme was great movies.

#4: Huge Clothing Storage

I loved my closet! I fit all my dresses, jackets, shirts, pants, skirts, and tons of other stuff in my closet. I was happy that the extra shoe room that my friends and I joked about because I love shoes.

#5: Beautiful Courtyard

AMR II has a great courtyard outside of my dorm. It was a really nice and cool spot; it was also a great meeting spot for people. There were even guitar seshs from time to time.

 

#6: The People in My Hall

In the AMRs (which is the traditional style housing with common bathrooms), we are divided into houses. Houses are a group of 40 people from all three floors and they tend to bond together. My house ate dinner together all the time and went on house outings. I had a lot of friends in my house. Also, I was able to meet a bunch of people because everyone’s rooms were very close together and people hung out in the halls.

 

 

If you’d like to check out my room in full (including our baseball field-front view, my easily-decoratable desk, and our bed), click play on the video below with the gorgeous screenshot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOodpzdYOj8

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“Get Out of My House”

Palace Owner JHU_Kate T.

A lot of the people at Hopkins this summer are taking classes, but I have been working in Dr. Wirtz’s Lab in the Center for Oncology in Engineering.  It has been a lot of fun working in this lab. I’ve learned a lot too! So, if my research work was a semester of school, these would be the classes:

Cellular Devices

I’ve learned so much about cells in my five weeks here. I learned how to pass, plate, and fix and stain. I’ve learned all about the cell- I can even give a tour of it! I’ve gotten to use some really interesting tools, including a very expensive microscope and a pipette that you just press a button and you get the exact amount you wanted. It’s really awesome. That’s one of the great things about research at Hopkins. My friend who’s here for a REU from another university said that she doesn’t want to go back to her school because we have great resources here to work on projects.

What is Cancer?
I’ve learned a lot about what cancer is. My research project is finding physical markers in cancer cells to see if we can better diagnose cancer. My lab also has semi-weekly meetings where I get to learn all about other people’s projects; it’s really cool. I’ve become more attuned to cancer articles as well. I actually read this really interesting article the other day about how fasting before chemotherapy may help lessen the side effects.

The Art of Microscopy Photography
One of my favorite things to do is to take pictures on this very high-tech microscope. It takes a lot of work to get the picture, but the pictures are really clear and super interesting. I even found a heart shaped cell once!

Electives:

Compound Cryptography

When I entered the lab, I saw all this crazy letters. I didn’t know what anything stood for, so it all looked like Greek to me. Luckily, my grad student is very helpful in giving me the answer to these codes. Wikipedia is super helpful as well.

Tetris Addiction 101

On a less serious note, I also learned how addicting tetris is from one of my friends at lab. I learned the terminology: hard drop, soft trap, and T-spin. I actually learned that you can actually get addicted to tetris because the game increases your brain’s consumption of glucose. Weird, huh?

But, like Hopkins, my favorite part of this experience is the people. I really like my co-workers and Dr. Wirtz is a really great professor. He always comes around the lab to see how we are doing. When I did research at another school, I didn’t even see the professor once! The grad students are really nice as well; I fist bump one of them every time I see. Everyone was really welcoming into the lab and I am super grateful for that.

Research definitely is a big part of Hopkins as over 75% of students do get involved in some shape or form during their time here. Since there is such awesome research going on, we have a lot of opportunities to get involved. When I was talking to my friend from another university in the lab, he said that it is very difficult to get into labs at his home school and that only 10-15 kids per major will be involved. I am very happy to be at a university that allows me to get involved with this interesting research.

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Eureka! I think I found it!
Scientist JHU_Kate

 

When I was in second grade, I wanted to be a pasta maker. I was over being a teacher or dancer or an engineer; I read a book about making pasta and fell in love with the profession. This may have been a noble profession for me, but I have to let you in on a secret. I am not a skilled cook; unfortunately the skills fairy sprinkled a sixth sense for cookie locations instead of the ability to create them. I’ve kind of been in denial about this for a while, but I finally came to face the facts today when I made some cookies for my lab. What is this mysterious lab? I’ve been working in Dr. Wirtz’s Lab in the Engineering in Oncology Lab. I took a few weeks after my finals to relax, but then I returned to Hopkins, but not to study, but to work.

Back to one of my favorite topics: cookies. These cookies have a very weird consistency and are oily at the bottom, but gooey at the top. They’re weird tasting and they took me 2 hours to make. This took me back to my FFC days where I ate numerous cookies that were warm and moist and delicious and available whenever I wanted them. I brought them to the lab, but I wasn’t proud of them. (Everyone in the lab said they were good, but that’s one of the things I like about my lab, they are all very nice). One of my projects this summer will be to learn how to make good cookies, now that I’m not living in the dorms.

Since I’m staying here till August, I needed to find housing (since the university only has housing during June and July). I looked at Craig’s List and Padmapper. I also looked at the Hopkins Off-Campus Facebook Page and registry which was really helpful in connecting me with Hopkins students that were willing to sublet for the summer. I contacted a bunch of people, visited, and signed my first sublet/lease papers. I learned the farther in advance you plan, the more options and time you’ll have to figure out the housing situation which will help me when I look for housing next year. It’s different living in an apartment than the dorms. In the dorms, your RA was there to answer questions and unlock your door.

Also, I’ve gone grocery shopping for my parents, but it’s completely different shopping for yourself on your own budget. You cannot shop when you’re hungry or you’ll buy everything that you see. I learned to not buy all carbs or protein or fats because you need a balance of all (my first shopping trip contained the produce section and nothing else). I learned to buy some things that don’t need to be prepared or take little time for those days when I am absolutely exhausted. I also learned that Giant is more expensive than Eddie’s (and yes, I actually went to each store and wrote down the prices to see which was cheaper).

When I think about it, it’s a good transition. After I finished my freshman year, I asked my dad what surprised them about Hopkins. My dad said that he was surprised that Hopkins became my starting point for all my adventures. Hopkins has provided me with many resources to go off and do awesome stuff. However, the thing I like most about these opportunities is that we’re given choices. I am starting to prepare for the real world.

If you haven’t heard of Ruth Reichl, she’s this awesome food critic who worked at Gourmet and New York Times. One of the ways she reviews restaurants is by going to those establishments disguised as a few different people. At one restaurant she highlighted in her book, she went in as herself. The place was packed, so she had to wait for a little bit. The host comes over to her to inform her that there is a table for her; suddenly, the PRINCE of Spain said that he’d been waiting much longer than her and he still didn’t get a table! However, when she returned wearing a fat suit and did her makeup differently and she was treated horribly. She ended up giving different reviews: one for if you were a famous food critic and another for if you were anybody else. I thought this was an awesome way to look at a restaurant, so I put on five disguises and went into the FFC.

Disguise #1: Veracious Vegan

As a vegan, I sometimes find eating at restaurants horrible. It’s hard to find food that I can eat while still staying healthy. However, I feel the Fresh Food Cafe does a great job of this. There is a really nice salad bar filled with lots of variety including lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, beets, broccoli, carrots, olives, croutons, spinach, cucumbers, hummus, peas, corn, mushrooms, and cauliflower. They have really awesome marinated tofu every once in a while. They also have a vegetarian station where they have black bean cakes, falafel, chili, etc. This is really nice because they use special pans that don’t have meat on them. The fabulous cook there (Christine) even is willing to wash the pans for me if a non-vegan has put cheese on it. I feel like I get all my nutrients. Sometimes, I wish they had yummy desserts for me too (I like cookies and cake too), but overall I think we have a lot of good options.

 

Rating: 4 out of 5 tofus

 

Disguise #2: Hibachi Habitué

I love watching things being made in front of me. At home, I cook everything from soufflé to homemade pasta. Since I know how to make everything, I like to see how things are made. And the FFC does a good job of either letting us prepare things ourselves or preparing them in front of our faces. We have the action station where we can order things like pasta or tacos made-to-order along with the vegan/vegetarian station where they prepare falafel and black bean cakes. They also don’t just have prepared salads or hamburgers; you can decide what you want and make your own. They also have an awesome ice cream bar where you can put chocolate sauce, gummy bears, M&Ms, caramel, graham crackers, oreos, and cookie crumbles.

Rating: 5 out of 5 spatulas

 

 

 

 

Disguise #3: Sweet Tooth

SUGAR!

Rating: 6 out of 5 cookies

 

 

Disguise 4: Health Nut

There are a lot of foods available for the health nut at the FFC. I personally love all the fruits and vegetables they have all the time. It’s incredibly easy to just grab an apple or a banana. They have a really varied salad bar and lots of grilled things (if you’re not into the fried stuff). I think the best part is that they usually have the calories and grams of fat near the food so you can see what’s in what you are eating. It’s sometimes hard to resist those desserts.

 

Rating: 3 out of 4 health bars

 

 

Disguise 5: Busy, Stressed Student

They’ll be a few days when you are busy and stressed. And the FFC helps you with that. If you feel you have time to eat in the dining hall, then you can get a take out box where you fill a pretty large box of food and then leave with it. They have nice comfort food (i.e. desserts) and also have late night where you can get some brain fuel. The best part about the FFC though is the staff- whether it’s the omlette lady that is really happy at around 7:45 in the morning to the card swiper that always asked me where my sweater was to the workers that smiled at me and asked me how my day was going to the ice cream scooper that gave me extra sprinkles, the FFC workers are really awesome. They even had a sushi day for the first day of finals!

Rating: 5 out of 4 stressballs

 

 

Lessons learned?

I am really bad at disguises.

The FFC has a lot of variety for any character’s needs.

 

 

Once upon a time, there was a silly princess wannabe named Kate T. (aka me).  I was in my senior year in high school when my fairy godmother appeared out of nowhere. I was scared and fainted, but as soon as I perked up, the fairy grandmother said she would grant me three wishes. Unfortunately, since the fairy godmother in training, only one of the wishes would be granted. I wished for “world peace, a lifetime supply of cookies, and a college that had an abundance of resources and great people”. The third wish was granted. So, at the end of the summer, princess wannabe Kate T. (me) wished goodbye to her parents and started her journey at Johns Hopkins. I wrote 20 blogs in my freshman year- read about my journey and click on the pictures to read the full blogs!

During my first few weeks, I met a lot of awesome people. I met people who live in the sepia color tone, BMEs who love theater, and a friend who explained the geography of Connecticut using a napkin and some ketchup.

 

Before I went to college, I met some crazy sky-divers and went on an exciting adventure in the woods. It was like Goldilocks minus the Wolf and add in an imaginary bear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a few weeks, I thought I may be able to meet a prince if I became a world famous fashion photographer. Unfortunately, I don’t have the skills or pixels on her camera to become a famous photographer, but I found tons of fashionable Hopkins students (and some who just like to strut their stuff) along the way.

I then got real serious about meeting a prince. I’m a college student, so I went to DC (au lieu de France) to find a French prince at the embassy and got in a bit of trouble along the way.

Then, I decided to take time out my busy schedule to write a Public Service Announcement to help the seniors with their college applications- and even includes awkward high school pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After learning more about the French higher education system in my French class, I realized that Hopkins was definitely the school for me- even if there is a no Champs-Elysees or Eiffel Tower in Baltimore. Just a side note: JHU_Allysa found out that they are thinking of building a Eiffel Tower replica in the Inner Harbor!

Since I had talked about friends, camping, fashion, traveling, princes, ceramics, Baltimore, Beyond Baltimore, France, and food,  I figured it was about time to talk about academics. In part one of this three part blog series, there is the adventure of registering for classes.

In the second part of the three part blog series, I talk about her freshman fall semester classes and how taking classes at Hopkins can help me expand my formerly non-existent library.

Then, I stayed for intersession (a magical break between first and second semester) to read a 1000 page book, watch lots of TV, and hang out with friends.

 

 

 

Throughout Intersession, I explored Baltimore and became a transportation guru. Throughout the year, I traveled in planes, trains, automobiles, buses, light rails, subways, and even boats.

 

Since my MRS degree wasn’t working out, I had to scale back on her budget. To save money, I decided to find the cheapest ways to get from point A to point B. I even include embarrassing anecdotes.

 

 

 

 

I then decided to go on a diet to avoid the Freshman 15 (Boring Outfits). I went on a style diet; I only wore JHU colors and clothes for two weeks.

 

 

 

Since I hadn’t been getting any nibbles on becoming a princess, I thought I might try out some career backup plans. I was totally over all the available princes.  I then started looking into becoming a secret agent, but apparently Hopkins was ahead of me.

 

 

 

I had been getting pretty confident in my spy skills that I challenged JHU_Sydney to a duel of BME v. ChemBE. Well, technically it wasn’t a duel and Sydney and I are friends, so I guess it was more of a friendly debate.

 

 

 

I then tried the pirate career path and hid some treasure around the Hopkins for prospective students to find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then tried the investigative reporter track and found out some interesting news about the name of the school.

 

Since I kept switching careers, I think the media started to pay attention. I then had a press conference. Somehow, they unearthed my cute little baby photos. I even met a prince, but he was a former one so it didn’t really count.

After that, I attended one of the coolest events of the season: SO HOP.

 

 

 

 

You know when I said I was over all the available princes. I lied. Sorry. To get over Prince William’s stupid wedding, I kept myself really busy eating and watching performances and analyzing French art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, I share the spotlight with my friend from home to see what she thinks of my future kingdom.

 

 

 

Joking aside, it was a great year at Hopkins. I learned a lot, met a lot of amazing friends, and tried new things.   I hope you enjoyed reading about my freshman year, but if you’ll excuse me I have a castle to build!

 

The end.

 

Just kidding! :) I’ll be back to tell you all about my summer in a few weeks!

If you’re not down with the 13-year-old lingo like me, BFFL stands for Best Friend for Life. And to 13 year-old girls and me, BFFLs are very important and I was sad when we all parted ways to go to separate universities.

However, as the year went on I learned the many benefits of having a BFFL at another college:

-You make more BFFLs. I think if my BFFLs had been at Hopkins, I wouldn’t have branched out as much. Being BFFL-less required me to jump out of my comfort zone and make new friends. It also allowed me to make friends with different types of people.

-You get free lodging and a great tour guide at a great vacation getaway spot. My BFFL Anna lives in DC and I got to have an amazing adventure with her when I visited.

-You get to be a major food critic. The chicken nuggets at American? Great! The pasta at Georgetown? Delish. The restaurants by NYU? Yummy.

-You can get care packages from your friends. It would be kinda random if your friend just gave you a box of random goodies, but getting one in the mail. Totally awesome.

-You have someone to give an unbiased view on things. Stressed out about a major drama at school? They can look at with perfectly clear glasses.

On that note, I asked my BFFL from high school Anna to write about her impressions of Hopkins when she’s visited:

My first run-in with JHU was in the form of the Hopkins bus that took me from Penn Station to the Homewood Campus. I had only ever been to the Inner Harbor area of the city before so it was a good thing the shuttle was there to take me to campus or else I would have been pretty lost (even with Kate’s help).

My fist impression of JHU is that it really looks like it’s in Baltimore. You stand on the quad (well, one of them. You can’t really stand on them all at once. Maybe it was just because it was unfamiliar territory, but JHU’s campus seemed really huge) and look around at the Federal style buildings and you get this overpowering feeling that makes you want to scream “I’m in Baltimore!” (I didn’t actually do this.) The whole campus looks like it could be on a postcard. That’s not actually a bad idea–you could definitely make some money to pay for tuition by selling JHU postcards. There might be a big market for this–you never know.

 

When I visited, it looked like everyone was having a lot of fun. Everyone I met at Hopkins was really nice and personable to me, even though I didn’t know any of them. When Kate took me to the FCC we sat at a big table with a bunch of other people, and everyone was talking and joking around. No one was throwing up in the dining hall (which after four years of iffy high school cafeteria food seems like a good omen) and I remember they had really tasty lemonade which I drank even though I don’t even really like.

Even though the FFC is really good, the Better World Cafe is incredibly delicious. Well, the food they serve, not the cafe itself. I had a hummus sandwich there which was not only tasty, but not that expensive. JHU students get discounts there and even though I don’t go to JHU the waitress gave me a discount anyway. GO KATE AND HER JCARD. Also, the chocolate cupcake thing we had for dessert was good. So were these cheesecake brownie things. They are delicious.

 

I also saw some real life JHU students (AKA Kate’s floor mates) doing homework in the hallway together, even though it was a Friday night (they did redeem themselves, though, by going out to a party later). Since it was kinda hot out, a lot of the guys weren’t wearing shirts, I remember that. If the hallway is not your thing, Hopkins has a ginormous library that not only has a lot of books, but increasing levels of quietness on its subterranean floors. I didn’t actually sit down in any of the chairs but they looked comfy, which is a plus. I spent a lot of time in my library this year and thoroughly appreciate the value of a good comfy couch.

The most striking thing about Hopkins for me as a visitor from another university was the security–it was really tight. I had to leave my driver’s license at the guard house every time I went into Kate’s dorm and when I went into the library. I’m not sure how things are at other schools, but at AU things are really laid back and you could just follow someone into a building you don’t have swipe access to and flash your ID to the person at the desk. With all the uniformed guards and turnstiles and whatnot the dorms did feel safe, but it would seriously suck if you lost your JHU card and couldn’t get into your own room.

My favorite thing? My bffl Kate took me to her dorm room which has cork board walls which I kind of wanted to steal and swap with my own white brick walls which were not very good at holding up posters. Let me tell you: Hopkins dorms are pretty shnazzy. Because of the cork walls everyone has all kinds of posters and pictures and things up.

 

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Make new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other’s gold. A circle is round; it never ends; that’s how long I want to be your friend!

JHU_(Girl Scout) Kate

So as long as you are not living under a rock, you probably heard about the Royal Wedding this week. Unlike most people, this wedding made me sad! If you have read any of my other blogs, I aspire to marry a rich prince and this meant one more is now unavailable. To distract myself from this horrible news, I kept myself pretty busy.

Friday Afternoon-

After an interesting process analysis class, I met up with a Class of 1971 graduate to give him a tour of AMR II (the dorm where I live). Interestingly enough, he said it hadn’t changed much in 50 years. He told me a lot about some of the old traditions at Hopkins; for example, we used to have housemasters in the AMR houses.

I then went with my friend Nora to the Baltimore Museum of Art. I needed to write a French paper on an art piece and she’s taken a bunch of art history classes, so we walked to the BMA and looked at some pieces. If you’re an artisty person, the BMA is on campus and free to the public, so you can go look at beautiful artwork all the time.

I picked a piece called “Child with A Hoop” by Renoir. I then learned that Renoir wanted to have a girl so badly that he normally drew pictures of his son as a girl. He didn’t even let his son cut his hair (despite the fact that he was teased about it).

Nora and I then went to go to the Foreign Affairs Symposium where we heard from two Nobel Prize winners about their experiences. They introduced a really cool thing called “science diplomacy”; one of the researchers visited scientists in North Korea and Cuba and explained their peaceful exchange over their mutual love of science.

After that, we were invited to go to a Battle of the a Cappella groups. Some of the groups were JHU_Lucie’s Mental Notes, JHU_Greco’s Vocal Chords, the Octopodes, Kranti (a South Asian American fusion group), and the All-Nighters. It was really fun; my favorite song of the night was “One Semester of Spanish Love Song” sung by the Mental Notes.

After that, we headed back to the AMRs. On the way, we passed Relay for Life. For some reason, I thought that Relay for Life was a 4K run. However, Relay for Life is really awesome; people form teams and walk for 12 hours. One person from the team has to be on the track at all times. Sydney and I didn’t sign up, but we decided to go for a walk anyway.

Since I was so hungry from all that walking and sitting and watching and French art analysis, I decided to get one of the most delicious cupcakes that one of the booths was selling. They were true JHU_Sydney’s blog to find out more.

After that, I went with the Center for Social Concern and volunteered at the Mini Day of Service at a local farm in Baltimore. It was really fun and  the time went very quickly. I even forgot about Prince William for a while.

So, it was a fun weekend! I learned that I eat a lot of cupcakes and like opening my mouth in pictures! And as my lovely roommate said, Prince Harry’s cuter.

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It’s Friday, Friday, Friday— gotta get down on Friday!

JHU_Kate T.

Last week, we talked a little about springs in my physics class. And of course, that praise to the physics gods sprung spring!

To prove that spring was sprung, there was the most exclusive and happening event ever. It was SO HOP. It was bigger than the Oscars, bigger than the Grammys, and even bigger than the G7 summit.

So, what’s SO HOP?

Spring Orgami Hat Organization Protest?

Stop Octopi Hatred Of Penguins?

Start Overwhelming Hankering Openly, Pennsylvanians?

Nope!

It’s the Spring Open House and Overnight Programs. This year was the first year for this lovely program.

So, why was it better than the Oscars?

-There were TWO concerts, featuring many musical guests. Hopalooza one featured the multi-talented Hopkins dance and a capella groups and the other featured a mash-up artist Milkman, the JHU radio station (WJHU), and the mascot. None of the performers had any wardrobe malfunctions or were found to be lipsynching, so that was a plus. The host for the Hopalooza was pretty funny which is sometimes difficult for Oscars hosts. He also had a mad throwing arm.

-There was catered dinner with renowned speaker Ron Daniels (aka his majesty the university president).

-There was tons of free swag. People got free t-shirts, free drawstring backpacks, free bumper stickers, tons of free candy, free tours of the dorms, free food, free lemonade, free cups, free cup holders,  free stickers, free SO HOP J Card, and great flyers made by JHU_Clint and JHU_Tess. It definitely rivals the swag bag at the Oscars. My hostee had so much free swag she couldn’t fit it in her bag.

-We one-upped the Oscars and got a black carpet. Red was never the new black- jeez.

-The undergraduate host and the pre-freshman hostee were hand-selected and they were all put at assigned tables. It was like the Oscars without the politics.

-Speaking of hosts, each attendee got a host- and they could ask as many questions as they wanted. Who doesn’t want that?

-SO HOP has its own logo.

-Glow sticks.

-Long speeches about majors and departments instead of thank you speeches to their parents, directors, etc.

-People say I look like Anna Popplewell and here she is on the red carpet. I’ll count that as a guest appearance.

-Autographs from your favorite SAABers.

http://twitter.com/JHU_Brian/status/58729387910119424

So, pre-frosh, if you are trying to attend the “hottest” admitted student event of the year, strap on your stilettos and head on down to SO HOP on April 27-28. If you want to travel in style, take the SO HOP Express. Not as cool as a limo, but we’re working on that. :)

Joking aside, one of the things that I found cool about SO HOP was that a lot of it was run and planned by students. Admissions staff members, Admissions Representatives (current students who interview), Student Admissions Advisory Board members (SAAB), Hopkins Hosting Society Hosts, Engineering Ambassadors, and Blue Key tour guides all helped make the day so successful. Over 300 students volunteered to host!  I think the fact that so many students came out and wanted to help make it the “hottest” event ever means that people really do love Hopkins and want all you attractive pre-frosh to come.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–Here’s a chemistry joke for you (and my pre-frosh if they are reading this):

How many guacs are guacamole? Avocado’s number!

If you’re attending SO HOP #2, see you on the black carpet!

Star Reporter: JHU_Kate T.

 

Oprah interviewed me because I’m such a great blogger- here’s the transcript! Just kidding, but when I looked at colleges, I loved reading all about different students that went to the university- even the silly ones like me. It gave the university some character and life. This week, all the Hopkins Interactive bloggers are answering questions about ourselves, Hopkins, and maybe even the meaning of life if we have time. :)

Get to Know JHU_Kate T.

Birthplace and Current Hometown- Born: Greenwich, CT, Raised: Redding, CT

Major/Minor(s)- Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChemBE for short) with a minor in French and possibly business

When I grow up, I want to… work for a pharmaceutical company. Or live in Brussels and engineer chocolate for Godiva.

Favorite Spot  on the Homewood Campus: Gilman

Favorite Place to eat in Baltimore- One World Cafe

Favorite TV Show- Current: Glee, Canceled: Pushing Daisies and 30 Days

Favorite color: Purple

Favorite sports team: NY Mets

My Hopkins Experience:

When did I know Hopkins was right for me?

When I visited Hopkins for an Open House in April, I really loved all the people I met. I couldn’t believe how much I had in common with the people I met. I also really liked my tour guide a lot; he was super enthusiastic (like me) and I could totally see myself being friends with him.

What is one thing that would surprise your friends/family about Hopkins?

The CEO and president of Pizza Hut came to Hopkins. His classmates? The director of Scream, Rachael Carson (a famous environmentalist), and one of the writers for the Office (my brother’s and mother’s favorite show!). I love knowing about the people that came here!  I think my family and friends would be surprised about the diversity of majors and passions people have here at Hopkins.

If you were the University President, what is the first thing you would do or change?

Free chocolate for stressed out students! I would also put in a free speech wall where people could put their thoughts or ads for events. We have a bunch of free speech areas, but I think it would be cool to have one in a more central location on campus.

If you could go back and choose your college again, would you pick Hopkins? Why?

Yes.  I love the people at Hopkins. Everyone is super interesting and smart and funny and fun. The professors are brilliant- and I think the research that is going on here is outstanding. I feel so fortunate to be a part of this university.

What was your perception about Hopkins before enrolling and how has it changed since then?

I remember thinking that Hopkins was too manicured and student voice wasn’t very strong. However, there are many free speech areas. The Breezeway is filled with signs advertising events and people asking you to sign petitions. I also love the little surprises throughout campus. For example, one of the chalkboards in my classroom had a giant smiley face on it one day with the caption “Don’t Worry, Be Happy- Love, the Fun Bandits”. We also have a lot of input in our dining hall; we have meetings every few months where you can request different foods. We even got an orange juice squeezer due to a student’s request.

What’s my favorite class?

I really liked my Process Analysis class. Many people find it boring, but I think it’s really interesting and I love the professor. She’s really engaging and super organized. She makes it all make sense. Plus, she’s French and I believe ChemBE+French=perfect combination.

Describe your funniest memory or experience at Hopkins:

I cannot think of the funniest memory off the top of my head (because people at Johns Hopkins are very funny), but a funny moment that comes to mind happened at the freshman dining hall. My hall always sits at this round tables on the left hand side for dinner, but there is never enough seats for everyone at one table, so we normally fill up 1 and 1/2 tables. One day, there was one more person than there were chairs. It was a game of musical chairs and people were sprinting to get dessert. One girl forgot a fork so she ate a piece of cake with her hands.

How would your college experience be different if you hadn’t chosen Hopkins?

Of course, I wouldn’t have met all the awesome people here. I wouldn’t have had the intellectual challenge of Hopkins. I probably never would have visited Baltimore- and see what it has to offer. In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have loved public transportation as much. I also really appreciate all the traditions and community at Hopkins. I don’t know if I would have gotten such supportive faculty anywhere else.

What has your greatest contribution been during my time at Hopkins, or what do you hope to accomplish before graduation?

I hope to participate in some of the amazing research here in the future.

What advice would you give to a  high school senior choosing their college?

Visit! Talk to people, sit in on a class, and eat lunch with a current student. Most of all, relax!

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There’s a free car under all your seats!

JHU_Kate T.