‘Baltimore’ Category

  1. Springing Ahead

    February 11, 2012 by Cate W.

    Second semester has only just begun, but the deadline to add courses has already passed! It seems like I am never at home, and 4 out 5 weekdays it seems like I am on campus from 8 am to 7 pm straight.

    Right before the semester started, I began fostering six kittens from Barcs, which is an animal shelter located near the Inner Harbor.  Having six little buddies running around has been fun, but has made sleeping near impossible, since I am constantly covered in cats, and one always wants to sleep on my head.

    She sleeps on top of heads...

    Fostering animals is a great way for Hopkins students to experience having animals at home (not in dorms of course) without having to commit to long-term keeping the animals.  However, knowing me, I am of course keeping a kitten or two for myself.  Animals have always been such an important part of my life, an I just can’t seem to live without a cat in my life.

    Fostering also helps the animal shelters out.  There is only limited space for animals and, especially for older animals, if there is no room they get euthanized.  Kittens, on the other hands, need lots of socializing and space to play, so that’s why a foster home is the ideal place for them.

    Kittens are no good at doing homework.

    I’ve had my little guys for about three weeks now, and I will have them for one more week before they go in for a check up.  Then they just get surgically sterilized, and they are ready for adoption.  I was really excited that I found homes for all six kittens with JHU students.  I know they would go to good homes if they were adopted straight from Barcs, but I am also very excited that they are going home with Hopkins students.  Having a little kitty around really makes studying at home so much more fun!

    Algebra makes Wilbur sleepy too.

    Category Academics, Baltimore, Social Action | Tags: | 2 Comments

  2. Hopkins Nostalgia

    January 22, 2012 by Cate W.

    I’m back in Baltimore, and the spring semester is creeping up on me all too fast!  It’s strange… after being a Hopkins student for only two and a half years, I’ve developed this weird sense of memory about the seasons at Hopkins.  When the time of the year changes, I get filled with all of these weird feelings I associate with my time spent here in past years, some of them happy and some of them sad.  The current sense of emotion leaves me physically sick at the sign of anything Valentine’s related.  I seriously almost had a debilitating vertigo attack in Target this afternoon.  I think I might need to avoid all retail situations for the next month.

    There was lots of snow over Chicago!

    Baltimore got it’s first sincere snow-fall, I think, this past week.  It left campus covered in pretty white snow, and some of the side walks dangerously icy!  JHU_Greco and I nearly slipped and broke our backs on an early morning walk to Paper Moon Diner.

    Being back is nice, but I also don’t have much to do for the next week.  The current agenda is cleaning.  However, my roommate, Peter, and I did happen across a very nice dresser next to the dumpster (classy I know) this week, which has sincerely helped my storage shortage.

    My free dresser! A lot of college kids throw away perfectly good furniture. I will not stop obsessing over this! Don't judge!

      A part of me is just dreading and avoiding classes in a week.  Looking back, a year ago I think I was just in a happier place in my life.  This year is different, but I need to focus on looking forward before the rest of college passes me by.  I think that’s one of the hardest parts of college; there are just chapters that are happier and more fun than others.

    My time at Hopkins is coming quickly to an end.  By this time next year, I will have already applied to post-graduation plans, such as graduate school.  It’s terrifying.  One moment you’re freshmen, in general courses, the next moment you still feel like a freshmen, but suddenly you’re making horrifying life decisions.  When I look in the mirror, I still see a twelve-year-old girl.  I don’t feel as though I look as old as I am, but sometimes I feel like I act a whole twenty years older.  Life plays these funny tricks on us.  Sometimes you think you have a whole lifetime until you reach college age, then you think you’ll be in college for a lifetime, and then suddenly it’s over.  I know I have a whole other year and half to take advantage of, but it seems to be flying by far too fast.

    Category Baltimore, Breaks | Tags: | 2 Comments

  3. Good Karma: Fostering Buddha

    October 25, 2011 by Cate W.

    Hopkins students give back to the community in a variety of ways.  Some students do service projects, some students help out individuals of the community, some students advocate for the environment.  Hopkins students also make friends in a variety of different ways.  Some students make friends via clubs, some students make friends via their lab work, and some people make friends via Greek life.  This past semester my roommate, Peter, and I found a way to both give back to community and make a friend for life.  About a month ago we took in a three year old Chihuahua terrier mix, named Buddha as a foster pet.

    This is Buddha!

    He used to chew his foot out of anxiety, so he has to wear a cone.

    Buddha was found as a stray and brought to a local Baltimore shelter known as Recycled Love.  There he was placed in a foster home, us!  My roommate was lucky enough to find him, and it’s been bundles of fun ever since.

    He adores licking makeup, especially lipstick.

    When he first moved in with us, he was very hyper and skittish.  It was pretty obvious he was abused, and he still very wary of meeting new people.  However now, he is very comfortable around both of us, and he is especially attached to Peter, who is his primary caretaker.  Fostering is a great way to give animals in need of a home a place to stay, allowing more animals to be given the opportunity to stay in shelters and away from being euthanized.

    He has his own stuffed blue jay! He chewed its face off...

    Giving Buddha a temporary home was one way we found to give back to the Baltimore community, but obviously he brings a lot more joy and fun than the typical service act.  Of course Peter and I want to adopt him.  We’ve naturally grown very, very attached to him.  He’s the little twerp that puts a smile on my face every time I come home.  We recently decided if a he doesn’t find a good home by winter break that Peter would adopt him.  Obviously if the perfect applicant applied to adopt him, we would be happy to give him a good, loving home.  On the other hand, we wouldn’t mind keeping him either.

    Category Baltimore, Miscellaneous, Social Action | Tags: | 2 Comments

  4. Goats and Earthquakes

    August 24, 2011 by Cate W.

    Summer is pretty much officially over.  In less than a week it’s back to classes and reality.  I’ve only purchased one book, but that’s okay.  It seems as the semesters go on and on that you get less and less worked up about them.  However, I am really not looking forward to homework.

    Last weekend I headed to Boston to meet my roommate Peter, and then we drove an excruciating 10 hours back to Baltimore.  I have an extremely short attention span and need pretty much constant stimulation, so any long car ride is extremely painful for me.  I hope it’s the last one I take in a very long time.

    Boston is a place I have never been before.  That’s the odd thing about growing up in the Midwest.  It seems like Midwestern people don’t travel as much as the coastal types.  This probably has to do with the fact that nothing terribly interesting is within driving distance.

    Searching through the pictures I took in Boston. It appears all that was captured were these adorable goats. I absolutely love goats. This one was pretty young, but he was so friendly, almost dog-like! :D

    Boston was fun and also significantly colder than Baltimore.  I wore jeans.  It was that cold.  Now vacation is over and I am back in the heat of Baltimore.

    I am sure everyone heard about the earthquake that shook the entire east coast.  Yep, I felt that.  I was sitting in lab, which happens to be on the 4th floor or a building made entirely of glass, including glass walls on the inside.  I guess a lab with glass walls filled with glassware and chemicals is not where you want to be during a earthquake.  Anyways, I was sitting at my computer doing work when all of a sudden the floor started rolling and swaying.  I looked around at caught puzzled glances with another researcher.  Then I looked around again and everyone was looking at each other puzzled.  The glassware it the entire lab was rattling.  Very eerie.  Then I stood up and found my graduate student.  At first I thought something had exploded in a lab downstairs, like a large piece of equipment.  We stood inside for a few minutes before everyone had to evacuate.  Then we filed to the street where probably thousands of university workers were standing.  Ten minutes later it was back to work.  While standing outside everyone was growing impatient, mumbling “I have an experiment to do!”  Others simply went home.

    AWW! What a cutie!

    So I guess that it pretty much all that is new with me.  Now that freshmen move in has begun I am entirely avoiding the Homewood area.  I’ll let the frenzy pass.

    Category Baltimore, Beyond Baltimore, Breaks | Tags: | No Comments

  5. These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

    June 28, 2011 by Cate W.

    Every summer has a list of favorite things that define that summer.  I’ve been thinking a lot about what defines Summer ’11, and this is what I’ve come up with.

    1. Baltimore, Maryland 21210

    This is my first summer spent at Hopkins.  Even thought I’ve lived here for the great part of 2 years, my zip code just changed.  It went from 21218 to 21210 after I moved into my new apartment.  Anyways, obviously Baltimore has to be a favorite thing that defines my summer.

    1. Home cooked meals

    All right, they aren’t quite the same as your mother’s meals, but I am home cooking.  Since, I moved to Hopkins to amount of food eaten from restaurants skyrocketed.  Now that I have a nice kitchen with a (gas!) stove, I have been working a lot on my cooking skills.  I even bought a few cookbooks.  So far my favorite foods to make are pizza, pumpkin pancakes, veggie burgers, and ice cream sundaes.

    1. Coloring in the green Thumb

    For the past two years I have tried my hand at indoor gardening, which has always ended in failure and mourning.  Now that I have a balcony, I thought I would get gardening one last shot by planting cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, and various herbs.  So far so good, so maybe summer ’11 is the summer for gardening.  I really hope I get tomatoes by the beginning of the semester.  Fingers crossed!

    1. New Hair

    If you knew me in high school, you would have noticed my hair changed color about every other week.  Now that I am in college I’ve slowed that progression in look.  However, last week I figured it was time for a change, so I grabbed the ‘ol green handled scissors and cut myself some bangs.  It was time for a change, so I gave myself one.

    1. Home

    Last but not least, my favorite thing about summer will be home.  I’m so excited to head home on the 4th of the July to be reunited with my parents and sisters.  It will be the first time in a year that we will all be together, so I am really excited for just that alone.  Although I’ll be back before the month is over, I am so anxious to get home and spend some time with my family before returning to Baltimore.

     

    So that’s all that makes the list for favorite things of Summer ’11.

     

    Category Baltimore, Breaks | Tags: | No Comments