Posted by Lauren B.
Though freshman year ended 3 or 4 long months ago--I've already lost count, apparently--I'm just now heading over to my new blog. This year, I'll be blogging with Dominique and Jessica, my fellow Public Health majors. I'll be talking mostly not about Public Health though, as much as I do love it. Stop by http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/shared/ and check out our cool dino theme to hear about my sophomore year and everything it entails.
It's been really fun blogging with Dominique, Wafa and Saznin, and I can't believe how quickly the year went by! Eight new amazing freshmen will be taking our place, and I'm sure they'll have great stories to share--check out their blog at http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2013/
See you soon!
So this is actually me waving to my Hopkins friends from my London apartment this summer, but it seemed to make sense here too. Bye freshman blog!
-Lauren
Posted by Wafa K.
This is my last blog entry on the 2012: Hopkins Arts & Sciences Freshman Blog. I absolutely cannot believe that freshman year flew by as quickly as it did. It was a really great experience to be able to share that, and all my memories, through this blog, and I hope to continue doing it as a sophomore and beyond in my new blog A Moment of Happiness where I am blogging all by myself.
It has been a joy!
For new stories and experiences of freshmen, check out our Class of 2013: Freshman Blog which will soon have our eight lovely new members of SAAB writing.
All the best!
Posted by Lauren B.
The last month of summer, sadly, is usually occupied with the general back to school preparations. Luckily, I was super excited to get back to school (dork that I am), so I really enjoyed the month of August.
First things first. My lovely sister, Suzi, celebrated the big 1-7. The great state of NJ has rather strict driving laws, so 17 means license time! Suzi passed her license and now zooms around in the fun little Prius that we share (scary).
Posted by Saznin M.
Hey guys, so I am currently writing from my brand spankin' new dorm here in Charles Commons. Check this out: I have my very own room (awkwardly shaped, unnecessarily large, still awesome), air conditioning, a cute little kitchen and a massive bathroom. I'm not one to boast, but it's kind of a big deal. My roommate and I have been pulling a Martha Stewart the past few days trying to decorate this suite and make it less sterile and more homey. It's been a success so far, save for the shards of broken glass and a sliced finger (all my fault, naturally). Will the joy of cooking remain once classes start up and I suddenly find myself buried under a pile of work? Doubtful. Am I really going to keep everything as neat and organized as I have now? Probably not. But for now, I'm enjoying the newness of it all and taking advantage of the massive upgrade in my living situation. Goodbye AMR II, hello high ceilings and AC.
I moved in earlier than most of the other sophomores because I volunteered as an Orientation Assistant during freshman move-in. If you live in Building B and Wolman, chances are I emptied your parents' car of all of your stuff. Hopefully the move-in process went as smoothly for you guys as it did for us working it. The weather wasn't the best, but that always seems to be the case on important days here. And naturally, your parents were more than a little more stressed, yet everyone seemed quite chipper and excited. Kudos to some of you for being smart packers. As for all of you who brought your entire house with you, well, at least you're prepared for anything.
Picture courtesy of Admissions Daniel. I'm in there somewhere, cracking a joke as usual.
On that note, I'd like to extend a warm hello and welcome to the class of 2013. Our humble little campus is just ripe for exploring, so take advantage of this weather and poke around every quad. If you have time, that is. From what I remember, Orientation was just one massive ball of exhaustion. I don't think I even had free time to think to myself. See? I'm already talking like an old fogey. No longer being a freshman is going to take some adjusting. I can't just waltz into someone's room whenever I feel like it, FFC isn't two seconds away and I don't have a real meal plan to fall back on, the campus seems a lot smaller, and my grades are certainly no longer covered. Yikes.
But no matter. New year, new attitude. Sophomore slump? I don't think so. There hasn't been much of anything going on around campus the past few days since it's been all about move-ins, but the year officially kicks off when classes start on Wednesday. Personally, I can't wait. I'm unabashedly awaiting the start of courses, only because right now I'm so painfully bored. I plan on making this the most productive and fun year yet. The school year hasn't even started yet and I'm exhausted by the amount that I plan to do with my time. Updates to come soon, of course. Welcome to the '09-'10 school year!
Posted by: Dominique D.
Some hours ago, I helped move in the last of the class of 2013 as an Orientation Assistant. One of the cool things about Hopkins is how we help new freshmen and parents move in, so they don't have to lug things to the rooms--all they have to do is unpack and organize while we unload and movers deliver. I can't believe that just last year I was a freshman moving in. It's just so weird to not be living in freshman dorms anymore, or to not have an FFC meal plan. As a sophomore, things are still exciting but not as fresh as they were last year as a freshman (def. NO pun intended haha). So helping them out and seeing their newness was refreshing (ugh again definitely no pun intended!) and rewarding.
Our Orientation picture...
So yes, bye bye summertime. Goodbye to sleeping in until 9 (yes that is late for me) and watching reruns of Smart Guy and Sister Sister; goodbye to being a summertime chaffeur for my sister; goodbye to the not-so-great but valuable-experience summer job; goodbye to 98394894 doctors appts; goodbye to eagerly and anxiously awaiting the return of school.
Being an Orientation Assistant meant early move in and over a week of no class stress at Hopkins, and I must say that time at Hopkins with no classes is rare and awesome. But I am looking forward to a lighter credit load this semester and fewer panic attacks, now that I am more seasoned. I am also looking forward to narrowing my list of extracirricular activities, so that I can devote my time more heavily to 2 clubs and a possible job. It's so odd how we yearn for vacation, but during vacation we miss school because it gave us something to keep ourselves very busy with. So, that wish has been granted and here I am, back at school and ready for more.
Move out...year number 2!
I am ready to revisit the places and people I've come to love over the past year, and even more so I am ready to discover all that I didn't last year! I've already met a lot of freshmen and I must say I am excited to see such a diverse and enthusiastic class. I should mention that on several occasions in the past couple of days, I have been recognized from the class of 2013 as "one of those people who answer questions on the discussion boards." :P
So again, bye bye summertime, but hello fall semester, new people, and new opportunities! And the end of me, Wafa, Lauren and Saznin contributing to the Arts and Sciences freshman blog...wow!
Until next time... =]
Posted by Wafa K.
I happen to have an issue with realizing that time is passing – it only seems like a couple days since I last blogged, and yet the date seems to be telling me it has been almost a whole month. How can summer already be over?!
The last time I wrote, I was getting ready to present my research at the NIH’s Poster Day. The two hours I spent at the poster session were a whirlwind and simultaneously the slowest two hours of my existence. The amount of questions I answered left me with a headache that only a very long lunch with my fellow student interns could cure. It was the perfect ending to a fantastic internship.
(Explaining my research - this was the first time I did it, hence why i am actually smiling)
The rest of my August was filled has been filled with amazingly simple summer activities and avoiding anything that exerts too much energy. It is going to be a shocker, when in twelve days, a professor reminds us to have 300 pages read by the next lecture. But, shockingeffects aside, I am excited to get back to Hopkins and back into the groove of being productive and a student.
Working this summer has made me appreciate the perks of being a student; the satisfaction of productivity and achieving good grades have not yet lost their appeal. The classes that I am taking this semester (more on them after the fall semester actually begins) are both interesting and challenging, and I love nothing more than proving my abilities to myself.
(This would be one of my dream beds courtesy of la boudoir)
As I get ready to go back to Hopkins, including apartment shopping for the requisite kitchen supplies and decorative aspects, avoiding packing at all costs and figuring out where I tossed my keychain back in May, I remember the feelings that I experienced as an entering freshmen last year.
Last August, I was less than a week away from embarking on a journey whose caliber can only be experienced; try as we might to put it into finite explanations. Everything that I had not yet experienced; meetings friends at Levering for coffee, the MSE libraries’ expansive collection, the professors and classes, study groups where studying is optional, the countless talks and concerts held on campus, SAAB meetings (I can't wait to have the new freshmen join us), Tutorial twice a week, the restaurants on Baltimore, the Peabody Library, and the people I met and have come to call friends. These are the things that make me itch to get back to Baltimore in a week’s time and to dive back into the Hopkins’ community.
(The Peabody Library - which is basically like something out of a dream)
I hope everyone enjoys their last days of August! All the best.
Posted by Lauren B.
When I last wrote, I was just beginning an internship and a six week stint in London....
I had a great time in London, negotiating the exchange rate, visiting old friends, seeing new Hopkins friends, and generally trying to adjust to living on my own in a big city. I got a lovely visit from my British grandmother. I celebrated my 19th birthday. I celebrated my friend Lucy's 19th--we had a joint 4th birthday party back in the day.
One of the highlights of my time abroad was my trip to Cambridge. I've had a pretty serious Cambridge obsession for a while now. My dad went there, and I grew up with very entertaining stories about floating mattresses down the river at 2 am, filling kettles with dishwashing soap to produce a wall of bubbles, and snatching the poles of unfortunate tourist punters on the river Cam (allegedly he went to classes and such as well). When we finally took a trip there, I fell in love with the city and the university--a problem that only worsened when I studied there for a summer during high school. Though I had to give up on attending Cambridge undergrad (I had no clue what I wanted to major in) it's still in the Big Life Plan, but now for grad school...if I ever figure out what I want to do. This summer, I got the opportunity to visit my Dad's college, St. John's. A friend of his, a fellow at the college, showed me around all the amazing old buildings and gardens, and I was able to learn lots more about what it would be like to study there. It was an incredible day and I must say, pretty as Hopkins undoubtedly is, I think St. John's has it beat on the architecture front.
Back in London, I tried to make the best of my time there and actually schlep around the city like a tourist (something I always try to avoid, as I'm still asserting my "native" claim 12 years after we moved stateside). I made it to several of the BBC Proms-an annual series of concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. Luckily, the weather was great while I was there and I got to explore most of the city on foot. I visited the famed Portobello Market in Notting Hill, saw the Royal Ballet School's summer production, and trekked south of the Thames to my old neighborhood, Clapham, which is much different than it was when I lived there. Here are a few pictures from my various adventures in lovely London.
The view from the Tate Modern--an old power plant on the south bank of the river that was turned into the modern art accompaniment to the Tate Britain in the 90s. You can see St. Paul's cathedral and the famous Millennium Bridge (also seen in the newest Harry Potter film).
A cartoon of Isaac Newton (ps he went to Cambridge) outside of the Green Park Underground Station, a flea market on the South Bank, and the gardens of Kensington Palace
I had a great time in London but it's better to be back home again. It might not be the best idea to spend seven weeks away from home when you're already gone for nine months of the year. I've come to the scary realization that my summers at home are numbered--I'll definitely be trying to stay closer to NJ next year.
It's been amazing to be home! I celebrated my birthday for the second time in a month, this time with my family. My sister turned 17 and successfully parallel parked her way to a driver's license. I've been catching up with my family and friends, trying to enjoy the last month of summer. August will bring a family vacation to Mustique, a visit from both of my roommates, and the inevitable last minute packing. It'll certainly be a shock when I head back to Hopkins on the 25th for freshman Orientation--I'll be a Peer Ambassador this year for the incoming class of 2013. I can't wait to meet all of the new freshman and see my friends again, but for now I'm just enjoying these last few weeks of summer.
-Lauren B.
Posted by: Dominique D.
Today was the last day of the job that has been the bane of my existence for the past 6 weeks. I have been in labs, daycares, and school offices, but this summer introduced me to the life of a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools. I have so much more respect for what some teachers in urban school districts have to go through. But teaching is really a labor of love in any location.
So, I wasn't really a teacher--I was supposed to be a co-facilitator with a guidance counselor at a youth program, talking about attendance issues in the city for 6 weeks, a period of time that was to end with the creation of a project that included student-created solutions to the attendance problem in Baltimore City. The attendance problem being--habitually truant students. Students don't come because they are tired. Or because they have to take care of family members. Or because they wake up late, or because the weather is too poor for them to go...or just because there isn't anything to look forward to.
Confused as to why students seem to use such silly reasons to not come to school? I agree, they are not all great reasons and most are terrible excuses in many contexts. In your schools, did you ever have to worry about not being able to make it to school? Baltimore city provides transportation to middle and high school students via the MTA, the public transportation system in Maryland. Not the nice cheese buses that take you from your stop directly to your school. Students sometimes have to take 2 or 3 buses to get to school, and then have to walk some to get to the front door. Imagine doing this in inclement weather. Or what if your community is unsafe, ravaged with gang members? Or if you wake up late and miss the buses (which have an unfortunate rep. for not always being on time), do you still try to go?
And when you mix that with family problems and lack of motivation or inspiration, you get poor attendance. Some students just don't have parents who stress the importance of schools, and they don't have enough influential community leaders to whom they can look up.
Ok, so that's the kind of stuff we talked about/worked on for the past 6 weeks (we had to stretch the topic out for 6 weeks!) And teachers have to come up with lesson plans everyday for a whole school year, not just 6 weeks. AND they have to make sure that the lesson plans are enjoyable, while getting the job done so that students stay engaged. That was a common theme I heard throughout the 6 weeks...many teachers are not qualified and they hate their job, so it shows in the teaching. (Good) teacher retention is a huge problem that has been plaguing the city for years.
But the reason I disliked my time here so much was mainly because of the disciplinary issues. See, although I graduated from a Baltimore City school, it was one that did not have HALF of the problems other schools did, like kids roaming the hallways all day (one student mentioned that at her school, there were sometimes more students in the HALLWAYS than in the classrooms). And I was not well-equipped for dealing with that.
Teachers must have a thick skin. Very thick. Because students have no shame in talking about teachers to their faces or while they are still in the classroom. If a standard of behavior is not established from the beginning, then it all goes downhill. Unfortunately I got to experience this first hand. I wrote a FaceBook note about the things I learned from this job, some of which are:
-Don't let students know your age, esp. if you're not much older than they are (I am 18; they were 14-17, so it was pretty uncomfortable for me)
-Don't do something for one group and not another; otherwise, you will be hearing about it forever.
-Just because a student likes you one day does not mean they will like you next week.
-Each classroom has leaders to whom they will respect more...use that!
-Don't take things personally. Students act out on you and disrespect you for seemingly no good reason, but they probably have issues of their own and you're an easy target.
-Don't bluff with punishments, and sometimes you need to embarrass one to get the attention of others.
And I have a whole lot more. I even got to witness a fight in my classroom, that unfortunately, I couldn't prevent/break up in time.
But, all is well, as the program is over and I survived. It didn't kill me, so it must have made me stronger. I learned a lot about my weaknesses and my strengths, and about students with backgrounds different from mine. Plus, it paid nicely. Would I do it again? I think I would, but in a different context. Teaching is a short-term career that I have been thinking about, and I am glad I got some exposure to it. I learned a lot, and I think when I volunteer at CIVITAS charter school this year as a TA for middle school students, I will be more informed. A.k.a. fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me. ;)
But besides the job, I got to enjoy buying some fireworks for our Fourth of July cookout. My stepfather spent like $100 on rockets and other things with odd names I can't think of at the moment.
And my family went on vacation to Ocean City, a nice city on the eastern shore of Maryland. It was breezy and refreshing to get out of the city for a little while to a more relaxed atmosphere.
I just got back from a drive in theater in northeastern Baltimore called Benjie's, and I wish that there were more drive ins because it was so cute! 8 dollars for a triple feature, and the movies are only about a month or 2 behind regular release time. Seems worth it to me.
So I shall fill the last month of summer with helping out some of my colleagues at Baltimore City Schools headquarters, and buying books and other things for my new on campus apartment.
Until next time!!
