Talk Nerdy to Me

To Greek or not to Greek…that is the question. In my case, I chose not to Greek. I originally came to Hopkins thinking that I wanted to do Greek Life; actually, in my application to get this blog, I wrote a blog all about joining a sorority in the future. But in the end, it just wasn’t something that I thought I would fit in well with.  But I still don’t feel left out. Since most people at Hopkins are not involved in Greek Life, there are many ways to still be social, both including and not including Greek ways.

One thing that was a lot of fun for my non-Greek friends and I was Relay for Life. We got to see a-capella groups perform, dance groups perform, hit paint balloons with darts, and just chill for a night for a good cause. The best part? We got to dunk our friends from a frat, Phi Delt, into a dunk tank. That was their team’s booth, and oh my gosh. It probably made my year.

Another way we got to have fun with Greek life? My two suite-mates and I had dates to the Phi Delt date party, and it was so much fun! We got to go to a club in Fells Point called the Get Down and dance and just have ridiculous levels of fun in general. My date/study buddy, Jerry, can break dance. Yup, I definitely didn’t know that. It was awesomely surprising. It made me personally see that frats and sororities aren’t solely defined by their stereotypes; all of the frat brothers I met seemed like really cool guys.

So overall, I’m not saying one way or the other about whether Greek Life is something worth joining, mainly because it is completely dependent on who you are as a person.  I’m still glad that I decided not to do Greek Life because I don’t think it would be the best fit for my lifestyle and interests, but it is definitely something that a lot of my friends find extremely rewarding, and now I can see why. I’ve had a lot of fun lately with Greek Life….without being Greek.

Hey y’all! Thought I’d take a moment to show everybody something that I thought we could all salivate over together: my baking skills. I’ve written a blog before about how I sold 12 cupcakes for over $100 (cha-ching!), but that was over the summer. At Hopkins, it is really nice that we have huge common kitchens in the dorms so we can bake just like we would if we were at home. My friends are actually bigger bakers than I am, so I have baked probably more than I would’ve at home!

1. Armenian Bread.

My friend, Stephen, was the mastermind behind this one. One of his friends who is Armenian kept talking about how much she loves this bread, so he decided to bake it and bring me along! He needed a youtube video to figure out how to braid the bread…lol. I just ended up doing it since, as a girl, I have a good amount of experience braiding hair. Could bread be so different?

2. Banana Brownies.

I don’t really have time to make eggs in the morning for breakfast (not that I think I would anyway…), but when I wanted to make brownies, I was missing a very crucial ingredient. Apparently, you can use bananas as an egg substitute…so I did. They were really good!!!!! You can ask JHU_Ian (as his big in Delta Delta D-Level, I subject him to my baking at every possible chance).

3. Banana Honey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Again, I was short on the eggs. So I substituted honey and bananas. I made sooooo many cookies. But they were delicious. So it was all good.

These are all my baking endeavors. Sound yummy, right?

(To the tune of Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen)

You threw a wish in the well.

But guess what! Now you can tell,

You’ve found a place to excel.

And now you’re on your way.

I go here, so here’s the dish.

Why I find this place to be bliss.

So many reasons that this

Is the place that I play.

My love is holdin’, Love this place (it’s showin’).

Fun nights, Minds are blowin’.

Where you think you’re going baby?

Hey! You just got in,

And this is crazy.

Decide your future,

Choose Hopkins, maybe?

It’s hard to think straight.

Decisions, baby!

Decide your future,

Choose Hopkins, maybe?

Great food at the dining halls.

BME—best of them all!

Research options for all.

Too good? I say, “no way!”

I sit in class and just squeal.

Great atmosphere and great feel.

My prof’s are famous—for real.

And now they know my name.

My love is holdin’, Love this place (it’s showin’).

Fun nights, Minds are blowin’.

Where you think you’re going baby?

Hey! You just got in,

And this is crazy.

Decide your future,

Choose Hopkins, maybe?

It’s hard to think straight.

Decisions, baby!

Decide your future,

Choose Hopkins, maybe?

When Hopkins came into my life,

I just was so glad!

I just was so glad!

I just was so, so glad!

When Hopkins came into my life,

I just was so glad!

And you should know that.

Choose Hopkins, maybe?

Found this gem on a chalkboard in Gilman. :)

Hey y’all! What do you get when you mix two really hard midterms, a 10-page paper, and only 3 days to do it all?

Answer: a hot mess.

But what do you get when you mix two really hard midterms, a 10-page paper, 3 days to do it all, and puppies?

Answer: pure brilliance!

Another possible answer: a hot mess with puppies!

We will, however, go with the first answer.

So I’m sure you’ve heard of RAs before. They are those evil upperclassmen who torture freshmen in the dorms, right?

WRONG!

They are actually really cool people, and they organize fun events for their residents all the time. Last week’s event? Puppies for stress relief! Professors and grad students from all over campus brought their dogs for us to play with because the week before spring break is known for being notoriously stressful. Sure, that sounds kind of evil, to have a rough week before spring break, but they just do it so we don’t have a lot to do over break. In my opinion, it actually makes break feel really well-deserved. So when I am home next week, my mom baking all my favorites for me everyday, I’ll feel like I deserve those treats!

Anywho, back to the puppies. So my favorite thing about the puppies was that they each had their own personalities. There was a chubby corgi (more to loveeeeee) that walked around and would not sit for anybody. There was the dachshund, who was a very mellow fellow, just chillin’ on the sidelines. There was a long-haired chihuahua who thought it was a pit bull and attacked the huge dogs. And then there were the huge dogs that were super scared of the little dogs. It made a great show.

Another fun thing I got to do at the puppies? See JHU_Erica and JHU_Ian! And JHU_Ian’s momma! She also visited us on D-level (the bottom level of the library) later that day! Such a nice mommy!

In other breaking news, I made a nerd fraternity this week (Delta Delta D-Level) with my two favorite freshmen, JHU_Ian and JHU_ShakeWeights (aka JHU_Joseph). It isn’t recognized by the office of Greek Life, but we think it’s pretty chill. In all honesty, though I decided that Greek Life isn’t for me, I always gets jealous of people having “bigs” and “littles.” So now, I am both of their bigs! I just brought them homemade banana honey chocolate chip cookies and a tinfoil duck. Between the two of them, they ate like 20 cookies. Please judge them (and then love themmmmm).

That’s all I have for today folks. Stay classy. :)

These past few weeks have been really…well…challenging, to say the least.  I have spent over 20 hours on certain homework assignments. I’ve taken tests that make me sick to my stomach to think about. I quickly watched my hours of sleep at night keep decreasing.  I’ve cried a little. And, in all honesty, I wondered if I was really cut out for Hopkins BME. Maybe I just accidentally fell into the pile of admits.

I’m going to be honest: Hopkins isn’t for the faint of heart. I don’t care how smart you were in high school; here, you’re going to have to try. And I mean try hard. I’m not saying this to scare you; by all means, if you are lucky enough to be accepted to Hopkins, you are smart and committed enough to handle it. In a school with an admissions rate as low as ours, the admissions peeps don’t have the flexibility to admit kids who aren’t up to Hopkins’ expectations. But know that going to Hopkins, or really any school of this caliber, is a commitment to your education like no other.

I’m tired. I’m tired because I stayed up real late last night doing homework for a class. A class that is, by all means, the most challenging and work intensive class I could’ve imagined.  But that’s the commitment you have to be willing to make to be here sometimes. You need to be able to keep trucking through it when you think you can’t do it. Hopkins professors know what we are capable of even when we ourselves don’t, so they push us. They push us a lot. And sometimes I hate it. And sometimes it overwhelms me. But at the end of the day, I’m glad, because I know that at the end of the day, I am a better scholar and person because of it.

Now, I’m really tired. Dreaming of nodding off right now rather than getting ready for class. But I feel like I have to tell y’all the light at the end of the tunnel: everyone else is just as overwhelmed as you are. Nobody can get question #2. You can bet your firstborn son that they have 3 midterms this week, too. The line isn’t that long at Starbucks for nothing. You aren’t in this alone.

And that is why I am still sane.  Personally, I have felt sad and mad and tired and overwhelmed sometimes when I lose sight of the situation, but I have never felt alone. Last night, I was up until 1:30 AM finishing my homework, but I stayed up later to try to help my friends just as the person who finished before me gave me pointers before she left. And just like my friend came over late in the night after she was done to teach me how to code in Matlab. On my last homework, we had to write down the name of every kid we worked with, and I wrote done well over a dozen names.  If I was in my room trying to do it all myself, I would fail. I would fail the class, and more importantly, I would fail myself if I didn’t embrace the atmosphere in Hopkins BME. This place is special. We all come together to in order to achieve our academic goals, and I couldn’t be prouder to be included in a community such as this.

So I guess this is what I’m trying to tell all you prospective students: this is a serious commitment you are making. You are committing yourself to four years of blood, sweat, tears, and differential equations. And if you plan on being BME and partying every single day of the week, this may not be the place for you. We have fun, but at the end of the day, we put our academic priorities first. So sometimes I miss the a-capella show I wanted to see. Or miss my favorite TV show. But it is all worth it in the end because at the end of the day, I know I am going to be able to achieve my goals because of what Hopkins BME has given me. Among the blood, sweat, tears and differential equations are also laughs that make your stomach hurt and hugs from friends who are there for you. I know I will look back on my four years and never regret “missing out” on some normal college experiences, because I was there for the important ones (if there’s a will, there’s a way) and for the ones I missed, I was in a room with a dozen other BMEs, supporting each other and making sure we all get through together. And that, I think, builds character!

JHU_Joseph pretending he has my homework! grumpy face!

JHU_Ian and his serenades can cheer me up!

Hey everybody! Last week, I got to participate in a favorite Baltimorean pastime: duckpin bowling. Now you may be asking yourself: duckpin bowling? How is that different from regular bowling? Well, you prospective Baltimoreans, let me tell you:

1.)    The Pins

Regular bowling has tall heavy pins, but duckpin pins aren’t quite the same. They look the same (white with a red ring), but they are shorter and squatter, almost like big foot came and stepped on a regular pin from the top. They are also much lighter. Personally, I thought this made the pins easier to knock over, but it could have just been beginner’s luck.

2.)    The Ball

The balls in duckpin bowling are soooo tiny! They are somewhere in size between a baseball and a normal bowling ball. They were so cute! But the weird part? There were no holes in the ball! I spent, like, five minutes trying to figure out where my fingers were supposed to go. It actually made it really hard for me to throw the ball, so I resorted to granny style bowling (the classiest way to bowl). For those of you who don’t know, granny style is where you bend over and chuck the ball with two hands. I found it rather effective.

Nisha's perfect form. haha

3.)    The Rolls

Instead of one roll, you get three! I liked this a lot because when I would get a gutter ball, it seemed like I still had a fair shot of knocking down all the pins. Still, it is only a spare if you get it down in the first two rolls, which made me sort of sad when I would get all ten pins down in three rolls. I’m pretty sure the duckpin bowling gods just had a grudge against me, but it’s ok. All is forgiven.

The best part of it all was that I got to do it with one of my favorite extracurricular groups, Engineering Ambassadors. We are the kids that give the engineering tours when you come visit, which I highly recommend! You get to see the labs and machines up close! I also like that the groups generally seem smaller than a normal tour, which sometimes have TONS of people in them, depending on if you visit on a busy day or not. But since we went bowling, I like to consider it proof that engineers have fun, too. :)

Engineering Ambassadors!

So that’s the lowdown on duckpin bowling. Come to Baltimore to play!

So I was sitting at my kitchen table, staring out the window, wondering what to write my next blog about. Then it hit me…I’ll write it about staring out the window. Clever, ehh?

Here are the views from different rooms in Charles Commons. Like a bird’s eye view. Or a blue jay’s view. ;)

This is a view from my friend’s room. He also happens to be an amazing photographer. One of the perks of living in a city is all the lights at night. I’m pretty sure if you looked at my village at night it would just look like a big black area on the map. But Baltimore…it’s just so pretty. And from Charles Commons, you can see the whole city. (And in these shots, you can even spy a little bit of our very own Mattin Center in the corner).

Photo Credit: David Glover-Valencia

Photo Credit: David Glover-Valencia

In this shot, you can see the engineering side of campus. From the dorm windows, they just look like plain brick buildings, but when you are on the quad, with all the greenery and marble, the engineering quad is a really pretty place. One of my characteristics of the perfect college was a beautiful campus, and Hopkins definitely fulfills it.

Photo Credit: David Glover-Valencia

Here is Bradford, another dorm, but it is apartment style. They are Commons’ neighbor. I would say more, but I’ve never been in them!

Another view from Commons, but this one is of the main quad. You can see the top of Gilman, which is maybe one of the prettiest buildings on the inside. It has a huge atrium that has great natural light for studying during the day. And at night, the Hut is a favorite study spot due to its beautiful windows. JHU_Joseph can attest to that.

Photo Credit: David Glover-Valencia

My crappy photography skills have led me to the beautiful picture. The one thing you can see in it is the large building right next to commons. It houses Dominion Ice Cream- which has vegetable flavors! Its sounds gross, but everyone I know loves it! It also houses apartments that many upperclassmen live in.

Subway. As you can tell, it is conveniently close to Charles Commons. My friend actually went there last night when we were doing homework. I prefer CharMar subs, mainly because you can use dining dollars on them, but Subway has its charm.

Union Memorial Hospital. It is conveniently located right by Charles Commons, which is great if you don’t want to take the bus to do research at Johns Hopkins Hospital. My friends have a really cool view because they can see the helicopter pad from their room. They actually got to see an emergency helicopter land once!

Last but not least, Tamber’s. I’ve always wanted to try it, and it is kind of ridiculous that I haven’t since it is so close to the on-campus housing. But JHU_Zoe has only said great things about it, so I plan on going before the end of intersession. It’s a goal!

So this is the common view from Charles Commons. Just another one of the wonderful things that comes with being a Hopkins Student.

In the words of Dorothy, there’s no place like home. I hope y’all enjoyed my photo blog of downtown Elm Grove (yes, it has a convent, an irish good store, etc.). Happy break everyone! And thanks to one of my best friends, Bekah, for helping me! :)

A wise philosopher by the name of Regina George once said, “Gretchen, stop trying to make ‘fetch’ happen! It’s not going to happen!”

As much as I love Mean Girls, I thank my lucky stars that my name isn’t Gretchen Wieners, because if Regina George walked all over my favorite phrase, I would probs have to write something about her in the burn book.

You see, over a semester, a lot of things change. I hang out with some new friends more than I ever thought I would. I have changed my favorite Urban Decay Eyeshadow. Towards the end, I started caring less about whether my socks were matching. But one thing stayed constant the whole semester through. Some people might even say I’m obsessed with it. And this obsession-worthy thing is my go-to catch phrase: “jkjplay.”

For all you uninformed souls:

Jkjplay (verb): Stands for “just-kiddin’, just playin.” The best phrase to use in almost any situation. Predicted to be the trending topic in pop culture very soon. Very, very soon.
Example: “Hey! How was your test today?”
“Actually, it was yesterday…”
“Jkjplay. I meant yesterday.”

In all honesty, I probably say this phrase 954837593 times a day. At least. I’m addicted. I learned the phrase back in Wisconsin. One day, I went to get coffee with my best friend and he used the infamous “jkjplay.” I asked him what it meant. He explained.

I then told him it sounded realllll stupid…

He then told me his new girlfriend taught it to him…

…So then I started using “jkjplay.” I approved of his new girlfriend and didn’t want to offend him. Or her. Or anybody. And not only have I used it; I’ve become obsessed. It works for embarrassing situations. Funny situations. Missed birthdays. Bad tests. Good tests. You name a situation, I can find a reason to say it. I’m so obsessed, my awesome suitemate, Aisha, actually made me a shirt with it on it. (Note: sorry the picture is so half-hearted. I just got out of the car….We drove from Baltimore to Wisconsin. 13 hours. Yikes!)

Rough picture...but look at that beauty of a shirt!

And it’s becoming a trend!

Well, sort of…

Well, not really…

Well, our very own Admissions_Daniel has used it, which has GOT to mean it is going to be the next big thing…right?

RIGHT?!?!

Ok, ok, it may not be the next big thing, but I love it, and I hereby declare that I, Sydney, have been obsessed with the phrase “jkjplay” this semester. I’m not going to lie though…you’ll probs hear me using it next semester, too. :)

Hey guys! It’s time for a review of epic proportions: the JHU AllNighters! Today, I went to their a-capella show with my friends Amanda, Katherine, and Allison. And let me tell you, it was fantastic! (Even though, if you really want to see fantastic, you should see JHU_Greco in the Vocal Chords and JHU_Lucie in the Mental Notes.)

We got free dum-dums! :)

Wanna know what they sang? Well, here’s your own mini concert…well…except for music part.

1. Some Coldplay song….it had the words “lost,” “river,” and “cross.” Sadly, I do not know the name. Sorry, I know it’s disappointing. The one thing I can tell you was that it was fantastic!
   

   Before the show!

2. Why don’t we just dance?- I think that’s the name. I have a feeling it is a really old song. Anywho, my neighbor in Charles Commons had the solo, and dedicated it to his sister. How cute!
3. One Day- Matisyahu mashed with some other song that I think is called Hold My Hand. SO GOOD! I am mildly obsessed with One Day ever since the Maccabeats did it, so having this song at the concert definitely made my day.
4. A song that said “Oh great God in heaven, I love you.” Imma be real with you: if you gave me five dollars, I still could not hum the main tune of this song. I don’t remember it at all, which is funny, because I’m sure I enjoyed it!
5. The Otherside- Red Hot Chili Peppers. I LOVE THIS SONG. Seriously, a fave. They should just sing this song over and over again.  And again and again and again.
   

   I attempted to get a picture of the board...but it just ended up being a creepy pic of those two people.

6. THE POKEMON THEME SONG. The theme of night was Gotta Catcha ‘Em Allnighters, so Pokemon was a must. They followed the song with a hilarious Pokemon skit that highlighted their new freshman. I laughed. I cried. (Well, I didn’t cry, but you know what I mean.)
7. Paradise- Coldplay. The only thing better than Coldplay…is more Coldplay!
8. The Cave- Mumford and Sons. In my humble opinion, the best song of the night. Great song, incredibly talented soloist. Just fantastic all around.
9. I’ll Be- Edwin McCain. I love this song. And I love all the David Archuleta flashbacks I get from hearing this song. It was a good song to end on…
10. ….but then there was an encore, which was a song called Afternoon Delight. H.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s. That’s all I can say.

Me and my bro, JHU_Ian! :)

All in all, it was a good time. Note: if any of the titles are wrong, blame my friends, because in all honesty, I only recognized 3 songs. :)