The Lucie Show

Two years ago, after I got accepted to Hopkins, I went to a JHU-sponsored event in New York City where I met a handful of other accepted students as well as a few already-enrolled students who had applied early decision.  I strolled in hoping to make a few friends and possibly speak with a few admissions officers.  I walked out unknowingly having met my best friend—Rose.

Rose is 5’6”, has long brown hair, dark brown eyes…just kidding.  Well, that’s really what she looks like, but I’m not writing to describe how beautiful she is!  I’m here to explain how my amazing friend (thanks, Hopkins, for introducing us) has inspired me with her incredible passion, enthusiasm, and commitment to a cause.

Rose has been involved with the American Cancer Society Relay For Life for years.  In fact, the Relay event on campus this month marked her 8^th year as an avid Relay participant.  In middle school she was a team captain and in high school she took the initiative to start (and run) the event for her entire town.  Here at Hopkins, she is the Relay For Life co-chair and dedicates her entire fall semester and the first half of her spring semester to planning and organizing for the event.  As her roommate, I’ve witnessed firsthand how much time and energy Rose dedicates to Relay, and I’m constantly amazed by her endless persistence and genuine passion for what she does.

For those who don’t know how Relay For Life works, it’s an over-night event where teams of people camp out around a track and spend the night eating, playing games, and walking laps around the track in honor of cancer survivors as well as those who have lost their lives to this horrible disease.

At Hopkins, Relay takes place on Keyser Quad and becomes a school-wide event involving a cappella and dance performances.  Additionally, various student organizations including sororities and fraternities come out to show their support for the cause.  Students take laps around the quad late into the night; some even stay up all night.  The idea is that cancer doesn’t sleep, so—for one night—neither should we.

The Relay For Life committee accepts personal donations as well as those from various corporate sponsors—one branch of the Johns Hopkins Hospital even donated $2,500.  By the end of the night, the event raised $60,000 dollars for the American Cancer Society (ACS).  This money will be distributed across various branches of the ACS including patient services such as Hope Lodge (a program that, free of charge, houses cancer patients in “lodges” across the country if they’re getting treated far from home), and also to fund further cancer research.

Individually, Rose has raised over $50,000 for cancer and plans to continue raising money for the ACS for the rest of her life.  It’s both inspiring and motivating to be such close friends with and to live with someone who’s so passionate and dedicated to a particular cause at such a young age.

 

Rose is a Biology major on the pre-med track and hopes to become a pediatric oncologist.  It’s amazing to watch a person in action who has known exactly what she’s wanted to do since elementary school.  While her workload at Hopkins can, at times, be incredibly overwhelming, she’s determined to stick with it because she knows that one day she will be rewarded.  To Rose, however, a high salary or a prestigious reputation won’t qualify as a “reward.”  She wants to help people. She wants to save lives.

Whether a student who loves working with children participates in Tutorial Project, someone with an interest in promoting the arts to the Baltimore community joins Art Brigades, or a person who wants to be a pediatric oncologist runs Relay For Life, Hopkins is full of enthusiastic, hard-working individuals who are eager to delve into their areas of study outside of the classroom.  I’m moved and encouraged by so many of my peers at Hopkins and I feel so lucky to be surrounded by people like Rose.

 

 

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When I imagined what my college professors would be like, I pictured old, wrinkly men with long beards and suits.  They spoke in British accents while repeatedly pushing their glasses up the bridges of their noses.  They had an aura about them—a sophisticated, standoffish aura that said nothing more than ‘The Johns Hopkins University is quite the prestigious institution…’

The first class I ever attended at JHU was called ‘Introduction to the Study of Film I, from 1892-1941.’  I walked into the class, sat down by myself, and waited for the professor to arrive.  After a few minutes, a student from the back of the room walked forward and introduced herself.  Shoot, I thought.  Is this how classes in college work?  Am I going to have to introduce myself to the entire class?  Right now?  On the first day?

Soon after, the student plugged her computer into the projection system and opened a PowerPoint presentation.  Did we have a project due today?  I didn’t check the syllabus because I figured we wouldn’t have work on the first day of class!  I looked around the room uncomfortably, trying to figure out if anyone else had forgotten as well.

The student opened the presentation to the first slide.  It read, “Welcome to Introduction to the Study of Film I, from 1892-1941!”

“My name is Meredith Ward,” she continued. “I’m your professor!”

Wait a minute, I thought.  This woman wasn’t an old man with a long beard and a suit.  She was a (very) young-looking woman with straight reddish-brownish hair, bright pink lipstick, an adorable floral blouse, a high waisted skirt, chic patterned tights, and high heels.  She definitely had an aura about her—it was most definitely not, however, a sophisticated, standoffish aura.  She was warm, bubbly, and extremely passionate about film.  I knew that Meredith was going to be my favorite professor during our second class period, when she went around the entire room of 30+ students and proved that she had learned all of our names.

Meredith Ward is a 30-year-old Hopkins alum (yesterday was her birthday)!  She graduated in 2003 with a double major in Writing Seminars and Film and Media Studies, and then went on to Northwestern University for its graduate school program focusing on “cultural studies”—or how media interacts with things outside of itself.  In addition to being a professor, she’s the faculty advisor of the Johns Hopkins Film Society where she has the opportunity to show students how to program a film series, budget a film series and film festival, “show caption” a screening, and how to—in a very hands-on way—project 35mm film print.

I didn’t take any film courses this fall (sophomore year), so after my first semester of freshman year was over, I was unsure if Meredith would ever be my teacher again. I expected to lose touch with her, and—as she had more classes of 30+ names to learn—I figured she’d forget me altogether.  In the beginning of this year, however, I was walking by the library when I heard, “Hi, Lucie!”

Not only had Meredith remembered my name, but she remembered that, on the first day of my first class with her, when she asked us to tell her a little bit about ourselves, I had told her that I was interested in possibly pursuing film and media studies as a major or a minor.  She asked how my classes were going and if I had made any decisions regarding the film and media program.  When I told her I hadn’t yet, she strongly encouraged me to ask her any questions and to take another film course in the future.

While making my schedule for this spring, I noticed that there were five open seats in Meredith’s Film Theory course.  I simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take another class with her.  Her teaching style is infused with a clear passion and love for film, and her desire to learn more about and delve into cinema’s mysteries and intricacies rubs off on all of her students.  Meredith genuinely cares about each and every one of her students, and I feel so fortunate to be learning from the best of the best.

She says that her Film Theory course is unusual in that “it’s more focused on creating cinephiles than it is in simply in relaying the history of the body of film theory.”

And the rest is (film) history. Today, I’m a declared film and media studies minor, and I can safely say it’s all because of Meredith.  She often talks about various advisors who have encouraged and mentored her throughout her journey, but what she may not know is how influential and inspirational she has been and will continue to be to others as they learn and grow.  She’s my role model, my professor, but overall, my friend.  Happy birthday, Meredith!

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Home has a “feeling.”

Many are familiar with that comforting surge of recognition and security that comes rushing back to them when they return home after being away for a long time.  I’m familiar with this feeling; not only have I been at college for almost two years now, but I’ve spent seven summers away from home for eight weeks at a time.

When I first moved into AMR II as a freshman, everything felt very foreign to me.  I didn’t go to boarding school, so I had never before lived with my schoolmates.  It felt so weird to me—sharing a “house” with over one hundred other students.  This was school.  Not home.

I was completely caught off guard when I returned back to Hopkins after spending fall break at home.  Walking through the turnstiles and towards the door leading to Baker House, I got this familiar feeling that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.  It was excitement.  It was comfort.  It was recognition and security.  I was home.

It’s amazing to me that the first time I got that “feeling” was after fall break—that’s in early October after I had been on campus for little over a month.  Evidently, Johns Hopkins University quickly and effectively fosters relationships and connections amongst students and their campus.

As the months pass, my connection to this university grows even stronger.  I find myself thinking about Hopkins when I’m back in New York.  I’m constantly talking about my friends, the campus, and my dorm room.  I never want to leave, but when I have to, I’m always excited to return.

For admitted students: I understand how difficult it can be to decide where you want to go to school.  I put together a short movie with pictures (and some video footage) from my time at Hopkins thus far.  This place has become my home, and it can become yours too.

Feel free to ask me any questions on my Forum!

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I’ve hinted at the beauty of The Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus various times in my past entries.  Normally, however, I mention this attractiveness in passing, explaining how the campus’ physical appeal is only one of JHU’s many assets.  While it’s true that Hopkins has many selling points, it’s about time someone emphasizes the true importance of a college campus’ appearance.

For the same reason that most people periodically take care of their homes, Johns Hopkins University works efficiently to maintain the campus’ cleanliness and overall look—the hard work does not go unnoticed.  Walking from class to class each day, I often slow down and take a good look around me, admiring and feeling proud of the place I call home.  A campus’ appearance has the ability to alter students’ moods and mindsets in the same way that weather can do so.  Speaking of the weather, spring seems to have come to Baltimore a little early this year; the cherry blossoms are already in bloom and it’s been in the 70s and 80s this entire week.

The grassy quads, the brick and marble buildings, the symmetrical paths that crisscross over one another—these are all physical aspects of the campus that add to its visual attractiveness.  Additionally, the buildings’ interiors are filled with unique architectural structures and design elements that infuse the learning atmosphere with a passion and charm that only visual features can provide.

This morning, I took a walk around the Homewood campus (in shorts and a t-shirt) and snapped some pictures that I hope capture the essence of the campus’ beauty—although I know they won’t do it justice.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Johns Hopkins Homewood Campus is constantly buzzing with happy, smiling faces, and I’m not just referring to the faces of students.  The university’s various dining halls, markets, and eateries are filled with warm-hearted and fun-loving staff.  While these men and women have the ability to drastically enhance so many students’ moods on a day-to-day basis (and definitely do so), they often don’t receive the recognition they deserve.

These employees (ranging from campus security guards to staff at off-campus buildings) comprise a large portion of the people that I see on my daily pit stops.  Whether I’m grabbing a quick cup of coffee at Einstein Bros Bagels or I’m searching for off-campus housing, the staff that works on and around The Johns Hopkins University is vitally important to my life at school.

There’s a certain degree of trust that we, as students, must put in these people.  For example, those who monitor our dorms are responsible for ensuring our safety as we go to sleep each night; security guards sit at the turnstiles of each on-campus dorm 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  This blog is dedicated to those people and so many more.

Yesterday, I walked around campus and asked some of my favorite employees if they’d mind being featured in my blog on the JHU admissions website.  I told them that, although the blog’s goal would be to show prospective students how great JHU and Charles Village employees are, my personal goal is to thank them for all they do.  Here is a little bit more about some of the people I spoke with.

It’s only fitting that I begin with Gladys—the first on-campus employee I met as a freshman at Hopkins.  Gladys works in the Fresh Food Café (the FFC) and has been with The Johns Hopkins University since 1971.  She is a kind-hearted woman who greeted me every morning of freshman year with, “Hi, baby, how are you?”  Her smile is absolutely contagious and her hugs are warm and special.  When she met my parents during visiting weekend, she told them, “Don’t worry, I’ll look out for your daughters.”  Since I live further from the FFC this year, I don’t see Gladys daily anymore.  Still, at any chance we get, my twin sister and I run over to the FFC to catch up with her.  When I asked her to tell me a fun fact about herself, she responded with, “My personality is a fun fact.”

I see Juanita and Marvel every day.  These women work the registers at the Charles Street Market (CharMar), which puts them in contact with JHU students all day every day.  It’s no wonder they were chosen for those positions—they are two of the funniest and most personable women in Maryland.  Both have worked at Hopkins for 21 years and absolutely love being around people.  Juanita loves making the students laugh, but says the students make her laugh each day as well.  Marvel playfully agreed, adding how much she loves the market’s convenient location and the wide range of students that come through each day.

 

 

 

 

Joan works in the leasing office of an off-campus apartment.  I say “off-campus” because The Charles is not technically owned by JHU.  It is, however, directly in between Charles Commons and CharMar and is, without a doubt, on campus.  My sister and I will be living in The Charles next year, so for the past few weeks we’ve been in and out of the leasing office meeting with Joan!  She’s worked there for only about a year and a half so far, but she’s already made an effort to meet and form relationships with almost all of the students currently living in The Charles.  She has twins of her own, which allowed her to bond with my twin sister and I quite well from the start.

Wendell, Brenda, and Hana are a hoot!  These employees at Einstein Bros Bagels feed off of one another, making each trip to Einstein’s (which is located right inside of CharMar) a hilarious funfest.  Wendell calls everybody “Baby” and “Sweetheart.”  She has worked on the Homewood campus for 38 years and says she loves playing jokes on people.  Brenda, who has worked here for almost 14 years, loves the sound of laughter—when she’s not making others laugh, she’s making herself laugh.  The sound is contagious and can be heard from the other side of CharMar.  Hana is relatively new to campus.  She’s been working here for 3 years, and while she was too shy to admit it, Wendell let me in on a little secret—Hana’s a dancer!

 

 

 

 

I could go on and on forever, appreciating each individual staff member for his or her personal contributions to the university and its students.  I hope that my recognition of these few people can represent my sincere gratitude towards everybody.

Prospective students–leaving home and going to college is hard.  It’s difficult being away from your parents and guardians who have raised you and sheltered you for your entire lives.  Know, however, that at Hopkins, the employees will become your companions and, above all, your family. These people will brighten your day; their warm, friendly, welcoming personalities will touch you with each encounter, and you will be in very good hands.

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The first week of second semester can be a tough time for any college student.  ”Vacation over, tan fading,” as my dad puts it.  While it was quite the struggle getting back into the swing of things, one of my professors in particular helped to ease that transition.  My Opinion Writing course, taught by Professor Gregory Kane, had already–after one week–come to be my favorite class at Hopkins.  Now, it’s important for me to note that this class only meets once a week.  Therefore, it would be more fitting for me to say, “My Opinion Writing course, taught by Professor Gregory Kane, had already–after two hours–come to be my favorite class at Hopkins.”

This week’s assignment was focused on the Super Bowl. Since I’m not much of a sports guru, I turned to the halftime show for my opinion paper.  Hopkins is rumored to be one of the most cut-throat and intense universities in the world.  While a lot of the work here is extremely challenging, nobody said Hopkins students can’t have fun in class.  Read my Opinion Writing paper below to see one example of my fun and engaging Hopkins homework assignments.

P.S. If you are a big Madonna fan, I would stop here.

P.P.S. If you haven’t yet gathered it from this blog’s title, I am about to “bash” the Super Bowl halftime show.  I am not referring to the “bash” that is synonymous with “party.”

JHU_Lucie’s Super Bowl Halftime Show paper

Madonna’s “Frozen” performance at the 2012 Super Bowl has certainly been “Causing a Commotion.”  “4 Minutes” into the act I was already screaming, “Rescue Me” and thinking, “I’m Going Bananas.” For a moment, just “Like a Prayer,” the “Music” stopped, but “Sooner or Later” the “Voices” returned.  It was “Me Against the Music.”  “I’m So Stupid” for thinking that this “Material Girl” would be able to “Keep it Together” on stage. I understand that “Nobody’s Perfect.” “I Know It.” But “Like It or Not,” this “Bad Girl” gave almost “Everybody” a “Fever” with her “Borderline” awful performance.

I can’t say I’m a football fan.  To be completely honest, the sport confuses me.  What was with the butt-backwards touchdown?  I had never before heard New York Giants fans moan and groan in such a manner when their beloved team earned 6 points!  My friend tried to explain it to me, but his words went right over my head.  Why, then, was I watching the Super Bowl?  If you’ve already read my autobiography, you’ll probably know the answer—for the performance, of course!

Anything on stage can instantly catch my attention.  I love glittering, giant (no pun intended), gaudy displays, and was more than excited for the Super Bowl halftime show.  While I did get that glittering, giant, gaudy display that I was hoping for, I walked away from the spectacle thinking…what?  My reaction was, apparently, quite standard.  CNN.com reported that, within 90 minutes of the halftime show, over 6,000 tweets combined the words “Madonna” and “WTF.”

What threw me off first and foremost was the theme’s inconsistency.  Was I supposed to be thinking Egyptian Viking, cheerleading squad, presidential elections, circus acrobats, church choir, or hooker heels?  I wanted and tried to latch on to just one, but it seems the halftime show producers were firmly set on creating the never-before-seen amalgamation of the world’s worst themes.

Madonna is considered to be the “Queen of Pop”—is she not?  She’s not Miley Cyrus or another one of today’s teenage pop stars that are virtually known for their tight, revealing, and inappropriate performance attire.  I’m not saying I support those clothing decisions, but I definitely understand the reasoning behind them; it has been scientifically proven that the human body is at its finest just before the age of 20, at which point people may notice the beginning signs of aging.  In other words, Miley Cyrus can “pull it off.” It would have been nice and appropriate to see the 54-year-old woman in something—gee, I don’t know—appropriate for a woman her age.

Now, I’m not making a blow at Madonna’s body or saying that she didn’t look good—in fact, I think she “pulled it off” quite well.  What scares me is the message that her tight leather mini skirt and fishnet stockings sent to children across the country.  Younger pop stars have already corrupted the minds of so many adolescents.  Many teenagers, for example, think it’s appropriate to wear belly shirts and short shorts to school.  It’s times like these when the younger generations need the older ones most!  Teenagers need to know that it is not ok to wear belly shirts and short shorts to school.  And if their mindsets can’t be altered, adults must at least try to set a different example for them.  Children need to know that, as they grow older, they must drop the current habits that they’re adopting from young stars.

I hate to comment on Madonna’s age, because it’s really wonderful that she’s still able to move like that in her mid-50s, but come on! Enough is enough!  There’s a certain point when pop stars must take their final bow and accept that their time in the spotlight has come to an end.  If they really insist on continuing—like Madonna does—they should at least tone it down a notch.  No cheerleading, no seductive floor humping, and absolutely no stripper boots.

What was the deal with her boots, anyway?  I’m sure we all know the famous phrase, “Those boots were made for walking.”  I’d argue that those boots were not made for walking, let alone for gallivanting across the stage while thrusting your pelvis violently.  She tripped—but I’m sure I didn’t have to tell you that.  About 95% of the people that I surveyed told me they rewound their TVs just to watch Madonna trip one more time.  It’s not that Americans are mean-spirited—it’s simply hard not to ridicule a 54 year-old who blatantly believes she’s 17 again.

“In This Life,” it “Has To Be” hard to be “Back in Business” as a 54-year-old.  It “Ain’t No Big Deal,” however, for Madonna to just “Take a Bow” and feel that retired pop star “Freedom.”  It’s “Amazing” that Madonna once thought “Nothing Fails”—“Hey, You,” “Don’t Tell Me” that.  The Super Bowl 2012 halftime show will give everybody “Something to Remember.”

 

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I’ll be honest: when I’m not actually at Hopkins, most of my thoughts tend to revolve around the campus, my Hopkins friends, and Baltimore.  Last year, I wrote a blog titled “Miss Lucie Misses Hop,” and it’s true—when I’m away from school, a huge part of my life is missing. Then again, I feel bad blogging time and time again about how much I miss Hopkins (I wouldn’t want to upset my parents or make my home friends feel unloved).  So, what’s a girl to do when all of her home friends are scattered around at their respective colleges, all of her Hopkins friends are already back at Hopkins, and she’s just counting down the days, the hours, the minutes, until she gets to go back and spend another semester in Baltimore?  I had to occupy myself somehow, and I felt it was a great time to reconnect with myself—pre-college style. That’s how I came up with my idea: scrapbooking.

I was cleaning out my room and came across a bunch of old papers and other knickknacks that I knew I’d want to see again some day.  I waited until I had gathered up enough energy (6 hours of energy…I’m telling you, this is hard work).  Scrapbooking gave me a chance to re-explore moments that I’d never given much time to.  I spent hours examining things that I’d only looked at for seconds at a time—birthday cards from my friends and family, old photos, and much more.

As the cliché phrase goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  I figured this blog would be much better shown rather than told.  While I can’t wait until I’m back at Hopkins, it feels wonderful to be in New York and to have the time to re-experience memories of family, friends, and my first home.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of the scrapbook :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Johns Hopkins University is special.  No, not simply because our Homecoming Weekend is in the spring.  Not solely because we’ve figured out how to get a beach—yep, you heard me correctly—into the heart of Charles Village, Baltimore.  Not even Lotis, the Egyptian mummy in the basement of Gilman Hall, can take all the credit.  There’s something about our school that sets it apart.  Something innovative, something advantageous, something 12 letters and one month long: Intersession.

For over forty years, the Intersession Program at Hopkins has offered a plethora of exclusive pass/fail courses that are not offered during the academic year.  This program is optional, so you can choose to stay at home (as I did last year), or to merely remain on campus class-free.  This year, the mid-year vacation starts on December 17^th, 2011 and ends on January 8^th, 2012.  Intersession will last from the 9^th until the 30^th, when second semester classes begin.  Students not taking an intersession courses this year will have from December 17^th until January 30^th OFF.  That’s right.  Over a month of optional school in the middle of the year?  Welcome to Hopkins.

The purpose of this blog, however, stems far beyond the joys that result from being offered the chance to decide whether or not you’d like to participate in school during any given month.  Students who decide to take the month off may be taking advantage of some extra family/friend time, traveling, or just relaxing at home and watching movies, while those who do participate in Intersession could be roaming the Slave Castle of Cape Coast, Ghana and getting school credit for it.  Either way, all of these people have something in common: they are all students of Hopkins.  Each one of them has the opportunity to decide how he or she would like to spend the month of January.  Hopkins students are very lucky indeed.  The Intersession Program at JHU offers them something very simple: time.  Time to enrich their own lives in whatever way they’d like to.  Here’s how some of my friends will be spending their time:

Three of my best friends (Liz, Rose, and Alexa) are on Birthright sponsored by Hopkins Hillel!  They’re travelling around Israel for ten days with 40 other Hopkins students and 2 Hillel group leaders.  They’ll be riding camels through the desert, visiting the Western Wall, swimming in the Dead Sea, and hiking Masada, among other feats.  Intersession grants them the opportunity to benefit from this exciting abroad experience while still enjoying ample family and friend time once they return home.

Paige, my cognitive neuroscience classmate from last year (as well as a remarkable hairstylist and masseuse), is taking the time to get EMT certified.  For 3 weeks, she’ll be dedicating 11 hours a day and 7 days a week to completing this task.  The Hopkins Intersession Program has (generously) afforded her these 200+ hours.

John, one of the videographers of the “Learn More, See More, B’More” video series, will be going to the Sundance Film Festival.

My athletic friend, Daniel, and the rest of the Hopkins basketball team, will be traveling to Danville, Kentucky for a tournament at Centre College.  The team also spent a couple of nights at the Marriott in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  Intersession will give those boys a lot of time for some much-needed team bonding.

Phoebe, my Phi Mu sister, is going to Honduras on a trip sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Global Brigades team.  This on-campus student group will be funding a handful of trips to Honduras for various causes—water, dental, medical, micro finance, etc.  Phoebe will be going on the public health trip.  During Intersession, she’ll have the opportunity to build floors, water collectors, toilets, and more, for a village without the resources to do so itself.  She’ll also be teaching hygiene and sanitation to students in the local school.  While she knows the weather will be brutally hot, she’s up for the challenge and knows how rewarding this experience will be.

Another Phi Mu sister, Liza, is doing something similar.  She’ll be traveling to Ecuador and the Galapagos taking classes in tropical biology and evolution.  You might assume that she’s a Biology major, but she’s actually studying English and Art History.

Kevin, a fellow New Yorker who I met at a Hopkins meet-up before freshman year had even started, might take a bartending course at a local bar on North Charles Street!  This course is labeled “personal enrichment,” and is not taken for credit.  Other personal enrichment courses offered during Intersession include beer history, wine tasting, an introduction to the Rubik’s Cube, instrument workshops and music lessons, and yoga, health, and fitness classes.

My close friend, Lindsay, is hoping to shadow a couple of doctors at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.  She wanted to take some time off during winter break, and felt that doing hospital work during the academic year might be a bit too much in concert with her class schedule.  Intersession gives her the time to explore the Johns Hopkins Hospital without the added stress of simultaneous schoolwork.

My friends Molly and Monique are, as they say, “Sitting on our bums and doing nothing.”  They call it “nothing,” but I call it well-deserved rest, relaxation, and revitalization.  JHU_Allysa even asked me, “Does being a beach bum count?”  Yes it does, Allysa!  Intersession gives her time to go island hopping in the Grenadines and still take a law course once she gets back to Hopkins.

What am I doing?  Well, I spent a week as a beach bum, too.  I took a family trip to Aruba with our family friends (the father of that family happens to be my dentist—I caught him chewing Double Bubble, for the record).  My friend Andrew (yes, Andrew the Great—see my blog titled “Lots of Learning”) happened to be in Aruba at the exact same time.  I’m now taking a week-long course called Media & Public Relations in the Big Apple–read more about it here.  The class meets 4 hours a day for 1 week in Baltimore, and then another three days in New York City, allowing students to network with and learn from current executives in the field.  Andrew is taking this class with me, along with a couple of our other friends.  Layne, a current senior at Hopkins and my Phi Mu sister, will be joining us as well.  In fact, Layne has participated in Intersession every year and has taken everything from a Wilderness First Responder training course to Cuban salsa dancing and voice lessons.

On behalf of the JHU students: Thank you, Johns Hopkins University, for your time.

 

 

 

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Last week, as I walked across the Keyser Quad (and tripped—shh, it was embarrassing!), I experienced the most vivid déjà vu. Suddenly, it was 2009 again and I was walking on the same brick path. My mom, dad, sister, and I strained our ears to hear the tour guide while we toted our black and blue drawstring bags and tried to hang on to the stack of pamphlets, folders, and fliers in our hands. My head was congested with thoughts of college admissions essays, SAT scores, and the overwhelming beauty of the campus. Two years later, I’m here. The essays are over, the SAT scores are meaningless, and the campus is mine. The years are flying by.

My friends would yell at me: “No, Lucie! Don’t write a blog about this now. Save it for your senior year or your last blog! It’s too sad to think about!” My friends are very warm and emotional (my roommates and I practically cried when saying goodbye for break). I’m sorry, guys, but this is currently on my mind and I feel the need to express myself.

Growing up, attending school for nine months out of the year was always a given for me. I’m guilty of having made the expected remarks at some point in my life: “I hate school! I wish there were no such thing as school! I want a snow day every day!” I’ve wished for no homework, no tests, and no

studying. I never imagined, however, that one day, school would actually come to an end. Now that I’m way more than halfway finished with my schooling (91.2% finished, to be exact), I can look back and realize why I never actually dropped out, called it quits, and declared every day a snow day. It’s because I LOVED school! School was so much more than boring note-taking and repetitive lecturing. School was the site of all the fun—all of the brainless drama, the silly gossip, and the heart-throbbing walks past your secret crush.

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While college is obviously different from elementary school, middle school, and high school, the fundamentals are still the same. Walking past your friends (or secret crushes) on the quad is just as exciting. There’s brainless drama, silly gossip, and high hopes for snow days. How is it that this period of my life is slowly but surely coming to an end? It feels like just yesterday my older brother, Robbie, opened his acceptance letter to UPenn. In just a few months, he’ll be graduating, working at a private equity firm in Manhattan, and supporting himself. In the blink of an eye he went from being my cool older brother who was in middle school (WOW, so old), to my awesome older brother who was in high school (!!!), to my 22-year-old genius older brother who’s a (soon-to-be) college graduate.

In just a few short years, after graduation, all of my friends will be scattered across the country—the world. Some will go back home, others will move out and start lives of their own. Either way, nothing will ever be the way it is right now. This is my last year—my last semester—living in on-campus housing. Every night, I go to sleep in a setting similar to a giant camp bunk, protected by dedicated security guards, and surrounded by my best friends and my classmates. Next year I’ll be living in an apartment building with real people. Next fall I’ll be going abroad, and when I return I’ll have only 3 semesters left.

There’s no use crying or trying to slow down the time. All I can do is enjoy myself. In the first blog I ever wrote on “The Lucie Show,” I said that my friends and I work hard, but laugh even harder. I’ve literally been laughing the years away. I guess that’s not so bad after all.

Years from now, when I visit Hopkins as an alum (perhaps on a campus tour with my own children), I’ll probably experience a similar déjà vu as I walk across the Keyser Quad. I’ll point out the spot where my a cappella group sang during the “Jam on the Quad,” the bench where a friend and I sat for two hours talking about our lives, and the brick that I tripped over thirty years earlier. I’ll laugh, and time will keep flying.

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When people ask me, “How do you like Hopkins?” the first thing that comes to mind is my social life here.  I think of my 120 sisters in Phi Mu, the 18 members of my comedy a cappella group, my SAABrothers&sisters (SAAB is the student group that runs Hopkins Interactive), my amazing friends in the Class of 2014, Andrew the Great (my weird friend Andrew wrote that), my fantastic roommates, and so many other great people who I see around campus on a day-to-day basis.  Recently, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about why I really love JHU.  While my friends and social groups on campus are definitely the core of what I love here, I’ve realized something else.  It may not sound conventionally “cool,” but for me, this is one of the coolest parts about being a student at Johns Hopkins: I have learned so much here.  What’s even better?  I’ve been truly interested in what I’m learning, and I’ve been able to apply a lot of my new knowledge in real life situations! To me, that is cool.

I’ll start by putting into perspective just how interested I am in a lot of my coursework.  Last year, a friend from high school came to visit me.  She found an article on my desk from my Introduction to Cognitive Neuropsychology course, and while we should have been catching up (talking about friends, frat parties, etc.), we spent our first thirty minutes together analyzing a split-brain patient and discussing how a disconnect in the corpus callosum can be used to determine which side of the brain is responsible for understanding language.

This past Thanksgiving, I went to Madrid to visit my boyfriend who’s studying abroad.  The last piece of information that I learned in my art history class before going on Thanksgiving break was that, towards the end of the Gothic period, cathedrals lost their light and airy feel and started getting thicker.  In Spain, on a tour of La Catedral de Toledo, the first question our tour guide asked us was, “What’s the first thing you notice about this Gothic cathedral?”  I went out on a limb…

“It’s a little thick,” I tried, “Maybe it was built towards the end of the Gothic period?”

“Exactly!” The tour guide smiled.  So did I.

I’ve been able to apply knowledge from many of my other classes to my outside life as well.  I’ve used all that I learned in my Professional Communications and Oral Presentations courses when applying for jobs/internships and creating cover letters and résumés.  Both of my film classes have forever changed the way I watch and evaluate movies and my Animal Minds class has changed the way I interact with my puppies.  Not to mention, my Spanish course was useful on my trip to Madrid and my Italian courses have allowed me to better communicate with my Italian relatives.

 

 

College is a time to explore.  When you take a course that genuinely interests you, not only will you most likely be able to apply your new knowledge in real life, but this interest might influence your social life as well.  A great way to make new friends is through the sharing of common interests—whether it be frat parties, neuropsychological studies, or both.

 

 

 

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