A Final Undergraduate Farewell

Posted by Kate F. on July 30 2010

When I wrote my last blog entry, I was a fresh graduate from Hopkins and didn’t quite “feel” like an alumna. (On a slightly tangential note: if you’re curious, here’s my first blog entry for Hopkins Interactive as an undergraduate: CLICK HERE.) Two months later, several events and trends have helped me get accustomed to my new phase in life: getting adjusted to my new role as full-time research technologist in the same neuroscience lab where I did undergraduate research, saying farewell to several of my friends from the Class of ’10 as they left Baltimore, moving from my senior year apartment at Homewood Apartments to a new apartment in a different building, and more. Thus, it’s now time for me to say a formal farewell on the Internet to my undergraduate life at Hopkins, as well as blogging as a student for Hopkins Interactive.

As cliché as it might sound, my young 20-plus self has come to learn in life that saying goodbye is always difficult to some degree. You can say many different kinds of goodbyes in your life: from saying goodbye to someone who has passed away, to saying goodbye to someone who’s moving to another town/state/country, to a community where you lived and had many wonderful memories, and so on. Still, after forming an emotional connection with someone or a community, there’s some kind of “tugging of the heart strings” when you have to part ways and say goodbye.

Given that I’ve spent four years living, studying, working, socializing, and growing (in many ways–except physically) as an undergraduate at Hopkins, saying goodbye to my college days is definitely a tough farewell. Yes, I’m still a part of the Johns Hopkins community not only as an alumna but also as an employee, but I’m at the East Baltimore Campus (where the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions are located) for the majority of my waking hours. To an extent, two months of full-time work here have made me feel almost as though I might as well have moved on to a new city besides Baltimore.

There are so many things that I miss (and will continue to miss) about my college life–back during the last month of my senior year, I even wrote a blog entry detailing some of those things. Now that I’m a two-month alumna, I can say that I was right in my speculations three months ago! I think what I miss most, though, is something that I didn’t write in that entry: the relative sense of innocence and youth that I had during my college years compared to now.

Of course, I wasn’t as innocent when I was 18, 19, 20, and 21 years old as I was when I was five years old! Still, as you grow older, you learn more things about life and become wiser–so, in a sense, you’re more innocent now to some extent than you will be in the future. And, what I mean about missing the sense of innocence and youth that I had in college is that I’ll miss the experience of learning what I learned for the first time in college: from ways to study a lot more efficiently, to dealing with living with non-relative roommates, to navigating a new city (i.e., Baltimore) on my own, and more.

What do I miss the second-most? The sense that “the real world” is something in the future–but, now, I’m right in the middle of it as a full-time employee. Sure, I plan to pursue a master’s degree, and eventually a medical degree, but paying for graduate and professional school are entirely students’ responsibilities (instead of jointly between students and their parents); thus, in my view, graduate and professional school are as much as part of “the real world” as working full-time.

Around the time of final exams in the first week of May, someone from Hopkins sent a postcard to PostSecret: CLICK HERE. At the time, I, too, was nervous about going out into the real world–and, I, too, was hoping that my four years at Hopkins were worth it. I thus found myself whole-heartedly agreeing with the postcard. Hopkins wasn’t a state school. It wasn’t inexpensive to attend, and it wasn’t a place where I could party whenever I wanted. If I wasn’t studying or participating in an extracurricular activity, I was working to cover the expenses that my financial aid couldn’t.

Now that I’m working full-time, I’m doing a lot of budgeting; I try to have as few daily and monthly expenses as possible in order to save money for paying off my undergraduate loans and paying for graduate and medical school. Do I find myself wondering every now and then whether it might have been better off to take an easier route and attend state school? Definitely. Still, in just two months after graduation, I’ve realized that I learned two very valuable lessons in my four years at Hopkins: how to speak up for myself and how to question everything around me, instead of simply accepting what I was told.

So, was it worth it? For me, it was.

With that said, I bid a fond farewell to my college days–and to sharing my college experiences via Hopkins Interactive for four years. I hope my four years’ worth of blogging, as well as answering prospective college students’ and parents’ questions on online forums and in person at open houses, have been helpful to families trying to make a decision on where to send their college students to study. My parting advice to the next generation of prospective students? Take a good, thorough look at the colleges you consider–including Hopkins. Thus, hopefully once you’re at that said college (especially at an institution such as Hopkins, where opportunities abound), take advantage of everything you can: academic resources, extracurricular resources, social resources, etc. Make the most out of your experience, because it’s ultimately up to you whether you enjoy your college years or not. It might sound cliché, but it really does boil down to perspective at the end of the day.

Take care, readers.

Adieu.

Photo Captions: (1) My freshman year housemates and me by the entrance of Wood House of AMR I in September 2006. (2) Three other freshmen girls in the Filipino Students Association (FSA) and me after Culture Show in November 2006. (3) Some members of the OLÉ Dance Group and me following a salsa performance in April 2007. (4) My sophomore (and junior) year roommates and me in January 2008. (5) Some JHU Classical Ballet Company members and me backstage during a performance in April 2009. (6) Three other senior members of FSA and me after Culture Show in November 2009. (7) Some members of the Hopkins Catholic Community and me at an off-campus retreat in April 2010. (8) Members of the ballet company and me in May 2010. (9) My mom and me (with my dad in the background) immediately after Commencement in May 2010.

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One “Goodbye” Just Doesn’t Cut It

Posted by Kate F. on June 1 2010

Don’t worry; this isn’t yet my “Farewell, Hopkins Interactive!” blog entry; rather, this blog entry is meant to re-cap the events preceding Commencement as well as Commencement itself. By the way, the 134th Commencement of the Johns Hopkins University (say that thrice fast–I refuse to say, “three times”) occurred on Thursday, May 27, so I’m writing this blog entry as an alumna. How do I feel about being a new college graduate? It probably wouldn’t surprise you for me to say that I have a mixture of feelings. Anyway, on to my recap.

Many student organizations have some kind of farewell event for their graduating seniors, and the JHU Classical Ballet Company, the Filipino Students Association, and the Hopkins Catholic Community were no exceptions. The day after classes ended, there was a Saturday morning brunch for members of the ballet company, at the end of which the underclassmen presented us graduating seniors with personalized, decorated pointe shoes (a.k.a. “toe shoes”) that had the signatures of most of the underclassmen in the ballet company. While I will still be in Baltimore next year to work, I won’t be able to participate in ballet company events very often (if at all), so I thought it was a nice gesture.

As for the Filipino Students Association, the annual senior farewell dinner was held during finals week. Because of the timing of the event, the affair was low-key and held at an off-campus apartment close to Hopkins; the underclassmen ordered dozens of steamed crabs seasoned with Old Bay (in the classic Maryland style) and threw us graduating seniors a crab feast. Meanwhile, the Hopkins Catholic Community held a baccalaureate Mass for graduates and their families on the evening before Commencement. However, several events happened in between FSA’s senior farewell dinner and the Hopkins Catholic Community’s baccalaureate Mass, and I’ll describe them now.

Finals for this semester ended on Sunday, May 16 (the late date is due to the snow week we had back in February), and so the following week was filled with Senior Week events. As the name aptly implies, Senior Week is a week of social events for the soon-to-graduate seniors. I attended all the Senior Week events, except for the three-day trip to Ocean City; I chose to work part-time at the medical school instead. Unfortunately, I have few photos of myself at the events, but I can give my take on them:

Club Night @ Mex (Monday, May 17): I have no idea how a club called “Mex” that is heavily decorated with Mexican-style fixtures can play almost no Latin music. Then again, I’m guessing the fact that I heard nothing Mexican or Latin coming from the speakers might have to do with the fact that the club night was a Hopkins-exclusive event–and I’m not complaining about that part! I thought it was quite fun to dance and flit around the club like a social butterfly and know that I’d only bump into other Hopkins students and not shady strangers. I also loved being able to see many seniors whom I hadn’t seen in a while–and even seniors whom I saw regularly. Unfortunately, I got tired fairly early (I had spent the day working part-time at the medical school), and I ended up splitting a cab with another female friend who also got tired early. (We didn’t want to wait for the provided busing, since that would mean at least one more hour of us waiting for the first bus’s departure from the club.)

Crab Feast @ Mattin Center Courtyard (Friday, May 21): The crabs were too encrusted with Old Bay seasoning in my opinion (as well as the opinions of my friends with whom I was eating) for me to eat many crabs–which was a bit of a disappointment, given the fact that the event was supposed to be centered around all-you-can-eat crabs. I ended up filling my stomach with a lukewarm burger, runny macaroni, and stale cookies. It’s safe to say that I wasn’t thrilled with the food. I did, however, like being able to joke around with my friends whom I saw there, so I still managed to enjoy my meal somewhat–just not because of the food, though.

Barbecue @ “The Beach” (Saturday, May 22): Ironically, this event was free to anyone who donated at least $2 to the Class of 2010 Senior Hopkins Fund, but the freshly grilled burgers were much better than those served at the previous evening’s $37 admission crab dinner. I guess it was a way of demonstrating that free food somehow tastes better, especially when you’re in college. By the way, in case you haven’t already learned this fact from any of the other Hopkins Interactive blogs, “the beach” is a large lawn in front of the MSE Library that overlooks North Charles Street. It’s quite lovely, actually–just nowhere near the likes of an actual beach. In addition to freshly grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, there was also free Rita’s Ice gelato served–and there was a large, inflatable obstacle course. Some of my friends tried out the obstacle course, and it looked fun. I was considering going through it myself, but I got engrossed in catching up with some of my freshman year housemates who were attending the barbecue.

Senior Formal @ Evergreen House (Sunday, May 23): Just FYI, the Evergreen House is a historic estate located adjacent to the Loyola University campus, but owned by Hopkins; for this reason, school buses transported those of us who bought tickets for the formal. The formal was more like a semiformal in terms of set-up, people’s attire, and the food served (there were heavy hors d’oeuvres, but not a full sit-down meal), but I had no problem with that. By the way, the formal wasn’t at the Evergreen House itself, but at a smaller building on the house’s grounds that looked like a converted barn. It was quaint (I mean this in a good way), and with the decorations and the dusk turning into evening light, the building looked quite nice. It also was nice seeing a lot of fellow seniors dressed up for once! Like I did on the evening of the club night, I didn’t want to stay for long at the formal, so I ended up walking back to the Homewood Campus–while wearing high heels. The 1- to 1.5-mile walk wasn’t that bad, really. It might be due to the fact that I’m used to painful toe shoes, or I have comfortable heels, or both.

MSEEYA Cocktail Party @ MSE Library (Tuesday, May 25): That’s right: a cocktail party at the library. Granted, it was restricted to the Q and M levels of the library (a.k.a. the two highest levels of our famous underground library), especially M Level. Admission was free, and the event was for graduating seniors, young alumni, professors, and their dates (or their friends who were of the appropriate age); everyone who was 21 and older received three free tickets for wine or beer (and there was also soda and water available), plus there were plenty of heavy hors d’oeuvres served. I actually didn’t redeem any of my tickets, since I was rather intimidated by the large, rowdy lines of people clamoring for their free drinks; I ended up doing plenty of mingling and eating instead. I saw quite a few SAAB (Student Admissions Advisory Board) members there, including fellow senior JHU_Jackie as well as JHU_Jessica (back from Geneva!), JHU_Lauren, and JHU_Mandy.

In addition to the official Senior Week events, I met up with several of my senior friends for lunch or dinner; there even was a potluck dinner on the evening of the same day that the barbecue was held at the beach, and there were many seniors I knew who attended it. There was plenty of good food, and the best part was bonding while we sang our lungs out and danced heartily to the songs of the playlist that the co-hostesses had put together. I’m not a huge pop aficionado, but I still maintain there’s nothing like goofing around to Lady Gaga’s music–especially when you’re not worrying about exams or papers and you’re confident that you’ll get your bachelor’s degree in a few days. I actually remember having a conversation with another senior at the potluck about how the period in between the end of finals and graduation is probably among the most fun times to socialize as a college student–it’s so true. As fun as that week and a half were, they were also bittersweet, though. All of us seniors were saying farewell to the undergraduate way of life, and many of us were also saying (temporary) goodbyes to each other, knowing that we’d be scattered all around the world after graduation to pursue our educational and career goals.

Commencement itself–which, as I mentioned earlier, was held on Thursday, May 27–was a bittersweet event (not surprisingly). This year, the traditional morning commencement exercises were combined with the undergraduate diploma ceremony, which used to be separate events in previous years. Also new this year was having the bachelor’s degree graduates walk through the Homewood Campus one last time before they joined the procession of doctoral and master’s degree graduates going into Homewood Field (a.k.a. the lacrosse field). Given the beauty of the Homewood Campus, I liked this new change of walking procedures–it also was a fairly bittersweet moment. (How many times have I used bittersweet in this blog entry?) It struck me then that it was my last time walking through campus as an undergraduate–and while I knew I’d walk through the campus again in the future, it would be in the context of an alumna attending reunion-type events or doing errands such as visiting the pre-professional advising office. Basically, it just won’t be quite the same. Maybe if I decide it’s worth paying for alumni membership at the recreation center during the next year, I might find myself walking through the Homewood Campus regularly–but for now, I don’t see treks through the campus being a regular occurrence for me.

What wasn’t nice, however, was the fact that everyone at Commencement had to sit through 90-degree weather for four hours. Even though I brought two water bottles and one bottle of apple juice with me (and drank almost everything), I still felt somewhat dehydrated. On the bright side, the speeches were definitely worth listening to (in my opinion)–and Mayor Bloomberg’s keynote address was hilariously memorable. (You can read the text of Mayor Bloomberg’s address as well as President Daniels’s speech here.) Also, being able to grumble about the weather made being jam-packed into tight rows of folding chairs with several other graduates bearable. Following the ceremony itself, I was able to meet up with a few of my friends before I joined my family for a post-Commencement reception on the Upper Quad. After the reception, my family and I went to the bookstore to purchase a frame for my enormous diploma (diplomas for tertiary education degrees are much larger than high school diplomas) as well as a class ring, before we ate a celebratory dinner at Roy’s of Baltimore in Harbor East. (On a side note, I saw several other graduates and their families eating there, too.)

To close this entry, I’ll share with you a few links:

Also, below is a short video I made with photos of some of the events that I described above. While the background song, Dave Matthews’s “So Damn Lucky,” is of a rather romantic nature, I think the lyrics somewhat describe some of my feelings about my four-year Hopkins experience that has just happened.

N.B. I found the image of steamed crabs in a pot through Google Image Search.

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What I’ll Miss About Being a Hopkins Undergraduate

Posted by Kate F. on May 3 2010

I found out a little over a week ago that I’ll be working next year as a full-time research technician for my neuroscience lab at the medical school! This means that (1) I no longer need to worry about the job search, and (2) I’ll be in Baltimore for at least one more year. As far as this blog is concerned, it also means that my entry “Just Some Things I’ll Miss About Hopkins” needs to be updated–for I’ll still be at Hopkins, but as a staff member and not an undergraduate student. So, here it goes…”What I’ll Miss About Being a Hopkins Undergraduate”:

Classes: I’ll miss the feeling of attending lectures and reading related textbooks and journal articles at home so that I could understand the lectures, and the feeling of delving into a topic over the course of a few months. I don’t know if I’ll miss the stress of preparing for exams, though–it might have to do with the fact that I know I’ll have plenty more of those when I continue to graduate school and medical school. In fact, I’ll be working on research projects and papers during my job next year, so I won’t need to miss writing papers (for better or for worse)!

Being Based at the Homewood Campus: I’m hoping to live in Charles Village and commute to work in East Baltimore since (a) I’m familiar with Charles Village after having been a Hopkins undergraduate for four years and (b) Charles Village is a much more residential neighborhood compared to East Baltimore. Still, I won’t be at the Homewood Campus nearly as often as I used to be. As I mentioned in my original blog entry, the Homewood Campus is a gorgeous one that’s like an oasis of a park in the middle of a city.

Ease of Interactions with Peers: While I still will be in Baltimore next year, I’ll spend my entire morning and afternoon working, and my evenings will consist primarily of studying for the MCAT and doing outside reading related to my research. Plus, many of my friends from the Classes of 2010 and before will have graduated and moved out of Baltimore–and, while I’ll have friends from the Classes of 2011 and after who will still be students at Hopkins, my schedule will be different enough from the undergraduate lifestyle that it won’t be as easy to meet up with people.

Extracurricular Activities: As the past four years’ worth of blog entries can testify, I’ve been heavily involved with extracurricular activities at Hopkins. While I’m still hoping to spend a little bit of leisure time next year playing the piano and taking ballet (and possibly even Pilates) classes in the area, it still won’t be the same as participating in a student-run organization.

Vibrancy: By “vibrancy,” I mean the energy that emanates from undergraduate students. Even during exam weeks here at Hopkins, there’s a certain degree of youth and energy that I’ve observed from being surrounded by my fellow students that’s not quite there whenever I’m at the medical doing research and surrounded by older adults. I will say that I like the idea of “learning from” older adults whenever I’m in the research lab environment (since I’m among the youngest people–if not the youngest person–in most situations related to research); still, being a young 20-something myself, I do like the higher levels of energy I see in people my age.

Free Membership at the Recreation Center: Even though most of my exercise comes from regular attendance at ballet classes, I still like going to the rec center to take advantage of its indoor track and the rock climbing wall. Membership there is free for undergraduate and graduate students based at the Homewood Campus–but since I’ll be considered a staff member of the medical school, I’ll have to pay dues if I want to continue using the rec center.

Lunch: While the food options at the Homewood Campus and Charles Village aren’t the most diverse, there still are enough that you can vary up your lunch options when you’re too busy to prepare lunch ahead of time and thus must buy food to eat for lunch. There are also a variety of food establishments from which you can buy lunch near the medical school, but they’re more spread out and aren’t as plentiful.

On-Campus Events: I’m pretty sure I’ll still take time to attend major on-campus events such as Culture Show in November, Homecoming Weekend and Spring Fair in April, events for young alumni (such as those during Young Alumni Weekend in November and Homecoming Weekend in April), and performances of friends of mine in performing arts groups; however, since I won’t be an undergraduate anymore, many on-campus events won’t quite be “attendable” (so to speak) because (1) they are targeted towards undergraduates and (2) they fit the schedule of an undergraduate lifestyle better than that of a full-time working employee.

I must say that despite the numerous aspects of being an undergraduate at Hopkins that I’ll miss next year, I’m quite glad that the next year will be a nice transition from the undergraduate life to my life in additional education (since I’m hoping to pursue a master’s degree, and then ultimately an M.D. after my one-year stint in the workforce). I’ll be living a non-undergraduate lifestyle next year, but I’ll still be very well a part of the Hopkins community (not just as an alumna)–I must say that I’m not complaining about my prospects for next year!

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Hopkins Cribs: Homewood Apt. #605

Posted by Kate F. on April 16 2010

After spending my freshman year in AMR I, my sophomore year in McCoy Hall, and my junior year in an off-campus apartment, I moved back into on-campus housing to live in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment in the Homewood Apartments for my senior year. Take a look at it!

I. ENTRANCE

I think the title of this section of my entry and the photos are self-explanatory. By the way, do enjoy the college-style decor of the poster that greets you upon entering my apartment. In peeking to the right, you see the kitchen. Let’s take a look at it.

II. KITCHEN

The kitchen in my apartment isn’t large, but it serves the purpose. By the way, as in typical apartment buildings, the layouts of the apartments in Homewood Apartments vary–there are many other two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartments in the building, but they differ in the size, shape, and location on their rooms. Take a moment to look at the magnets on our freezer door. Most of them are mine, but the butterfly one–which I think is gorgeous–belongs to my roommate. Upon looking around the kitchen, you can see the living room through a little opening in the wall. Let’s take a look at that next!

III. LIVING ROOM

Like the kitchen, the living room (which has a small dining table) is small but serves the purpose. Again, posters serve as college-esque decór. As with all University-owned housing (both dorms and apartments), most of the furniture you see comes with the apartment. In this room, the exception is the floor lamp. My roommate and I thought we should get it to add even more light to the living room (which only comes with an overhead light and a lamp on a small table next to the couch.

IV. HALLWAY/BATHROOM

I also think that this section’s title and photos are self-explanatory. By the way, if you couldn’t tell from the photos, the bathroom is also like the kitchen and the living room in being small but functional. Also, note the shower organizer–it helps minimize the number of items lying on the sides of the bathtub!

V. MY BEDROOM

My bedroom is next to the bathroom. It’s the first bedroom I’ve ever had on my own during my undergraduate career at Hopkins–I lived in doubles in my freshman and sophomore year and shared a master bedroom in my junior year–so I like spending a lot of time in it to study! Some items of note are the wall next to my bed covered with photographs from calendars, the set of National Geographic magazines on the top shelf over my desk, the classic touch of college-esque decór with the Hopkins pennant, my orange crate overflowing with dance clothes, and the small table behind my bed with a lamp as well as a few personal items (including a small wooden elephant).

VI. VIDEO

To see a video tour of my apartment (as well as how much less decorated my bedroom was in January, compared to this month–and how horrible I look when I don’t fix my hair up, but that’s not really related to my apartment), take a look below.

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Just Some Things I’ll Miss About Hopkins

Posted by Kate F. on April 5 2010

Commencement is drawing closer, and while I’m currently planning to stay in Baltimore while my apartment’s lease lasts until the middle of the summer, it’s not yet certain whether I’ll stay in Baltimore or live elsewhere to work next year. (I’m still in the middle of the job application process, and nothing has been finalized yet as far as employment plans go.) Knowing that fact, I’ve found myself viewing different aspects of Hopkins as though my days left are numbered–because they may very well be. There are many things about Hopkins that plenty of us students here love. Nonetheless, attending college can be a very personal experience, and so leaving Hopkins still feels like a personal goodbye–even though many students say farewell to Hopkins every year. Thus, while quite a few things on this list are somewhat universal to the Hopkins undergraduate experience, I still find them special enough that I know I’ll miss them upon leaving Baltimore.

The Beauty of the Homewood Campus: Whether it’s autumn, winter, spring, or summer, the Homewood campus looks–and sometimes feels–like a large park in the middle of Baltimore. I’ve found myself looking more carefully around me whenever I walk through campus lately, now that I’m getting closer to commencement.

Businesses in Charles Village: While this has nothing to do with Hopkins itself, there are several small business establishments close to campus where I’ve found myself buying food to eat or purchasing groceries over the past few years. While there are a few chain stores in the neighborhood, most of them are locally owned and have a very “Baltimore” feel to them.

The Plethora of Opportunities: On the academic front, there are numerous lectures and colloquia occurring on campus on a weekly basis, there are many opportunities for undergraduate research, and so on. On the extracurricular front, there are literally hundreds of student organizations on campus–and there are always new clubs being formed each semester. On the community service front, there are many ways to volunteer either through the Center for Social Concern here at Hopkins or directly with one of the numerous non-profit organizations in Baltimore that always need volunteers. This is a rather generic summary of how immense the wealth of opportunities seems when you’re a student here at Hopkins and seeing every day how there are so many possibilities for you to spend your time at present as well as prepare for your future.

Quirks and Traditions of Hopkins: Our homecoming takes place during the spring, and lacrosse is the “football” of Hopkins. We have a student-run spring fair at the end of every spring semester. We have a different set of colors for formal purposes and athletic purposes. Our school’s name has caused so many misspellings and mispronunciations that it’s a legend in itself. (It even prompted an April Fool’s Day joke recently.) This, of course, is just a sampling of many little things at Hopkins that help characterize everyday student life at Hopkins.

Ease of Interactions with Peers: This characteristic has more to do with college undergraduate life itself than Hopkins specifically. In college, it’s easy to meet up with other students around campus, or by stopping by their apartments or dorm rooms. You don’t have this ease with interacting with your peers so easily before college in high school (unless you attend a boarding school) or after college in the real world–that is, you can’t walk within a merely approximately two-mile radius if you need to collaborate on a project with a classmate or even just hang out with a friend.

The Food: No, the on-campus food isn’t gourmet, but I’ll still miss it.

The Breezeway: On most days during the school year, the Breezeway is busy with student groups hosting fundraisers, banners advertising events flapping in the wind, and throngs of people walking up and down the marble staircase by the Breezeway. It’s a beautiful sight, I think–granted, I sometimes find myself wishing on rainy or snowy days that the marble staircase were either brick or asphalt instead, but it still is lovely!

MSE Library: As nerdy as it sounds, I’ve spent so much time either studying at the library or browsing its stacks to look for books for reference that I know my inner geek will miss it.

The Mattin Center: The Mattin Center isn’t a first-class building for the arts, but it does have basic facilities to keep the performing and visual arts alive at Hopkins. I’ve spent much time there throughout the years either in the piano practice rooms or the dance studio–as well as its numerous meeting rooms–and I’m sure I’ll have many fond flashbacks of the time I’ve spent at the Mattin Center during the years to come.

Large-Scale Events: Spring Fair. Culture Show. Orientation. Homecoming Weekend. A cappella concerts. Dance showcases. Some large-scale events at Hopkins are analogous to those at other colleges and universities, and some are unique to Hopkins. There are many large-scale events that happen here on a regular basis, and since I’ve either attended or helped plan many of them, I’ll miss those events.

People: It goes without saying that I’ll miss the friends I’ve made here, and my colleagues and supervisors frommy work-study jobs, my research lab, and my extracurricular activities. I’ll also miss people with whom I haven’t had extensive interactions, such as professors whose classes I’ve enjoyed, staff members around campus (such as friendly security guards and cafeteria workers–somehow, I think I also might the occasional run-in with a surly staff member, simply because it’s something that many [if not all] people at Hopkins experience at one point), and other students who may not bemy friends, but still are my acquaintances.

This list is by no means all-inclusive, but I hope it summarizes some of the things about Hopkins that I’ll miss after I graduate. More and more, I find myself telling myself sayings that have to do with enjoying the present, because that’s quite true in my desire to make the most out of what’s left in my experience here at Hopkins.

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Religion at Hopkins? Yes, it exists.

Posted by Kate F. on March 16 2010

As I’ve mentioned many times throughout the past four years on my blog, college is a time for exploration and learning both inside and outside the classroom. At a secular university like Johns Hopkins, some of the lessons I’ve learned outside the classroom have had to do with religion. Surprising? I’ll admit that on first thought, I myself think that the notion is a tad shocking–however, on second thought, upon realizing that Hopkins is supposed to be an institution where students and professors are open to learning new ideas and discussing the ideas they have, it’s not so surprising after all.

I attended Catholic schools all the way from Pre-K to Grade 12, and my family was–and still is–a traditional Filipino Catholic family. Not surprisingly, I was raised knowing a lot about the Catholic religion. What I knew about religions besides Catholicism mostly came from conversations with my non-Catholic classmates, reading National Geographic magazine articles (I’ve been an avid reader of the magazine for years), and the comparative religions course that I took in my sophomore year of high school.

Despite my upbringing, being actively involved with the religious life scene at Hopkins wasn’t one of the first things I did upon arriving here. Throughout my freshman year, I simply attended Catholic Masses that were celebrated at the Interfaith Center. Starting my sophomore year, however, I became more involved with the Hopkins Catholic Community–and not only did I increase my interaction with other Hopkins students of the Catholic faith, but also I became more aware of events being held by other religious groups, and I learned some more about what students of other faiths believed. The best part about all of this was that I was learning about how other people lived their faiths, and I wasn’t simply reading about it.

Here at Hopkins, the staff of the Interfaith Center regularly meet with representatives from different religious groups, and they strongly encourage student religious groups to interact with each other and share their faiths with each other. By becoming more involved in the Hopkins Catholic Community, I also became more aware of announcements from the Interfaith Center about various interfaith activities; furthermore, more friends and acquaintances of mine became aware of my involvement with the Hopkins Catholic Community, and so I started having even more conversations with other Hopkins students about what they believed (or didn’t believe) with regards to the presence (or absence) of a divine being. Because I’ve only gotten more involved with the Hopkins Catholic Community ever since my sophomore year, I’ve also become increasingly aware of events that other religious groups have been holding around campus. (By the way, on a side note, I’ve found myself doing the same with regards to multicultural groups and dance groups; the more I’ve gotten involved with the Filipino Students Association and the JHU Classical Ballet Company, the more interested I’ve become in what other multicultural groups and dance groups have been doing. I guess it’s only natural that when you find a deep interest in an area, you become interested in similar areas.)

Over the past few years at Hopkins, I’ve found myself attending a Shabbat held during Ramadan (so there were elements of the Jewish Shabbat as well as the Muslim evening prayers breaking the Ramadan fast); going to lectures on Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam; listening to Buddhist students share their philosophies; and conversing with friends and acquaintances about many different views on religion. Last week alone, I attended two events in which practitioners of other faiths talked about their religion: (1) a dinner at the Interfaith Center in which members of the Muslim Students Association gave a presentation the differences between Sunni and Shi’a Islam and then answered questions from the dinner attendees, and (2) a talk by Professor Uma Saini–who’s a Hindi and Sanskrit professor at Hopkins, an advisor to the Hindu Students Association, and an ordained minister of the Vedic faith–in which she discussed the main characteristics of the Vedic faith as well as the differences between Vedic philosophies and the Hindu religion that stemmed from ancient Vedic beliefs.

What moved me the most about the two events of last week was the joy in which the MSA members talked about their religion as well as that in which Professor Saini discussed her beliefs. Even more moving was the openness in which people attending the dinner at the Interfaith Center as well as Professor Saini’s talk in which Hopkins students had in listening to what had to be said about Islam and the Vedic faith, and it was nice to see that the questions they were posing were truly ones of inquiry. Depending on the circumstances, religion can be a volatile conversation topic, but it did not seem to be the case in these two events–nor has it been the case in most of the interfaith events that I’ve attended while I’ve been at Hopkins.

There will be many things that I’ll miss about Hopkins after I graduate in a little over two months. One of them will be the ease in which students can attend events geared towards students learning more about different religious faiths–and the scholarly open-mindedness that I’ve seen many Hopkins students display when learning about what religions other than theirs believe. By witnessing students of different religions being able to talk about their differing beliefs in smooth-flowing conversations, I’ve come to see how people can have strong convictions in their religious beliefs yet be able to discuss their similarities and differences with other people.

As history and even current events have shown, differences in religion can lead to conflicts. It doesn’t always have to be that way, however. Since the students of today are the leaders of tomorrow, I hope that what I’ve witnessed at Hopkins isn’t an anomaly, but what would become a trend someday.

Photo Captions: All of these images are taken from the JHU Campus Ministries website. (1) This nine-pointed star is a symbol of the Baha’i faith. (2) This image is of the Wheel of Dhamma, which illustrates the eight-fold path of Buddhism. (3) This image is of the Christian cross. (4) To both people who practice the Vedic faith as well as Hinduism, the word “Om” in Sanskrit is believed to be the best word describing God. (5) This image is of the “Palm of a Hand” that’s a symbol of Jainism. (6) This image is of a Jewish menorah. (7) This image displays the beginning words of the Qur’an in Arabic. (8) This image is of the phrase “Ik Onkar”; it means, “God is one,” and it’s a central tenet of Sikhism. (9) This symbol is used by Unitarian Universalists.

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New Possibilities

Posted by Kate F. on February 28 2010

Four out of 13 weeks for the Spring 2010 semester have already passed, and the fifth one is about to begin. Even though this is my eighth (and final) undergraduate semester at Hopkins, I’m still caught by surprise at how quickly an entire third of the semester has passed! As always, a lot has happened in just a month, from pursuing my academic goals to researching to participating in extracurricular activities to working part-time to catching up with friends and family members (both immediate and extended) at Hopkins and around the globe.

What I didn’t anticipate would happen this semester is a major undertaking that several other undergraduates and I started working on during the last few days of Intersession that has grown into a major project: organizing fundraising efforts for post-earthquake relief in Haiti. What I also didn’t anticipate happening this semester is how these efforts have caused me to do a lot of thinking about what I want to do with my life after graduating in May.

Becoming a physician has almost always been among my career considerations since I was in elementary school. (There were many phases in my childhood when being a physician was just one of several career paths that I thought were alluring.) To be even more specific, I’ve considered becoming a pediatric neurosurgeon or neurologist since my junior year of high school. Being a neuroscience major and doing a lot of volunteer work with elementary and middle school students during college have only helped to keep a career in pediatric neurosurgery or neurology a possibility in my book. They’re no longer the only areas of medicine I could see myself entering–and enjoying–someday, however. Over the course of the past month, I’ve come to realize that several events that have happened during my senior year have made me realize the beauty of emergency medicine.

As you might recall from blog entries, I spent much of the Fall 2009 semester collaborating with other officers in the Filipino Students Association (of which I’m the co-president this year) as well as officers in the Taiwanese-American Students Association in organizing fundraisers for the victims of typhoons that occurred in the Philippines and Taiwan from August to October 2009. These efforts included a fundraising banquet that featured performances from performing arts groups on campus, a silent auction, and a guest appearance by D.C.-based Filipina spoken poet Jenny Lares. I first got interested in organizing such fundraising efforts because (1) I had several relatives who were affected by these typhoons and (2) it was a no-brainer that it would behoove FSA to fundraise for typhoon victims in the Philippines. Despite these two semi-selfish motivating factors, I ended up getting much more involved with typhoon relief fundraising than I had originally planned, I loved the collaborative efforts that resulted between FSA and TASA, and I started paying more attention to news reports of natural disasters around the world in general.

Before the fall semester, I thought I had already done all that I could to think of others more than myself. I was wrong: the fundraising efforts of that semester opened my eyes just how much more I still needed to think beyond myself. On one level, I was conscious during much of the fall semester about the plight that Filipinos–including my relatives–were enduring after the typhoons. I often found myself realizing that as stressful as school can be, that paled in comparison with dealing with the destruction of three typhoons that struck within three weeks. On another level, getting in touch with members of TASA and becoming educated of the typhoon destruction in Taiwan helped me realize that I was only one of a large number people around the globe who were worrying about their loved ones affected by typhoons in the Asia-Pacific region.

Not surprisingly, I found myself at the end of the semester wanting to do similar fundraising efforts again–in fact, several of the FSA and TASA officers with whom I had collaborated agreed that we would like to collaborate in organizing at least one more fundraiser this semester. None of us imagined that an even larger tragedy would happen that would bring together not just members of FSA and TASA, but also several other student organizations in collaborating on fundraising efforts this semester.

During Intersession, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 12. As many of you reading this blog entry might have already learned from news reports, the earthquake has resulted not only in hundreds of thousands (if not more) of dec, injured people, and displaced individuals; on top of those statistics, the destruction of the capital and surrounding areas of what already was the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere before the earthquake has been monumental. This time, I didn’t even need to think: I knew I wanted to help out somehow. I had returned to Hopkins shortly before the earthquake struck Haiti, so I ended up being directed by JHU_Jessica (via a Gchat conversation we had, since she was at the time preparing for her semester abroad in Geneva) to an officer of SEA (Students for Environmental Action) who wanted to organize fundraising efforts for Haiti. Literally within hours of my first contact with that SEA officer, both of us ended up getting in touch with officers of other student organizations who wanted to collaborate with us–in less than a week, there were over 10 of us undergraduates forming an ad hoc committee that we hoped would organize large-scale fundraising efforts at the Homewood Campus, and even in collaboration with other campuses of Hopkins.

A little over a month later, that ad hoc committee has now become a young Center for Social Concern (CSC) organization called JHU Haiti Aid* that oversees a coalition of over 70 undergraduate student organizations and 10 academic departments and programs based at the Homewood Campus, that has now gotten in touch with similar organizations based at the medical campus and SAIS, and that is in direct contact with President Daniels’s office about our progress. So that I don’t use too many words describing some of the events we’ve organized, I’ll direct your attention to an article from The Johns Hopkins News-Letter: “Saturday for Haiti,” which was a major-scale day of fundraising held on February 20. (article has some quotes that are attributed to the wrong individuals–but the information about the events that occurred is mostly correct.)

(* Note that whenever CSC student organizations are founded, they have a “trial year” before they become official; since JHU Haiti Aid just started this semester, you might note that it’s not yet listed as an organization on the CSC website.)

As I’ve mentioned earlier in this blog entry, the amount of destruction that occurred in Haiti was, so we still have a lot of goals for the rest of the semester; we want to organize a few more large-scale fundraisers as well as organize some educational events so that members of the Hopkins community could learn more about and discuss the web of intertwined political, economic, and social issues in Haiti that were affected by the January 12 earthquake–and that are currently being affected by post-earthquake relief efforts.

To top off everything, all of these events happened just this weekend: a 7.0-magnitude earthquake striking Japan on the evening of February 26, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile on the morning of February 27 (i.e., yesterday), and there were tsunami warnings all over the Pacific Rim (in Chile, in Japan, in Hawaii, in the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada, in the Philippines, and in more nations); only within the last ~12 hours have the tsunami warnings been canceled by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Between the two recent large-scale earthquakes, the death toll has especially been higher (and climbing) in Chile, especially since the area affected by the earthquake there was much more populated than the area in Japan (not to mention that the earthquake was much larger). Those of us JHU Haiti Aid area already feeling an itch to help out Chile in some way as well while still keeping in mind our goals for relief in Haiti.

All of these current events have made us look up information online about earthquakes–did you know that it’s common for multiple large-scale earthquakes to happen annually, as listed in the U.S. Geological Survey’s website? (Kudos to you if you already knew that before the recent earthquakes.) What makes an earthquake particularly deadly depends on the infrastructure and the population of the area affected.

I don’t want to stop doing this kind of work after I graduate Hopkins in May; part of me wishes I were more aware of global public health issues (especially in the context of natural disasters) sooner in my college career, but I guess the adage “better later than never” applies here. For the reasons I was initially attracted to the medical field, I still am very much attracted to that field–but because of my increasing awareness of post-natural disaster relief around the globe, I’ve found myself increasingly wanting to become one of the physicians who use their medical expertise to provide immediate relief to people affected by such tragedies. As you may or may not know, there are many NGOs who have physicians, from well-known ones such as the member organizations of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the World Health Organization (WHO) to many smaller-scale ones (such as JHU’s own Center for Refugee and Disaster Relief). I recently found out from Class of ’07 JHU alumna whom I’ve known since my freshman year that she works with several ER physicians who rotate between working in hospital ERs here in the U.S. and going abroad to assist in international relief efforts–and, as you might guess after what I’ve written so far, I’m liking that idea.

Of course, there’s a long way to go until I become a physician. First, I have to finish what’s left my undergraduate career at Hopkins well. Second, I need to have a few productive “years off” (which I’ve decided to take for several reasons, both personal and practical). Third, I need to do the whole apply-to-med-school-then-get-accepted-to-med-school-then-go-to-med-school-then-become-a-resident-and-yadda-yadda shindig. Plus, as I’ve come to learn over my four years at Hopkins, one never knows what surprises (both good and bad) life will cast one’s way–who knows what I’ll experience during all of that! Thus, it’s still a long way to go until I finally can be sure of what I’ll do to support myself (and my family, if I end up having one).

Nonetheless, I’m finding a career in emergency healthcare and international post-disaster medical relief an alluring possibility right now.

N.B. I found the image illustrating this blog entry via Google Image Search.

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Words of Advice from One Kind of Senior to Another Kind of Senior

Posted by Kate F. on February 3 2010

A lot of things have happened since my winter break in which I spent time both at home in Connecticut and with immediate and extended family members in California. After spending the first week of Intersession continuing to divide time in Connecticut and California, I returned to Baltimore for the remainder of Intersession and have been here ever since. It’s only been a little under a month that I’ve been back in Charm City (as Baltimore is fondly nicknamed)–but as I’ve said, a lot has happened. Among those things includes taking several steps in exploring numerous options for what I’ll do upon graduating.

To make a long story short, I still don’t know yet what I’m doing next year, but I’ve continued to work on weighing the pros and cons of different options. I need to consider a lot of factors, including my ultimate educational and career goals of eventually attending medical school and becoming a physician, as well as the realities of the present (i.e., factors relating to academics, finances, family circumstances, and so on). Currently, I’m considering returning home to the southwestern Connecticut/New York City area and exploring my options there for next year (instead of staying in Baltimore); however, as I often stress, one can never be sure of what the future will be until the future is actually the present. In short: we’ll see what happens!

I like to be organized, and I like to plan things ahead of time as much as possible, so I’ll admit that I’m a little apprehensive about not having my plans for next year anywhere close to set in stone. After learning a lot of life lessons from the time I spent with many people from my family over winter break and after talking to several friends of mine who graduated either last year or two years ago, however, I’ve learned to be not too worried about the future. I’m starting to realize that I just need to do whatever I can–be it researching job opportunities, applying to jobs, exploring grad school options just in case, and so on–and not fret too much about what I can’t do.

Being less than four months away from graduation and fretting about the uncertainty of the future reminded me of how much more anxious I was in high school as a senior–and it made me realize that many of you reading this blog entry might be feeling the same way, too (unless you’ve been accepted ED). With that in mind, I have three pointers on how not to freak out about the future:

1. Breathe. As cliché as it sounds, you do need to take a deep breath, relax, and know that as long as you’ve done what you could, everything will be fine.

2. Have an open mind. Hope for the best, but brace for yourself for the worst. Chances are that the worst probably won’t happen, the best might not happen, and you’ll find yourself somewhere in between (but preferably closer to the best case scenario). In any event, mentally preparing yourself for any kind of situation you can imagine can help you out a lot–not to mention that if your college plans do go as you’ve hoped, having braced yourself for the worst possible scenario will make experiencing your ideal situation all the sweeter.

3. Continue to do what you must do. I can’t stress that enough. If you waste time fretting, all you would’ve accomplished is wasting time. Given that the future is always uncertain, don’t waste the time that you have! Continue to focus on your classes. Continue to do your extracurricular activities. Continue to do whatever you need to do on a daily basis, as you wait to hear word of your college decisions.

With that said, I shall do #1, 2, and 3 myself and resume my daily routine of studying and doing homework! Even though I’m a college senior, I do have a lot in common with many of you who are reading this blog.

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Student Activities Blog: Filipino Students Association

Posted by Kate F. on January 19 2010

It all started with two warm smiles and one bowl of dried mangoes in September 2006. Being the type of person with multiple interests, I was genuinely torn among several of the student organizations who had tables at the Student Activities Commission (SAC) Fair (now known simply as the Student Activities Fair). The Filipino Students Association was among the few that left a lasting impression by the time I stepped out of the recreation center because of those smiles–and, of course, those oh-so-delicious dried mangoes.

Joining the Filipino Students Association was already in my mind even before I stepped foot at Hopkins, since I was craving interaction with people my age who went through the same cultural experiences. I’m not saying that I wasn’t aware of my Filipino heritage when I started college; I definitely was! My Filipino immigrant parents had made sure of that; still, I didn’t meet many people my age of Filipino descent in southwestern Connecticut, where I was born and raised.

Nonetheless, I was hesitant to approach the FSA table at the SAC Fair. I thought that its members might look down on me: I was fluent only in English, I couldn’t name more than five Filipino celebrities on the spot if I was lucky, I couldn’t cook Filipino food (although I could eat it with gusto), and I couldn’t dance one Filipino folk dance. I couldn’t even dance hip-hop, which many Filipino-Americans in the U.S. dance well; I was a classical ballet dancer. When I started talking to two friendly upperclassmen who had a bowl of dried mangoes at the FSA table and encouraged me to sign up for the FSA mailing list, however, I had a feeling that my fears were unnecessary. I was correct.

Fast forward to the present, in which I’m now a second-semester senior at Hopkins. After that fateful event known as the SAC Fair, I became a very active member of FSA as a freshman, then a secretary as a sophomore, then a co-vice president as a junior, and now a co-president as a senior. I’ve also improved my understanding of Tagalog, I’ve become more aware of Filipino pop culture and current affairs, I’ve learned how to cook some Filipino dishes, and I’ve learned how to dance four Filipino folk dances (and choreographed routines in them).

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Student Organization Name: Filipino Students Association
Category of Group: Cultural
Founded: 1980 (unofficially); 2004 (officially)
Your Name: Kate F.
Your Hometown: Stamford, Connecticut
Your Year: Class of 2010
Your Position: Co-President (also: Co-Vice President [2008-2009], Secretary [2007-2008], and Regular Member [2006-2007])
Website: http://www.jhu.edu/fsa

1. Why did you choose to become involved with this student organization? As previously mentioned, I joined FSA to interact with other people my age of Filipino descent; I also wanted to learn Filipino folk dances (especially the tinikling, in which two six-foot-long bamboo poles are clapped together and people jump in and out of them) and perhaps other aspects of Filipino culture of which I wasn’t aware before college.

2. What are the organization’s membership requirements? To be considered an official active member, we require that one attends at least two general body meetings a year. Our regular events include about one general body a month, about one social event a month, and numerous practices for events such as Culture Show in the fall and Filipino Cultural Night in the spring. Most of our active members participate in more regular events than just attending the general body meetings.

3. What special events has this organization hosted? Starting my freshman year (the 2006-2007 school year), the then-president and one of the other officers coordinated a “Filipino Cultural Night” event in which Filipino food was served and traditional Filipino songs and dances were performed. It’s become an annual event ever since, and we’ve been working on expanding the event ever year. During its first year, it was held in the fall, but now we hold it in the spring. FSA also regularly auditions for and performs in the Culture Show hosted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. In the Fall 2009 semester, we also collaborated with TASA (the Taiwanese American Students Association) in organizing a fundraising banquet to raise funds for typhoon victims in the Philippines and Taiwan.

4. What makes your organization awesome? FSA is a very warm and welcoming group of people! The upperclassmen of FSA when I was a freshman made us feel very much at home, and all of us–upperclassmen and freshmen alike–bonded a lot that year. We’ve worked on doing the same thing the following years for every new batch of freshmen (and new upperclassmen members as well). You don’t even need to have a drop of Filipino blood to join FSA; we’ve had a number of non-Filipino members in the organization over the past few years. Really, all you need to do to join is show an interest in some aspect of Filipino culture and come to our events! We’ll welcome you with open arms.

5. What are some neat things about your organization (e.g., history, traditions, quirks, or prominent members)? Members come from all over the world! There are Filipino-Americans hailing from different parts of the United States, Filipinos who grew up in Manila and attended international schools there, Filipinos who grew up in parts of the Philippines that are very different from Manila, Filipinos who grew up in various countries abroad, non-Filipinos who grew up in the Philippines, and non-Filipinos who hail from different parts of the United States and other countries as well. People’s interests are varied as well–and not just in academics. We have a former wrestler, a former gymnast, a former professional body builder, a few dancers, a few a cappella singers, many people who could play at least one instrument…and more. Even though all of us have an interest in Filipino culture and many of us grew up in Filipino households, we’re still a diverse group in terms of what we enjoy doing.

Photo Captions: (1) This is a group photo of FSA members immediately after Culture Show in November 2006. (2) This is a group photo of FSA freshmen girls in a Culture Show after-party in November 2006. (3) This is a candid from a senior farewell dinner in April 2007. Underclassmen treated the graduating seniors to an evening picnic at a high-rise apartment’s courtyard: the main dish consisted of many Baltimore-style steamed crabs! (There were side dishes, desserts, and drinks as well.) (4) This is a group photo of a few FSA members relaxing before they demonstrated the Filipino folk dance “tinikling” to Baltimore elementary school students participating in the JHU Tutorial Project in November 2007. (5) This is a photo from a Christmas party/gift exchange in December 2007. (6) This is a photo after Filipino Cultural Night in May 2009. (7) This is a group photo from the senior farewell dinner in May 2009, in which underclassmen treated graduating seniors to dinner at a Filipino restaurant in Montgomery County. (8) This is a photo of most of the girls who performed at Culture Show in November 2009. (9) This is a photo from a Christmas party/gift exchange in December 2009.

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A Look Back at 2009

Posted by Kate F. on January 12 2010

I know we’re in the middle of the second full week of January, but as I’ve mentioned in my previous blog entry, a rather hectic end to December and busy beginning of January have caused me to write this post later than I would’ve liked. In both December 2007 and December 2008, I created a slideshow with photos to look back at the calendar year that had just passed. Below is my slideshow for 2009. Enjoy!

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