The Reel Life of Josh

This blog is a combination of my lack of something to say and an homage to High Fidelity, which I just scrolled past on TV. Just go with it.

Top Five Buildings
5 – Hodson
4 – Levering
3 – Shriver
2 – Bloomberg
1 – Gilman

Top Five Hidden Spots to Hang Out

My apartment. Another good place to hang out or study.

5 – Gazebo in the Sculpture Garden
4 – WJHU (if your friend has a radio show)
3 – Bloomberg Observatory
2 – President’s Garden
1 – (Cannot reveal for fear of outsiders finding it)

Top Five People to Avoid
5 – Loud talkers in MSE
4 – Drunken Frat guys
3 – The “Shush” Lady (she’s nice, but usually you’d see her for the wrong reason)
2 – Baltimore City Police
1 – There is always one person in each year that will fill this slot.

Top Five Ways to Get in Trouble as a Freshman
5 – Thinking too little
4 – Thinking too much
3 – Underage drinking
2 – Steal food from CharMar
1 – Loud party in your dorm

Top Five Ways to Embarrass Yourself
5 – Learning you have weird habits that your college friends don’t have, but were normal at home
4 – Slipping on the marble steps
3 – Dropping a tray of food at FFC
2 – Have an awkward conversation with someone you “pre-Facebook Friended” before coming to school
1 – “Walk of Shame” after a themed party

Top Five “Old White Guy” Professors

You'll have to look around real hard to find this place

5 – J.C. Walker
4 – Robert Kargon
3 – Mel Kohn
2 – Andrew Cherlin
1 – John Mann

Top Five Things About Hopkins that Make Me Feel Old
5 – Getting invited to Young Alumni Weekend
4 – Knowing what Gilman Hall used to be like
3 – Knowing what “Think Theta” on the billboard in the Gilman Tunnel is actually about
2 – Never having Mason Hall as an admissions building on my college visit
1 – Remembering Berts, the T Mobile store, and the stationary store on St. Paul + the Records and Tape Traders where Maxie’s/7Eleven is

Living with a roommate is an eye opening experience. Being around your best friend all the time can be a burden but also has its benefits. There are things I never would have experienced without my roommate. Here are some of them:

1) Foods -- I was exposed to Clementines and Spam (both of which I hated, but can now hate them with due reason). I was also forced to switch to Strawberry jelly instead of my usual Grape for the past few months.

My roommate and I at the bus stop during Snowpocalypse

2) Expenses -- My roommate is possibly the cheapest person on the planet. And I’m not somebody who likes to spend money. But I have learned to become even thriftier. His Costco card and our penchant for thrift store shopping have kept costs down.

3) Cleanliness -- I learned that if you never clean and your roommate never cleans, things get dirty.

4) Video games can be social – I’m not a huge video game person, but I do like playing sports games and have since high school. Since then, it has always been a solitary experience, but having my roommate play Madden with me adds a new dynamic to the game. It also makes you feel some sympathy for the other person when you are beating them (and hopefully visa versa) rather than when I play my brother at home and reel no remorse.

5) 90s references – This is something pretty specific to my roommate situation. My roommate and I love to make pop culture references, especially from the 90s. It’s rare that you could go a day without a sing along involving something in the vein of “Two Princes” or “Follow You Down”. (I hope people reading this know what I’m talking about. Otherwise I’m really starting to date myself. But I don’t want to be like adults who explain things to me that I was alive for – like when people say, “Oh, you don’t even remember what cassettes were like.” Rant over) Without my roommate, how would I constantly remind myself of these things?

6) Vitamins – I now take vitamins daily because my roommate is constantly sick.

7) Diet – Having a roommate around makes you realize what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat. With someone there to judge you for your 3 AM UniMini run for a Chicken Parm, you may think twice. Try and open that fridge in the middle of the night too without waking him up. It’s tough.

8) Fighting isn’t always a bad thing – My roommate and I have lived together for 3 years now. And we lived down the hall from one another freshman year. We’re bound to get under each other’s skin. And living together only makes it worse. We tend to bicker a lot, but at the end of the day, we can still laugh and have a good time.

I think living with a roommate is a great learning experience. It teaches you a great deal about how to deal with others and about yourself. One day soon, I’m hoping to be in a place of my own, but for now, I’m happy where I am.

Here’s to hoping you enjoy your roommate experience like I have.

So this blog doesn’t really have anything to do with Hopkins.  But it’s the most interesting thing that’s happened to me in a while.

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I was recently invited by my friend Clare to go to the Sundance Film Festival.  Her dad works in the film exhibition business and has gone for many years now.  She, herself, has gone for seven years.  It was an amazing experience and I’ll try and rehash the best I can.

Wednesday:

Woke up at 9:30 AM to finish packing.  Left for BWI at 11 with my friend Alexandra who also came on the trip.  Parked at the Long Term Parking Lot and took a long bus ride to the Southwest terminal.  Check our bags.  Got food at California Tortilla (not recommended).  Waited at the terminal for a while.  Learned the day before that my joint Hopkins/MICA class would be meeting the Monday of my trip since MICA starts a week earlier, so I’d miss the first class.  Had to do work for that on the plane.  Took a really relaxing (and seemingly short) 5 hour trip to Salt Lake City.  A shuttle picked us up and dropped us off at our condo in Park City – the Sunflower.  Caught up for a bit with Clare (after not seeing her for 6 months since she was in Florence for the semester).  Met her dad.  Walked a few blocks to the grocery store and made dinner at the condo.  Made a game plan for the week.

Thursday:

Walked around Park City.  Saw what’s on Main Street.  Took a peek inside Sundance HQ.  Got some free stuff (the first of many days of swag).  Got our ticket package.  (Alexandra thought she saw Elijah Wood at HQ, but that was never confirmed by anyone else.)  Took the Shuttle Loop around and saw where all the theaters are.  Visited New Frontiers – a set of buildings with art installations inside.  The things there included The Arcade Fire’s ‘Wilderness Downtown’ interactive music video, James Franco’s “Three’s Company: The Drama”, an interactive game that ran throughout Park City all week called “Pandemic”, and a room upstairs with a sandbox and interactive bugs made of light that you can play with (harder to explain than I thought).  Also, had a Robert Redford sighting there.  Went to a really nice dinner with the whole gang and Clare’s dad’s friend.

Friday:

FIRST MOVIE DAY!  Get up super early to get waitlist tickets for a film called The Nine Muses.  Not worth it really – an interesting experimental feature, but not a good 9 AM movie.  Then Alexandra and I took a trip to Eccles – the main Sundance theater – to see Martha Marcy May Marlene which we both really liked.  After that, we took some time to go get food and head back to Eccles for Miranda July’s The Future – one of my favorites of the festival.  After the movie, we came back for dinner and I waited as the girls got ready for us to go to the Fox Searchlight party.  Clare worked as an intern at Searchlight the past two summers and pulled some strings to get us in there.  Here was our big celebrity sighting (most of the others were at Q&A’s done after each film with the cast/crew/director).  We saw Ed Helms, Paul Giamatti, Anne Heche, Elizabeth Banks, Danny McBride, Rashida Jones, Amy Ryan, and Miguel Arteta (I may be forgetting some.).  We walked back in the snow – yes it snows a lot in Utah.

Saturday:

Another early morning with a 9 AM show at Eccles.  This time it’s Win Win – another festival favorite coming to a theater near you soon.  The afternoon included Like Crazy, which went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the festival (an inexplicable feat for something we found so mediocre).  But the day ended well with Azazel Jacobs’ Terri.  We spent the night in catching our breath.

Sunday:

The day started at 9AM with My Idiot Brother.  Got to see Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, and Elizabeth Banks (again) in person.  We got free sushi for lunch.  Later that day we went to the Shorts II Program.  We saw some interesting films including one called Sexting starring Julia Stiles that was awful and another called Brick Novax Pt. 1 and 2 which went on to win the Best Shorts Prize.  With a mixup on the guest list at the IFC party (for which we were on the list but the guy at the door did not see us, but it was later confirmed by Alexandra who worked for IFC last summer and talked to her boss about it), we went for a walk around Main Street.  We stopped in at the Brownstar Insurance building – a mock insurance company set up to promote the film Cedar Rapids.  We made a pit stop at the condo to sadly watch the Jets lose in the AFC Championship game, but then it was back out to Main Street for a midnight screening of Septien – a strange film, but I kind of liked it.  We knew the DP and Editor of the film so we said hi afterwards and caught up.  We passed out shortly after arriving back home.

Monday:

Cedar Rapids kicked off the new week at 9 AM – not one of my favorites.  With no tickets to films, and nothing really worth waiting around for in the afternoon we took a break from movies for a bit.  Early in the afternoon, we played around in the snow up in the mountains.  We (meaning Clare’s dad) were invited to the San Francisco Film Society party.  Note to all: make connections that get you into these types of events.  Free booze and lots of swag at all the parties.  Afterwards, we were brought to the Sundance Channel party where we got to rub shoulders (literally, it was kind of a small place) with lots of TV and distribution execs.  Although it’s hard to tell who they were and who were just normal people like us.  After we left there (with the best swag bag of our trip), we headed to one more movie.  We saw Perfect Sense which was not a good choice.  The only benefit to going was that we made friends with this woman who was waiting on line with us who friended me on Vimeo the following day after taking my business card (Yes, I made business cards for the trip).

Tuesday:

Our last movie day.  We got up very early to get on the waitlist for The Details which was a pretty good start to the day.  In the afternoon we made our way to Vampire – a movie that you can’t unsee, even if you wish you could.  Margin Call was up at 9 PM, which was good for what we saw of it.  Unfortunately, due to poor planning, we couldn’t stay for the end since we had to run to the midnight screening of my most highly anticipated film, Submarine.  Luckily it didn’t disappoint (except for the fact that the director, Richard Ayoade, was not there for a Q&A after).  And after a long day of 4 films, we finally set off for our last night at the condo.

Wednesday:

We woke up early again in a concerted, panicked frenzy as we tried to finish packing and getting ready simultaneously.  The shuttle to the airport arrived, and we hopped in.  We watched the snowy mountains pass us by until we got back into Salt Lake City.  We were lucky enough to get off the ground in time for our flight to stay on track, but a huge storm rolled into Baltimore.  We landed safely and headed to my car (which I had warned the others is not so great in snow).  After a 2 hour ride – that usually takes 20 mins – and getting stuck several times in the snow, we finally made it home, into warmth and rest.

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One of the best things about Sundance is how small it feels.  You see the same people all over the city during the week – even though 50,000 people descend on Park City.  It’s just a really great atmosphere to see films in.  Another nice thing is that you go in with no preconceived notions about films, for the most part.  You see things based on the director or cast or minimal buzz, but most of the films you know little to nothing about.  It’s a rare opportunity to see a movie like that.  The other great thing is the amount of films you get to see.  We saw 15 movies in 5 days of screenings.  You start to lose track of what you’ve seen and even where you are.  Sometimes I would forget what theater I was in or what time of day it was.  Being in a dark theater for that long was totally immersive and allowed a unique viewing experience.

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I changed my mind a little though while writing this.  For those of you who have stuck this out, it is about Hopkins. I would have never been afforded this opportunity had I not come to Hopkins.  I would have never met Clare.  And that would be a terrible shame (although she means more to me than just a fun trip to Sundance).  I would have never met Alexandra.  Or any of my friends, some who couldn’t come this year, but went last year.  And without any of these friends, I wouldn’t be who I am or where I am today.

PS – I think this is my longest blog post ever.  So sorry to any readers who feel put off by this.  I will be returning to more concise entries soon.

I’m sure one of the many things you’re considering when you look at schools is the people you will encounter at Hopkins.  Let’s be more specific:  what are you potential romantic prospects like?  Now, I can only give the perspective from a straight male so I will only analyze it that way and talk about what types of girls I have encountered at Hopkins, but feel free to leave comments about things I leave out, disagreements, or alternate perspectives.

Places to find someone:

Classes

• If there is one reason to go to class, it would be to learn.  But if there were two reasons, they would be to learn and to meet other people.  Classes have people in them.  If you go to these classes, you will most likely interact with them.  So your 9AM Cog Psych class may not be as fun as you thought, but at least it has that cute blonde who sits next to you.  And when she drops her pen under your desk, you’ll be there to pick it up.

Dining Halls

• Everyone eats -- including the blonde.  And a lot more blondes, brunettes, redheads, and [other]heads.  Eat and meet.

Dorms

• AMRs -- just walk around for 3 minutes and you’re bound to run into someone.  They house most of the freshmen so the odds are that you have at least a few girls you are attracted to in there.  Just make sure one of you isn’t on the way to or from the shower in a towel.  Also, make sure if you/she is en route to or from said shower, and if you/she wears contacts/glasses that you/she is wearing said contacts/glasses.  Otherwise recognition or lack of recognition could cause some problems.
• Wolman -- the elevators are perfect places to meet someone.  Get some courage in the 2 minutes it takes to get to the 5th or 6th floor and strike up some conversation.  If you’re on your way down in the morning, it’s likely that you’ll run in to them again considering you are both probably on your way to class.
• Laundry room -- you will do laundry in college and so will girls.  Just remember, that the loud machines can sometimes mask the sounds of two people who have already formed a love connection forming an even closer union.  So sometimes if the machines are a rockin’, don’t come into the laundry room unless you want to feel uncomfortable.
• Common Areas -- common social areas facilitate socializing.  So take advantage of it.

The Library

• The library must sound so lame in high school.  But if you don’t know this, you have to study in college.  Most of the work is outside the classroom.  So lots of people congregate in the library.  With 6 levels to go to, the options are numerous.  It also helps narrow down what type of girl you are looking for.  Q level = coffee lover with not a lot of serious work going on.  M level = social butterfly or just a people watcher.  A = outgoing and wants to be on M, but has a major that involves studying.  B = quiet, reserved.  C = very private and serious about their work.  D = antisocial or failing their classes.

Student Groups

• What do guidance counselors always say?  Get involved.  But getting involved in a student group is also a way to get involved romantically with someone.  You are both already there because you have a similar interest.  Maybe you have more.  Most student groups meet weekly, so you already have a weekly date.

A little guy love in the back of my friend Hannah's car.

People you may try to force casual encounters with:

• The cute girl who works at Alkimia (the coffee shop in Gilman)
• The pretty Sciences Po exchange student
• The girl who sits across the Atrium from you every Tuesday in between your noon and 4PM class.
• That girl from the a cappella group of your choice who sang that amazing solo
• The all-too-common friend of a friend

Questionable people to find romance with:

• Your professor
• Your boss
• Your roommate/suitemate (purely for the logistical consequences of a breakup)
• Your RA
• Your best friend
• President Daniels

So where does that leave us?  How about this:  There are plenty of fish in the sea.  Try to snag one at The Beach on a nice spring day.

You may think all people on a college campus look the same.  But once you get there you’ll quickly learn how to tell them apart.  Here’s my guide to recognizing different people at Hopkins.

Prospective students:

- A good tip off is that they are a younger looking student walking around with their parents.  Although not a dead giveaway, it’s a good starting point.

- The Hopkins drawstring bags you get when you come to campus will make you stand out.  A good place to keep your freebies.  A bad way to hide.

- Looking lost will make it known, especially when around the campus maps stationed throughout campus.

- On a tour is the easiest way to spot them.

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Freshmen:

-   Freshman travel in packs.  You meet so many people early on in the year, you tend to hold onto all of them until you figure out who you actually want to be friends with.  Because of this, freshmen often travel in groups of no less than (hyperbole alert) 50 or 60 people.  It seems that way at least.  But truthfully, freshmen tend to travel in groups of at least 6 or so at any time.

-  The lanyards make it clearly known that you’re a freshman.  If you walk around with your Hopkins ID on a lanyard, you are declaring your freshmanhood.

-  More so at the beginning of the year, freshmen tend to walk around arrogantly.  They were just top dog in their high school as seniors.  They haven’t gotten used to being new yet.

-  Freshmen tend to yell a lot.  Maybe it’s because they are excited about everything.  Maybe it’s because they just want their voice to be heard.  Who knows?  But those kids crank it up to 11.

FFC. Photo by Greco S.

-  Freshmen are models of viewbook pictures.  They do everything you see in college viewbooks.  I don’t even think they like it or do it consciously.  But they are the ones playing Frisbee on the quad and wearing sandals all year.

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Sophomores:

-  They try to be like upperclassmen, but still have to do freshmany things.  Sophomores are a little harder to pick out.  They try to blend in to the crowd.  But when you have to carry around your JCard to get into your dorm or find a way to get rid of your extra dining dollars because you’re required to have a meal plan but tried to eat off campus more, you definitely know it’s a sophomore.

-  On a similar note, sophomores purchase unnecessary quantities of strange items at CharMar due to their meal plan.  If you see someone (possibly a suitemate) walking around with an entire crate of Muscle Milk or a block of cheese and a 2-Liter bottle of Coke, you’ve found a sophomore.

-  Sophomores try to avoid doing freshman activities as not to be confused with their similarly-aged peers.

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Juniors:

-  If you find someone who has a lot of friends abroad, you’ve probably found a junior.

-  Juniors start to find their own voice in the world, but don’t know how to use it yet.  They tend to be quiet.  And the loud ones don’t have much interesting to say.

The Hopkins sign and the Beach. Photo by Greco S.

-  Juniors also tend to try and get away from campus and spend time in Baltimore.  So if you overhear someone saying, “Let’s go to Mt. Vernon,” or “Let’s grab a drink down in Fed Hill/Canton/Fell’s Point,” you’re almost certainly listening to a junior (or at least an upperclassman).

-  You make it clear you’re a junior when you start off the year complaining about how terrible it is to live in a dorm and then end the year complaining how annoying it is to have to deal with all the troubles of real world apartment living.

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Seniors:

-  Seniors can be found thinking a lot about the future.  Acronyms like GREs, MCATs, LSATs, and GMATs can be tip offs.  Questions about what you’re doing after graduation are also clues.

-  Look for people who look like they have just run a marathon.  They look ragged and tired.  This is a symptom of the combination of work hard/party hard.  Seniors tend to put sleep last on their list of priorities.  It’s time to get it all in now before college is over.

-  If someone is absent from or late to class a lot second semester, they are probably a senior (or maybe an athlete).

Cafe Q. Photo by Greco S.

-  Seniors secretly look longingly at their old dorms and wish to go back and do it all again.  Try to catch them in this moment.

-  The look of ‘I don’t care what people think of me’ is also a good indicator.  Seniors are pretty comfortable in who they are.  [Think of seniors like hot plastic in a mold.  It’s taken shape, it just hasn’t had time to cool and solidify yet.]  They also, honestly, have 10,000 other things to think about so they don’t have time or room in their consciousness to care.

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So those are some key features of the people on campus.  Leave comments if you think of others.  Or if you disagree…just keep it to yourself.

(Photo by Greco)

Unfortunately, I am writing about something right now that doesn’t exist anymore.

The crowd at the Current Space (post destruction) on Day 4

But fortunately for me,  I got to partake in the very last Whartscape (or at least, heavily thought to be).  Whartscape is a 4 day, DIY arts festival in Baltimore.  What I mean by DIY is that it is run entirely by volunteers with no corporate sponsors which is an incredible feat.  Some consider it to be the best underground music festival around.  Over the past 5 years, the festival has grown from something small (with a bunch of acts playing a big show in the Copycat Building) into something that got too big to organize for people who didn’t want to make it their full-time obligation – understandable considering the people putting it on are mostly artists and musicians themselves.

Thursday night of Whartscape 2010 was held at the Charles Theater.  The throngs of smoking hipsters and artist types stood outside before entering the auditorium.  Inside of the main theater, video art was played in between performance art and theater.  As the night went on, there was an acoustic performance by Future Islands (an amazing now Baltimore-based band), stand-up comedy (such as one of the funniest existential ventriloquists I’ve ever seen), a Q&A with Ian Mackaye of Fugazi, and a session with Mink Stole (John Waters fans will surely recognize the name).

The patient line outside Sonar awaiting the return of music

I’ll stop right there to interject something about the people at Whartscape.  Make no mistake about it, they are the people you would expect at this kind of thing.  MICA and Peabody students, Baltimore artists, and many locals.  If you go to any shows in Baltimore (not bigger ones like Rams Head or Sonar even, but much smaller shows at the Hexagon or Floristree) you’ll start to recognize the same people at them.  Not many Hopkins students which is a shame.  Out of 4 days, I saw maybe 10 people there from Hopkins in the crowds of a couple hundred people.  An my roommate and I were the only ones who were there for all four days.  Granted it is summer so many people were away, but make it a mission to get off campus when you get to Hopkins.  Baltimore is the self-proclaimed “Greatest City in America” (it says it on the benches here) and most take it as a joke, but Baltimore has so much to offer – especially for budding young artists.

Enough interjection.  Back to Whartscape…

Best source of food at a music festival? Wraps? (Maybe they just did it for the pun off the group Rapdragons)

Friday started outside the Current Space with bands playing throughout the day.  And at night, (as planned with all the days/nights) the festivities moved to the H&H Building.  H&H is a funny place.  It’s an apartment building made up of these industrial loft spaces with a cell phone tower on the roof.  But if you’ve ever been there (there are frequently shows there throughout the year), you’d have wondered how people can live there. During Whartscape shows go on throughout the building simultaneously (each venue having 2 stages so music goes constantly throughout the night).  I got to find some new bands to enjoy as well as see some old favorites (saw Dustin Wong on Friday night).

Saturday and Sunday were the big shows.  (Again Current Space day, H&H night)  Saturday featured 100+ degree heat, standing for 9 hrs, and music too.  The likes of Ed Schrader, Double Dagger, Ponytail, and Dan Deacon Ensemble just to name a few.  Sunday was bigger and mother nature knew that too.  The sunburned, sweat-soaked patrons came out in full force for the last hurrah.  But around 3 PM, wind picked up.  (Coincidentally enough, it was during a break in the music for 10 mins of meditation and quiet time – which not even the weather took seriously)  The gusts ripped through the tarps providing shade and cover for the artists on stage and knocked over some equipment.  The volunteers sprung into action and made sure everything was safely secured before the hour or so of downpour hit.  It only briefly put a damper on the big day, as after the rain cleared, things went back into action.

A blurry picture of Beach House

An impromptu performance by The Creepers got things going again while a decision was made about what to do for the rest of the day.  Eventually, it was decided that the acts that remained from the day schedule would be moved to Sonar or pushed back to play at Floristree in the H&H Building at night.  A mass exodus to Sonar (only a handful of blocks away) commenced and the stage was set (literally) for a grand finale.  Deakin, Wye Oak, Celebration, Lower Dens, and Health played.  Then came the act most people wanted to see.  Beach House.  A few songs into the set, one of the Whartscape organizers walked on stage and started whispering in the ears of the bandmates mid-song.  Everyone was confused until she made an announcement that the fire marshall had arrived and ordered everyone to exit because the venue was over capacity.  So the hundreds of upset onlookers slowly filed out and made their way to H&H for the remaining acts to play the festival out.

Overall, it was an incredible exciting weekend, and I’m sad to see it go.  Whartscape, we barely knew ye.  But I’m sure there will be plenty more Baltimore shows to come.  That place can sure turn out some darn good music.

For more about the group that put on Whartscape visit whamcity.com

This past weekend was Spring Fair.  It was so much fun to say the least.  And being 21 now allows me access into the promised land of the Beer Garden (located on President Daniels’ front lawn).  Also, with no Friday classes this semester, it added another new dimension to Spring Fair – being able to enjoy the Friday portion of it from the time I woke up.   Everyone is out in full force from Thursday night until Sunday having an amazing time.   People throw parties at night and my friends even had a pancake and mimosa brunch on Saturday.

Me mid dance. Well, if you can call my movements dancing.

Pancakes, mimosas, and friends at brunch

Now not to slight Spring Fair or anything, I’m going to switch gears.  As much fun as I had there, Spring Fair weekend also coincided with Earth Day this year.  For the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, there was a huge climate rally in DC.  My friend Molly was one of the organizers for Baltimore schools to go to the rally and so I decided to take advantage of a free trip to DC and a free concert featuring Passion Pit, Bob Wier, Sting, John Legend, Gladys Knight, and The Roots.  It was a really great time.  From here, I leave you with some photos of the weekend.

My friends decided it was sunny enough to take their shirts off. I had a different idea.

Passion Pit finally performs.

(As a side note, if anyone is interested, I’ll be co-hosting on my friend’s radio show, The Spirit Farm, on WJHU this Tuesday night at 10 also – you can listen at www.wjhuradio.com)

A year ago, I wrote a blog called Size Matters talking about the size of Hopkins and its positives and negatives.  Well, take this as an addendum.

Some familiar faces walking around in the snowstorm

Having been at Hopkins for almost 3 full years now, I have a good sense of people at the school.  It’s small enough where I can identify people in the senior, junior, or sophomore classes (And by process of elimination, I can figure out who is a grad student, professor, or freshman).  There are the people you see around campus that you just remember.  The kid who wears sandals all year ’round.  The girl who always wears a skirt or shorts – even in the winter.  The guy who carries around his longboard, but never rides it.  The dude with the sweet flat top haircut.  That girl who is seemingly always smoking outside of the library.

Familiar faces at my friends' apartment

If you go here, you will almost definitely know who I’m talking about.  You may even be able to name them by their real name.

But this is how familiar you feel with the people who go here.  Everybody knows them.  Yet, you’ll always find yourself meeting new people.  Maybe not as many as freshman year, but I found myself Facebook friending someone today for the first time in a while.  It was someone I first met freshman year, but didn’t really become friendly with.  Now we’re in a class together and get along swimmingly.

Like I said in my previous post.  Size Matters.  And when picking a school, you need to find the right fit.  For me, the sense of community – even just by having familiar faces always around you – is something that I find extremely appealing.

One of the factors that influence you when looking for a college is s ize. Now, I
went to a smaller high school where I knew most of the people in my grade and a bunch outside of my year.  But when I was looking at colleges, it never occurred to me that size does matter.

In the middle of talking to one of my friends the other day, I realized that Hopkins is the perfect size school.  We were just talking about different people that went here.  Everything from stories from our day to gossip that we heard.  And I thought, “Wow, I know of all these people that go here!”  I might not know them personally, but I at least know who they are and what they look like.  I found this really interesting.

Hopkins is one of those places that is small, but you could potentially meet a new person every day.  There are so many people at Hopkins that I haven’t met, but I’ve heard of a lot of them.   And for some reason, I like that.  I think it builds this sense of a Hopkins community.  Johns Hopkins has elements of both larger and smaller schools.  Here are some of the good and bad:

+ It is small enough that you can know most of the people in your class
- It is small enough that people know who you are and what you do, so be careful

+ It is big enough that you don’t feel like it’s high school
- It is big enough that you may have awkward encounters with people that you thought you never met

+ It is small enough that you’ll probably see most of the people you Facebook pre-friend before you get to campus
- It is small enough that you may have awkward encounters with people that you thought you never met

+ It is big enough that each semester you meet new people in class
- It is big enough that packed elevator rides in Charles Commons before morning classes are typically silent

Th ere are many more reasons, but this just gives you a taste of the size of Hopkins and some of the instances you’ll run in to if you decide to come here!

On that note, I feel like it’s appropriate for this one to end with “XOXO“ (for those of you who get the reference).