Simply Serendipitous

Ever wondered what it’s actually like to live in a dorm?  Well, you won’t REALLY know until you actually live in one, but I decided to try to go ahead and give you a taste of it.  Interestingly enough, a quick look back at my day today provides a really good overview of the glaring differences between life at home and life on your own in college.

Today was a pretty uneventful day, I actually didn’t do a whole lot of work because it’s the beginning of the semester and I’m easing into it.  I know when you’re trying to get into a cold pool, you’re supposed to just jump in instead of taking it slowly, but this is one of those days when I decided to throw the metaphors out the window and do whatever I felt like (and ignore what I didn’t want to do).  So, without further ado, here’s what my day looked like.

2:15 AM: go to bed, after several episodes of The Office.  I just started watching it, so I’m trying to catch up.

10:30 AM: wake up.  Get breakfast from Einstein’s bagels, eat slowly.

…? (not sure what I did for awhile.  Probably check news, Facebook,   etc.)

1:30: laundry time.  I had been putting it off for a few weeks, so I had to use three washers.  Plus, Sundays are the busiest days for the laundry room, so it was pretty crowded.  Oops.

2:00: switch the laundry from washers to dryers. Make coffee.  Call a friend from home to catch up.

3:00: bring the laundry upstairs, fold, put away.  Stare out the window.  Realize I have work to do, but continue not to do it.

4:00: I’m hungry.  How about grilled cheese?  Something goes awry and after about 30 seconds on one side, the pan is smoking and the bread is burned black.  The kitchen/living room area is filled with smoke.  Luckily, my suitemate has a sense of humor about the situation.  She also has common sense and opens the windows to keep a smoke alarm from going off.

4:15:  I think I’ll have a peanut butter and jelly instead…Mike, on the other hand, sees no problem with eating a blackened grilled cheese.

6:15: head downstairs to Nolan’s, the dining hall in my building.  They’re having a special menu for the Super Bowl, which includes wings and my favorite, mozzarella  sticks.

7:00: (now) blog-time.

8:00: finally finish the Health Policy homework I’ve been trying to get through? Maybe do some other homework too.

11:00: hot chocolate + The Office.  I’ll try to limit myself to just one episode.  Maybe two.

12:00: shower/bed.  I have a 9 AM class tomorrow, and I’m NOT a morning person.

So, despite my obvious plague of non-productivity, you can also kind of see some of the differences of home life and dorm life.  For one thing, at home, I don’t think I would’ve burned a grilled cheese sandwich.  Just one of the joys of a cheap pan and a finicky stove top.  (I’m really not THAT incompetent of a cook, I promise).  Another thing (you know, the real one I am trying to get at) is the personal responsibilities.  At home, your parents and/or teachers can sort of keep tabs on you.  Some more so than others, but there’s usually some level of accountability there.  In college, the only “keeping tabs” is your grades.  Don’t want to do your work? No problem–you’ll just get  a zero for that assignment.

And with that, I’m feeling like I should probably get on to that assignment.  The semester has started (whether we like it or not) and it’s time to jump on in!  If you have any questions about life in the dorms, feel free to ask them here (in the comments section), or on our message boards.  If you want to peek inside the dorms, check out our Cribs blogs.

A Johns Hopkins University student, toward the end of the semester, writing a blog called “Crash and Burn”?  This can’t be good.  Well, it’s probably not what you’re thinking.

On Thursdays, I have a few classes in a row, ending with my Calculus section, which is in Dunning Hall.
As I was exiting the building, I successfully made it down the ramp (this particular exit does not have stairs), then took a few steps on the ground, when my ankle decided that I shouldn’t be standing vertically anymore.  After some weird contortion of the way an ankle should work, I completely tumbled downward.  [Crash.]  I landed on one of my knees, with my other leg strangely positioned somehow or another, and scraped up my knee from the friction from my jeans.  [And burn.] Ouch!

So then, of course, I quickly look around and see who all witnessed this fabulous moment of mine.  Not too many people, but certainly enough.  I suddenly had tremendous empathy for those kids in middle school who drop their lunch trays and get laughed at by everyone…and no one was even laughing at me…except myself.  I quickly gathered up all of my now-scattered things, and rushed away from the scene, hoping to forget about it or something.  Of course, it’s hard to forget about this rather embarrassing moment when your scraped-up knee is hurting and your twisted ankle resulted in a twisted knee that also hurts!  (whine, whine, whine).

As I was walking away from the scene, I remembered a quotation (though I can’t remember who said it), “Laugh at yourself first, before anyone else can.”  While this can certainly make for some awkward laughter, I like the sentiment.  I’ve always tried to have a sense of humor about all the little things in life (otherwise they’d surely eat me up), but this also made me stop and think, “SLOW THE HECK DOWN AND STOP FALLING!” 

You may be interested to know I successfully made it through the rest of the week (yes, it was only the rest of Thursday and then Friday) without falling down at all.  And this was despite the fact that it snowed a bit on Friday and was slippery…!  I have to be proud of these little accomplishments, it’s the best way to get through tough weeks!

I had a moderately busy week, though it mostly just felt like a bunch of little things, instead of any one huge thing.

The week in review: On Monday, I went downtown to the Civil Division of the Baltimore City District Court for my second courtroom observation for my Business Law class.  (Check out my blog about my first day in court HERE). I observed one judge’s courtroom for a few hours, then headed back up to campus with just enough time to write up the observation before I had to go to a meeting.  Afterwards, I realized how much reading I had to do for my Anthropology class and got to work on that, finishing much later than I usually stay up.  Luckily, I don’t have class until noon on Tuesdays, so I let myself sleep in until about 9:30, since I had stayed up so late.  After class, I did more of the reading, and headed off to dinner before my 6:00 PM Physics lab.  I have to be honest: I’m really looking forward to finishing that up!  I got out around 8:30 and then came back to write a precis (basically a short paper that identifies the central argument throughout the readings for the week–or this is how my professor described it) for my Anthropology class.

Wednesday was dedicated to working on a proposal for my Anthropology final paper.  Our professor and TAs are quite generous in this assignment, in that they are reading these five-page proposals, but not actually grading them.  I had a lot of journal articles and books to get through in order to write this outline-format proposal, and it didn’t turn out quite as expansive as I’d wanted it to, but I was just glad to get it done before some horrific hour on Thursday morning.  I got a good night’s sleep on Wednesday night, which is always a good thing, especially since Thursdays are my busiest days.  I have a Physics section, 20 minute break, Anthropology class, 15 minute break, Calculus section–running from 10:30 to 2:20.  I guess I should be glad that this is as busy as I get in terms of class times, though!  However, I didn’t bother to really give a good look out the window before leaving my room and failed to realize that it was absolutely pouring–and it continued to do so ALL day.  Kinda puts a damper on things, don’t you think?  Thursday afternoon was filled with Calculus homework that seemed much harder than normal, followed by a meeting, and then me crashing around 11 PM.

This weekend, Mike and I ventured out to Towson to see the new James Bond movie.  I’m new to James Bond–I’d never seen any of the films, so I was a little confused, but it was still entertaining.  Mostly, it was just a nice break after a week of a bunch of little things here and there that needed to get done.  On Saturday, I spent pretty much all afternoon working on Physics homework, then we made dinner and watched a movie and I went to bed pretty early.  Today, it’s 2:00, and I’ve yet to do much of anything productive, though I have a 100-page Anthropology reading (and then a precis to write), a Physics exam on Thursday, and a Calculus exam a week from tomorrow…hm.  Perhaps I should get on to some of this?   I’m definitely looking forward to Thanksgiving break, but there’s so much in between now and then!

I have a small family but I’m fortunate in that we’re all pretty tight-knit.  This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to unwind and catch up with Aunt Joy, my mom’s sister, who flew up from Houston to visit.  Unfortunately, I noticed on Thursday that I was starting to get sick, so I spent the weekend taking all kinds of cold medicine trying to help remedy my sinus pressure, but aside from being a little sleepy at times (like at dinner on Saturday night when they thought I was about to hit the table), I felt well enough to really enjoy our time together.

As you may or may not have read from other blogs, this time of the semester is pretty stressful for many students.  We’re in the middle of papers, midterms, and other assignments, while just a month away from finals (yikes!).  This weekend brought a much-needed refocus and down time, while still being able to catch up with someone I hadn’t seen since my high school graduation!

Sometimes I wonder if our bodies make us sick as a way to tell us “SLOW DOWN!”  This weekend was the perfect balance between showing my aunt my favorite places nearby while still spending a lot of time relaxing and catching up.  We made a trip to Carma’s Cafe for lunch on Saturday, then walked
around campus and were really amazed at the beauty this time of year.  The leaves are all changing and the weather was unseasonably warm, so we were able to hang out on the upper quad and watch the squirrels.  My aunt loved seeing the robotics display in the Computational Science and Engineering Building on Decker quad (it has a walkway through the building that is all glass and has a video that plays showing some of the robotics work done at JHU, and on the other side is a display of what looks like robot-assisted surgery?).  She did her PhD work on robotics, so it was fun.

Saturday night, we made our way down to Little Italy and to the restaurant La Scala for a wonderful meal.  We were a little caught off guard at the end of the meal when a Mexican band came in, but they seemed to be for a private party, so while it was still a bit bizarre, at least it wasn’t the restaurant having a case of identity confusion.  We got our dessert to go and took that back to the hotel to pile up on the couch and unwind (you know, after such a tough day!)

This morning involved a trip to One World Cafe for brunch, then more campus exploring and hanging out outside.  My aunt had to leave around 2 for the airport, around which time I talked to my mom,
who was simultaneously talking to my brother saying, “Do I want to see your new pet?  Um…I don’t know…do I?”  This just made me laugh because my brother has certainly had some interesting pets over the years.  The conversation continued, “You mean I have to go outside?  Well, can I see it from the holly bush? My hair’s up in a towel.”  From there, I suppose she went outside with him (probably somewhat reluctantly), and discovered a poor baby squirrel that had fallen from one of the giant trees in our yard.  He was crawling around, apparently uninjured, but he’s so young his eyes aren’t even opened!  They figured he’d surely not make it if they left him out there, so they got a box and towel and brought him inside.  My brother did all kinds of research to find out how to take care of him for the time-being, until they can find a rescue group to take the little guy.  Apparently they don’t open their eyes until they’re about 5 weeks old, so he’s younger than that.  And my brother has decided to call him Spud, for some crazy reason.    My mom sent me this picture of him.  He’s kinda cute, in that ugly sort of way.  Hopefully “Spud” will make it alright!

On another note, tonight is the big concert for the UNC Clef Hangers, an a cappella group that my best friend from high school is a part of.  I wanted to be there tonight but couldn’t make the trip to North Carolina, and just wanted to mention them (and say, “good luck Clay!”)!  They’re all so talented, I did get to hear them sing since the schools down south seem to start earlier than those “up north,” if you consider Baltimore up north. Fun fact: they had been hoping to do a concert with one of Hopkins’ a cappella groups this month, but they were already set to sing at a memorial service for Eve Carson, their student body president who was murdered last year, the morning after the Hopkins concert and just couldn’t work it out to make it up to Baltimore and then back to Chapel Hill the next morning.  (picture: I don’t know about their formal performances, but when I saw them, they performed in these crazy vests with all sorts of goofy pins on them.  And they always have bowties).

Anyway, now I’m battling the remains of this cold and trying to really stay on track and refocus to finish out the semester.  My aunt really reminded me of how far I’ve come and that even if my grades haven’t been where I’ve wanted them to be, I have to give myself a break.  Like it or not, my migraines do affect my work, and that’s just something I have to accept.  I hated telling myself, “my grades are pretty good…considering I have migraines.” I really wanted to just be able to say “I’m really happy with my grades.”  But, such is life, and we all deal with things on different levels.   This week brings a second Court observation, this time the District Court, for my Business Law class, in addition to submitting a proposal for the topic for my final paper in my Anthropology of Mental Illness class.  The week after is a Physics Exam, and then the following Monday is Calculus, so while this month is a little bit more tame than last month, it’s a bit hectic just trying to make sure I do well on these assignments to finish out the semester as strong as possible and go into the final exams with the right frame of mind.  All in all I feel really good about where I am right now, and that’s something I’m proud of.  I may not have the top grades in my class, but I know that I’m working as hard as I can, and doing the best that I can do, and things will work out for me, even if it’s not in ways I originally planned.

So I’ve just finished my first week as a Public Health Studies major and…I actually do feel different. 
You probably think I’m exaggerating, because certainly my classes haven’t changed, so how could I feel different?  Well, my friends, it’s all in the perspective.  I feel like I see things with a new set of eyes.  I know this probably sounds ridiculous because I still haven’t even taken any PHS classes, but I really feel like I’m going in the right direction now, and let me tell you: that is a wonderful feeling!

In terms of other changes feeling wonderful, it is really very fall-like now, and it’s so refreshing!  Of course, I forgot to bring my coats back to Baltimore when I went home for fall break (something about going to the beach for the weekend just doesn’t make me think of winter coats), so that makes the air extra crisp.  And right now, I’m enjoying my favorite fall drink: warm apple cider fresh from the farmer’s market.  It’s positively divine.

As for this now-past weekend, it was truly relaxing and calm.  Aside from last night, I
stayed in and slept most of the weekend!  Last night, my boyfriend (Mike) took me to an amazing dinner at the Melting Pot fondue restaurant in Towson.  We have been dating for a year and wanted to celebrate; fondue made for such a fun dinner.   The Baltimore Collegetown Shuttle made it super-easy (and free) to get there, which made it even more perfect.

The coming week brings beautiful autumn weather (according to the Weather Channel website, at least) but I there is an ominous cloud on the horizon taking the shape of a physics exam.  Yikes!  I’m never too fond of these, but thankfully it’s my only major assessment this week, so I’m hoping to come out successfully.  And there’s always this bright, happy note: after this semester (which amounts to about six more weeks), I’ll never have to take another physics or physics-related class again.    That is a beautiful thing for me.

And with that, I’m off to refill the cider–I’m in for a long night of induced magnetic fields all the way through phasors.  Whew!  Think happy, public health thoughts!

Just a brief update:

The last day of classes was Friday, which means it’s full-on study mode now…not without a brief celebration, of course.  Starting around 11 or 12 on Friday, there was a ninja party on
the beach.  Yes, you read right…ninja party.  There were those sumo suits, an inflatable obstacle course, dogs running around, snowcones, cotton candy, and of course a ninja fight.  It was a bit bizarre…we were just hanging out, playing with dogs and all of a sudden hear yelling, then look up and see some guys lined up across from each other, one side with plastic swords and kids on each others’ shoulders, the other with water balloons and an umbrella (?).  Anyway, that was quite amusing to say the least.

After my wonderful teeth-coloring snowcone, I headed back to start studying.  It’s been pretty relaxing so
far, and I’ve been pretty good about that whole sleeping business.  Believe it or not, I’m not extraordinarily caffeinated.  At least for my usual tendencies.

One last update: I’ve taken a 30-day “pledge” to vegetarianism.  It’s kind of an experiment, in an attempt to improve my health and see how it goes.  There are a ton of other benefits as well, but I’ll refrain from preaching and just tell you to check it out if you’re interested.   So far, so good, I already feel more energized and just generally “well.”  The website www.goveg.com proved very informative and interesting–check it out if you’re interested or just curious.

And with that I’ll have to say my goodbyes, as it’s just about bedtime and I have a busy day of studying tomorrow!

Let me just say: I’m really not a fan of Daylight Saving Time.  I already feel like there aren’t enough hours
in the day, it just seems like a cruel trick to take one away from us!  It is kinda nice to have more daylight, but I still would prefer to have my hour back.

Anyway, it’s been another busy week and weekend as we head closer to spring break.  I have
one more exam this coming week and then two right after spring break, then one every week in April (except for one glorious week that I don’t have one, and one week that has two…).  I’m trying to catch up/get ahead in everything to make sure I don’t lose momentum after spring break.  It’s crazy though, we only have about a month and a half of classes until it’s time for finals.   I’m still trying to figure out where all the time has gone.  I’ll blame it on Daylight Saving Time…even though that makes no sense.

As of right now, I have a lot of carbonyl molecules, physics problems, and neuroscience diagrams floating around my head…I’m also working on editing a couple of videos for our video blog–keep an eye out for those!  Aside from that, I use my time to eat and occasionally sleep or shower.  Okay so I’m kidding about the last part, I promise I do actually shower daily.

I apologize for the short blog, but I have a very exciting week coming up and I hope to be making a BIG
announcement around Tuesday or Wednesday.  Check back then, as I hope to include all you readers in something I’m very excited about.  I’ll give you a hint:  I think I’m almost, maybe, sorta starting to figure out what I want to do with my life.

So it seems that the semester is in full swing and it’s kind of slipping out from under my feet.  I’m not sure when this happened, but somehow we’ve gotten to the fourth week already!  And, for me and many others, this means the first round of midterms.   Yikes!  I have Physics this coming Thursday, Neuroscience the following Monday, and then Organic Chemistry the Thursday after that.  Needless to say, it’s going to be a busy couple of weeks trying to make sure I’m prepared!

This past weekend, I had the privilege to completely relax and unwind with my mother.  She flew in on Friday and we spent most of our time watching movies and doing other lazy things.  We did go down to the harbor on Saturday night for an AMAZING dinner at McCormick and Schmicks.  I must say, if you’re ever able to go all out for a seafood dinner, this is the place to do it.

Other than that, I’ve just been recovering from some nasty little cold bug and trying to fit everything into the day.  Tomorrow I’m hoping to make it down to the medical campus to turn in the necessary forms and get my volunteer badge, then FINALLY start working with the doctor I’ve been in touch with since November.

Today had an absolutely beautiful morning, hitting about 70 degrees with sun and big puffy clouds.  Unfortunately, as I was on my way to my afternoon class (having changed into a t-shirt and flip flops after the morning), it happened to have gotten much cooler and it started raining.  Oh well…it was a nice break from the winter while it lasted!

This post is all over the place, but one last thing!  This Wednesday, the 2006 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is speaking on campus!  Dr. Roger Kornberg is the son of Dr. Arthur Kornberg, who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1959.  The elder Dr. Kornberg passed away in 2007, but I assume that means he was able to see his son win the award.  I just can’t imagine how proud he must have been!  Dr. Kornberg also had another son, who is a professor of Biochemistry in California.  Quite the family, huh? [[the picture is Dr. Arthur Kornberg and Dr. Roger Kornberg]]

I hope to give a mid-week update with something exciting…who knows what,
but hopefully more exciting than my ramblings of this blog.  Until next time, I’ll leave you with a quote.  I opened to a random page in one of my favorite books and read the first line I saw.  It’s an OLD copy of some of Emerson’s works.  I bought it at a used book sale in Gilman.

“This floor holds us up by a fight with agencies that go to pull us down.  The whole world is a series of balanced antagonisms.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson.   (…huh?)

Time for a quick almost-mid-week update. It’s very, very cold in Baltimore. And it’s sleeting. AND I have to walk all the way to Bloomberg in the aforementioned conditions for my physics lab. I’m certainly not looking forward to that. I didn’t think anything could make me dread physics any more than I already do, but Baltimore weather has proven me wrong!

Okay, I’m a bit overly dramatic. Physics isn’t that bad. Close, maybe. But here, in honor of PHYSICS, is a mind-blowing video that I’ve been amazed by while putting off homework for…you guessed it. Enjoy–in your nice, warm room…I’ll be in the basement of Bloomberg.

Well, my second week of the semester was unfortunately much less interesting than most people’s.  A lot of my friends were rushing sororities and were busy with that, others were just enjoying the time before classes get hard.  While I did enjoy the fact that my classes aren’t too intense yet, it was because I’ve been sick with some awful thing that I’m convinced is the plague…Sick days just aren’t as much fun (or comfortable/relaxing) in college as they were in high school.

I figured I’d take this ‘opportunity’ to describe the campus Health and Wellness Center…they’re amazing!  I had to get a TB screening so I can volunteer at the hospital, and when I was going in to have the skin test read, I happened to be horribly ill.  They were able to see me for the illness even though I had only scheduled a brief appointment for the TB test,  and spent about half an hour talking to me about what was wrong and how to get feeling better.  An added bonus: they sent me home with a little bag with chicken noodle soup packets, cough drops, tissues, and tea bags.    I thought it was cute.  They’re also located right next to the FFC, which is a long walk from Wolman when you have a head cold, but at least it convinced me to try to eat something after seeing the doctor.

So I’ve spent the entire weekend recovering (i.e. laying in bed all day) and I’m finally getting
a bit better…hopefully that means a more interesting blog for next Sunday (or later this week).  My apologies for a post of this nature–I can assure you I’d much rather have something exciting to talk about.  So until next week, stay well everyone!