2011: Hopkins Freshman Blog

I Don't Miss Hopkins........

Yes, the title may surprise you but let me explain myself. While the majority of the Hopkins Interactive students have been reflecting about their time at home and how much they miss Hopkins, I am sitting in the MSE Library studying for Calc III. I can’t really miss a place I haven’t left. This summer I decided to stay at Hopkins and take a few classes. It was by no means required, but since I have changed majors several times I figured it would be in my best interest to stay and take some MechE requirements. The summer is broken up into two terms, five-weeks each. This is the second week of the second term, as well as our sort of “vacation” since we had the Fourth off.

My summer schedule is somewhat monotonous, but I have been enjoying my time. I work from 9-5 in the admissions office doing several things, like giving tours and cleaning up all of the applicants files and getting the matriculated students files ready for academic advising. I have actually been having a blast in Mason; summer is a lot more calm compared to the school year so everyone is relaxed. There are also a few other students working in the building, so we have been keeping ourselves entertained.

From Monday to Thursday, I take a two and a half hour “break” from admissions and go to my calc class. One note I have about summer classes is that yes, you do get to focus solely on one or two subjects, but what I didn’t realize was that you are still taking a several-month course except fitting it in to five weeks. It is a lot of work, but I am glad that I am doing it now and getting it out of the way.

Although class and work take up a huge portion of my time, I have been able to do a lot of other things. Fortunately, there is a surprising number of students on campus so there is always something going on, and if not I will just go and hang out with friends. A bit of a side note, summer is awesome because almost all of my friends either live in apartments or houses so we don’t have to deal with campus housing. I live with four of my friends in a house off of Calvert Street, it’s a bit more of a walk but it is really close to Subway and Chipotle and Eddy’s Market. I am actually living in JHU_Roxi’s room since she isn’t here this summer. Since we all have large living spaces and we aren’t on any sort of meal plan, we have dinner parties all the time, which are delicious. We are planning a huge Thanksgiving in July Dinner next week and a few dinners to watch HOPKINS on ABC.

I also have been able to do more with Outdoor Pursuits this summer. A few weeks ago a bunch of us went canoeing up in Pennsylvania, and I will be leading a few canoeing trips in the coming weeks as well. Since the majority of people in OP are here for the summer, I also have been able to spend time with them. In the coming weeks I will also be finding out which pre-o trip I will be leading! I am really excited for pre-o this year and can’t wait to meet all you ’12-ers.

This past weekend a bunch of my friends and I headed down to Washington, D.C. for the Fourth of July fireworks. Unfortunately it was rainy, but it was still tons of fun to just be there. The fireworks were awesome, but I still can’t believe how many people were there. It was a pretty cool experience to be in our nation’s capital celebrating the Fourth, with monuments and museums as our backdrop. I think it is something everyone should experience, although I hope you will have better weather.

Although I don’t miss the institution very much, I do miss the people that aren’t here this summer. Summer term is a completely different experience since everyone is kind of doing there own thing and it took some adjusting to get used to not having everyone around. Fortunately, we have had several visitors and will have several more by the end of the summer, including a brief encounter with JHU_Stephanie.

So that has been my summer so far, in the next month I will have my looking forward post as well as an update on my summer shenanigans. If you have any questions feel free to ask, especially if you have questions about pre-o.

WOW....What a Great Time!!!!

So I am done a quarter of my education here at Hopkins and I am still freaked out to say that I am a sophomore…weird. This past year has been the best so far in my short life, but thankfully I can remember it just as well as you can. But before I get to reflections, I thought I would talk about what I have been up to. After I finished up my finals, I headed to DC to stay with a friend and get a chance to relax and eat some home cooked meals. Unlike the majority of freshmen, I was unable to go home after the semester, so my friend’s family graciously took me in and gave me a break from school and Hopkins. The reason I was unable to go home was HOLT, an intense 10-day training for all of the new leaders in Outdoor Pursuits. I had been pretty hesitant about going on this for the past month, but I had an awesome time. There were two groups of us, and my group canoed two rivers in West Virginia for the week. At the end of the week, the instructors leading the trip left us and we had to finish the journey on our own. I learned so much about the outdoors but I also got the chance to get close with my fellow OP leaders; I can not wait for Pre-O. We got back from West Virginia just in time to watch the National Championship and the next day classes started for the summer term. I am currently bumming off of my friend until my house opens up and I can move in there. But more on that later this summer. This past year absolutely flew by, and I am at a place where I never thought I would be before. First of all, I am engineer. Didn’t really see that one coming. But I also never saw myself getting so involved with an outdoors program.

Living the Suite Life- Here I introduce myself to the world of Hopkins Interactive.

One Crazy Week- One of the highlights of my first semester was meeting Howard Dean. I also talk about what it was like to go home for the first time.

The Great Outdoors- Here is where my time with OP started.

Korean Food?- My mom came to visit for the first time. This is also the beginning of my addiction to Korean BBQ.

Studying- I highlight some of my favorite studying places around campus.

Having Fun and Studying- The end of my first semester at Hopkins.

Snow and Adventures- Winter break back home in New Hampshire. Also my first visit to NYC.

Shots, Shock, and Splints?- This is all about my time during intersession, where I took Wilderness First Responder. Such a great time. Also me with the Republican presidential nominee, John McCain.

Short Trip and Second Semester- I was able to take a short little vacation to Florida before second semester started up.

WOAH…..Absolutely Crazy- A random assortment of things I was up to. Including a midnight trip to DC and getting used to second semester.

I’m Sick- Yes you still can get sick in college and your parents aren’t there to take care of you. Thankfully I got better quick and was able to witness the start of the 2008 lacrosse season.

 JHU Rob: Favorites- Here is a short survey all of us took.

Midterms and a Major?!?!- I finally decided on Mechanical Engineering!

JHU Cribs: Wolman 7 West

- This is where I lived my first year. Boy am I gunna miss that place.

Why I chose Hopkins- A few reasons why I ended up here, as well as a few memorable experiences.

VIVA El PAPA- My trip to DC to go see the Pope. This was most certainly a life changing moment and something I will never forget.

 

As I look back on all that I have done, I am amazed I was actually able to do it all. I am looking forward to this summer because I will be able to explore Baltimore more in depth as well as hang out with some awesome people, but I just can’t wait until August 15, when I fly back here for August training with OP and start a second year.

Viva El PAPA

Let me give a brief explanation of the title of this blog. No matter what religion you chose to practice or not practice, you might have heard that this past week Pope Benedict has been in the US. When I heard about this a few weeks ago I knew I wanted to go and see him. Thankfully he was going to be in DC so getting there wouldn’t be a problem. More on that in a second. So for the past few weeks me and a few of my friends have been trying to get our hands on some tickets to the mass that the Pope would be holding in DC, but unfortunately we were unable to get them. It seems a lot of other Catholics were also doing the same thing.

So this past Thursday, we decided to go to DC anyway to hopefully just catch a glimpse of him. If we couldn’t do that, at least it was an awesome day to just be outside and also to just get away from campus for a bit. So Thursday morning, I and two of my friends headed down to Penn Station to catch the MARC train into DC. We got there around noon so we could have a few hours to walk around and also so I could visit a friend at another college. We spent about four hours walking the National Mall with breaks for quick naps every now and then. It was a PERFECT day, as in the weather could not have been better.

At around four, we headed over to the Catholic University of America where Pope Benedict would be speaking. We figured we would just hang out on the streets, with the logic that he has to get in there some how so we must be able to see him. There weren’t too many people along the streets, since most people there had tickets into the event. But we did end up talking to a few groups of people as well as join in on the singing and dancing. Just doing that was fine and the three of us would have been content if we had to go home then. But, as 5pm approached, everyone who we had been with headed over to the entrance gate to the school. It turned out they all had tickets, we just didn’t know about them. So we figured it was time for us to leave since we didn’t want to be the only ones on the street, but as we turned to leave one of the leaders of the group offered us three tickets.

We were absolutely ecstatic and hurried into the campus. The field was absolutely packed with people singing, dancing, and just being merry. They even had cardboard life-size cutouts of the Pope so people could take their picture with it. The only problem with this whole thing was that no one knew what was going on, every time we asked someone where he would be coming from or going to all we got was an “I don’t know.” So we just hung around until all of a sudden there was a loud cheer from the corner of the field. He had arrived in his pope-mobile. We ran over to that side and joined in on the cheers of “Viva El Papa.” He was circling around the field so after we lost sight of him, we ran over to another side to get another glimpse. I was able to catch some great pictures since we were so close.

After he made his way around, we figure we should get to the exit as soon as possible to beat the rush, seeing as we had 30 minutes to get to Union Station to catch our train back to Baltimore. We got back to campus around 8pm with tons of stories and no one could believe we actually got in.

My week continued to be eventful with Relay for Life Friday night. I was on a team with Outdoor Pursuits leaders, so we had all of these outdoorsy themed things around our campsites. We even set up a fondue set to serve chocolate fondue and different things to dip in. There were tons of people there, all walking around the upper quad for a great cause. I don’t know the final totals, but our team rose over $1,400 for the ACS.

These two events have definitely been the highlights of my past week, but I also have been doing a lot with admissions for the Open houses. Two weeks ago I hosted a few pre-frosh and I have been at the Open Houses almost all day. I will be there this week for anyone making the trip to Baltimore. Please stop by our table and grab an Insider’s Guide, they are really awesome and it is nice to talk to you guys and answer your questions.

Why I Chose Hopkins

Hey Everyone! Congrats again to all those admitted, and good luck as many of you decide between school. I unfortunately don’t have much as far as advice goes for choosing between schools since I applied ED to Hopkins, but I thought I would share a few reasons why I chose Hopkins. Before that, I recommend reading my mom’s blog. She does a really good job explaining a lot of the things we went through last year and I am sure your parents would enjoy reading it.

Here are the top 5 reasons why I chose Hopkins:
1.    The Campus: We visited a lot of different schools and tons of different campuses, but none compared to Homewood. I knew that I wanted to go to school in a city, but yet I still wanted the college “feel” of large quads and brick pathways. Homewood Campus has all of those things, so it was an absolute perfect fit. I was still in the city, but I had an amazing campus to walk around.

2.    The IR program: So if any of you have noticed, I have changed my major way too many times. When I was picking schools though, I was a gung-ho IR major. I wanted to be able to study abroad one, two, or even three semesters. I wanted professors that were well known in national and international politics but were still interested in teaching. Most of all, I was looking for a program that had something different about it that would make me stand out in the future. I did my research, and Hopkins came out on top for me. I talked with students about study abroad and they all told me how easy it was here, and I was able to talk to a few professors who had actually worked in DC and across the world in fields I was interested in. Most of all, Hopkins has the 5-year BA/MA program with SAIS, our School of Advanced International Studies in Washington DC. The program generally allows undergrads to get their BA in 3 years at Homewood, then their Masters in 2 years. With 3 years at Homewood, 1 year abroad, and 1 year in DC. After I heard about this program, I was pretty much sold on the IR program here at Hopkins.

3.    Good at other things: As I just said I was looking for a great IR program, but knowing myself I needed a school that was good at other things too, like the sciences and engineering. A lot of schools I looked at had good IR or Political Science programs, but outside of that they didn’t really stand out in other fields. I am glad now that I made this one of my most important factors, since I am now proud to say I am a mechanical engineer.

4.    Location: I wanted to be in a city that I hadn’t had the chance to explore yet. I needed something different than small-town NH. So why Baltimore? I actually love Baltimore, there is so much going on it is unbelievable. A lot of people wonder about crime here, but I would say that I feel extremely safe and the city has so much more to offer than crime statistics. I suggest giving Baltimore a try, I haven’t found many people here who would say they dislike Baltimore; it truly is “Charm City.”

5.    The People: After I visited here, I saw just how interesting the kids were here and I wanted to be like them. To this day, I still meet new people and I am continually amazed. Hopkins is like no where else.

So those are my reasons for choosing Hopkins and I hope they help with your big decision. My biggest piece of advice would be to visit campus if you can. There is nothing like actually being here in person and experiencing everything Hopkins has to offer. Good luck and Congratulations again!

I posted a whole bunch of random pictures taken throughout the year:
1. A picture of me last summer at a waterfall in NH.
2. Me and Republican Presidential nominee John McCain at one of his campaign stops in NH.
3. The Lincoln Memorial on one of my trips down to DC at 1am.
4. I know this isn't Baltimore, but it is a picture of the beach in Florida where my grandparents live. I was able to visit them at the end of intersession.
5. My Pre-O group on our last day of canoeing.

I was going to end my post there but as I was walking to dinner I thought maybe it would be interesting to list a few of my most memorable experiences.

1. Pre-O and OP: Going on Pre-O was the best decision I have ever made and it has led me to become a leader for OP. Not only have I met awesome people, but I get to do some crazy things.

2. MSE Symposium: The MSE symposium brings in some awesome speakers and I was so happy to hear Howard Dean speak. Not to mention I got to hear my childhood hero speak: Bill Nye the Science Guy.

3. Trips: I have been able to go on some awesome trips through OP, but since Baltimore is so close to everything I have also been able to go to DC a few times as well as NYC. I am even hoping to be able to see the Pope when he comes next week.

4. Baltimore: Everyday I find another reason why Baltimore is so cool, such as  Lexington Market and the BMA. Hopefully this summer I will be able to explore more of the city.

JHU CRIBS: Wolman 7 West

Hey Everyone! Congrats to all those accepted, and I hope you choose to enroll here at Hopkins. As you may have noticed, all of us bloggers are doing something special week, our version of CRIBS. I have the honor of showing you around Wolman, 7 West in particular.

Wolman is one of the main freshmen dorms and is suite-style living. Wolman is split into two wings, East and West, and every floor has about 10 suites. Each suite has 3-4 people sharing a bathroom and a kitchen. All of the suites on the floor surround a huge common room, instead of a hallway like many typical dorms. So that is the basic logistics of Wolman and now I’ll tell you what is special about Wolman and my floor in particular. But first, check out my CRIBS video:

So let me just start out by saying that I have an awesome floor. Everyone on my floor is great, we all get along and we have become a huge family. People are always in the common room, either doing homework or watching TV or just hanging out. As you can see from my video my common room is always packed with people, which is nice when you come back from a class and just want to sit and hang out. Here is a picture of the common room. As you can see, it is filled with a couple of big couches and comfy chairs. We also have a set of tables and chairs where we eat and do work every once in a while...haha. 

So my suite is directly attached to the common room, making a pretty sweet set up. There are four of us in the suite, split between two rooms. We share a bathroom and a kitchen area and a really long hallway. As you can see from the this picture of the shower, my Mom got us a cool little shelf thing to put in our shower to hold all o four things since there isn't any shelfing in their originally. Sharing a bathroom isn't too bad especially since we are all on different schedules. At times it can get tricky, but we all are considerate so we do our best to hurry up during bathroom peak hours. 

My suite mates are tons of fun, they are two swimmers on the Hopkins swim team. One is from New Jersey and the other is from Michigan. They have pretty much the same setup as my roommate and I except they brought in a huge leather couch instead of a futon. Before, they had a pull-out couch that turned into a queen sized bed but it broke so now they have a leather couch.

My roommate is from Maryland, so he has been really helping me adjust to the area. We both have the same set up so we could create some room for a futon and a TV. My bed is lofted and I put everything underneath my bed. Lofting our beds really opened up the room and makes it seem much larger. The only down side is that I have to go up a ladder to get in my bed and down a ladder to get out.

As I mentioned in my video we have our own fridge and microwave in our room. We don't actually use the microwave since there is another one in the kitchen, but I like to have my orange juice in the morning so there is usually a bottle of OJ in their. Funny thing, there are three fridges in our suite since one comes included and both suites have one.

Our walls are pretty bland as you can see from the video, neither my roommate or I have ever had the urge to "decorate." Every now and then we will get something and put it up, but somehow it ends up on the floor so we have just given up.

As I mentioned, my desk is underneath my bed. I am a very organized person, so it is usually very clean except I have had a very busy week so I haven't had time to organize. I have tons of books, whether they are for class or just for fun. But I also brought my own printer which I store on the top shelf because it got in the way on my desk. The printer is a touchy subject, I knew when I came here I wanted one but many people chose not to get one. Although, it seems now almost everyone has one because printing becomes a hassle when its 3 in the morning and you need to print your final paper...

Anyway, so that's my desk. There isn't too much more exciting things about my room. Behind my bed I keep all of my random things, like my suitcase and a bin full of papers that I have amassed. I also brought my lax stick and tennis racket from home, so I keep those back there. Also tucked in the corner is my laundry basket, which is overflowing right now. Wolman has a laundry room downstairs on Terrace Level, which is really convenient. I think there are about 20 washers and dryers.

So that’s my CRIB, I hope you all enjoyed it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me. CONGRATS once again!!

Midterms and a Major?!?!

So I don't have too much to talk about this week, because I have been so busy with school work and getting ready for Spring Break. As some of you might know, next week is Spring Break for Hopkins. A couple of my friends and I are going on a road trip up the East Coast to all of our houses.

Some of the things I am most looking forward to are the St. Patrick's Day Parade in NYC, being in Boston again, Hopkins lacrosse game vs. Syracuse, and just spending time driving around. When I get back I'll make sure to let everyone know more about my epic journey.

Other than planning for that, I have spent a lot of time studying for all of my midterms. These past few weeks have been jam packed with stuff for all of my classes so I am really excited to finally get a break. This is also my first semester without covered grades so I have been trying to do better in all of my classes, but I don't know how much that has been working...

So the most exciting news that I have for you today is that I have finally declared a major. If you have been reading my blog or my message board posts, you might have noticed that I have changed my major several times. It hasn't been because I don't like something, but more on the line of I like too many things so it is hard to fit it all under one category.

I am happy to say that I am officially a Mechanical Engineer! I thought that it was my best option since I can do so much with the degree, because I still have no idea what I want to do after graduation. Along with MechE, I am going to minor in Latin American studies so I can continue with Portuguese and hopefully study abroad in Brazil. I am also going to minor in one of the hottest minors on campus: Entrepreneurship and Management. Hopefully, this well let me explore some of my other options and possibly prepare me for Business school.

You might be wondering ... was it that easy to switch from the School of Arts and Sciences to the School of Engineering? .... HECK YES it was.

All I had to do was fill out a form and a have a few people sign it and I was set. What is even better is because Hopkins has no core requirements, I shouldn't be too far behind with all of my required MechE classes since many of the classes I am taking will count towards my distribution requirements.

So it is about 4pm on Friday afternoon, dorms close at 6pm. Lets just say I still haven't packed or cleaned up at all. I am going to get to that right now. I hope you all have a good week, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

JHU_Rob: FAVORITES

This week, the students of Hopkins Interactive have decided to change things up a bit, and all present a common blog topic. Through the blogs and the message boards, we really enjoy providing you with a glimpse of our lives at Hopkins while helping to reveal to you what might lie in store for you if you decide to become a Hopkins student as well. In addition to detailing life here at Hopkins, we also enjoy getting to talk about the totally random things that we love. Just like we've done with the Off Topic Discussion Forum of the message boards, we're taking a break from Hopkins talks and discussing our favorite things.

So here we present our personal answers to a common survey of our favorite things, about the worlds of books, movies, television, and much, much, more. Be warned, we're about to get really random.

Who is your favorite author?
Don't really have one. I read a lot but, I have never been attracted to one single author. Ill have to say that JK Rowling is pretty awesome, and even though I am a freshman in college I still enjoy reading Harry Potter.

What is your favorite website?
I would have to say either msnbc.com or cnnpolitics.com. I am really into poltics so CNN keeps me up to date with everything going on in the world of poltics and I also like to know whats going on in the world and around the country, so every morning before I head off to class I check the day's headlines. Also, I'll have to say I really like weather.com because it tells me the weather and I like to know that.

What is your favorite item in your bedroom?
MY BED, hands down. My mom got me a whole bunch of paddings for it so I would have to say it is more comfortable than my bed at home.

What, in your opinion, has been the greatest invention of your time?
Cell Phone. I am still in awe almost everyday when i see some of the things a cell phone can do. I mean...WOW, who would have ever thunk it.

What is your favorite news source?
Well as i said I check msnbc.com everyday, but i also like to know whats going on back home in New Hamsphire so i frequent WMUR.com for that.

What is your favorite move series?
All my friends make fun of me for it, but Harry Potter.  I mean I am part of the generation that grew up with Harry Potter.

What is your favorite time of day?
Tough one, it actually depends on where I am. I will say when I go up to maine with my grandparents for the summer, the early morning is my favorite time. The beach and ocean is just so peaceful. Here at Hopkins, I would have to say my favorite time is around 815. Everyone is usually getting back from classes or sports or any other things and it seems like our floor is packed.

Who is your favorite one-hit wonder?
HAHA.. I have no idea. I usually download whole albums or whatever when I get music, but I mean I have no idea. I like really random music..

Which famous person, living or dead, would you like to have a cup of tea with?
Well first of all I dont drink tea...but to be completely honest and a bit boring, I would say George Washington. I would really be interested in seeing what he thinks of the country now.

What is your favorite quote?
I'm not good with qoutes.

Are you a Dog, Cat, or "other" peron?
By far a dog person, for some reason my entire family are just dog people. Im not really into cats and really dont like them. I had a turtle once, thats a long story though.

What is your favorite game?
I really like monopoly, but for fun my favorite game is probably Mad Gab. Such a good game and it is hilarious.

Who is your favorite TV villain?
Well if you count Disney movies, I would have to say the hyenas from the Lion King. They are so awesome.

Where is the one place in the world you want to visit?
Impossible for me to answer. I love to travel, so I want to see as much of the world as possible.

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
Probably listening to bad POP music, no offense but some of it just makes me laugh.

To finish this survey, we will be stealing questions used at the end of every broadcast of Inside the Actor's Studio. James Lipton, the host of the show, always finishes each interview with a questionnaire invented by the great Bernard Pebo. Here it goes:

-What is your favorite word?
I think there are a lot of interesting words in the English language, so I like words that sound nothing like how they are spelt.

-What is your least favorite word?
I dont hate on words, I like them all.

-What turns you on(creatively, spiritually, or emotionally)?
Um well i find I always work really well when I have a full stomach and great music playing, I dont know if that answers that question, but..

-What turns you off?
Stupid people, not intelligence wise. But people who just dont think sometimes.

-What sounds or noises do you love?
I love the sound that waves make when they crash on the beach.

-What sound or noise do you hate?
Construction noises, I dont know why but I guess it has to do with the fact that the building next to mine was being worked on for several months last semester and they always started working at like 6am.

- What profession would you like to attempt?
I think it would be so cool to be elected to the national government some day. I know ill do it one day, hopefully be a senator.

- What profession would you absolutely not like to attempt?
I have a hard enough time deciding what I want to do, I dont have time to think about what I dont want to do.

- Finally, if Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Probably "did you enjoy yourself?"

To comment or debate any of my answers, or just to share your views and continue the discussion with me, be sure to head over to my message board thread! I look forward to hearing from my readers. And as always, if you have any Hopkins-related questions, don't hesitate to ask them there as well!

I'm Sick.....

Hey everyone, I hope all is well out there. I have a relatively short post, just a quick update on what is going on with me. If you have read my other posts, you might have noticed my mentioning of a retreat for OP that I was suppose to be going on this weekend. Unfortunately, I hurt my knee last weekend playing racquetball so I decided against going out to West Virginia with the other leaders.

On top of that, I got really sick this past week. I don’t know exactly what I have but I know that it isn’t good. Let’s just say all I have been doing is sleeping for the past 6 days. I have been trying to go to most of my classes, but I just didn’t have the energy most of the time. It has been rather difficult staying up on top of all my work, but thankfully many of my professors and TA’s have been very nice and have granted me extensions on some of my work.

So I haven’t really been up to much this past week other than trying to feel better which I have had little success with. I did however decide to go to the Hopkins’ lacrosse season opener against Albany Saturday. It was a great time and I was really happy I was able to see the game in person. My family is really into lacrosse so I have been waiting a long time to see the lacrosse team play.

Unfortunately, the cold didn’t do any good for my health so I spent much of the rest of the day sitting around and sleeping. Hopefully I will get better soon since my family is coming Thursday. They are all coming down to see the big lacrosse game at M+T Bank Stadium where Hopkins will play Princeton. Everyone is really pumped for the game, and I was reading an article online where I saw that over 13,000 tickets had been sold! I am wicked pumped for this to game!!!!!!!

That’s pretty much all I have got for you this week. I hope all of you get the chance to see the big lacrosse game this weekend, or better yet get to come to Baltimore to see it in person!

Woah.....Absolutely Crazy

Boy do I have some stories for all of you. So much has happened to me over the past few weeks I do not know where to begin. So instead of telling you everything in chronological order, I am going to give you my life in categories: My life academically, non –academically?, and craziness.

1.    Academics:

So this may not seem too exciting to many people but so far my classes have been awesome. I am currently facing a major dilemma concerning what I want to major in, so this semester is absolutely crucial. My classes are split 50/50 between engineering requirements and international studies requirements. I did this so I could see which I would rather focus more on for the rest of my time here. I have to say everyday I am leaning more and more to becoming an engineer here. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Social Science classes, but I just see myself as more of a math and science kind of guy. However, I don’t plan on giving up the social sciences forever and am trying to figure out a way to possibly double major/minor in an area other than engineering.

Outside of my major dilemma, I have a comment about second semester. I couldn’t help but to notice how quickly we jumped into classes this semester. I felt like this time last semester we were still moseying around the material and were just about ready to jump into high gear. It seems that since the first day of classes, I have been loaded with homework that never seems to end. It also could be the fact that we are no longer under covered grades. As many of you know, first semester of freshmen year grades are covered, meaning no one has access to your grades other than yourself, your professor, and your counselor. Maybe just the added stress of that has made the workload seem larger than last semester.

2.    Non-Academically:

Sorry for this horrible name but I didn’t really know what to call this aspect of my life, but I think you will get the picture. So outside of classes I have become super-involved with several things. First off, I seem to be working every extra minute I have in the admissions office helping out with operations. I basically file all of the incoming applications and anything related to them and do anything else I am told to do. It is really a great job and I love the flexibility, plus the admissions’ building has some great people working under its roof so it is always an entertaining time.

I have also recently started my work with the Blue Key Society, which is responsible for giving prospective students tours. We have had several trainings already and I begin my shadowing of tours any day now.

On top of that, Outdoor Pursuits has started up again after a few month hiatus. This is my first semester as a leader, so I am really excited. We just had our first full-body meeting where all of the freshmen introduced themselves to the upperclassmen and everyone in the group signed up to lead trips throughout the semester. We also discussed our first instructor retreat, which is next weekend in West Virginia. The freshmen also found out about all of the trainings we still have left, as well as when we will be required to be back on campus in the fall (or should I say summer…Aug 15th!).

One last thing which has started back up is the mentoring program I am involved with. We have met only once with the kids but have met a few other times to plan out events, including a trip to the aquarium.

On top of all of this, I have also begun to play racquetball on a regular schedule with one of my buddies, so we try to get on the courts about 3 times a week. I have also been trying to do a few things differently this semester which I suggest to every college student: go to sleep earlier, get up for breakfast everyday, and start my homework earlier. So far I have been pretty successful with all of these things and I have to say I have seen the differences they make, which is pretty cool.

3.    Craziness:

So I know that my life seems pretty crazy with everything I am involved with and all of my classes, but I have a really good story to tell you. This past weekend was one of the most amazing times I have had so far at Hopkins. It all started last Friday night when my buddy and I were sitting around looking for something to do when we got the idea to go to DC. We had always joked about it, but for some reason this time we were serious. So we went online and checked out the MARC schedule, which is a train that runs from Baltimore to DC every weekday for $7, and found that there was still one train that night.

So we hopped on to the Hopkins shuttle to Penn Station where we ran onto the train and headed into Union Station. While I was on the train I called one of my friends who attends Georgetown and told her of our trip and she invited us over there for a bit. She quickly told us how to get there, but when we got to DC we realized we had no idea how to get to the campus. We ended up asking a college-age looking kids and thankfully found someone who could lead us to the campus.

After a little while with my friend, my buddy and I headed over to the national mall to check out some of the national monuments. I had only been to DC briefly before so I was still new to the whole area, which made the experience even cooler. It turns out there weren’t many people walking around at midnight, so it was pretty quiet. When we went up to the Lincoln Memorial, we were the ONLY people inside the entire place which was sooooo cool. I can’t describe what it was like to have such a famous place all to ourselves.

After the Lincoln memorial we headed to the Korean War Memorial, WWII Memorial and made our way to the Washington Memorial. We ended up talking to a security guard here for a good fifteen minutes about all sorts of things, while taking in the views of the city. After a little while there, we headed over to the White House for a bit and then started searching for food. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful since we had to get back to Union Station to catch the first Amtrak back to Baltimore that morning at 3:15am. As you can tell, I thought this was such a cool experience and I hope to do it again someday, especially since it was so cheap!

The next day a few of my friends went down to the Inner Harbor to check out the Maryland Museum of Science and see the new Body Worlds Exhibit. I had actually already seen this when it came to Boston, but it was still really cool the second time. I suggest everyone go and see this exhibit, whether you are into science or not. There is so much to be learned about the human body it is insane.

After a few hours down at the Inner Harbor we headed back to campus and I pretty much crashed for the night. I woke up the next morning to find the FFC completely decked out for its Sterling Brunch, which came complete with an in house band and everything. It was a great way to end such a crazy weekend.

So this has been my life over the past few weeks. I have really made myself busy with everything I am doing, but I have been able to find time to do some pretty awesome things. Plus, this month is continuing to get better. This weekend a friend of mine is coming up to visit, next weekend I am going out to West Virginia with OP, and the weekend after that my family is coming down for the Hopkins lacrosse game at M+T Bank Stadium.

Short Trip and Second Semester

Hey Everyone! So I have been really busy since the last time I wrote to you, including the start of my second semester of college. But let me finish my intersession experience first.

After we finished up with WFR, everyone in the class got together at Bert’s on St. Paul Street to have a massive dinner together and celebrate our certifications. This was a great end to everything we had gone through the past two weeks. After WFR, I didn’t have any thing else to do over intersession so I decided to pack my bags and fly down to Florida. But before I left, a few of us did go down to the Inner Harbor one day for a few hours to just walk around and explore. It was great time, especially since I haven’t been for a really long time and we also got to explore more of Fell’s Point which I didn’t really know much about.

Anyway, so that weekend I flew down to Florida to stay with my grandparents for a few a days of relaxation and warmth. The week pretty much consisted of three things: golf, food, and sun. Thankfully, my grandparents live in South Florida, so it was around 80 almost everyday and the sun was hot. They also live on a golf course, so by the end of the week I played 90 holes of golf. It was also nice to eat some home-cooked meals since Subway wasn’t doing it for me. We also went to the beach a few days, so I’ll put a few pics of the beach we were at and also a spectacular sunset we saw one night setting over the Gulf of Mexico.

I got back to campus just in time for the weekend, so a lot more people were back from break by the time I got back too. It was really nice to see everyone that I hadn’t seen for almost two months. It also gave me a few days to have fun and catch up with everyone before the semester started.

This semester is pretty different from the last for two reasons. The first is that I am splitting my courses between two majors: International Studies and Physics. The second is that it’s not my first semester! What a difference one semester makes, I knew where all of my classes were right away and I also have a lot more people in my classes that I know. Anyway, so what am I taking?

• Physics for Engineers- I am still taking a physics class, but I switched out of the one for Bio Majors into this one so I will be presented with different concepts. It should be a good time since I know a whole bunch of people in the class and the professor seems really interesting.
• Calculus II- I got AP credit for Calc I so I didn’t take that last semester. This class should be pretty good since the teacher is really energetic and a few of my friends are also in this class, although it has been almost a year since I last took a math class so that should make things interesting.
• Portuguese- I am continuing with Portuguese for the language requirement of IR. I have the same teacher and pretty much the same class too. It was really nice to just start up from where we left off last semester; it was like we hadn’t been away for two months.
• Occ Civ: Modern Europe- This is pretty much the same course as AP Euro, except we start at the French Revolution. Since I did take AP Euro in high school, I’m not expecting too many problems here. This is my first writing intensive class at Hopkins, which means I will be writing something like 20+ pages over the course of the semester.

So those are my classes. Something else that is new about this semester is that we have started using the MWF and TTh course schedule. This means that my courses are a lot more spread out than last semester, which is good and bad. My first classes are either at 10 or 10:30 and I am usually done by 1 each day. I did however like having almost all my classes done by Wednesday, so it was like having a 4 day weekend every week.

I think that is it from me this time. Next time I’ll let you know what I have been up to outside of classes: work, activities, etc.