Adventures at Hopkins

The End

As usual I’m writing my blog entry in the just before the deadline (side note: I wrote some of the entry this morning and then only remembered I have to finish by midnight at around 10:30. I'm rushing to the deadline). I had totally planned to do it earlier but I got caught up with graduation and moving and all the general end of the year activities. Saying good-bye to four years worth of people, places and memories is surprisingly taxing. 

Today is my last day on the Hopkins campus. I’m leaving in about four hours to go home. I may be back in  Baltimore for a job or visit in the near future but I’m interpreting today as the last day that I will be a student (sort of, since I graduated a week ago). I’m writing this on my laptop while I sit on the upper quad. The campus is glowing after several days on rain and it is sad to say good bye to the place where I’ve spent the past four years.  From where I’m sitting I can see the steps of the library where I performed in a Spring Shakespeare performance. I don’t even remember what character I was but I do remember getting to run with a sword, screaming like a banshee. Over by Remsen Hall is the spot where my International Trade professor would take his cigarette break. The class was two hours long with an exactly seven minute break for him to smoke a cigarette and answer any questions that students had. While I disapprove of smoking it is just one of those quirky things that professors do. I can see the spot where I was sitting when I got one of the most irregular tan lines of my life. I was reading a book on the Upper Quad and happened to be wearing jeans. When I put my legs up in the air my jeans fell down and created a shadow across my calves. I ended up with these really strange lines across my legs. I can also see the steps to Gilman Hall (now covered by scaffolding) where to put it bluntly I learned. When you sign up to attend a four year university you sign up for a lifestyle and an experience but more than anything you sign up for good ‘ole knowledge. That’s what I’ll miss most about Hopkins, the learning. 

It’s hard to summarize what I did these past four years. It’s hard to even describe it. Instead I went through all my pictures and selected all the cool ones. Full disclosure: I only picked the ones which won’t embarrass anyone. I also could only choose pictures which I had taken. Since I’m not the world’s most prolific photographer I was somewhat limited in my selection. Here’s a tour through four years of college.

One of the things I became involved with almost immediately freshman year was theater. I was making costumes and acting in a play within a month of school starting. I also only lasted about a month at college before I ended up in the emergency room. While making space pirate pants I sewed my finger through a sewing machine. Sounds ridiculous but there's the x-ray to prove it.

 

Here are two "nature shots" of the Hopkins area. The first is from my freshman winter. The first snow on the Hopkins campus is always so beautiful. The second photo is of Sherwood Gardens (also known as the tulip gardens). Every spring they have the most amazing tulip display and I always tried to go and have a picnic to see them.

 

Spring Fair is a Hopkins tradition that's been around for over thirty years. Pictured above are fried oreos. I would attend Hopkins just for the fried oreos. The other picture is me posing with Frank Sinatra the Alpaca.

 

The Intersession of my sophomore year I took a class entitled Sacred Spaces. A prereq for any good Intersession class, in my opinion, is a field trip. In this class we went to all sorts of religious sites all over the Washington/Baltimore area. It was a wonderful and informative class.

 

These are two pretty random pictures. The first is from Karaoke at the Rainbow Room. It's this awesome Korean place about five minutes from the Homewood campus. You can usually convince the security vans to take you there. So much fun!! The second is a picture of the menu at a spa in Hampden (nearby neighborhood). My favorite part on the menu is the "Boy" zillion. Sounds scary and is actually pretty expensive. When I got that menu three years ago they had yet to have a taker. I kind of doubt they've had one since.

 

These are both examples of some of the rooms I've had over the years. My luck with housing is abysmal. I've lost track of how many rooms I've lived in. At least 5 in on campus housing and probably another five or six in my time off campus. Senior year was definitely the best! Shout out to Paul (the best roomate eva!!).

 

Pictures from my study abroad semester. I spent three months in Switzerland and one month traveling around Europe. The first is a picture of me in Montreux and the second is of the little red train I took to school everyday. Switzerland is quaint to say the least.

   

I traveled around Europe with some crazy friends. It was so much fun. I celebrated Hanukah in a hostel in Madrid (I was probably only able to stay in the hostel because I have never seen the movie Hostel) and watched my friend ride a stuffed pony we found on the streets of Berlin. Yay for culture!

I spent New Years in Serbia visiting a friend from Hopkins. This exposure to Eastern Europe convinced me that I want to be a member of the Foreign Service. I so enjoyed meeting local people and trying out my limited Serbian that I now want to turn it into a career. Canquiatot frizora. I think that means "What's up with that haircut?" I wasn't exactly taught the most useful phrases.

 

My parents both went to Hopkins and their 30th reunion happened during my sophomore year. The photos are at some reception in the President's garden. Every member of my nuclear family has gone (or is going) to Hopkins. Yet none of us actually share a reunion year. It's nice that we all get to come back on different years to celebrate our time at Hopkins.

 

One of the other great things about my experience at Hopkins was that I got to share it with my twin sister Zoe. We took a few classes together but generally managed to maintain our independence. We also got to do some cool things like go to Israel together and even be models!!

 

This is one of my favorite Hopkins pictures because it shows how much fun I had (Anything but Clothes party). Hopkins is a wonderful school and I have only good things to say about my time here. As I write my final blog entry I hope that I have informed and entertained readers over these past four years. I have a degree and memories. I wouldn't change a thing about either! And with that I bid you all a dramatic adieu.

Senioritous is Here

This weekend has been a blur. On Friday I hung out with friends at CVP, a local pub and went to a party to celebrate the end of political science senior theses. It was a good night.  Then on Saturday I decided to go to Sherwood Gardens and look at the fabulous tulips. I took my laptop and I intended to write my blog entry there but it was just too nice out. Here are some pictures from the gardens and my walk there. I had a picnic of peanut butter sandwiches and grapes. It was a very peaceful way to spend an afternoon.  

After my picnic in the park I went to do a film shoot at Center Stage.  Center Stage is one of the main local theaters in Baltimore and my boss for my film internship is shooting a series of short films for them. I basically help out by shooting b-roll, carrying things and helping to set up lights and sound equipment. We were shooting a young playwrights class. All of the students were in high school but they were talking about very personal things like AIDS, sex, and gang violence. The students had written all their own poetry and were performing it for parents and friends. It was incredibly moving and truthful.  After the film shoot I went to see a performance of Macbeth by the Barnstormers. It was performed on the steps of the library just as the sun was setting. I came a little late but I still watched the second act. It was a pretty good performance. I also just like sitting out in the sun. My sister had packed a picnic for me so I was pretty happy.  

Then I went back to my apartment and changed into going out clothes. I went to the Mental Notes a cappela show. My sister is dating one of the members of the group and she practically requires that I accompany her to the shows. It was the 15th anniversary show and they had so many alumni come back. There were probably 30 alumni singing onstage. I generally have a low tolerance for a cappela (you might develop this affliction if you ever go to five a cappela shows in a season) but the night was a little better than bearable. After the show I hung out on the beach with some friends. Then I hit up the Mental Notes after party. The thing about a cappela after parties is that they all just sing. The point of the after party is that the members of the group keep singing. They get progressively worse as the night goes on. I think I may have reached my breaking point for tolerating a cappela.  

I was going to do work today but a friend invited me to a Klesmer concert at the Hillel and then I have a senior dinner to go to tonight. I think senioritous has officially set in.   

A Weekend of Visitors

 This was a weekend of visitors. My friend Sofija came down from  Boston and my friend Adar came down from  New York . Adar gradated last year and Sofija graduated two years ago. It’s so nice to see friends who haven’t been around for a while. Also it’s cool to see what  Hopkins kids are doing once they’re a few years out of college. It gives me hope that I’ll be able to find a job in the near future.  

 Sofija is one of the most impressive people I know. She’s American and Serbian (the picture on the side is from when I visited her in Belgrade), very intelligent and a world weightlifting champion. She also happens to be in a wheelchair. She graduated with degrees in International Studies and Spanish. She spent a year working in  Washington  ,  DC and a summer in Serbia working to improve disability rights. After that year she decided that she wanted to go to graduate school for international studies. Sofija got into almost every top International Relations graduate school in the country. She’s now at  Tufts  University at the  Fletcher  School for International Relations. The classes she takes sound amazing. She’s also having a great time in grad school and she has an internship with the United Nations this summer. It’s great to look at another IR major who is doing something in the field. Sofija came back to campus to see the musical production of Company that went up this past weekend.We theater people certainly keep a devotion once we're out of Hopkins.

Adar also came back to campus to see theater. He was involved in the Buttered Niblets during his four years at  Hopkins . The Niblets are the improv comedy group on campus. When I got to  Hopkins they mostly did short form improv like what is seen on Who’s Line is it Anyway. Now the group has transitioned into long from improv. This weekend they did two performances (the picture is from a previous performance). The Niblets improv’ed a complete superhero movie each night. They asked the audience for a suggestion of a super hero and created a completely new movie in about an hour. The first night they used Narcolepsy Man and the second night the super hero was Pacifist Man. I have to tell the truth and say that I liked the first night better. Regardless of my personal preference they did a challenging thing two nights in a row.              

Adar has something that I really would like to have a year from now, a job. He works for a non-profit called Computers for Youth. He writes grants for them and I think will be writing/running certain portions of their website. I’m just impressed that he has health insurance. Because of my current paranoia about finding a job in the near future his situation sounds really, really nice.    

Having them visit made me realize that there is only a matter of time until I too shall be on their side of the bridge. That freaks me out! As I try to find a job for next year it’s nice to have a look at recent  Hopkins grads and realize that they are ok. 

Advice to seniors making the college choice

I feel old writing this.

On Friday the passage of time really struck me. I went to the Johns Hopkins bookstore and bought my graduation robes ($80 for black cardboard. Outrageous!). A few hours later my litter sister got her acceptance email from Hopkins. The coincidence of the day struck me. Just as Johns Hopkins prepares to send its graduates out into the world it welcomes so many new students.

CONGRATULATIONS to class of 2013!!!!!!!!!!

1. College is about more than picking the best school it is about picking the best fit. When I was looking at colleges I too often picked the ones with great names and reputations over those with amazing international studies departments. I’m still constantly amazed that I ended up at Hopkins. It was pure luck that I found my perfect fit school.

2. College is a lifestyle choice. When you pick a college you are picking professors and departments but you are also choosing dorms, meal plans and fellow classmates. College is four years. Pick someplace where you want to live. Again I just lucked into a school where I really liked the dorms (yay! Charles Commons!), didn’t mind the food and loved the people/culture.

3. Pick a school where you can explore. I mean explore in both the academic and the worldly sense. When I was picking schools it was a choice between staying in New England (I grew up in RI) or coming to Baltimore. I’m one of those rare people who looks at the city of Baltimore and thinks “Oh that sounds exciting.” I wasn’t on a quest for danger (and the Hopkins area has never felt dangerous to me) but I did one to experience a world completely unlike my safe, New England town. I also chose Hopkins because it has great science class, great humanities classes and great almost every department classes. I’ve really taken advantage of this over the years. I recommend everyone take Intro to Study of Film or Acting and Directing 1. I used to eagerly await the new course schedule because it meant I could mentally explore all the classes at Hopkins. If I could stay for another few years (for free) I would just to take all the classes I never had time for.

 

4. Any school you pick will work out! I’m a perpetual optimist and I sincerely believe that I could have been successful at any school. So don’t worry where you end up just be excited!

5. In the end flip a coin. This is a corollary to #4. If you really can’t make the choice and the schools seem equal then just take out George Washington and see what happens.

 6. Speaking of coins. Start saving quarters now. Hopkins may have coinless laundry machines but once you move off campus you’ll need every quarter you can find.

Good luck to everyone making a college choice. I can’t wait to meet people at the Admitted Students Open House!

Cribs: Off-Campus and Perspectives on Four Years of Housing at Hopkins

Over the past four years I have lived in 8 different rooms on the Hopkins campus and one room abroad. I have had terrible luck with housing! Bad roommates, bad rooms and crazy landlords. Seriously, that’s averaging two rooms a year. Kind of ridiculous. To be fair this is not the normal Hopkins student’s experience. Most people have under four rooms. Most of my friend have only lived in three places. You generally have two rooms when you’re in on-campus housing and then one room for junior and senior years. I’ve been lucky that I’ve always been able to find places to move into. I’ve never been homeless despite my housing travails. Here’s my list of rooms.

Freshman Year

1.    Building A- 204B. My freshman year they over enrolled the class. So they jammed us as tight as they could into the Freshmen dorms. I was in a temporary triple. About three weeks in they decided to move me out. I immediately accepted. Three people in a double leaves everyone squeezed for space.

2.    McCoy- TO5 B. After three weeks of being squashed in Building A I moved in with a sophomore in McCoy. She was a wonderful roommate. It was probably the cleanest room I lived in until this year. Jacci was so nice and it was really cool to live with sophomores because they could teach me so much about Hopkins. Here's my entry.

Sophomore Year

3.    Homewood- 420. The Homewood apartments are some of the nicest apartments in campus because they have living rooms and full bathrooms. The building used to be apartments for “real people” and as a result you get a lot more space. Unfortunately I only lived in Homewood for about two weeks. My roommate went home to California and I moved out.

4.    Charles Commons 1013- I was lucky that housing had space for me in Charles Commons. I had a really nice room on the tenth floor that looked out onto beautiful sunsets. The problem here was I had a crazy suitemate. We shared a kitchen and a bathroom. I think I saw her maybe twice the whole semester. She was bizarre. I’m not even friends with her on facebook! Actually for a while she talked to me only by facebook message. Luckily one of my friends moved to Kenya and I stole her room.

5.    Charles Commons 1000- This was the first time I actually got to live with friends. Oh my god it made such a difference! Here’s my Cribs entry from when I lived there.

Junior Year

 6.    106 West University- My sister and I both had internships with our senator so we decided to stay in Baltimore for the summer. We shared a sublet room in an off-campus building. If the air-conditioning had been better and we weren’t commuting four hours a day it might have been better.

7.    Arzier, Switzerland. This was one of my best housing experiences. I lived with a Swiss family. They only spoke French and my host mom bought me the most amazing chocolate. I sent them a Christmas card last year and then sent me one back. It’s nice to have “family” abroad. Here's an entry about my commute to school.

8.    104 West University. This was one of the worst housing experiences I had. Here's my cribs entry I think you might be able to read between the lines about why I hated it so much. It has more than a little to do with the people I lived with.

Senior Year

9.    110 West 39th St- Senior year has been amazing. I live with my friend Paul. Everyone always says that it will be hard for a straight guy and a straight girl to live together but Paul and I have a wonderful time. He’s been my cleanest, most considerate roommate yet. Plus we hang out together and have a lot of fun. We’ve bonded over bad TV. I watch Tool Academy with him and he watches The Hills with me. Here’s the video cribs entry of my apartment.     

Please feel free to ask questions about housing at Hopkins. As you can see I’ve gone through quite a few buildings and I after all my trials and tribulations I can give some pretty good advice.

Lunch with the President

I just finished up a lunch with President Daniels. He is the new president of Johns Hopkins University and today was his first day. Why, you ask, was I having lunch with the new president on his first day of work? He really wants to get to know the undergraduate population so he has scheduled a series of lunches and dinners with various students and student groups. I applied to be Young Trustee and this lunch was for everyone who applied.

It was so nice to be able to sit down with the President of an institution that I care about so much and to have the opportunity to give ideas about how to make this a better institution. President Daniels took notes throughout the meeting and was genuinely interested in what we had to say. From that one conversation I know he will be able to do wonderful things at Hopkins.

 All the students at the table were seniors so we had the advantage of looking back on four years at this school. We talked about everything from student life to academics. Everyone sitting around the table had had a different experience and could contribute a different perspective to the conversation.  I hope that we were able to give President Daniels good advice on how to improve the university and that he takes our words to heart.

After meeting Daniels I'm jealous of the incoming freshmen. The next few years under President Daniels will be amazing for undergraduates. He really cares about making this a place where they will be happy. Johns Hopkins was great for me and it got better every year. In the next few years I'm sure it will get even better.

 

Cribs Bloopers: One month early

Cribs Bloopers from Esther Bell on Vimeo.

Intersession 2009: Birthright Trip

Intersession is a wonderful time at Hopkins, four whole weeks to do whatever you want. The past three years I came back to campus and took classes. I generally picked my classes by which ones I thought would have the best field trips.  

Freshman year I took a class on Reality Television as Public History. We took one field trip to the BMA and another to the Homewood House (the oldest building on the Hopkins campus). 

Sophomore year I got to travel to all different temples, churches and mosques as part of my class on religious architecture. We went to a Sikh temple, a mosque, a Buddhist temple and the national cathedral. This was definitely one step up in terms of field tripness. 

Junior year (there's a small paragraph in the middle that mentions my class) I found a class called Media and Public Relations in the Big Apple. This class took us to NYC for three days. It was probably my favorite of all the classes I took, simply because it had the most awesome field trip. We visited PR firms and television studios in NYC and got our nights free to hang out. I visited friends in New York and had a generally awesome time. 

This past year I did not take a class through Hopkins. I instead took my time off to have the most amazing field trip of all four years. I took my Birthright trip to Israel. For those of you who are not aware Birthright is a program where anyone who has an ounce of Jewish blood can go on the trip and learn about their heritage. There’s almost no way to put into words how amazing this trip was. Not only did we have the chance to travel this amazing historic place we also got to learn about the political and spiritual issues facing the land and its people. We swam in the Dead Sea, visited the Western Wall, and had Shabbat in the mystical city of Tzfat. I stayed in a 16th century house and picked clementines for the needy. We sang songs and had a bonfire in a eucalyptus grove. We hiked Masada and saw the site where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Describing everything that we did would take more words than I’ve written for all my other blog entries combined. Instead I offer a slide show of the trip. The one word that describes the trip best is: amazing.

Was it worth it?

My time at Hopkins has been some of the most valuable of my lifetime. Not only because these four years have cost more in monetary value than any of my previous years but also because I have learned so much. I’ve learned academically and practically. After four years in this wonderful institution I can definitely say that I made the right choice.

The intellectual side is clearly reflected in my degree. I’m graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (concentration: Europe). I also have two minors (are the called mini BAs?) in French and Economics. In general this means I know a little bit about each of these subjects and a quite a bit about how to think like an expert in one of these areas. Trying to get a good grade in a class by giving a professor what they want actually teaches one quite a bit about thinking like that professor.

Practically I’ve learned a lot simply by living by myself. One of the best things about Johns Hopkins is that they don’t have enough rooms to house everyone on campus for four years. Sometimes when students are looking at colleges they see this as a downside but in reality it’s a huge advantage. The fact that I have to pay rent, get cable, and deal with maintenance now (while I have my parents funding me) means that I am prepared to do so when I move out into the real world next year. Negotiating a lease? No problem. This real world skill isn’t listed in the course catalog and certainly isn’t a graduation requirement but sure is useful.

I’ve learned so much at Hopkins and each of my experiences was so valuable. Would I change anything about my experience? Looking back I would just do more. I would be in more plays, I would overload on classes, and I would take advantage of the city to a greater degree. As I’m about to leave Baltimore my only regret is that I can’t cram more hours into a day.

Johns Hopkins you’ve been wonderful! Thanks for an amazing four years.

Procrastinating into 2009

I, like many of you, like to procrastinate. My deadline for writing this blog entry is today at midnight. It’s now almost 10pm. I’ve clearly failed to adequately schedule my time. Now I’m writing this entry as a word of warning to all you high school seniors who might be in my position tomorrow night. Tomorrow is the deadline for regular decision applications at Johns Hopkins University. I’m hoping that none of you are writing your essays tomorrow night at 10pm. The time crunch may be helpful in some situations but on college essays it can only lead to typos and putting the wrong college name in the “I want to go to . . . because” essays.

Since school ended I have been doing very little. I’m sitting at home, watching lots of TV, and reading as much as I can about Israel. Why Israel, you ask? I’m going on a Birthright trip in about ten days. It’s a little bit nerve-racking to be heading over to Israel given the current situation in Gaza but the rockets hit about twenty five miles away from any location where I would be. Gaza and Jerusalem are a little bit further apart than Boston and Providence. I take comfort in the fact that if Massachusetts ever declared war on Rhode Island they also probably couldn’t reach our capitol city. I admit that’s probably not the lesson I should be learning from the conflict in Gaza but it’s something.

After my two week (FREE!!)  trip to Israel I’m returning to Hopkins and my final semester. I’m so excited for the classes I’m going to take. They’re  all the fun classes I didn’t have time to take during my time here. Acting and directing, practicum in online media, adventures in the first person singular. After all the hard work over the past three and a half years it’s great to finally have the chance to take classes that have almost zero relevance to my major.

    As I leave college I feel I should give some advice to those of you who procrastinated your college applications until the last moment.

1. Be yourself- the most important part of an application is that it showcase you. The only way a college admissions officer will meet you is by reading what you wrote.

2. Always spell check- Admissions_Daniel will second me on this.

3. Don’t stress- you will get in somewhere and regardless of where you get in you can be happy if you want to be. College is a wonderful experience and can be so at any university.

Happy 2009!