Verbal Snippets & Snapshots

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!

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.

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.

It’s already almost half-way through my third year at Hopkins, and I’m getting closer and closer to graduation. However, I’ve found that disregarding the added responsibilities of officer positions in student organizations and disregarding the increased difficulties of my courses, I’m just as excited about every day at Hopkins as I was as a freshman–and for that, I’m grateful. Hopkins, as you may have figured out from other entries on my blog and other students’ blogs, is a challenging school–and to face the challenges posed here, the best way to do so is with some kind of positive attitude, whether it’s an “I can do it!” attitude or an “I’m going to appreciate the lessons I learn here, whether they’re good or bad!” attitude or an “I was accepted into this institution for a reason, and it’s because I’ve proven I’m smart enough to handle this school–so let me prove that I am!” attitude.

Or some other kind of positive attitude. I hope you get the picture.

Anyway, after facing a dramatic increase in the demand posed by both academics and extracurricular activities as a sophomore, I found it difficult at times to maintain the upbeat attitude I had as a freshman–and, I’ll admit, the times I had a predominantly negative attitude about being a Hopkins student ended up being the worst times of my Hopkins experience. I didn’t get much joy out of my classes or extracurricular activities (even though I kept on doing them as usual), and I found myself quite prone to getting irritable at small annoyances (even though I didn’t always express my irritability). Think of perpetual PMS. Not pleasant.

So, with all that in mind, I really tried to use the summer in between my sophomore and junior years to recharge myself and to revive the attitude I used to have in which I was excited about what Hopkins has to offer. And, while it sounds cheesy, I’ve been trying hard to maintain that attitude throughout this semester, even though it’s been a work-filled one–and to do this, I’ve been reminding myself of the aspects of Hopkins that made me enamored with this institution as a freshman when I was getting to know my university better.

Yeah, it sounds cheesy, doesn’t it? However, it’s very true.

It reminds me of how I’ve heard the saying that in a marriage, the couple sometimes go back to the memories of the times when they were young and falling in love to remind themselves of why they’re still in their marriage in the first place. Seriously, that’s what I’ve found myself doing a few times this semester–and, I’m glad to say, it’s worked. A close friend of mine who’s known me since freshman year once told me last month, “You’ve been really happy and upbeat this semester–I’m glad to see that!”

So am I.

As I mentioned in my previous entry, I returned to Hopkins on the evening of Sunday, January 6, because the first day of Intersession was on Monday, January 7. I took advantage of this optional three-week winter term before the spring semester last year and enjoyed it overall, so there was no doubt in my mind that I’d come to Hopkins again for Intersession this year! So far, this year’s Intersession is only halfway over, but I already think that it’s been much better than last year’s Intersession.

So many things have happened over the past two weeks that I don’t know where to begin. If I can summarize my Intersession in five things, it would be the following: (A) academics, (B) admissions, (C) food, (D) friends, and (E) happiness. The last item on my list might sound odd, but I’m mentioning it for a reason. In fact, since discussing all five items in my list will take up a lot of time, I’ve decided I’ll write about Intersession 2008 in three entries. (Yes, that means you’ll have to read my next two entries to get the full picture of my Intersession experience!) So, which item will I discuss in this entry? Item E, the “happiness” component–because as a friend and I have agreed in a recent conversation, while you may be doing amazing things, the mood and attitude you have can affect your experiences a lot.

Looking back at the past year and a half, I’ve enjoyed my time at Hopkins overall. Sure, there have been times when I’ve been irritated or frustrated with my experiences at this school. Sure, I don’t like everything about Hopkins. Ultimately, though, I love this place. Nonetheless, for almost a year, I wasn’t as completely happy at Hopkins as I could’ve been, although it didn’t have anything to do with Hopkins as an institution itself. Intersession 2007 was probably my emotional nadir–although my friends have said that if I didn’t tell them otherwise, they would’ve thought everything was peachy keen for me, since I was pretty cheerful on the outside.

During the fall semester of my freshman year, I had a deep misunderstanding with someone I knew. Not much–if any–harm was done. However, the experience was enough for me to feel shaken. From the Thanksgiving of my freshman year until sometime recently, I had a long emotional recovery process. This had to do with the fact that I was so engrossed in dealing with school and extracurricular activities that I often was “too busy” to think about my emotions, despite the fact that I kept wondering why I felt somewhat hollow inside. (Looking back, that wasn’t a good idea.) Meanwhile, as I’ve said, Intersession 2007 was the worst phase of my emotional emptiness. I had a lot more free time at Hopkins compared to a regular semester–so with fewer classes and extracurricular requirements, I had a lot more time to walk around campus and recall memories from the fall semester.

I don’t need to describe any more details of how I felt during Intersession last year. As I’ve said, it was the low point of my year of emotional emptiness/hollowness/sadness/et cetera, because once the spring semester of my freshman year started, I once again became pretty busy. Plus, I started becoming closer friends with people with whom I didn’t spend as much time back when I was ahem during the fall semester of my freshman year. Slowly, but surely, I came to realize that I can be happy on my own, and that family and friends can be enough company to make me content.

I don’t know why it took as long as it did, but I recovered. One night last week, I was hanging out with a group of friends after we had spent the day taking classes or doing research or working part-time. While we were in the middle of laughing uproariously at something, the following fact hit me: it was only after the fall semester of my freshman year that I started to know this group of friends–in fact, I knew them only vaguely during Intersession 2007! However, during the year that I’ve gotten to know them, I’ve become close friends with them–and of the many people I’ve come to know at Hopkins, they have hung out with me, they have helped me out when I needed aid, they have conversed with me during the late hours of the night or the early hours of the morning, and so on. Then I realized that this was the case with not only the six or seven people I was with that night, but also with other friends of mine at Hopkins.

Before this blog entry becomes a sap-fest of words, I just want to say that during Intersession 2008, for the first time in a while, I can say that I’m as happy as I could be–not just happy, but as happy as I could be. For me, that’s a huge change between Intersession 2007 and Intersession 2008. It’s a change that I like.

N.B. I got the images illustrating this blog entry from AllPosters.com. Given the theme of this entry, they’re images of some of the things that make me happy.