First of all, a big congratulations go out to the students who were admitted to the Johns Hopkins class of 2017!  You should all be very proud and excited, and we can’t wait to meet those of you coming to SOHOP in the coming weeks!

This week, some of the Hopkins Interactive bloggers will be posting blogs about their favorite academic experience.  Four years ago when I came here as a freshman, I probably would have guessed that my favorite academic experience during my time at Hopkins would be taking a really cool science class or working in a lab, but as it has turned out, my favorite academic experience hands down was taking part in the Johns Hopkins in Madrid semester abroad program.

As far as study abroad programs go, JHU in Madrid turned out to be the perfect fit for me.  Our group consisted of 11 Hopkins students and our director, Manuel Colas, who is a former Hopkins PhD student and current professor at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid.

The first two weeks of the program were spent taking an intensive language course in Salamanca.  I was a little skeptical of this part of the program at first since “intensive Spanish course” to me sounded kind of intimidating and sort of boring, but it was SO helpful having had two weeks of Spanish practice before we were thrown into courses at the Spanish university.

left: Plaza Mayor; middle: building near our residence; right: one of the city's cathedrals

Salamanca is a gorgeous city.  The university there is one of the oldest in the world, and the facades of the buildings look like they haven’t changed since the 1500s.  I had never been to Europe before this trip, so this was really my first time seeing buildings that were over like 200 years old.  Literally the whole city just looks like a postcard.

group dinner in the Plaza Mayor

After spending our two weeks in Salamanca, we left for Madrid, Spain’s capitol city, where we would be spending the next three and a half months living with our host families and attending Universidad Carlos III.  Living with a host family improved my Spanish a ton, and it was fun having two younger host sisters, Ana and Paula!

top left: Ana, me, Paula; top right: the park by my host family's house; bottom left: Real Madrid!; bottom right: taking the train to school

Courses at Universidad Carlos III were completely in Spanish, so the only time we really got to speak English was with each other and with the other American students there.  I ended up taking 6 courses:  Spanish Golden Age literature, Theory and Practice of Latin American short stories, 20^th Hispanic-American literature, history of Spanish art, modern Spanish culture and civilization, and superior Spanish grammar.  While some of the classes were definitely easier than at Hopkins, I was definitely challenged in others. Superior grammar was probably the hardest Spanish class I’ve ever taken and golden age lit was also very challenging.  Overall though it was a great experience – I really did learn a lot and improve my language skills a ton.

Attempt at packing my bag to go home

For anyone who is questioning whether they want to study abroad: do it.  Even if you have no idea where you want to go and you don’t speak a foreign language, you are absolutely not alone, and I guarantee that there is a program out there that will interest you.  Just about every single Hopkins student I know that has come back from a study abroad program has said that it was the best semester of their life.  It is such a fun experience and well worth having had!

Despite all of this cold weather we’ve been having, today is one of the first days that has really felt like spring at Hopkins!  The weather is gorgeous, people are outside wearing shorts and studying on the beach (aka the grass outside the library), and everyone is starting to get excited for a warm and sunny rest-of-the semester at Hopkins.  Since it’s such a nice day out, I thought it would be appropriate to make this entry about the top 10 signs of spring at Hopkins:

Cherry blossoms:  Part of the reason why our campus looks so pretty in the spring is because of all of the huge cherry blossom trees that bloom around the beginning of April every year.  There are a ton of them on the lower quad, and they definitely make the campus a happier place!

Giant blue jays:  Our mascot can frequently be found wandering around campus/ the surrounding area during weekends with big lacrosse games.  Here he is outside of Starbucks:

And here he is in balloon form:

Spring Fair:  Spring Fair is probably the favorite event of the year for Hopkins students.  Basically a bunch of food and crafts vendors come to campus and set up their trucks/ display tables for the students.  If you ever get a chance to see Spring Fair, you will be astounded by the number of vendors that come here – there are literally multiple quads that are just completely covered with vendor stands.  There are also a lot of events that go on this weekend: there is a concert during the first night, there are carnival-like activities set up for kids who live around here, and there seems to always be something going on on the beach.  The whole weekend is a lot of fun.

LACROSSE:  In case you weren’t aware, we’re sort of awesome at lacrosse.  If you come to Hopkins, you will quickly learn the rules so that you can attend the games and sit in “The Nest” with the rest of your classmates.

Homecoming:  Lacrosse is such a big deal here that our homecoming is in the spring instead of the fall.  Homecoming weekend is my favorite weekend of the year.  A bunch of the alumni come back – both recent graduates and older graduates who come back with their families – and there are barbecues on the quad before everyone heads to the stadium to watch the game.  Since it’s usually in late April, the weather is typically really nice.  Even if you never go to another lacrosse game the entire year, you kind of have to go to Homecoming.  It’s too much fun to pass up.

Big/little shenanigans:  Usually around spring break, the sophomores in each of the campus’s four sororities are assigned their littles from the newest pledge class.  For big/little week, the bigs try to give the littles their gifts in pretty outrageous ways – littles are serenaded by a capella groups in front of the library, bombarded by swimmers in speedos, or intercepted at their dorm rooms by fraternity pledges dressed in ridiculous costumes.  Not only is it entertaining for the littles getting the gifts, but it’s entertaining for the rest of us who get to watch these things happen to unsuspecting freshmen multiple times a week.

gifts for my little, Lydia, during secret week

 Concerts:  Every year, Hopkins gets feedback from the students to bring an artist to play on campus on the opening night of Spring Fair.  We’ve had some pretty great artists come to Hopkins to play in the past, and this year, Grouplove is coming.  Also, we were literally just emailed today that R3hab is coming to play here on the last day of classes.  It’s a pretty cool way to celebrate being done with classes! (Minus finals, of course.)

 Free sunglasses:  It seems like there are about 1000 events in the spring that give away free sunglasses (see below).  By the end of the semester, pretty much everyone has at least one pair.

Beaching:  The beach (what we call the circular quad outside of the library) is just a great place for doing just about everything: soccer, Frisbee, reading, playing volleyball, or just relaxing with friends.  When I took a summer class during my sophomore year, I pretty much went out there to study every day.  It’s always a very lively place when the weather is warm, and you’re guaranteed to find a group of people you know there on just about any spring day.

Commencement!  I am in complete denial that commencement is so soon!  It feels like not long ago at all that I moved into AMRI to start my freshman year, and now in almost exactly 8 weeks, I’ll be moving out of my apartment, saying my goodbyes to Baltimore, and preparing for my move to Boston!  I’m so excited for this semester, the summer, and everything that’s ahead, but it’s scary how time flies!

A while ago I was in a bookstore with a friend and we came across a book of lists.  Basically the entire book was full of pages and pages of “List your favorite _____.”  Given that we both love making lists, we started paging though and I got the idea to do a blog post using some of the list ideas that applied to Hopkins.

—–

List your favorite teachers:  My Spanish faculty adviser, Dr. Sieber, is fantastic.  This semester, I really like Professor Van Doren in the biology department and Professors Mifflin and Wheeler in the German department.

List bands you’ve seen live: Baltimore actually has a great music scene, but sadly I’ve only ever seen Dada Life, Zedd, Alesso, and David Solano live in the Baltimore/ DC area.  They were all awesome, but there are constantly awesome concerts going on around here, and if I had unlimited time/ cash, I would definitely be going to Pier Six and Soundstage much more frequently.

List the times you’ve had an audience: 

- Most recently:  when I had to read a long script in Spanish for the Spanish Honors Society induction ceremony

- Just about every week in German class.

- When I gave campus tours freshman year

- Occasionally discussing my research project at lab meetings while I was working in an embryology lab.

List the best gifts you’ve ever received: 

-Obviously my parents getting me all of my dorm stuff for my birthday freshman year was awesome.

- Arriving at Charles Commons sophomore year on my birthday to find that my roommate had decorated my doorway made me really happy. :)

- My boyfriend brought me back a Lebkuchenherz from Oktoberfest.  They’re giant gingerbread cookies shaped like hearts – you’re not really supposed to eat them but I think they look cool.

Left: Laura's bday decorations, Right: so much gingerbread!

List your memorable injuries and illnesses:  Swine flu was hands down the weirdest illness I’ve ever gotten.  Other than that, breaking my finger freshman year was pretty memorable.

My friend Alec has too many microbe pillows. (Swine flu second to right.)

 List the things you like to do on your day off: 

- Get lunch at Chocolatea.  Everything there is delicious.

- When I have a lot of time: go to Towson Mall, and hit up Trader Joe’s next door.

List your most embarrassing habits: 

Speaking Spanish in German class.

List the best days of your life:  Taking weekend trips to different cities in Europe while studying abroad was probably among the coolest things I’ll ever get to do.  Denmark, Sweden, Germany, and Austria were all amazing weekends.

Copenhagen

List memorable people you’ve worked with:  During my sophomore year, I was lucky enough to work in Dr. Allan Spradling’s lab at the Carnegie Institution.  I knew Dr. Spradling was pretty well known among biologists for his work on Drosophila, but I didn’t really grasp how important his work was until I came across his name and a summary of his work IN MY GENETICS TEXTBOOK!  Randomly stumbling across his name while reading the assigned chapters for class was really cool.  It’s so easy to forget how many great scientists work at Hopkins.

The Carnegie Institution embryology building, where Dr. Spradling's lab is located

List places you’ve lived: Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Madrid, and this doesn’t really count as living somewhere since it’s not for much time, but this summer I’ll be in Osnabrueck, Germany for three weeks and hopefully Madrid, Spain for three or four weeks!

Balti

List your favorite restaurants:

-Chocolatea:  great café near campus and a great place to study

-Pazo: kind of pricey so we don’t go there much, but Pazo is a great Tapas place near the Inner Harbor

-Donna’s:  A great, not too expensive restaurant with great food.  It’s only two blocks from campus, so it’s a great place to go when your parents are in town!

List your guilty pleasures:

-Sitting in bed watching Netflix while I have tons of homework to do.

List your biggest pet peeves:

-When people hold other people to higher standards than they hold for themselves

-My current pet peeve is when people talk about how close graduation is.  After four years at Hopkins, there are only 10 weeks left!??!  No, that can’t be true.

There’s no denying that applying to law school is stressful.  As if having good grades weren’t enough, a successful law school application needs strong test scores, extracurricular involvements, recommendations from professors, and of course essays.  Applying to law school while balancing a full course-load is definitely not easy, but there are a ton of pre-law Hopkins students that do it successfully every year.  To any readers who are considering a career in law in the future, here are a few tips that were really helpful to me as I went through the admissions process:

1) Don’t go through your undergraduate years completely consumed with building your resume for law school.  Yes, it is important to have some sort of law-related experience, but having other diverse experiences is also very important.  One of the best things that you can do for yourself is to pursue your interests: learn a language, volunteer at a local elementary school, join the outdoors club, or do research.  Don’t let your overwhelming desire to get into a good law school completely dictate what extracurricular activities you choose throughout your undergraduate years.  Pursuing your interests – no matter what they happen to be – will help you.

2) Don’t save your essays until the fall semester!  The essays were a lot more work than I had anticipated.  Even though I was pretty busy over the summer working at a law firm and studying for LSATs, I was even busier during the fall semester.  In hindsight, I should have at least thought of what I was going to write about for each of the essays over the summer – that would have saved a ton of time in the fall.  If I were doing it again, I probably would have used the summer to get a good idea of what I wanted to write about for the two essays required by almost every school – the personal statement and the “How will you bring diversity to our incoming class” essay.

3)  Don’t wait until October of your senior year to take the LSAT.  A law school won’t consider your application completed until they receive your LSAT scores, and the earlier your application is completed the better.  Also, if you take the June LSAT and think you can do better, you can always register for the October LSAT.  You would be in a much tougher situation if don’t take the June LSAT and don’t do your best on the October LSAT…

Phil keeping me company while I studied for the LSAT during our family vacation

4)  On that note, don’t start studying for the LSAT at the last minute.  It’s generally recommended that law school applicants start studying for the LSAT about 2 months in advance.  I don’t think I started quite that early, but I think I would have really struggled if I had started studying less than a month in advance.  The more practice tests you can do, the more used to the material you will be, and the more likely you will do better on test day.

5)  Don’t apply late in the admissions cycle!  Many schools state on their website that it is highly recommended to apply earlier in the cycle.  Most law schools operate on a rolling admissions system, which means that there isn’t just one decision day for everyone.  The applicants who apply earlier will receive their decisions sooner.  More importantly, there are more spaces remaining in the class in September compared to February or March, so it may put you at a slight advantage to be a September or October applicant rather than a late-winter applicant.

6)  Don’t forget the deadlines for financial aid forms.  Once you’re admitted, most schools require that you send a deposit reserving a place in the fall class by April 15^th.  However, the priority deadline for financial aid is March 15^th.  Don’t mix up the deadlines, or it may affect the amount of aid that you receive.

7)  Don’t neglect law school admissions fairs.  Once a year, Hopkins holds a law school admissions fair in which admissions officers from a ton of law schools come to campus, set up tables, and are available to meet and answer questions from prospective students.  I decided kind of at the last minute to stop by this fair, and meeting some of the admissions counselors turned out to be extremely helpful.  I felt like I got a much better sense of each school’s personality and advantages much better than I had from just visiting their websites.  I would really recommend the law school fair to anyone who is even considering applying.

8)  If possible, don’t enroll at a school without visiting!  Each school holds a few admitted student days in the spring in which admitted students are invited to campus to sit in on panels with professors, meet current students, and even attend classes.  I visited one of my top choice schools last weekend and it turned out to be very worth it.  Before I visited I was afraid it would have a competitive vibe and be in the middle of nowhere, but during my visit the school seemed much less competitive than I was imagining, and I actually really liked the area.  Even though it was annoying missing a lot of class for the visit, it was definitely worth it.

Overall I thought the law school application process was actually a little easier than the college application process, and the rolling admissions system definitely made waiting for a decision much less stressful.  Good luck to any future applicants!

Hope everyone has been having a good second semester so far!  Classes started three weeks ago here at Hopkins, and so far I am really happy with my schedule.  Just to give you an idea of what this semester is like, here is what I’m taking:

Developmental Biology:  I really lucked out with my bio requirements this year because genetics and developmental biology have been my favorite biology core curriculum courses.  Dr. Van Doren is an awesome lecturer, which is very much appreciated given that most of the class is still waking up at this hour.  His teaching style is unique in that he talks about how certain gene functions, regulatory elements, etc were discovered experimentally instead of just saying “gene ___ does ____.”  The exam is probably going to be brutal since he will probably ask us to make experiments in order to discover the functions of hypothetical genes, but for now I’m liking the class – it’s definitely much more interesting than the textbook.

Developmental Biology Lab:  Given that a lot of my senior friends who are science majors don’t have any labs this year, I wasn’t too thrilled about having to take dev bio lab this spring, but so far it’s been pretty cool.  During the first class we got to observe the effects of different drugs on the fertilization embryos in sea urchins, and last week we observed planarian regeneration.  Generally I’m not a huge fan of lab classes, but I like this class because you can actually see the effects of what you’re doing instead of just adding clear chemicals to tubes full of other clear chemicals.

Stem Cells and the Biology of Aging and Disease:  Every week, a different guest speaker that works in some division of Johns Hopkins (i.e. the Homewood Campus, the School of Medicine, the School of Public Health) comes to speak to us about their work in the field of stem cell biology.  Since Hopkins has been one of the leading institutions in the world for stem cell research, the professors who give the lectures in this class are really the best of the best.  This class is such an awesome opportunity to hear some really cool people speak about the most cutting edge science research out there.

German Conversation:  I’m getting to the point in German (finally) when I can have an intelligent conversation with someone without saying um every five seconds, which is definitely progress!  Both of my German classes this semester are taught entirely in German and are pretty challenging.  If I end up studying abroad in law school, it will probably be in Germany, so I’d really like to take advantage of every opportunity I can here to learn as much German as possible.  Also, I found out a few weeks ago that I’m going to Germany for about a month this summer (!!!!!!), so the extra speaking practice will definitely be put to good use.

Intermediate German II:  This class feels like a big step from Intermediate I.  We’re doing a lot of literary analysis, which is not really my strong point in English let alone in German, so it’s definitely taking some adjusting.  The professor, Frau Wheeler, is so nice and encouraging and makes a ton of resources available to us to help us with the material.  I’m really liking both German classes so far this semester.

Italian Elements II:  My problem with Italian is that I get it very mixed up with Spanish, and every time I’m put on the spot to say something, it usually just comes out in Spanish.  Other than that though, this class is a really nice break from my upper level classes, and if I ever make it to Italy, hopefully I won’t be totally lost.

Thanks for reading!  Next week begins the law school visits, so check back for updates!

I have sort of a love-hate relationship with writing personal statements.  Just about every law school application, job application, or scholarship application that I filled out this past fall required something resembling a personal statement, and as a result I think I’ve written about 500 of them in the past four months. (Just kidding… maybe like 6.) Sometimes I find that I know exactly what to write and can perfectly convey why I want that job/ scholarship/ spot at X law school, but realistically, most of the time I sit there staring at a blank word document for about an hour before shutting the computer and telling myself that I’ll come back to it.

I remember being equally lost – if not more lost – when brainstorming ideas for a personal statement for a college essay.  I remember giving my guidance counselor a confused looked as she explained that the personal statement should convey how your experiences and interests make up who you are, but, at the same time should take the form of a story or anecdote.  This concept completely confused me: I had no idea how to go about thinking of a story that was representative of who I was and how to narrate it in the right tone.

Through writing many “topic of choice” essays in the past four years, and through helping my sisters through the college application process, I’ve gained a little bit more of a handle on how to go about writing a good personal statement.  Often I’ve found that thinking of a topic that distinguishes you from the rest of the application pile can often be the hardest part of essay writing.  You want a topic that is unique but not strange and that shows your personality and strengths without blatantly bragging about how great of a person you are.  This blog is meant to help those who are maybe starting to think about personal statement topics but are drawing a blank and could use a little bit of advice.

A good way to start is to brainstorm a list of unique things about yourself: things you like, habits that you have, etc.  This list doesn’t have to be special skills that you have (i.e. being good at a sport, etc), but rather this list should be things that make up your personality.

Questions to ask yourself:

- What are you most interested in?  How did this interest start?

- Is there any part of your daily routine that is unique to your peers?

- How do those around you influence you? 

- Do your friends/family have any unique traits that have affected you in some way?

- Is there some event or unique experience that happened in the past four years that you feel the admissions counselors should know more about?

- Think of some of your favorite things – do they tell about you at all as a person?

- Why are you interesting/ why would you want to be friends with you?

- Is there some facet of your personality that has changed a lot throughout high school? 

 - Is there some way in which you feel you would contribute to the diversity of this school’s incoming class?

Alex in a lacrosse game

Example: my sister Alex

- Extremely persistent

- Extremely competitive

- Will not miss school no matter what

- Has broken a lot of bones playing lacrosse

- Takes forever to pick out her outfit in the morning

Essay topic:  Alex wanted to incorporate lacrosse into her essay, but instead of writing about a great game or personal progress she made, she chose to write about her injuries.   To deviate from the usual sports injury essay in which the writer overcomes a huge obstacle and becomes a better person, Alex put a humorous spin on her essay and wrote about how she was afraid that her bruised broken nose would clash with her outfit and how she had to choose the right top to cover her swollen, broken collarbone.  Alex is now a sophomore at Duke and has not broken anything for the past two years.

Other advice:

Try not to force symbolism.  While it is good to use an object or scenario to represent an aspect of your personality, you don’t want the symbol to sound forced.  As an example, one of my best friends in high school wrote about how her personality relates to the drink she always orders at Starbucks, a caramel macchiato.  Her essay turned out really well, but in the first few drafts the essay was a little too focused on the drink and not focused enough on my friend’s personality.  Getting the right balance is really important.

Don’t feel the need to brag about yourself.  Yes, you should show off your strengths in your essay, but remember that the admissions counselors will see your transcript, your resume, your recommendations, etc; all of which will convey that you are a devoted, talented student.  The essay is your chance to show who you are and not just what you do.

 When writing about other people, keep the spotlight on yourself.  It’s great to write about how your dad/mom/grandpa/ sister/ brother has inspired you or affected your life in some way, but remember that the admissions counselor is trying to evaluate you, not your family member.  It’s certainly not a bad thing to highlight the strengths of others, but it’s important to highlight your own strengths as well.  Essays about other people should be just as telling about you as they are about the other people in the essay.

I hope all of this helps a little!  Class is starting next week, so keep an eye out for more blog updates.

So as you might already know, today is the first official day of Intersession at Hopkins.  Just a few hours ago, I decided to drop the class that I was going to take, so now I have a free month ahead of me of doing nothing!  Yay

Right now, about two hours after dropping that class, I’m a little thrown off that I really don’t have any work to do this month.  I’ve never really had a break where I haven’t had a job or a class or applications or an LSAT to worry about.  Sitting here being able to do things like spending the entire morning on Facebook or watching marathons of Millionaire Matchmaker is somehow a little unsettling.  I keep reaching for the remote thinking that I need to turn off the TV and do work… but then I realize that I don’t have anything to study for and I continue watching more hours of Bravo TV than anyone should ever watch in one day.

quality time watching Neflix in Gilman Hall

As wonderful as life is right now, the guilt of being so lazy is getting to me.  Sadly these Bravo marathons cannot go on for three weeks.  So I’ve decided to turn this blog entry into my to do list for the next month in hopes that I will actually follow it and maybe be somewhat productive over this Intersession.

1) Research:  I’m currently working a few hours a week doing research for an economic analysis center in Washington, D.C.  During sophomore year, I did embryology research at the Carnegie Institution and really liked it, but at the same time I wanted the chance to do some research in the humanities before I left Hopkins.  I’m really glad I got this opportunity, if even for a semester.  I’m learning a lot, and the work that the center is doing is really interesting.

my boyfriend making German pancakes

2) Cook:  Somehow, whenever I make to do lists on this blog, learning how to cook new things always ends up on there.  I’ve realized though that a lot of my friends are really good at cooking, so it’s nice having them teach me things when we have time.

3) Plan law school open house visits:  Law school admissions decisions have started to come in, and I’d really like to visit a few of the schools that I’m considering within the next month or two.  The deadline to decide on a school is in April, so I really need to start planning where I am going to visit and when.

4)  Read:  Always a good way to occupy free time!

5)  Purchase textbooks, notebooks for the spring semester: Next semester I’m taking developmental biology, dev bio lab, stem cells and the biology of aging and disease, German, Italian, and either an upper level Spanish lit class or German conversation (still need to decide); so I have quite a few books to get this month.

6)  Practice German:  I signed up for a German class next semester that will probably be a little over my head, so I really need to review a lot of grammar and maybe practice having some conversations over Intersession.

7) Trip to DC:  Since going to DC only costs $14 roundtrip, and since my friends and I don’t have classes, Intersession would be the perfect time to take a day trip there.  I can’t believe after four years here I’ve only been to DC once.

8)  Apply for summer scholarships:  Since this is probably the last summer that I won’t be working, I’d really like to spend at least part of it in Spain or Germany.  The Spanish department has suggested a scholarship that might be a good one to apply for, so I should really get moving on that application and maybe start looking for other possible scholarships as well.

That’s my to do list!  I’ll update this blog once or twice throughout Intersession to check in.  Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and had a happy New Year!

As you all are probably aware from everyone else’s blog posts, finals are among us here at Hopkins.  I was lucky enough to get most of my finals over with about a week ago, but one final had been hanging over my head until yesterday at 4pm… Genetics.

Despite the fact that I’ve been studying for this class for way too long and want nothing more right now than to never have to look at a picture of a lac operon or intron lariat formation again, this class has actually taught me some really cool things over the past semester.  We’ve had two different professors, both of whom have taught the course not based on the textbook content, but instead based on what they think a graduate of Johns Hopkins University who has taken genetics should be able to discuss intelligently.

Our professor for the last third of the class – Dr. Cunningham – is one of my favorite professors I’ve ever had at Hopkins.  He teaches what he thinks is cool and important, which is what makes his lectures so great. So here is a glimpse at some of the cool things we’ve been learning over the past few weeks (Just a warning – this is a really nerdy blog entry.  If you’re not into science at all, this might be a lot of boring rambling):

Liger vs. Tigron:  It’s pretty common knowledge that a liger is a hybrid between a tiger and a lion, but tigrons for whatever reason seem to be less well known.  Tigrons are actually hybrids of male tigers and a female lions, whereas a liger is a hybrid of a female tiger and male lion.  They actually look slightly different (sorry it’s hard to tell from these pictures – surprisingly there aren’t very many liger/tigron pictures out there):

Left: Tigron, Right: Liger

Why are some grapes huge?:  As humans, we are diploids, meaning we have two copies of each of our chromosomes.  Normal, naturally occurring grapes are also diploid.  If diploid grapes are bred in culture, the addition of colchicine (a chemical that affects the way that chromosomes segregate during meiosis) can cause both copies of the chromosomes to segregate into one gamete.  Two gametes, each with two copies of the chromosomes can then produce a tetraploid zygote.  So bottom line, the grapes that you buy in the supermarket are sometimes bred to have four copies of each chromosome instead of two.  The extra DNA makes them much bigger than natural diploid grapes.

Left: huge (probably tetraploid) grapes, Right: normal-sized (probably diploid) grapes

Where do seedless watermelons come from?:  Tetraploid watermelons can be made just like tetraploid grapes (see above description about the huge grapes).  If you cross a tetraploid watermelon with a diploid watermelon, you get a triploid watermelon, which is sterile and therefore doesn’t have any seeds.  Cool, right?

Triploid (Seedless) Watermelon

Is the Sasquatch real?:  No.  There are articles in the news lately that claim that Sasquatches – a hybrid species between humans and primates – could have existed, and some sources even claim to have genetic evidence that proves their existence.  However, genetic evidence suggests the existence of a fertile human/primate hybrid to be impossible.  At some point in our evolutionary history, two previously existing chromosomes (2A and 2B) fused into one chromosome (chromosome 2).  This fusion did not occur in our closest relatives, chimps and bonobos.  This difference in chromosome number, among other genetic differences, makes the likelihood of a fertile Sasquatch species slim to none.

What happens when a fruit fly has the chromosomes XXY?:  In humans, gender is determined by the presence of a Y chromosome.  However, in fruit flies, gender is determined by the presence of 2 X chromosomes (male is the “default” state).  Therefore, a triploid fruit fly with XXY chromosomes will be what is referred to as “intersex” – some cells choose to be female and some choose to be male.

Genome of a male Drosophila

What does hand dominance have to do with your hair?:  There are only about 20,000 genes in the human genome, which means that some genes obviously have more than one function.  The gene for handedness also happens to encode the swirling pattern of one’s hair (by swirling pattern, I mean the pattern of hair growth – on short-haired people, a “swirl” is usually visible on the back of their head).  The allele for left-handedness is inherited on a recessive random basis, meaning that if you inherit both recessive copies of the allele, you will have a 50% chance of being left handed.  That same recessive allele encodes counter-clockwise hair swirling, so if you inherit 2 copies of the left handed/counter clockwise allele, you have a 50% chance of having your hair swirl counter-clockwise.  Next time you’re sitting in a class, you can look at the hair of the person in front of you, and if it swirls counter-clockwise, there is a 50% chance that they are left-handed.  If it swirls clockwise, it is more likely that they are right handed.

Apologies again for the nerdy blog (this is kind of what my life has been for the past two weeks though – I promise the next one will be better!)  I hope this has at least satisfied whatever curiosities you had about ligers and grapes and has given you sort of an idea of the cool things you can learn at Hopkins!

It’s the last week of classes!!! YAYY!  I cannot believe this semester is already over – each semester seems to go by faster than the last.  In 17 days I will be at home sitting on my couch, probably watching ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas.  I am so excited.

Before that can happen, I still have to get through 5 final exams, which, judging by this pile of notes next to me that I have to study, is not going to be fun.  Fortunately we have a few days to study during reading period, and the exams tend to be pretty spread out, which also helps.  Even though five exams sounds horrible, finals week is never as terrible as it is made out to be.  Here are a few tips to make finals week a little more bearable but still productive!

Tips for finals week survival:

the Lighting of the Quads: students gather to watch President Daniels turn on the lights lining the quads each wintertime

1.  Make time to do holiday things!

Go to the Lighting of the Quads.  Participate in the campus gingerbread house competition.  Bake holiday cookies.  Hang up lights.  Buy a fake Christmas tree for your apartment/ dorm room.  Go see the Miracle on 34^th Street.  There are so many things to do around here to celebrate the holiday season and to make finals week a little more cheerful.

2.  Give yourself a break

As you’re reviewing and preparing for each exam, try to set aside some time to spend with friends before they all go home for break.  It’s important to give yourself time to relax so that you’ll go into your exams both calm and prepared.  This year, I have three of my finals during the last week of classes and only two during finals period: German on the 12^th and genetics on the 18^th.  Since I will definitely not be studying genetics for 5 days straight after German is over, I’m looking forward to having some down time to do things like take naps and watch Christmas movies

3.  Don’t forget intersession registration!

Intersession runs for three weeks in January and gives students the opportunity to take courses (for free!) in subject areas that interest them or in which they didn’t have time to take classes during the regular semester.  There are two types of classes offered: academic exploration classes (regular classes) and personal enrichment classes (art, music, dance, etc.).  You can literally take anything from Introduction to the Appalachian Fiddle to Beer Appreciation (only students 21 and over) to Quechua (the Incan language).  Also, housing is covered by your fall tuition, and most of your friends will probably be staying at Hopkins, so consider registering for something!

4.  Plan out what you’re going to study and when.

MSE library is in the holiday spirit

Don’t just write “Study” in your planner – make a list of which chapters you’re going to study on which days.  If you don’t you’ll probably be cramming a lot of material at the last minute, which is not fun.

5.  Cook ahead of time, or buy frozen meals

I never feel like cooking anything during finals week: I always end up buying my dinner from somewhere and spend too much money during that week just because I’m too lazy to cook.  A good solution to this is to cook easy meals ahead of time or buy frozen meals from the grocery store.  Either way, you will have pre-made meals whenever you need them during finals week, and you won’t end up overspending.

6.  Clean your room

Having a clean space to study in makes finals week a little more bearable.  You’ll thank yourself later for taking 20 minutes to pick up your clothes and vacuum your room before you’re under a lot of stress.

7.  Avoid the library – try Levering Hall!

The library is always really crowded during finals week, but one of my favorite places to study that is never really that full is Levering Hall.  During the wintertime there are two fireplaces in the Levering Hall lobby, and it’s so to sit on the couch by the fire and listen to the Christmas music that is played there.  Also, if you need a caffeine fix, the Pura Vida Café is right there in the building!

8.  Start packing your things to go home!

Start setting aside your clothes and anything that you will need at home over the next few weeks, and get excited for break!!

Fall at Hopkins is so great: the weather is beautiful (most days), the campus looks gorgeous with all of the colorful trees, and there are so many events going on around campus: everything from football games to Halloween parties.

(Just to give you an idea of what the campus looks like:)

Amidst all the LSAT studying and law school applications I’ve done in the past few months, I’ve really enjoyed this final fall at Hopkins.  Here are a few things that I’ve been up to:

Pumpkin Picking:  While part of me never expected to go pumpkin picking again after the age of like five, this fall was an exception.  While a lot of my friends went pumpkin picking at local farms in and around Baltimore, my little sister and I decided to do our pumpkin picking in celebration of my LSAT/ her SAT being over.  Literally two hours after we got out of our respective tests, we drove up to a local farm with our dad, got ice cream, and scoured the pumpkin patch.

top right: my sister Elizabeth hanging out with a Scarecrow (and being done with the SATs!); bottom right: Dad took pumpkin picking very seriously

Inner Harbor:  My Dad and Uncle ran the Baltimore marathon this year (and by ran, I mean walked most of it), so the night before the race, we all went to the Inner Harbor to walk around and get dinner.  Honestly since there are so many different places in Baltimore that my friends like to visit more frequently, I think I’ve only been to the Inner Harbor twice in the past four years: once when my parents originally moved me into my dorm, and once when my boyfriend and I went to the Star-spangled Sailabration that took place last June.  It was great to go there again, walk around with my family, and have dinner right by the water.

left: Mexican navy boat docked at the Harbor; middle: my sister Alex visits Baltimore!; right: the Star-spangled Sailabration

Riptide by the Bay:  That same weekend that my Dad, Uncle, and sister came, my dad insisted on eating crabs in Baltimore – not crab cakes, but real crabs that you have to crack open and eat out of the shell.  To get crabs in a shell, we went to a place called Riptide by the Bay: a really cool restaurant in Fells Point, not too far from the Harbor.  It’s a lot harder to eat crabs out of the shell than I thought.  My sister was a little aggressive and broke the crab shells into about a thousand tiny pieces.

Left: blurry shot of downtown Baltimore; right: Alex takes on the crabs

New York City:  It is extremely easy and cheap to get to NYC from Baltimore: there are Amtrak trains that go there almost every hour, there are buses that go from Penn Station to NYC for about $10, and every intersession Hopkins commissions buses to take students to NYC for a day for free.  Despite all of these opportunities to go to New York, I just went there this weekend for the first time in the past three years.  My boyfriend and I traveled up by train (less than a three hour trip!) and met his parents there, and then we spent the day walking around Fifth Avenue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  When I took Art History in Spain last fall, we had to memorize a lot of paintings that are housed in the Met, so it was cool to see them in person and to actually know something about them aside from what was written on the wall.

Rockefeller Plaza

While I’m a little sad for my last fall at Hopkins to be almost over, there is so much to look forward to, like tons of food at Thanksgiving next week and Hopkins holiday celebrations!  Keep reading for more updates soon!