I’ve only been home from Hopkins for about three days, but it already feels like it’s been summer for at least a month.  I’ve definitely tried to distance myself from the stress of finals and last-minute packing.

We made sure to get pictures on the sign before we left for the year!

My last final was in the latest possible time slot, which only gave me from five Thursday night (when my final ended) until nine-ish the next morning (the dorm closed at noon, but my flight was also at noon) to move all of my stuff out.  You wouldn’t think that there would be a lot of stuff in a small dorm room.  There is.  While some kids from Boston choose to drive back home, I always opt to fly, because why drive for eight hours when you can take a 90 minute flight for less than gas money?  What I didn’t realize when I made this decision is how difficult it might be to empty out my room without the help of my parents.  Three of my friends and I decided to split a storage unit a few blocks away, which ended up being a great idea, and pretty cheap.

Our storage unit! We split it four ways to be cautious, but definitely could have fit more stuff in there.

However, none of us had cars, so it took a little bit more effort to transport our plastic bins.  We ended up using a combination of taxis, the cars of older friends, and ZipCars to move everything over. (Pro Tip: If you plan on storing your stuff in the summer or like to go places a decent distance away, sign up for ZipCar sooner rather than later!  I didn’t do this but wish I had.  There’s a registration fee, but after that it only costs like $10 an hour and it’s really easy to reserve cars.)  I also mailed some boxes home with miscellaneous clothes and DVDs and stuff because I knew I’d want them over the summer but didn’t have enough room in my baggage.  This was more expensive than storing, but really convenient because the Wolman mailroom sold boxes, tape, and shipped right from the ground floor of the building.

Somehow, we were able to get everything settled in time, and my friend Carrie and I enjoyed an absolutely delicious last dinner at Donna’s.  (Read more about Donna’s here!)  A highlight was the lemonade–I’m pretty sure it was the best lemonade I’ve ever had.  Not too sweet, but not sour, either.  Simply perfect.

By four the next afternoon, I was pulling into my friend’s driveway to pick her up, as if I had never left home.

Dreaming of the beach (the actual beach, as great as the Hopkins Beach is) got me through finals.

I’m definitely going to miss Hopkins this summer, but I’m excited for what’s in store.  I’m going to be taking an Intro Computer Programming course at Boston University, and it feels weird to be going to a different school, even if it is for just one class.

I will definitely be hanging out in the city a lot this summer.

I’ll also be working at a local grocery store, where I worked all through high school and over Christmas break.  In early July, my family will be taking a trip to Spain for a week, which I’m sure I’ll have tons of pictures from in my next blog.

This summer is going to be great!

So it’s the end of the year. You’ve had to study every intricate part of the nervous system. You’ve had to learn how to optimize the schedule of minor league baseball teams. You’ve had to create an entire stage and set for a play out of cardboard. Finals just took over your life, so you’ve been sitting on A-level looking like this:

You’ve been stressed, you’ve been pushed to your limit. While all your hard work is worth it, sometimes it is hard to remember it. Emotions are running high, and eventually you just look like this:

Sometimes it just feels like you are getting pied in the face.

But somehow, as always, you make it through. Hopkins is such a close-knit, supportive community. There is always a group of kids who understand what you’re going through and offer you support along the way.

But even during finals, there is time to have fun. And you can always count on one of your best friends to go see some of the most innovative biomedical designs in the country in the middle of finals. We have our priorities straight. (Trust me, we actually do. And we didn’t have finals til the second week).

And maybe sometimes you’ll even find someone who was a big fan of your blog during her admissions process and it makes you feel really, REALLY cool.

And if none of this works (but trust me, it does), your really cool big brother will send you this to your phone:

And at the end of the day, it’ll all be OK, because a wise philosopher named Katy Perry once said, “Baby, you’re a firework.”

It’s officially summer. :)

I took my last final yesterday. It was weird, walking out of the classroom, textbooks still filling my bag, to think that the semester was officially over. I packed up the rest of my belongings, indiscriminately shoving books and tablets and the errant sock found behind my bed into my backpack. Two weeks of final exam preparation had left me tired and a bit delirious, and I was functioning on autopilot. I turned in my key and closed the door to my AMR I double for the last time, saying goodbye to my Hopkins home and to my freshman year.

Bye AMR I.

I have a lot of thoughts about my first year here at Hopkins. The nine months that I’ve spent on Homewood campus are inextricably a part of who I am now, and, as I sit in a hotel room at the beach and type this post, I can still close my eyes and convince myself that I’m seated, not on a couch, but at my former desk. I’m grateful for the loud hum of the hotel air conditioning; after months of slamming doors and feet running down the hall and keys clicking in locks, I’m not ready for complete silence just yet.  I don’t think I’m far enough removed from freshman year yet to be able to process it fully, and I know that as I continue to blog throughout the summer I will be able to articulate my thoughts much more eloquently and completely than I can now, still recovering from my post-finals haze.

This is what Brody Learning Commons looks like at 6AM

I can say a few things with certainty though. First, I’m happy – and relieved – to be free of final exams and papers, and my circadian rhythm thanks me for last night’s sleep, a full nine hours worth. Second, I’m not sure that I’m ready for freshman year to be really, really over.

I think I’ve had this selfish idea in my mind that I would leave for school and time would freeze around me – that I would go home for breaks and find my pre-college life preserved, exactly as I had left it, waiting for me. Life doesn’t work like that though; things change and you change and time keeps moving forward. I went home for spring break to find that my favorite restaurant, one that I’d frequented near-weekly for a decade, one where 8-year-old Alexa felt like a grown-up eating a scone and 18-year-old Alexa felt like a kid eating an ice cream cone, had closed. Even now at the beach, I’m surrounded by signs of change; we were hit particularly hard by Hurricane Sandy, and everywhere I look version 2.0 seems just a bit different than I remembered.

I will miss you, best ice cream place in the world

I want to be able to freeze time within freshman year too, to be able to wander around the memories that I have of a time when adjusting to a new environment and being a freshman was priority number one: a time when I could picture four years of college stretched out in front of me, full of possibility. I did work that I’m really proud of this year, and I made some decisions that weren’t 100% fantastic this year, and I’ve learned equally from both.

Hopkins is beautiful

This year, I learned how Hitchcock used symbolism and how to properly use a pipette and how the Pompeian local magistrate was run, but I also learned how to step back and have a good time. I learned how to properly celebrate Halloween with my friends on a Wednesday night, and how to skip Alpha Phi spring formal to finish writing a paper on C-Level of the library. I’ve learned how to be a good student and lab partner, but I’ve also learned how to be a good roommate, sister, and friend. I don’t think I can accept yet that my time at Hopkins is already a quarter past.

I’m heading back to Homewood in another week and a half to learn Organic Chemistry and the art of tanning on the (Hopkins) beach, and I know that my summer, and my next three years of JHU living will be just as filled with fun and stress and late nights and early mornings. For now though, I’m choosing to freeze time as best I can. I’m choosing to focus on the feeling of icy ocean water nipping at my ankles and the comfortable weight of the perfect beach pebble in my hand and the mixture of hot sun and cool wind at my back while I savor this time, with one year successfully completed behind me and another three years still ahead.

For now, I say goodbye freshman year; it’s been great. And to sophomore year: get ready. I’ll see you soon. 

Name: Kimmy Hilson

Year: Class of 2014

Hometown: Baltimore, MD

Major: Sociology

Minor: Entrepreneurship and Management

***********************************************************************************

This intersession, I made a vow to myself to start eating more wholesome meals. In the past, my diet had consisted of pizza, tater tots, more pizza, more tots, burrito bowl, pasta, pizza, more tots…and so on. I am a lover of all things not-so-healthy, and until recently, not really a fan of all things healthy. Specifically, I told myself that I really needed to cut back on how much pizza I was eating because it was really getting to the point of excessiveness. Since I usually dine at Nolan’s (the primarily sophomore dining hall), I decided that I would boycott Nolan’s all together so that I could resist the temptation to get pizza and tots and try to have a more balanced meal. Don’t get me wrong, Nolan’s is great, and they always have something good to eat. There is a pasta station, pizza station, a grille, an omelette station, a Chipotle-style station, and a salad bar, but as you might have guessed, I clearly preferred the pizza and Chipotle-style station. I’m also not suggesting that these stations produce solely unhealthy options; they’re great in moderation. However, for a week, my friends and I decided to eat all of our dinners at the Fresh Foods Cafe (aka the FFC, the primarily freshmen dining hall) so that we could try to get a more balanced meal. The FFC has a great salad bar, homestyle station, grill, fruit and yogurt bar, vegan and vegetarian station, and also a Kosher room. They also have quite an impressive array of pizza, french fries, and sweets…uh oh.

That first day, I allowed myself one slice of pizza, as long as I tried some salad and some other nutritious options. I’ve never really been a fan of salad; it must have been something about the dryness and the earthy-taste about it that wasn’t extremely appealing to me. But I told myself, “Kimmy, you need to do this. You already have a slice of pizza on your plate.” So, I listened to myself and with the help of my friend and suitemate, I made my very first salad…ever. YAY me! As I sat down to eat it, I realized that it actually wasn’t too bad! I continued eating this way for the week, slowly phasing pizza completely out of my diet. Because I live in McCoy this year, walking to the FFC (which really isn’t thaaaaat far) isn’t the most convenient option for me to eat everyday, especially since I have Nolan’s right around the corner. But how was I supposed to eat healthily at Nolan’s!?

This week, I “discovered” the salad bar at Nolan’s, and holy cow, it is my new favorite place to eat on campus! With a meal swipe, I am able to get a small salad, a bowl of soup, and a dessert. While their salad bar isn’t huge, it is still really good! They have the basics like lettuce and spinach leaves, as well as a wide variety of yummy toppings to make a delicious salad. I am beyond excited that I discovered the salad bar, not only because it is delicious and ultra nutritious, but also because I am typically able to convert my 1 meal swipe into 3 separate meals: salad for dinner, my dessert (which is typically yogurt with fruit) for breakfast, and soup for lunch! #winning.

Being away at college, it is so easy to eat unhealthily and forgo all of the healthy “training” that you received while you were at home. The Freshman 15 is a real monster, but if you learn how to resist the temptation and indulge yourself every once in a while, you’ll be fine. Eating healthily also becomes easier when you have a good group of friends to remind you of your goal and yell at you when you’re about to revert to your old ways…thanks guys!

A view from the upper quad.

Hello again from the JHU Office of Undergraduate Admissions! This post is just for our transfer applicants. Each year, we welcome a group of highly talented transfer students into our sophomore and junior classes. (Interested in applying as a transfer student next year? See http://apply.jhu.edu/apply/transfer.html for details.)

As you should know, we will be releasing admissions decisions for transfer decisions TODAY. Please see below for more details:

• Decisions will be released in batches starting this afternoon. You will receive an e-mail letting you know when your decision is ready to view.
• You will access your decision through the decision release site, https://mydecision.jhu.edu/. In order to get the log-in information for that, you’ll need to set up your account through the Johns Hopkins University Integrated Student Information System (ISIS). At this point, all applicants should have received instructions on logging into ISIS, either through our office or the Office of Student Financial Services if you’ve applied for aid. We’ve sent several e-mails throughout the month with the subject “Important Information about JHU Transfer Decision Release.”
• Follow the instructions in the log-in e-mail carefully. If you get stuck or run into problems, call our office at (410) 516-8171 and we’ll talk you through it. Some things you can try if you are having issues: Refresh your browser. Close out completely and re-open the page in a new window. Or, even if you think you haven’t been able to set a password, try the password recovery link anyway.
• Once you receive the e-mail letting you know your decision is ready to view, follow the link to mydecision.jhu.edu and use the ID and password you set up to log-in. There, you’ll see your decision and will be able to follow any pertinent instructions.
• There is one exception to this process: A small group of students have been chosen to remain on a wait list for transfer applicants. Those students will receive an e-mail informing them of their decision and will receive instructions on how to remain on the wait list if they would like to do so.
• If you haven’t yet received your e-mail with log-in instructions, try the following things:
  • Check all e-mail accounts, including your parents’ and any others you might’ve used throughout your college application process. We’ll send all official communications to the e-mail you supplied on your application.
  • Check your spam/junk folders. Sometimes (rarely, but sometimes) our e-mails get caught up in spam filters.
  • If you still don’t have the e-mail, call or e-mail us at gotojhu@jhu.edu and we’ll get it figured out.

Good luck to all of our transfer applicants!

If you know us, you know that I’m not a fan of the double punctuation mark. BUT (I’m also not a fan of needless capitalization, for the record) I think it’s warranted in this case. Many of our regular followers have probably been wondering where we’ve been for the past month or so. There are a few answers to that:

–holding events for admitted students

–reading transfer files

–traveling to different areas of the country to give presentations

–preparing for summer and fall visits

Those are just some of the fun things we’ve been working on during our little hiatus. But now we’re back and excited to catch you up on happenings in the JHU Office of Undergraduate Admissions!

Check back tomorrow for information just for transfer applicants, and keep reading soon for updates from the road, information on visiting us this summer, and random musings on admissions life here in Baltimore.

Thanks for your patience!

Today is Monday, May 13. In precisely three days I will have completed my last finals of sophomore year and can officially say I am halfway done with college. It’s a strange feeling because my time at Hopkins thus far has been incredibly vivid and it feels like just yesterday I was living in Baker house of AMR 2 having the time of my life with people who are still my closest friends.

Orientation!" src="http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/erica/files/337359_238302529545863_199528796756570_655890_7450772_o-300x199.jpg" width="300" height="199" /> During Orientation!

It’s a tradition that every class at Hopkins has a flag designed by a student of the class. These flags hang in the library and are moved to indicate when classes have officially moved up and graduated. As of last week, the Class of 2015 flag has resumed its position in the third year placement.

Waiting for the incoming class!

Even cooler is the fact that these flags aren’t a recent tradition. EVERY CLASS at Hopkins has designed one, dating back to the 1800s. Over Alumni Weekend, Hopkins displays  hundreds of  historical class flags in the event tent. Seeing these class flags was an amazing experience and has made me feel even more connected to the university and the thousands of alumni who have graduated.

Even stranger is the fact that the second half of my college experience will undoubtedly go even faster. I am officially studying abroad in the Fall in London, which means that when I leave Hopkins in three days, I won’t be returning until January 2014. One semester on campus then it’s summer again. Then back to campus for Fall 2014 and maybe back to campus for Spring 2015 (I might graduate early). I am excited for London and California over summers, but I will definitely miss Baltimore. It really is an incredible city and I am so glad I have the opportunity to live here during my college years.

Color Run in Baltimore over the weekend!

While I have enjoyed my spring semester of sophomore year, I cannot wait for summer! I will be back in California interning at an investment firm and I couldn’t be more excited. All of the colleagues I have spoken with are fantastic and I know I am going to learn so much and contribute to my team’s work. In addition to my internship, my family has some incredible trips planned and I know I’ll be in San Francisco on the weekends.

Be sure to follow my blog over the summer and in the fall while I am studying abroad in London!

As always, thanks for reading!

All my Hopkins Love,

Erica

Well, it’s due time that I fill you loyal readers in on what I’ll be up to these upcoming months, because there’s a whole lot in store. After what felt like endlessly applying to various opportunities this last semester, I happily have two great things lined up and ready to report, the first of which I’ll be discussing in this post.

—What are you doing, Joseph?? I can’t bear to wait any longer!

Okay, okay, fair enough. Exciting thing #1 is that I’ll be interning at the Phillips Collection in DC this summer!

Oh, hello!

I’m really, really, excited about this opportunity, and as my first day of work is just around the corner, this excitement is only growing. There are a lot of reasons why I’m so excited, but I’ll try to contain my enthusiasm (only briefly) to break these reasons down for you:

1. 

   Laib’s ‘Wax Room’

   The Phillips Collection is actually the country’s first museum of modern art and has an incredible collection, one which I can’t wait to work with. They’re known for their renowned ‘Rothko Room,’ a space which the painter himself helped plan, they hold Renoir’s famous Luncheon of the Boating Party, and they recently commissioned a site-specific installation by one of my favorite artists, Wolfgang Laib. Getting to work in a museum with a focus on not only modern art but contemporary as well was definitely a criteria for me, so I can’t wait to be there and work in a setting which fits so closely with my interests.

2. My projects for the summer include leading an exhibition of contemporary portraiture from the collection, doing research for upcoming exhibitions with the American department, and doing ongoing artist research for the museum’s Conversations with Artists series, which recently hosted the likes of Jessica Stockholder, Alice Aycock, and Tehching Hsieh. Did I mention that I’m excited?
3. $! I applied for a grant to put towards an unpaid museum internship through the Program in Museums & Society, and was very fortunate to receive the grant! It’s essentially why I’m able to pursue being at the Phillips, and I’m extremely glad that I was able to get that opportunity on top of a ridiculously great internship.
4. I’ll be in Baltimore and DC for the summer! Rent in Baltimore is CHEAP, so I decided to stay in Baltimore and commute 1-hour to DC for work. This means that I’ll get to be around Baltimore and hang out with friends working and taking summer classes at Hopkins, I’ll finally get to go to Artscape(!!!), and I’ll be able to continue on some curatorial projects around the city. Plus I’ll get to spend the day and some nights in DC, which should be extremely cool.
5. 

   I’m pretty excited, just in case that hasn’t been properly expressed

   Going off of the DC point, there’s a Shake Shack walking distance from the museum!!! This may seem trivial to some, but it’s usually my first thought waking up every morning — you can judge all you want.

6. My friend (and fellow JHU Art History major) Drew will also be working at the Phillips! It’ll be nice to have a fellow Hopkins person at the museum and we’ll both be doing some amazing things during our time there.

Phillips bound!

So now that I’ve broken down my excitement just a bit, I thought I would break down how I even got this amazing opportunity in the first place. I essentially applied all throughout January and February for various museum internships that piqued my interest. I then got called for interviews for a good group of them and met with the Career Center to get advice on my resume and interview etiquette. After interviewing and getting a feel for what I’d be doing over the summer, I got offers (yes, offers, as in multiple offers, which for me was a big deal after that whole not-getting-any-opportunities-last-summer thing) and happily decided on the Phillips! I’m able to afford this, as I mentioned, because of a grant through the Program in Museums & Society, the faculty of which is working tirelessly to set their students up for success. There are a lot of ways to fund unpaid internships through Hopkins grants, so I’d recommend all students to try to do so. And while I definitely have the Career Center, my experiences at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Gallery CA, many late nights and just as many accommodating professors to thank for this, I also have to sincerely thank my advisor, Dr. Rodini, for her invaluable support, especially during one early morning meltdown. (Good times, good times…)

So that’s just one of the many example of the types of internships us Hopkins students don’t just pursue, but ultimately get. (JHU_Ruthie and JHU_Lucie, among others, will also be doing amazing things this summer which you should check out). Next time, I’ll discuss another, even more life-changing opportunity, so until then, thanks for reading!

It’s finals week(s?).

“Hey,” I hear you guys saying cheerfully. “You’re almost there, Jackie! Hang in there! I’m sure you’re going to do great! Just one more week until you get to go home to sunny California and enjoy the beach!

Fair enough, and I will say that I definitely felt like that at the beginning of reading period.

“I’m so ready!” I told myself, trying to pretend that I wasn’t totally scared out of my mind for the finals that were to ensue.

Here: a representation of my emotions at the beginning of the week.

But now that I’m two days into actual finals week, and I took my Calculus III final, and I’ve started studying for my next final, which is on Saturday (Physics) I feel more like this.

Here: a representation of my feelings now.

And after Physics I’ll be feeling more like this.

A representation of my feelings on Saturday afternoon, aka the post-physics-depression.

And by next thursday, which is when my process final, aka my final for (insert deep breath here) introductiontochemicalandbiomolecularprocessesandanalysis.

Awh. Poor Jackie.

Sidenote: I love being an engineer, and I really do think that the subject I’m studying is really interesting (yay Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering!) but you’d think they could cut down on the class name a little bit. Anyways, back to your normally scheduled programming.

Because I was procrastinating, though, I backstalked myself on Facebook (#embarrassing) and looked through all of my photos from freshman year. I’ve spent so much time complaining about Hopkins recently- looking through the pictures reminded me of the awesome times I’ve had so far this year.

There’s that one time I saw Macklemore and Ryan Lewis live in concert.

I totally should have been studying for tests and other things that night, but I refused to give this opportunity up. Macklemore, obviously, was absolutely amazing and I had so much fun.

There’s Mental Notes Fall tour, when we got to go all over the east coast and sing!

The girl I’m picking up is Sarah, who is in the Mental Notes with me!

I can’t forget about going to President Obama’s Inauguration:

As you can see, we were pretty excited and pretty patriotic.

and getting interviewed for a relatively popular Youtube channel about my views on politics, gay marriage, and Beyonce.

The guy who interviewed me was actually pretty cool. fun fact: my friend also got interviewed, but wasn’t placed in the video because he totally lost his cool on camera. It’s okay, Dan, we still love you.

Speaking of Youtube, there’s that one time I got 20,000 + views on a video of me singing a cover of Adele’s “Skyfall” in an acappella group that we threw together called Major7:

We didn’t think we were going to be as big of a hit as we ended up becoming; we were just a group of 7 friends who liked to arrange and have fun singing!

…and the ridiculous amount of concerts I’ve had with my actually a cappella group, the Mental Notes, over the course of the year.

The Mental Notes aren’t just my a cappella group; they’re also my family.

And so

Spring fair was a blast. Seriously, I spent four or five hours just listening to really good music and eating really fatty (but delicious) food. The two goons sitting next to me are my good friends Mike and Dan, who I met in the beginning of the year but became close with towards the middle of the year.

much

SOHOP!" src="http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2016/files/3ff1e420b40911e2989522000a9f3c91_71-300x300.jpg" width="300" height="300" /> This was taken during the Kappa Kappa Gamma (my sorority) Spring Formal! The dashing guy standing next to me is my friend Ben (who was not my date for the night). He’s one of the first people I met during SOHOP!

more.

To be honest, I forget that orientation and the first week of school happened; this taken was the very first day of school, right after we saw Seth Meyer speak!

Finals are, undoubtedly, going to suck (for you, when you get here, for me, now, for everyone else who’s going to have to take finals). You’re not going to want to study, and you’re going to pretend you’re being productive by doing other things you procrastinated on that were supposed to be done yesterday that the admissions department is probably not happy about you being late for (cough…cough…).

I backstalked myself to procrastinate, though, and got really really nostalgic about all of the fun times I’ve had this year. I’ve met so many awesome people, who I hope are going to be a part of my life for the rest of my time at Hopkins and onwards, and I’ve become part of groups I didn’t even know existed. I’ve become even more interested in my current major, and, without realizing it, I’ve gained more of an engineering mindset. I became famous on youtube, and prominent in the college blogosphere.

I’ve had a great year, and I’m looking forward to spending three more years here. I know that I’ll miss Hopkins over the summer, and I’ll be ready to come back come August.

Even if I feel like this right now.

I was just told by the health and wellness center that I’m basically too sick to function. That’s always good news to hear…

Dear Beginning-of-Freshman-Year Grace,

Hi slightly-younger me! From what I remember, you’re significantly tanner than I am now, but that’s okay, because I’m much, much wiser than you are. Kidding, of course, but not completely. While you may be sporting a sun-kissed glow as a result of frying yourself to a crisp by the pool for three months, you’re also incredibly nervous about starting your first year at college. You’re wondering if you’ve overpacked (you have), if you’ll like your roommate (you will), and if you’ll turn all your clothes pink in the wash (you won’t, but you’ll also discover in May that you’ve accidentally been shrinking everything, not just getting significantly taller like you’d hoped). You’re freaking out in a million different ways, and even though I know I can’t really do anything to help, I’d like to give some advice I wished that I’d had at the beginning of freshman year. Because everything will be okay. Really.

First of all, you’re not going to fail out of Hopkins. No, really; say it with me. You are not going to fail out of Hopkins. YouarenotgoingtofailoutofHopkins. We’re good, alright? Seriously, you are not going to bomb everything. You have solid study habits from high school, and even though the classes here are way harder, you’re going to be fine. In fact–and try not to gasp–you’re actually going to do pretty well. You probably wouldn’t be doing that well if you had to take a math class, but hey, that’s another story. You should also probably stop being super paranoid that you’re going to miss some sort of vital information and showing up 15 minutes early to class. It’s weird, dude. The professor isn’t even there that early. (And hey, if you accidentally sleep through class one day or have to skip to study for another exam, it’s honestly not the end of the world. Everybody does it. You will do it a lot as the weather gets warmer. I mean, what?)

Okay, academics are boring, blah blah blah (they’re not, but this is a Fun Blog™, and we’re going to talk about Fun™). Look, slightly-younger-Grace, I know you’re scared that you’re not going to make friends. You think that everyone is going to walk in on the first day of Orientation relaxed and self-assured, and you’re going to be that one big sweaty ball of nerves that no one wants to talk to. Good news! Everyone is that one big sweaty ball of nerves (also: ew). People are going to be so eager to be buddy-buddy that they’re practically going to tackle each other looking for someone to eat lunch with. Now, I want to give you some props on one point. You do know–probably because your oh-so-wise mother has told you this on many occasions–that you’re not going to meet your best friends the first week of college. Probably not the first month, either. Or maybe not even the first two months. That’s okay! You’re going to spend a bit of time floating between groups, but in the end, you’ll be incredibly glad you had that experience. As a result, you’ll find the people you really click with, the ones with whom you have shared interests, the ones who you can call at 1:30 in the morning when you’re miserable and who will cheer you up over Papa John’s cheesy bread and honey BBQ wings (extra bleu cheese, thanks). Also, make friends with upperclassmen. Yes, this is my standard piece of advice I give pre-frosh, but hey, slightly-younger-Grace, you’re technically a pre-frosh too, and besides, this is legit. Just because upperclassmen seem super intimidating and really cool with their impressive GPAs and their own apartments and their slight height advantages (I have short person insecurity, FYI) doesn’t mean that they don’t want anything to do with you! In fact, some of my best friends are upperclassmen, and I can credit them with so many of my best times here. They also know all the most delicious places to eat around campus, which is a huge bonus because I’m obsessed with food.

Alright, slightly-younger-Grace, now that we’ve covered friends, we should probably shift to social life. First off, YES HOPKINS IS FUN. It really is. It is so fun that, at times, your parents will send you awkward “shouldn’t you be studying?” texts when you tell them you’re headed to a party. And okay, maybe you should’ve been. But you know what? It’s okay to go out on a Wednesday night. It’s okay to go out on a Tuesday night. Sometimes it’s even okay to go out on a Monday night (not that I’ve done this ha ha ha um). Sometimes when it’s 11 PM in the library and you feel like tearing your hair out and your paper that’s due the next week is just not getting written, it’s way better to go out and let loose a little (I said a little, okay? Don’t go crazy on me here!) than to mope around all depressed and overworked. And, on the opposite side of the spectrum, there’s going to be some Saturday nights where there’s an absolutelycrazyawesomeparty that everyone’s going to, but that you’d just feel better about skipping because you have a test on Monday. Is it going to be really fun sitting in the library on the weekend? Probably not (hint hint: Colbert Report study breaks). But are you a nerd for doing it? No. Is it okay to do so? Absolutely. Some of the best advice I can give you is not to get so caught up in your GPA that you forget what college is all about. Yes, it’s about getting good grades and scoring a great job or a grad school acceptance and all that jazz. But it’s also about the memories. The fun stuff. The 2 AM Uni Mini on a Thursday night (order the hummus and falafel, and I promise you won’t regret it). Just don’t go out when you’re sick. That’s a bad idea, dude. No one likes the sniffly, wheezy person at the party.

Speaking of sick, you will get sick. A lot. You will, in fact, get a total of five (5!!) sinus infections over the course of your freshman year. That will not be fun one bit. You will also have days where you feel so overworked you consider dropping out of school, capitalizing on your talent for imitating cartoon characters, and going into voice acting. There will be nights when the bathroom is dirty and you have to clean it even though you have a test in the morning, or a whole week where you’re so upset about some stupid thing that you’ll be snarky and annoy everyone around you. There will also be this one really gross time where you cut your foot several inches deep with the sharp part of your sandal and trail blood all down North Charles Street (I’ll spare you the pictures). So yes, bad stuff will happen. But will you get over your sinus infections? Yup (hello tonsils out this summer!). Will the workload let up? Yes. Will your roommate help you clean the bathroom? She will. Will you stop being upset over that stupid thing? Yes, and quicker than you thought. Will your lovely friends walk your bleeding self all the way to their apartment, sit you on the counter, and bandage your foot right up? Indeed they will, and hey, thanks again guys. Freshman year will not be perfect, certainly, but the good stuff will outweigh the bad by such an enormous margin that you will actually have to struggle to think of examples to list above.

In the end, you won’t remember one bad grade or one rude remark. (Warning: Cheesiness ahead) You’ll remember friends and formals and falafel, Late Night in the FFC and some really crazy late night parties. You’ll remember dancing to Hey Porshe as well as all of your favorite hits of 2004, because Nelly is really under-appreciated and you want everyone to realize it. You’ll remember lying out on the Beach in that hopes of getting the perfect tan you had at the start of the year, only to discover that your left shoulder is fried and your right shoulder is still inexplicably pasty. You’ll remember being stupid and immature and sometimes less stupid and less immature, and you’ll know that no matter how stupid or immature you are that particular day or week, you’ll still never be able to figure out why the Baltimore water keeps turning your hair blue. But it’ll be hilarious, and it will be worth it. Promise, yo. Really.

So I’ll stop being annoying and nostalgic, because I know you have a billion people to meet and six thousand Orientation activities to go to (read: sleep through), and I should be finishing up my last essay of the year. I’ll end with a few random snippets of advice that I couldn’t find a place for, but that are still super super important. First off, study and chill with friends in Brody, and write essays on C level. I’m mad that I just figured out this formula, because it really works. Also, make friends in your classes. Take classes with your friends. Study groups rule! Your parents are also probably going to hate you for slacking on your meal plan, but going out to eat is a great way to explore Baltimore, bond over delicious food, and relieve stress. Next, Fells Point. Halloween. Go! Who cares if it’s on a Wednesday–it’s awesome! Also, you’re going to sleep through the Ravens winning the Super Bowl; you’re stupid. Study-wise, go to Quizlet.com and you’ll never waste your money on flashcards. Spring Fair weekend will also be the best weekend of your life thus far, and joining SAAB will be the best decision you make at Hopkins. And yes, yes, I know my freshman year was fantastic and all, but I am going to give you one last piece of advice to keep you from being as cynical as I am: the free t-shirt thing is a lie. You will not get one free t-shirt. Try not to think about it, because it makes you mad. Think about how amazing Hopkins is, and how lucky you are to go to school there, and how you honestly, genuinely do not know what you’re going to do this summer without the zany and crazy and spectacular and fun people you’ve met there. Because yes, you’re excited to go home, but you know it’ll be about a week before you can’t wait to go back. And trust me, you will be so, so eager to see what sophomore year has in store.

Best,

Slightly-older (yet not taller) Grace

Friends on Halloween!

 

SAAB friends!

More photographic proof that sometimes people like me!

I really do not understand the purpose of dessert without chocolate.

Cakes, cookies, puddings, etc that do not contain chocolate confuse me because I cannot wrap my mind around the point of their existence. That may just be my view as a chocolate-enthusiast, and while I am obviously very biased, I do also have a pretty decent palate for pastries. Baltimore, believe it or not, has quite a few bakeries that can provide your sweet/pastry/indulgent tooth with something to satisfy it. This list would make Marie Antoinette proud, I am sure of it.

Fenwick Bakery (North Harford Road)

This bakery finds it origins in a love story. A young couple began it in 1913 and since then, generations of the same family (until very recently when it acquired new owners) have maintained the amazing quality of baked goods that they sell. Seriously, their goods are amazing. They are one of the few scratch bakeries left in Baltimore and it shows. If you go to this bakery, you have to try their Baltimore Peach Cake. And their pastries. And their doughnuts.

Bonjour (Mount Washington)

I am a firm believer that nobody outside of the French borders (or really outside of Paris or Lyon) should attempt to make macarons, it just ends up badly with dry cookies and sticky paste. Just leave it to the professionals. But Bonjour’s macarons make me give up on that elitist world view (albeit temporarily). Their baguettes, croissants, napoleons and brioches are also to die for. This bakery will just make you feel like you’re in the 7e arrondissement in Paris. And who doesn’t want to be there?

Patisserie Poupon (Inner Harbor)

If you can bake a pear tarte in the shape of a pear, that is an art form I can 100% support. This bakery is well-known in Baltimore for its scrumptious and gorgeous wedding cakes, but since I have only ever seen them I can’t comment on how delicious they are. Their pastries, however, I have had. Many times. This bakery actually is one of the few where I will break my chocolate-only rule, their Spanish fruit cake is so Mediterranean (and therefore perfect) that it will give you such a moment of happiness.

Dangerously Delicious Pies (Federal Hill)

Rodney Henry’s Dangerously Delicious Pies is a multi-store operation that will convert somebody who is lukewarm about pies (i.e. me) into a pie enthusiast. Pecan filling with chocolate glaze happens to be my favorite. Just the typing it out makes me want to grab a slice. They have the usual lemon, apple, blueberry, etc pies but also chicken and lamb pies that be a meal. I promise you, even if you try one of their pies, it will make you a pie enthusiast.

Vaccaro’s Italian Pastry Shop (Little Italy)

Any list of bakeries in Baltimore would be incomplete without a shout out to Vaccaro’s. While I am sure their bigger-is-better philosophy would confuse actual Italians, in Charm City we appreciate the aesthetics of cannoli that is as big as our head. They have Monday night specials of all-you-can-eat-desserts, and their biscotti and cream puffs are fabulous. Also their gelato, while it isn’t a baked good, is pretty darn good. They have their exalted reputation with Hopkins students for a reason, so make sure sometime during your time in Baltimore to indulge in their goods.

Ultimately, I know there are probably dozens of bakeries in this city I have not had the pleasure of exploring but these fives rank amongst my favorites. So if you haven’t had the opportunity yet, go on and indulge a little.

Classes are over. So for all intents and purposes, I’m not a freshman anymore. And here’s how you can tell . . .

• I know where to find the free stuff: As the year has progressed, I’ve become fabulous at  tracking down free falafels, pizza, t-shirts and cups. While I love collecting all the free goodies, my brother, who is going to help me move out, is less than pleased with my piles of new-found treasures.
  

  Too much to resist.

• I know what to order at Tamber’s. Don’t’ miss out on the Chicken Badaam Pasanda. And do bring me leftovers (no cold french fries, though-I have standards).
  

  People say that portions are really big . . . but I had no problem polishing this off.

• I’ve staked out the best chair in the Brody Learning Commons. I know where I can create the illusion that I am studying while I actually am enjoying the sun and surreptitiously watching other people on Facebook.
  

  These chairs could only be improved if they had wheels on the bottom. Just imagine the possibilities for procrastinating. Chair races in the BLC.

• I don’t wear my lanyard around my neck (anymore). When I was first on campus, I was convinced that unless I had my keys around my neck, I would immediately lose them.
  

  Please note that I don’t have my lanyard around my neck. Instead, I am gripping them in my hand.

• I know where to get the good crabcakes. While I won’t say that I’ve become a crabcake connoisseur yet, I can tell you all about Faidley’s famous softball-sized bundles of lump crab.
  

  So tempted to steal the one across from me.

• I think that waking up for a 9am class is painful. Oh wait, remember high school, when 6am was the norm, Madeline?
  

  Good job having 9am classes every day. You can really pick ‘em Madeline.

So here’s to my (small victories): Never being locked out of my dorm, staying well-fed, and not sleeping through any of my classes. I can only imagine the great things to come.

They say you learn something new every day. Well, if that’s true, then I guess you learn at least 365 things a year, which is a hell of a lot of things to have just learned. This year, my 3rd at Hopkins, has been a catalyst for a ton of growth, both academically and personally.

So, that being said, here are the top 10 things that I have learned this year, and why I feel they deserve to be on the top 10 instead of the bottom 355.

10.  There are places to eat that aren’t Chipotle. Yeah shocking, right? Before this year, my idea of “off campus dining” was pretty much the 7 or 8 restaurants that are within a stones throw of campus. This year, given several factors (including not having a meal plan and having easy car access), has led to eating off campus fairly often. I wish I had taken advantage of it earlier in my college career, but I am looking forward to continuing my eating exploration next year.

Gas stations serve this, right?

9.  Don’t trust gas station sushi. Because…just don’t.

8. Things you learn in class can actually come in handy outside of class. How many times have you sat through a lecture thinking “ughhhhh this is about as useless as teaching ants to synchronized swim”? If you’re me, the answer is a lot…however, there have been several things I’ve learned this year that I’ve found myself using outside of the classroom, from Android programming to using Bloomberg for stock market research.

7. Cops is an awesome TV show. It has become my new mindless entertainment obsession. I’ve learned a lot from it, too. For example, if you decide to floor the gas pedal when you see the blue and red lights behind your stolen car, you should probably pull over of there might be a taser in the future.

6. Group projects don’t always go smoothly, but differences in work habits can be overcome. It is a simple fact of life, we all have different work habits, and sometimes we are assigned group projects with someone who works differently. Fortunately, in my time at Hopkins, I’ve always gotten along reasonably well with my partners, however this semester I really had the first time I’ve encountered friction in a group. What it comes down to is that we had different work ethics and habits, and those didn’t match up well. We all knew what needed to be done and were capable of doing it (being that we are all very intelligent Hopkins students, of course), but when it came time to get it done together, things didn’t go smoothly. In the end, however, all the work that needed to be done was done and I think the whole group was able to grow for the future.

And I enjoy kiddie pools!

5. Find time to do what you enjoy. Through out the year, there were times where I certainly felt overwhelmed, and everyone has those weeks where they just have too much on their plate. What I found was the best way to handle it was to promise myself something fun at the end–a round of golf or a night downtown–to give me something to look forward to when it is all over.

4. When there’s free pizza involved, it’s defiantly something you should go to. If there’s free Chipotle involved, you should absolutely not even think about not going. Need I explain more?

3. Make lists. Lists on lists on lists. Seriously, they can save you more times than they’ll hurt you. Make  a list of exam dates, things you have to do this week, or even of songs you want to download. Whatever you use them for, they’ll help you keep your head straight in times of stress.

2. If someone asks you to be in their Harlem Shake video, politely say “no thanks” and continue on with your day. I think I can successfully say that I avoided that trend.

1. Go see the speakers that are brought to campus! Seriously, we get some crazy awesome people. Even the names you haven’t heard of before can offer a lot of really cool insights. This year alone, we’ve had two presidential candidates (Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum), a general (Stanley McChrystal), a New York Times columnist (Andrew Ross Sorkin), a Saturday Night Live cast member (Seth Meyers), the founder of Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales) and several other very cool speakers. Take advantage of their presence and go see them speak!

Thanks for reading,

Nick

Current Track: Homecoming by Kanye West

A few weeks ago, I participated in Blue Jays for Boston! Group Run to support the victims of the Boston Marathon. It was a 5k around the Hopkins campus and all proceeds went the Red Cross and hospitals in the Boston area. The organizers did an incredible job – they got people to cheer us on as we ran the loop, recruited security officers to help with traffic, and had a water refilling station. I was so impressed with the great job they did so quickly. I was really pleased with the event in general and it was really cool to see a ton of people from the Hopkins community support Boston.

When the Newtown, CT shootings happened, I was very shaken up. My hometown is pretty close to Newtown and my cousins attended Sandy Hook Elementary School. When I was walking home, visibly upset, many students stopped and asked me if I was okay. I was really glad to be part of such a supportive community. My friend Aleesha Shaik started a campaign to make a chain of hands with positive messages to Newtown.

She collected a ton of hands and then connected them all…

Throughout the weeks after both tragedies , Hopkins students (including me) were expressing their sorrow, but we were not all sure how to express our condolences or help out. Both Aleesha and the Beta Fraternity brothers quickly took action and leadership and organized a way to show how the Hopkins community cares for the people affected by these tragedies.

Hopkins may not be the most politically active school in the country, but I am so honored to be part of a community that shows its support and is full of passionate and caring young individuals.

In the Neighborhood

Johns Hopkins is right in the middle of Charles Village, a residential area in Baltimore and a great place to grab a bite to eat. If you’re in the mood for some Asian cuisine, Charles Village is the place for you. Niwana offers Korean and Japanese just across the street from campus. They have lots of different options, so if you’re in the mood for amazing bento boxes, stir fry, Korean BBQ, or sushi, this is the place to go. If you’re in the chicken bulgogi (a spicy chicken noodle dish), noodle bowls, or fried rice, Ajumma has great Korean food.

“Thai Restaurant is also one of my favorite restaurants near campus, especially because Thai is my favorite cuisines- I actually asked the owner once about his oh-so-creative name and he told me that it was to make sure that people knew it was Thai food and to not get any orders for General Tso’s Chicken, which made me laugh.” – Wafa K., Class of 2015

Another awesome Asian restaurant is Chocolatea, a delicious place that serves dumplings (but get there early because they run out), udon noodle bowls, and yummy wraps for lunch. Chocolatea also serves coco-lattes or hot chocolate infused with different flavors. Favorites include the Banana Split (dark chocolate with banana puree) or the Nutty Irishman (milk chocolate with Irish cream). Chocolatea also specializes in camellia sinensis teas, specifically: white, green, black, oolong, and herbal teas- and of course chocolate truffles!

Do you really like burrito bowls or Frappuccinos? There are many chain restaurants just across from the east entrance on St. Paul Street like Subway, Sandella’s, Quiznos, Starbucks, or Chipotle.

Just down the block is Carma’s, a great café for any meal of the day. They offer coffee, soups, sandwiches, and desserts. Be sure to try their delicious cookies and chocolate paninis! If you’re in the mood for something customizable, Freshii  offers yummy salads, noodle bowls, or wraps. They also have some great frozen yogurt. The best part is that the restaurant is very “green”; all the disposable items in the store are compostable or recyclable! There’s great pizza at Maxie’s and Ledo’s. Together, they have enough different types to even appease the Italian JHU students.

On weekends, the University Market is filled with students looking for a late night bite—“Uni Mini” can be looked at as a convenience store with a twist. Not only does Uni Mini carry chips, sodas, packaged foods, etc., but it also has a grill open until 3:00am where you can purchase freshly made sandwiches like their infamous Uni Mini special (eggs, cheese, hash browns, bacon, and steak). It’s not on the menu; you have to specially ask for it!

If you want to get groceries, Eddie’s Market offers a great selection of fruits and fresh vegetables. They also have great subs named after people and places in Charles Village. Another cool thing about Eddie’s Market is that they have a lot of locally sourced foods, so you can try the different awesome products of Baltimore. Suggestions from current students include the Berger and Otterbein cookies.

Also in the neighborhood is a student favorite, Tamber’s, a unique diner that offers a mix of Indian cuisine and traditional favorites like burgers and fries. The food is absolutely delicious, and a favorite among JHU students is their malts.

Before I came to Hopkins, I had never tried Indian food. Now, I’m obsessed. I love that they have both Indian and American food; if I’m in the mood for a milkshake and some Chicken Tikka Masala, I can get them all at one place!”- Tess T., Class of 2014

Another restaurant with a unique vibe is Paper Moon Diner, a diner with extravagant decorations. The restaurant has great everything, like their amazing bacon milkshake (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) or their delicious sweet potato fries, and cool servers. The restaurant has an awesome design with different tables, including desks and nightstands. You have to see it in person to believe it.

For more formal occasions in Charles Village, you can go to Donna’s, a trendier restaurant (great ambiance for a date!), for their great salads, pastas, desserts, and coffee or Gertrude’s,  by the Baltimore Museum of Art, for great Mid-Atlantic cuisine. Try out Tuesdays with Gertie, where you can have selected entrees for only $12.

A Short Walk Away

Hampden, a short walk or ride from Homewood (in fact, the Johns Hopkins Security Shuttle will take you there for free!), is a great place to head on the weekends and boasts plenty of eclectic restaurants on The Avenue and its adjoining streets. Try the tacos at Holy Frijoles. If you like really, really, really good coffee (not exaggerating), check out Café Spro.  If you agree with the store’s motto, “Friends don’t let Friends Drink Starbucks”, check out Common Ground, another coffee shop with great food.

“If you had to go to only one place in Hampden or even all around Baltimore, I’d suggest Dogwood. The food is “farm-to-table” and you can definitely taste the freshness in the food. While lunch is more of a bistro (soup-sandwich-salad) type place, dinner is definitely a more sit-down fancy dinner type place. They also serve the best bread. Instead of Italian bread and butter, they serve Irish soda bread and mango butter. SO good.” – Kate T., Class of 2014

Woodberry Kitchen is another must-eat in Baltimore; they have also delicious farm-to-table foods. You have to try the desserts and the entrees and the appetizers. What does the C.M.P. stand for? You gotta go to find out!

The Mt. Vernon neighborhood, where Peabody (just a short shuttle ride away) is located, also offers a variety of restaurants from Indian food at Akbar to Afghan cuisine at the Helmand. If you’re in the mood for something sweet and french, Sofi’s Crepes will definitely hit the spot. If you like clever names, Never On a Sunday is a delicious pizza place that is never open on a (you guessed it) Sunday. On N. Calvert St. is Iggie’s, a popular Baltimore pizza joint with a casual yet quirky vibe. Iggie’s makes their own mozzarella cheese and bakes each pizza to order—local can’t resist the “Anatra” pizza, a combination of roasted duck, mozzarella, bleu cheese, asparagus, and red onions. A few blocks away from the shuttle stop is Sotto Sopra, a fancy restaurant ranked extremely well for its Italian cuisine. Though it is on the expensive side, it is a student favorite for Baltimore’s favorite restaurant week, where you can get a three-course meal for $30.

Downtown Baltimore

If you want to hit the mother-lode of restaurant options, head down to the Inner Harbor and Fell’s Point, both of which offer literally hundreds of places to eat.

In the Inner Harbor, there are many fast-food restaurants and many places to try the Baltimore specialty- crabs! Grab some fast food at one of the city’s two Five Guys. Get some cheap, delicious noodles at Noodles and Company, the only restaurant where you don’t tip the waiters (because they’re paid with pasta).

Try some delicious fudge at The Fudgery, where they sing amazing a cappella songs about chocolate all day long (talk about a dream come true). Get some lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang’s or have a nice afternoon studying at Panera’s. If you’re still hungry, go over to Rita’s Italian Ice stand or feel full by looking at the world’s largest gummy bear at It’Sugar, any candy lover’s dream candy shop.

In Little Italy, head over to Chiapparelli’s or Amicci’s for some delicious Italian food. For dessert, stop by Vaccaro’s for some cannolis and gelato that’s out of this world. Insider’s tip: they have all you can eat Vaccaro’s every Monday night. That should be on every Baltimorean’s bucket list. If you like amazing empanadas, you can check out the geographically-confused Max’s Empanadas also in Little Italy.

In Fell’s Point, head over to Blue Moon Cafe for a great breakfast, including delicious cinnamon rolls and Captain Crunch French Toast. Brick-Oven Pizza was featured on the Food Network for their amazing pizza! Also, in Fell’s Point, Mezze offers great Greek tapas; definitely try the shark fritters. A student favorite is the frozen yogurt place, Mr. Yogato, has great flavors like Pumpkin or Cake Batter. The best part about Mr. Yogato is the vibe that it has. It’s a colorful and fun restaurant where you can lower the price of your dessert by answering trivia questions or dressing like a Baltimore Hon. They have board games and video games to play. It’s an awesome place to go and hang out in!

Dietary Restrictions

For students with dietary restrictions, there are some unique options. On East University, is One World Café, a vegan (that especially caters to gluten-free people) café that has a bohemian feel. There’s a full bar, coffee bar, and delicious vegan and non-vegan desserts (blondies, red velvet cake, cheesecake, etc.), in addition to their wide variety of vegan entrees. They love Hopkins students- you even get discounts with your J-Card. Cool fact- their coffees are markedly different from what you would find at Starbucks—customers swear by the “Chocolate Chai.” Liquid Earth, in Fell’s Point, serves vegan, vegetarian, and raw food; they have delicious smoothies and yummy sandwiches.

Meet 27 is a great gluten-free restaurant in Remington. It’s a very cute, intimate (perfect for a date!). None of the gluten-free foods are artificial. It is different and quirky; it has great hamburgers (with gluten-free buns!), lots of vegetarian (and vegan) options, and interesting entrees. Definitely try the sweet potato fries. Sweet Sin is a gluten-free bakery. You must try one of their ginormous cupcakes! Don’t be turned off the fact that it’s gluten-free if you can eat gluten; these places are delicious on their own.

With so many neighborhoods and so many eclectic choices, Baltimore never fails to satisfy that notorious college student appetite. Going hungry is one thing you’ll never have to worry about!

Hope you enjoy our suggestions and get to take a look around some of these places when you’re in Baltimore!

Imagine – It’s May, 2014. The warm Baltimore sun is shining on your face as you sit on the beach and reflect upon the incredible year you’ve just completed. What are some of the things you’ve seen? Well, this blog will help you figure some of that out with a First Year Hopkins Bucket List! This is obviously not all-encompassing and you will make your own unique and fun memories along the way, but here are just a few “must do’s” of your Freshman year:

1.) Go on Pre-orientation! The week before orientation begins students can choose to spend a week hiking, rafting, and camping with small groups of other Hopkins students. It’s a great way to come in to Hopkins with a close group of friends and some crazy stories to tell.

2.) Go to as many Orientation events as you can!  Orientation is one of the rare moments of your life when you can walk up to absolutely anyone, introduce yourself, and become friends. Hopkins helps this occur with fun mixer events such as the mysterious “Playfair”, Barbecues  and ice cream socials. And of course, you get to take part in the JHU Class of 2017 photo!

The Class of 2015 photo

3.) Sign up for a million clubs at the SAC Fair during the beginning of the semester.

4.) Go to the Annual JHU Fall Fest and check out the fun events including the haunted house, pumpkin carving, movies on the beach, lazer tag, pumpkin smashing, and concert – this past year it was Super Mash Bros and Far East Movement!

5.) Find your favorite restaurants and coffee shops. Charles village has some really unique and delicious places, such the One World Café, Chocolatea, Carma’s, Donna’s, Silk Road Café, Paper Moon, Café Q, Pura Vida, Starbucks, Alkimia, and Chipotle!  Everyone has that place they go to for the absolute best cup of coffee or dinner – find yours!

Paper Moon Diner– An Unusual Eatery Near Campus

6.) Go down to Fells Point for Halloween – it’s one of Hopkins’ best traditions and one of the top 2 biggest Halloween parties in America!

Halloween in Fell’s Point

7.) Climb to the top of the rock wall in the Recreation Center!

8.) Go to the Lighting of the Quads – it’s quite the winter kick-off event with lights, a cappella, hot chocolate, a loud countdown and massive fireworks displays that you absolutely cannot miss.

The Lighting of the Quads– 2012

9.) Take a crazy class over Intersession like the Science of Baking or Ballroom Dancing. You can even do something cool like get your WFR (Wilderness First Responder) Certification! The choices are endless.

You Could Even Try the Intersession Class in Rubik’s Cube Solving

10.) Join the nest, learn the rules of lacrosse, and see the D1 Blue Jays play on Homewood Field, especially during Homecoming Weekend. Non-negotiable.

Homecoming in Homewood Field

11.) Go to Spring Fair – a time of food, fun, and more food when vendors and shows come to Hopkins. It’s a great time to spend time with friends and take a well-deserved break from work!

12.) Embrace the Baltimore Sports Teams. Don’t forget that the Ravens won the Superbowl in 2013!

Many Hopkins Students went to Fell’s Point to Celebrate the Raven’s Victory in 2013

13.) Attend the High Table – an exclusive event where freshmen get to have a free catered dinner with their professors!

Chefs Preparing the High Table Food

14.) Take the Collegetown shuttle for free to the Inner Harbor or Towson and explore the shops and restaurants. Check out the Collegetown website for more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4GIJ6GjPPo

15.) Find your favorite study spot on campus, be it the Beach on a sunny day, the “Hut” in Gilman Hall, or D (“dungeon”) level of the library at 2 in the morning.

The Beach in Front of the JHU Library

16.) Take the $7 MARC train down to Washington D.C. for a day trip with friends!

17.) Go see the speakers at the Milton S. Eisenhower and Foreign Affairs Symposiums.  In past years, we’ve brought in speakers such as Nelson Mandela, Hillary Clinton, Aziz Ansari, Malcolm Gladwell, Karl Rove, and even Bill Nye, the science guy!

18.) Check out the amazing Inner Harbor! Not only are there great restaurants like Roy’s and the Cheesecake Factory, but you can also take a fun ride on the dragon boats!

19.) Take a class purely for the fun of it! Some favorite classes among students include Contemporary International Politics, Anthropology of Media or even Cognitive Development.

An Emergency First Responder Class at JHU

20.) Explore! Try new things! Make new friends! And, most importantly, HAVE FUN!

As an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins, you will definitely be spending a fair amount of time studying in the wonderful library, the learning den, your dorm, or even on “the Beach” with your friends. All of this studying naturally produces a good deal of stress, and what better way to let out some steam than at the rec center? The Ralph. S. O’Connor Recreation Center has a prime location on campus, as it is right next to “the nest” (our sports stadium), adjacent to Bloomberg (home of the physics and astronomy department), and just a little ways from Buildings A and B, the AMR’s, and the FFC. The rec center’s location is convenient, but the rec center hours make it even easier to get a workout in! The Rec Center is almost always open: Monday- Thursday 6am-midnight, Friday 6am-10pm, Saturday 8am-10pm, and Sunday 10am-10pm. Just show your J-Card at the front desk and you’re good to go.

The Rec Center is a great place to go to stay fit and work out!

Whether you’re a swimmer, biker, lifting-guru, runner, yoga-enthusiast, or new to working out, the rec center really caters to all types of students and their respective fitness levels. As for the traditional gym equipment, the rec center offers 7 treadmills, 11 elliptical machines, 5 Stairmasters, 12 stationary bikes, 4 rowing machines, weight machines, workout mats, free weights, jump ropes, and medicine balls among other things. As for traditional and some somewhat nontraditional gym facilities, the rec center boasts an indoor track, a 3000 sq. ft. cardio room equipped with overhead TV’s, a multitude of indoor basketball courts, a pool, racquetball courts, a traditional 2500 sq. ft. weight room, a varsity weight room, a rock-climbing wall, and a studio for a variety of fitness classes.

This isn’t your kiddie playground rock-climbing wall, folks.

Try working out with your fellow students!

In terms of personal training programs and group classes, the rec center can usually provide you with whatever or whoever you need. One of the more unique aspects of the rec center is the variety of fitness classes offered. Spinning, yoga, Zumba, and kickboxing are all popular classes that both students and faculty alike can drop in on. Here’s an example of the spring drop-in class schedule – check it out here.

If group settings aren’t for you, the rec center also offers personal fitness training (for an additional fee).

Finally, if the rec center seems somewhat overwhelming, but you still want to get a workout in, don’t forget about the small workout rooms around campus! Both Wolman Hall and Charles Commons have cardio rooms equipped with elliptical machines and treadmills for students looking to stay within their dorm. There are also a few scenic running trails around campus and throughout the surrounding neighborhoods for the joggers out there. Lastly, be sure to check out the prior post about Hopkins sports if you’re interested in taking a more structured approach towards athletics and working out!

Outdoor Opportunities and Pre-Orientation:

If you like the gym, but find yourself craving some outdoor activities as well, Outdoor Pursuits and JHOC (the Johns Hopkins Outdoors Club) will be perfect for you! These groups begin their adventures in late August right before orientation (hence the name “pre-orientation,” or pre-o).

Pre-orientation is a weeklong camping trip of your choice, where you have the opportunity to meet many incoming freshman (your fellow participants) and current students (your leaders) before you even set foot on campus. Options for pre-orientation trips include white water kayaking, climbing, and backpacking, but these trips are in high demand and do come at an extra cost. Make sure to reserve a spot on your favorite trip as soon as possible!

However, don’t despair if you still love the outdoors and can’t make it on pre-o! The two groups offer outdoors trips throughout both semesters at a $10 cost. If you want to get away for a day and see something other than the streets of Baltimore, don’t miss out on trying your hand at caving or going for a challenging rock scramble in western Maryland!

If you have any more questions, the website can answer them here - we hope you will give it a shot!

These pre-o students stayed at this trail shelter!

These students were part of the multi-element trip. This was taken on a two day hike!

Participants on the multi-element trip going on a two day hike

As the end of college draws perilously close my friends and I have begun compulsively making lists, just to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything. Four years has flown by, and though I can’t make this year last any longer, I can make sure it’s amazing and packed with all the things I forgot to do in the three years before this.

We have a lively Google doc of things to do, things to see, places to eat, places to go. In a way this helps us all avoid the really big questions that come up as graduation looms, bigger choices than where to eat on a Saturday night. Though I may not yet know when I’m starting work, where I’ll be next fall, where my apartment will be, or how on earth to budget a first year salary, I do know that I have about 10 more restaurants left on my bucket list. Mental clarity.

I haven’t mentioned it much here, but I’ve been toying with the idea of deferring my start with McKinsey in order to travel a bit and get some first-hand public health experience. I’ve really enjoyed the public health program here but have never gotten the chance to work in a clinic, for a charity, or “in the field.” Public Health majors a few years younger than me all have an Applied Experience requirement to their studies, but for the class of 2012 the focus was more on learning in the classroom. I learned a lot, but I think it would be an invaluable experience to return to South Africa as a Public Health student, rather than simply a study abroad student. I have a lot of flexibility with my “real life” start date, and I’m considering pushing it back until March 2013. My planning for this trip is about as organized as my bucket lists…thus far it involves a huge map of Africa with all the dangerous countries crossed out, and a list of NGOs on the back. Suddenly it seems that the pressure is on though, and big decisions need to be made about visas, jobs, timelines, grants, and the like. I’m dragging my feet and staring at my restaurant bucket list instead, but hopefully soon I’ll have some more information to share here.

In the mean time, back in Baltimore, the senior class council has been enabling our bucket list ways, planning a number of amazing events for the whole class. Last week we celebrated the start of spring semester with a happy hour downtown at Luckies, where coincidentally I attended my first Phi Mu date party as a freshman. Huge blast from the past. Other bucket list activities since the start of the semester have been my final “rush” with Phi Mu, heading downtown to watch the Ravens game in a serious sports bar, and attending Dogwood for restaurant week with my lovely roommate Laura. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to check off a few more items! Here’s to a great spring!

lb

Tomorrow is the last day of Spring semester classes, and I cannot believe my first year of college is almost done!  It seems like we just started.  As the title “smorgasbord” suggests, this blog is going to be about all of the fun/random things that have been going on for the past few weeks!  Classes are always best at the end because you can really get into the material, and there has been a lot happening on campus in general.

After months and months of no visitors, the last few weeks have been full of old faces.  My sister is a junior in high school, so all of her friends are embarking on their grand East coast college tours.

Me and Eve. Our families are close–Eve is not only one of my sister’s friends, but the sister of one of my best friends, Tess. And our brothers are friends.. and our dogs.. and Grace, her youngest sister (who, sadly, doesn’t get a direct match but we still love her).  Her whole family, minus Tess, had lunch with me at Carma’s!

Two weekends ago, my cousin Lily came to visit!  It was really fun to show her what Hopkins was all about.  We ate at some classic Hopkins restaurants (Donna’s, Tambers), went to a lacrosse game, hung out in Wolman, and, of course, hit up the library for a while.  I tried to persuade Lily to get a room with me in Brody, but for some reason she preferred B-level?  I think by the end of the weekend I had her convinced to join us in the Class of 2019.

At the lax game–Go Hopkins!

Academically, I’ve been able to do some really cool stuff this spring.  While for some classes this might mean lots of papers, for MechE lab, this means taking apart and then putting back together and internal combustion engine (think go-carts, lawn-mowers).  You might remember me mentioning us dissecting bikes in an earlier blog.  It’s been an awesome year of hands-on work, and it’s been one of my favorite academic experiences yet.

This totally wasn’t posed.

 And, finally, last weekend my friend Carrie and I went to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for college night!  Tickets were only ten dollars and the concert hall is only a short shuttle ride away.  The program was Midori and Brahms.  While I’ve played the flute since fourth grade, I have never actually been to a real concert before, and it was an awesome experience.  This summer I’m seeing John Williams conduct the Boston Pops for a movie night (something that’s been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember), and now I’m even more excited.

Now, time to start focusing on finals, and to enjoy the last two weeks of my freshman year!

Happy last week of classes here at Hopkins! With a semester of 19 credits, the past few months have been a bit strenuous (understatement), but thankfully I’ve had so many great classes that for the majority of the time, the work has actually proven to be somewhat enjoyable. Having 5 out of my 6 classes in the humanities has been great because, obviously, the humanities here are awesome, and I think that doing so best explains why this semester’s been doable. (I’m not saying the humanities are ‘easy’ — they’re not — but when you have good quality classes, it’s worth putting the work in). Even more awesome is the fact that not only am I the only guy in the majority of these classes — guys interested in the humanities: take note — but five of these classes have under a dozen students, meaning it’s been a lot of individual attention and time well spent in class. So, without further ado, here’s a recap of my awesome spring semester classes. Enjoy!

SCULPTURE after SCULPTURE

Department: History of Art

Class size: 7

Description: In this 400-level/graduate seminar, we’ve traced the history of modern sculpture from minimalism through postminimalism to more contemporary trends: a ‘sculpture after sculpture.’ Each week we discuss readings by artists like Morris, Smithson, and Judd, and texts by critics such as Michael Fried, who teaches at Hopkins and is the coolest person ever. Our final project allowed us to focus on any contemporary artist of our choosing, so I was able to consider the work of Claudia Schmacke, a German artist who I’ve long thought about but had yet to have the chance to research. This is really the best class, and since the History of Art department recently hired a new modern/contemporary professor, I’m looking forward to more great classes to come.

Best part: We each had to give 30-minute presentations on our research, the thought of which became my main cause of stress for a solid stretch of weeks. However, mine went over without a hitch and it was a pretty cool experience to stand up and present your work like a real person. Stepping out of your comfort zone = a good thing.

Fun fact: Who’s our professor, you may ask? Oh, just James Meyer, the associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART. Yeah, pretty casual.

Research books — because who doesn’t love drowning in two feet of monographs and theory!

Schmacke’s ‘Time Reel’

MEDIEVAL SPACES: Site, Image, and Viewer in the Middle

Department: History of Art

Class size: 12

Description: Although I’m not a fan of medieval art (sorry Constantine, you did your best!), Medieval Spaces has been a good, comprehensive class to fulfill my medieval course requirement for my major. We’re essentially looking at spaces all throughout Europe starting with Early Medieval and moving up to the Gothic while considering questions of pilgrimage, the embodiment of viewers, and liturgical functions.

Best part: The class includes several visits to the Walters Art Museum which has an incredible collection of medieval art. They work hard to display these objects in a way that brings out their original functions to get around a certain ‘museumification,’ making their collection an even greater resource for research and consideration.

Fun fact: When I was in kindergarten, I was convinced that I would grow up to be a stained glass artist. While that dream may have changed, I get to look at some amazing stained glass in this class, so close enough, right?

It’s always a good time when Stokstad shows up to the party

PHOTOGRAPHS on the EDGE: Ara Güler in the Archives of the Smithsonian’s Freer-Sackler Galleries

Department: Program in Museums & Society, cross-listed with History of Art

Class size: 11

Description: This class is typical of the hands-on type of course you’re likely to find at Hopkins, and especially within the Museums program. Our small class has been working tirelessly to plan an exhibition at the SMITHSONIAN’S FREER AND SACKLER GALLERIES. Again, so casual — except not, because it’s been one of the coolest real-world experiences. Our class was given a group of works by the Turkish photographer Ara Güler to consider for the exhibition, and groups of 3-4 students each proposed what curatorial theme would best accommodate the given photographs and also provoke an interesting idea. Afterwards we looked at web and marketing, public programming, and interpretive text as it fits into our show and as guided by our many trips to DC to speak with the Freer and Sackler staff.

Best part: My group’s proposal was picked! I’ll definitely talk more about this class as the show comes closer to completion, because it’s definitely one of the most unique classes I’ve taken at Hopkins to date.

Fun fact: Ara Güler insists that he works as a photojournalist, but his works are held in the collection of art museums across the world. He’s even been exhibited at the MoMA! What this contradiction has to say about the fields of photography, journalism, and art at large is the subject of our exhibition, opening in December!

Here’s Güler

and here’s the Sackler Gallery — y’all ready for this? (Cue Space Jam theme song)

Introduction to BUSINESS

Department: Entrepreneurship & Management

Class size: 50, with a section of 25

Description: This is one of the core classes for the Entrepreneurship & Management minor and just like the others, it’s been a great overview to what seems like an ever-expanding field. While I don’t see myself going into business per se, it’s a good class for familiarizing myself with business operations and terminology, and our professor’s very enthusiastic about the material. This class has a lot of assignments both due for class and for section, but that’s really the only downside I see.

Best part: Professor Quesenberry likes to start out each class with a video, which is oftentimes from The Office. I naturally approve.

Fun fact: Just because you like art doesn’t necessarily mean you should invest in art auction houses, as I did for our class’s online stock market game. It’s a volatile (BOOM. Business word) stock and in my case, you will lose. So badly.

I can’t really think of a related picture, so instead, here’s a dog roaming around in Gilman! Close enough?

Introduction à la LITTÉRATURE FRANÇAISE

Department: German & Romance Languages

Class size: 8

Description: Although it doesn’t feel like an ‘introduction’ given the fast-paced nature of the class, this has been a really enlightening course. We’ve read works by Flaubert, Baudelaire, Proust, Camus, and Sarraute, and although it’s a lot of work, it’s definitely the kind of discussion-based class I was looking for. Everyone there is crazy smart and I oftentimes just find myself getting lost in the wisdom of their analyses.

Best part: Professor Russo, the director of the graduate program in French, is a great teacher. She’s humorous, brings in intelligible outside references, and recently started bringing us cookies because, according to her, “j’ai toujours peur que vous avez faim !” She rocks.

Fun fact: Not exaggerating: I can only do the reading for the class while listening to old school hip hop and rap. I’ve tried strenuously to read without it, but for some reason unknown to me, Biggie and The Game facilitate the reading like none other.

Everything sounds cooler in French. Fact.

Advanced WRITING & SPEAKING in FRENCH II

Department: German & Romance Languages

Class size: 7

Description: This is the final course in the trajectory of the French department’s language requirements before moving on to more upper-level courses, and to be honest, I’m excited to (come Friday) be done with it. Getting permission to take Lit française concurrently was great and showed me that I’m capable of taking more focused French courses, so this course has gotten a little banal. 

Best part: Despite the repetitive nature of the class, one of my best friends is in the class with me so we get to joke around for 50 minutes, 3 times a week! Cool!

Fun fact: Avocat is French for both ‘attorney’ and avocado.’ This is not what we learn in class, it just amuses me to no end every time.

Don’t mind me, just eatin’ a crêpe

Well, there you have my Spring Class Wrap-Up (wrap, wrap, wrap-up. What, 30 Rock‘s over? Oh, okay). Thanks for reading!

Cheers to learning