Intersession

Posted by Jessica K.

Just before I left to go back to school I got bombarded with this question: "Are you excited to go back?" I really had no good answer for this. Yes, I had my intersession all planned out. But, at the same time, reading and lounging around at home had been fun for two weeks...and I definitely could have continued it for three more weeks. Now that I think about it questions about the unknown, the future, are always hard to answer. Of course, after you experience the "future" you then know the right answer for it. So, looking back what should my answer to this have been? I'm REALLY excited to go back.

Some people I know decided not to come back because they thought they would get bored over these three weeks. I can relate to them; I love, love, love to keep busy. So, because of this, I  planned my intersession so I would be able to keep unstressfully busy....hence why I decided to break this blog into sections.

I. Classes
Since Tuesday I have been done with classes, before the halfway mark in intersession too! I decided to pack my Mondays and Tuesdays for the first two weeks, this way I could work the rest of the week. So, I'm done with Vaccine Development and Sex and Sexuality in the 17th Century. Having 14 hours of classes in two days for these past two weeks has still left me with plenty of free time...keep reading to find out!

Now...let me talk about both of my classes:

Vaccine Development was taught by a 1977 graduate of Hopkins, Dr. Lew Schrager. He works with the FDA now and thought it would be nice to come back to his school and teach us! It's great to see an alum who wants to give back to his school. He took intersession classes here and now he's teaching an intersession class, pretty cool! The course had over fifty people in it from all majors. Anyway, Dr. Schrager was so enthusiastic about this topic, and really packed the classes in to share with us all the most recent information he humanly could. He also was able to bring in two guest speakers. One speaker was his freshman roommate at Hopkins, Dr. Michael Lenardo, and the other was invited to come, Dr. D.A. Henderson. Having interesting guest speakers in this class definitely helped getting through the long 3.5 hour class. My favorite part of this course was Dr. D.A. Henderson's lecture which was on his role in the smallpox eradication and the differences between smallpox eradication and  polio eradication. {To read more about this incredible man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Henderson}

Sex and Sexuality in the 17th Century was also not taught by a Hopkins professor, but she also knew her stuff! I'm so glad I took this class so I could experience a little of what a History of Science, Medicine, and Technology course is like. The class was very well organized and covered the main topic through many different aspects: homosexuality, sexual diseases, childbearing, etc. My favorite part of this class was learning about how people viewed sexual differences and diseases. Theses views led to learning about treatment through the belief that the body is made out of humors.

As you can tell I had no background information on both of these courses...and came out with some! Intersession has done its job in the sense that I've learned about things I otherwise wouldn't have.

II. Work
I decided to work in the office of admissions over intersession! I mentioned in my previous blog that I have an interest in admissions. I have been working the remaining three days of the week in the office working partially as a student worker for Admissions Daniel and also as a worker for the applicants aka for the thousands, thousands, and thousands of applications. I have really enjoyed my time doing this...not only has my work sped up our Video Blog development, but also because it has led me to realize just how many people want to come to this school. Sometimes my days have meant just seven hours listening to my ipod pulling out completed applications, but even this task is rewarding knowing that the earlier the files get pulled the better it is for everyone. Being around admissions representatives/readers has also made me respect our school's admissions process better. I can tell just from being around this team that thought, and time, is given to each applicant; they really are trying to build the best '12 team possible. Well, yes, numbers do count {GPA, scores, rank}, but the readers do see past the numbers. This has to be done because just having been around the files for a couple of days has made me realize that if you just look at numbers, the whole pool pretty much looks the same. Anyway, I'm so glad I have had this experience to glance into the process...if only prospective students understood the process.

{Please note the picture is from last year.}

III. Other
Intersession means far less time spent in the library, if any. Intersession also means no group meetings, well for me it does. What does this lead to? Three weeks of plenty of recess time! Tomorrow I'm going to DC, on Monday I'm going to the Walters museum. Last weekend I went to the Baltimore Museum of Art {by the way, the Matisse sculpture exhibit is worth seeing}. Plus, I definitely have also been making time to enjoy our rec center. Not only this, but though there were only 25 people in my 100+ building, I have still been able to spend tons of time with friends. I really hope to make a short video of intersession pictures, but because intersession isn't over, you will just have to deal with the pictures sprinkled throughout this post. Anyway, hanging out in dorm rooms, cooking dinner, birthday baking, playing lots of solitaire on my new ipod.....what more is there to say?!

IV. Conclusion
Yes, intersession has proven to be a good experience, or a pile of good experiences, at Hopkins.

Comments

[Stefanie]

I only invest ONE 7+ hour day at Admissions. You're impressive, Jess.

[Stephanie Delman]

I'm so jealous of your museum-hopping. That's the ONE thing I didn't find time (...okay, motivation) for over intersession! PS, I hope you enjoyed your "walking tour" yesterday, hehe.