Another Look Back

Last month, I posted a short entry about my mixed feelings about moving out of Hopkins for the summer, as well as a long entry reflecting on my entire freshman year. I thought those would be my only entries summing up the 2006-2007 school year. I was wrong. After posting those two entries last month, two things have happened that have prompted me to post another entry studded with freshman year nostalgia: (1) looking at old photos, from those of my childhood to those of the past year, and (2) seeing the organized way in which a few other Hopkins Interactive bloggers posted the URLs of their entries from the past year. Ergo, this entry is a summary of my entries from the past year, with some freshman year photos inserted in it. The URLs and descriptions of my entries are listed in chronological order, and photo captions are at the end of this entry.

Introductory Blog Entry: The Title Explains It All was the first entry I posted this year -- and the first entry of this blog.

Con Mi Padre Y Madre is an account of my parents' visit a month after move-in day. I was grateful not only for their company, but also for the food they brought from home.

Not Prophets, But Visionaries describes my excitement over the way that some "getting-to-know-you" conversations that freshmen tend to have include sharing their academic and career goals. I should say new freshmen, because by the end of the year, all of us freshmen had already found social niches, and "getting-to-know-you" conversations were much less frequent.

Busy, Busy, Busy... describes one of the busiest weekends of the fall semester: Family Weekend, which was also the weekend in which the Filipino Students Association held Filipino Cultural Night.

Social Bonding summaries the following weekend, which was also busy. Unlike the previous weekend, however, my busyness consisted of doing various extracurricular activities with four entirely different groups of people at Hopkins: FSA (Filipino Students Association), OLÉ (La Organización Latina Estudiantil), SAAB (Student Admissions Advisory Board), and my housemates.

Halloween is about nothing other than my first Halloween at Hopkins.

A Random Afternoon Moment is about what its title says. To see what it was, read the entry.

Being Official = A Good Feeling details the excitement I had on the day the blogs of us (then) freshmen bloggers were made public.

Culture Show Update is just that: an update to my blog about Culture Show. In previous blog entries, I had mentioned dance practices for both FSA and OLÉ, so I thought it was fitting to show photos and YouTube videos from the event itself.

Studying in the Library was a blog entry I wrote during a time in which I was feeling stressed over my upcoming finals. Outside of class and extracurricular activities, I either studied or thought about how I should be studying.

Stress Relievers: Hopkins Style was a blog entry I wrote when my first final was a week away, and I had two projects due before that final.

A Little "I'm Bursting with Hopkins Pride" Spiel is an expression of my gratitude for MSE's 24/7 library hours during reading period and finals week.

Ending My First College Semester is about my busy final days of the fall semester.

Intersession is about Intersession. Enough said.

Starting the Spring Semester is about nothing other than starting the spring semester. Once again, enough said.

Hopkins Cribs: AMR I is a glimpse into my dorm room in AMR I, which was one of the smallest doubles in that building.

Action Potential, Syntax, and Variance describes some of the ways in which things you learn in one class can be related to things you learn in another class.

Some Second Semester Snapshots is yet another example of my tendency to create self-explanatory blog entry titles.

Hmm... is an account of the unusual start to my spring break.

Luck of the Irish and Non-Irish describes one of the many fun activities that my RA organized for my housemates and me.

"Oy vey!" is about my first week back at Hopkins after my spring break.

"¡Buena suerte!" is a brief entry wishing luck to anyone awaiting college decisions. It also expresses my wish that no one else will go through the small "heartbreak" that I had as a high school senior. Receiving bad college news right after walking home on a hot day wasn't fun. Looking back at the experience, I realize that it wasn't as bad as it seemed then, but it still wasn't pleasant.

An AMR I Bathroom is my attempt to show that while communal bathrooms aren't "heaven on Earth," they're not horrible, either.

Relay for Life is about the Hopkins fundraiser event for the American Cancer Society. Participating in Relay for Life should be a "to do" item for every Hopkins student before graduation. It's not only a fundraiser for a cause that affects many people, but also a fun thing to do! Plus, it's a stress-free all-nighter (instead of studying or completing a paper in the wee hours of the morning).

A Brief Blog Update is my shortest blog entry thus far.

The Last Weekend Before Finals is the entry previewed by A Brief Blog Update.

A Postscript has what is possibly one of the best YouTube videos ever.

Moving Out is the aforementioned entry about my mixed feelings about moving out.

"Kung may tinanim, may aanihin." is the aforementioned entry reflecting on my freshman year.

Photo Captions: (1) My RA took this photo of most of my housemates (only two of them aren't pictured) and me during our first weekend at Hopkins. (2) This is a photo of some of my housemates and me eating breakfast during orientation week. After that week, we didn't do this practice as often, because we had different class schedules. I myself rarely ate breakfast at the FFC; I usually ate cereal or a granola bar in my room before dashing to class. (3) This is a photo of me helping to cook food for Filipino Cultural Night at the Building A kitchen. (4) Most of us in OLÉ Dance Group who performed in Culture Show reprised our number from the show at the Relay for Life kickoff. In this photo, we're sitting in the downstairs lobby of Levering Hall while waiting to perform. (5) This is a photo of my friends Nian, Amethyst, and me at the FSA semiformal in December. (6) In April, my housemates and some of my RA's friends set up a surprise party for her in her room. Here's Rosa, my RA, entering her room just as we turned on the lights, popped up from our hiding places, and screamed, "Surprise!" (She's the one wearing a purple peacoat.) (7) During the reading period of spring semester, some of my housemates and I decided to hold a "fashion show." Each of us was assigned a housemate for whom to select an outfit, and each of us had to choose the outfit using clothes from any housemate's wardrobe but the wardrobe of the person wearing that outfit. It was fun to see who could fit into whose clothes. After holding a little "photo shoot" in the hallway, we walked to Paper Moon Diner for a late night dinner.