One Semester Down

I wanted to wait until the end of the semester to write another blog post but it has been hard because so many great and interesting things have happened!

To start off with, I cannot believe that I am done with my first semester in college!  It seems like it was not too long ago that it was my first day of classes and I was really nervous.  I am so lucky to have met some amazing people here that I’m sure I will miss over break.  I just turned in my take-home German test which was my last final of the week.  This morning I took Calculus and yesterday I had my biology final.  My tutorial class did not have a final, although we did turn in a paper that was a culmination of everything we had talked about in our class.  The last day of classes were a bit sad, my tutorial professor hesitated to walk out the door (he had to leave so we could fill out professor evaluations).  He actually stood around and talked to us for a good 10 minutes before actually leaving.  My biology professor brought us candy canes and Calculus and German got out early.  I am excited to start a whole new round of classes again, but I am also sad to leave these four behind.  Biology and tutorial ended up being my favorite classes this semester, but I can’t say that I disliked any one of my classes. 

To finish up our biology project, we were required to make a poster and present it at a poster session.  At Grinnell, these are common occurrences across all disciplines.  Basically you present your project in short paragraphs and bullet points as well as a section for results that often includes graphs or other images.  They are then put up on pin boards with others who have also done projects in the same area as yours.  A time is set, and it is like an open house.  People come up and ask you questions about your project and maybe stimulate some new ideas! 

On Saturday December 13, Salseros de Grinnell traveled to Davenport, Iowa for a salsa Christmas party at a dance studio. Twenty of us piled into 4 cars and off we drove, literally singing the whole way (at least my car was)!  There were quite a few people there, some great dancers, some not so great, but regardless, we all had a fantastic time.  When the party ended at 1, we all had to make the long, 2 and a half hour trek back to Grinnell through really thick fog.  By the time we got back I was exhausted….ok, let’s be honest, I started getting tired around midnight.  I have convinced two of my friends back home to go to another holiday salsa party with me on Saturday in Idaho! 

The Saturday before the lovely salsa party, was Winter Waltz!  I had so much fun.  It was a blast to get dressed up and feel fancy and go and dance the night away!  The event organizers hired a live band to play for us, honestly it felt as if we were at a party in the 1950s.  People looked classy and were dancing, laughing, and eating (they had desserts….and cheese!).  Before Waltz, a bunch of the people in my dorm were taking pictures dressed up, I had not yet gotten dressed up so I offered to take some pictures.  I love photography and getting to work with a nice camera and entertaining subjects was a blast. 

I will write about all the study breaks that the school so kindly put on for us over the past two weeks, but I have to go bake now! J

3 Weeks Left!

Biology experiment is done, second to last tutorial paper is written, half way through our last reading in German, and our last chapter test in Calculus has been taken, these past two weeks have been a little crazy!  Professors are wrapping things up for the semester and now that Thanksgiving break is almost over, I have two more weeks of classes until the end of my first semester of college and I get to go home!!! 

Working in a biology lab for the past four weeks on an experiment that my group and I created was a fantastic experience.  I know that not many big schools allow first years into the lab, and if they do, it is mostly prescribed experiments.  We are lucky enough to have the facilities and the program to allow first years into the lab investigating something they are really interested in!  My group was researching the effect of UV-C light on three types of bacteria as well as the length of exposure to UV-C light.  It was a bit complicated and I was in the lab everyday Monday-Friday and once in a while on Saturday as well.  Non-sciency people may balk at this idea, but I was certainly happy about it!  I really enjoyed working with other people who were interested in getting the project done and willing to put out the effort! 

This past Monday was my birthday.  I am very close to my family so not being at home for my birthday was really hard.  I wanted more than anything to be at home, but I had some pretty great people go the extra mile to make me feel special.

-        The Salsa dance group surprised me and made me a giant cookie and sang me happy birthday

-        My mom sent me presents from everyone in my family and had flowers delivered to me, as well as cupcakes in a Jar (from Wicked Good Cupcakes – VERY GOOD!)

-        Another one of my friends bought me a (really yummy) muffin and wrote me an incredibly sweet card

-        I had lunch with an awesome friend of mine

-        The salsa people had dinner with me and we all studied together after

Despite not being at home, I had an absolutely wonderful birthday.  After all of that, then Thanksgiving came.  In my family Thanksgiving is a big family holiday.  We did do “Thanksgiving in October” over fall break but Thursday was still Thanksgiving for the rest of the country.  The campus is really empty and I felt like everyone I had talked to earlier this week had said they were going to be out of town for Thanksgiving…..I did have a bit of a panic moment when I thought I wouldn’t know anyone here!  Regardless, I went to the massive buffet lunch the Dining hall put on by myself.  They had salads, turkey, dressing/stuffing, potatoes, gravy, something with apples and sweet potatoes that were glazed and had lots of delicious spices, roasted root vegetables, and of course apple, pumpkin, fruits of the forest, and berry pie.  It was an absolutely fantastic lunch!  I ended up sitting with a bunch of people I knew and we had lots of fun, even though we all wished we were at home.  If that wasn’t enough, I had been invited to a thanksgiving dinner hosted by someone in salsa and sponsored by Questbridge and Posse.  People cooked all day and made a very large amount of food.  Chicken, turkey, ham, potatoes, gravy, mac and cheese, fried rice, corn, green beans, and the best apple pie I have ever eaten.  I was so full after two meals.  At this dinner there happened to be about 6 salsa dancers there.  Near the end when many people had left, the DJ (a salsa person) started playing some salsa music and we were all up in a flash dancing and teaching the remaining people how to dance!  We really did take over, but it was a lot of fun!

On Wednesday we had a relatively big snow storm and we got maybe 4 inches of snow.  I really liked Grinnell in the summer and fall, but the campus is absolutely spectacular in the snow.  I wandered around for a while and took pictures, I will post a few! 

Here are just a few other things that stood out over the past few weeks:

Last week The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 was release.  Grinnell arranged to have an early showing of the movie at The Strand in town and bought out the entire theater (all 131 seats) for Grinnell College students to see the movie a full day before its release!  I managed to get tickets by getting in line a full 30 minutes before they started handing out tickets.  The line stretched out the Grille and down the hallway for I don’t know how long.  I was the 12^th person in line!  It was so much fun! 

A few weeks ago was the Latin American Festival.  Salseros de Grinnell (the salsa dance group) performed two pieces that we had been working on for a couple of weeks.  I chose not to perform but instead helped everyone out and got to see some amazing performances!  I think I will perform at the next performance!

 

Halloween Harris and Salsa Fun

So parties are not my thing.  BUT I did discover they can be a lot of fun when you go to hang out with friends.  This past Saturday was Halloween Harris.  Almost everyone came in some sort of costume (Some had more fabric than others…..someone came as Poseidon…with only blue leggings on, another guy came in a speedo....not sure what he was supposed to be...).  I spent a large portion of my time people watching from the edge of the room, but it was fun to dance with friends as well!  I dressed up as a vampire on Halloween and then as a Flapper on Saturday.

 

Salsa was on Sunday per usual.  They are preparing for a performance on November 15 so we have been learning choreography.  I decided not to perform, but I will be helping out that day!  After practice the group goes to dinner together and I joined them this week!  It was really nice to have a conversation with everybody and I actually felt like part of the group.  I don’t think I’ve really felt that yet here, so it was such a great experience!  After Sunday’s super fast practice, my friend and I felt like we didn’t know the choreography at all, so we decided to get together last night to try and figure it out from the performance video from last year.  We struggled for about 45 minutes before we realized it would be a lot easier with a lead to help and someone who knew the choreography.  So, after much debate, we decided to send a message to three of the leaders of the group asking for help.  One of the guys was able to come and help us and we all laughed and had fun!  Again, it was nice to feel like someone would take time out of their day just to help two girls who were trying to learn the choreography that we were not going to perform.  I think this is a trend throughout Grinnell.  If you ask for help, whether it be from friends, strangers, professors, or facilities management you are likely to be welcomed with open arms. 

 

So another busy week is ahead, but I am a little worried because of the seemingly light load of homework I have with only 6 weeks until finals…..I guess I shouldn’t be complaining! 

Pictures!!!!

MidSems, Fall Break, Registration (Eeeek!), and more!

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted.  A lot has happened in the past few weeks….where to start!?

Mid Semester exams (or as they are sometimes fondly but normally not so fondly called: midsems)  was the week of October 12.  I did not have any “real” midterms, but I did have a Calculus test, a German paper, Biology lab proposal, biology “Quiz” (A 40 point quiz is not a quiz….it is a test!) and an essay for my Tutorial due.  I managed to get my essay submitted earlier in the week so the stress didn’t hit until Thursday when I had by Biology quiz and Friday when I had by Calculus test.  BUT after all the stress, I got to go home for a week!  It was strange for me when I first found out we had a fall break in October.  All my friends in Idaho have a week for Thanksgiving and in high school we also had a week for Thanksgiving.  I had never actually heard of a fall break, however I think the timing was perfect.  Timed just about two months after the beginning of NSO and two months from Winter Break it is a much needed break and refresher for the last half of the semester!  This week has been fairly easy (as easy as Grinnell gets J ), I had a take-home test due on Wednesday and small assignments each day in my classes but no projects or papers due.  But we did start a project this week!  My Intro to Biology class is not the typical format one thinks of.  As I explained before, my class is on Microbial Pathogenesis.  We are learning about bacteria and pretty much anything relating to bacteria.   However, our class is not focused on teaching what an AP Biology class might teach (ie all the cycles in detail, human body systems), the class is more laboratory based.  As a result, all the Biology -  150 classes are required to do a group research project during the semester.  Our class was split into groups of three and we brainstormed ideas of projects based on papers we have read, experiments we have done, or topics we have learned about.  This project could be anything that we wanted to research and that could be done in 4 weeks.  My group decided to test the effectiveness of UV light on bacteria commonly found on Spinach.  We were going to test E. coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus Aureus with UV-A, UV-B, and UV-C light, however it is only feasible for us to used UV-C light.  As a result we are changing our project to see how long the spinach needs to be treated for to kill all the bacteria!  I think it is such an amazing opportunity that as a first semester, first year student I have the opportunity to conduct my own research in a lab that is used solely by my class.

Anyways, we are registering for classes next week so everyone is running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to figure out what in the world they are going to take and what they could major in.  My tutorial professor asked us to lay out a rough four year plan with different majors.  At the moment I am thinking about Biological Chemistry as well as completing the Pre-med requirements.  I was thinking about also doing a concentration in Neuroscience but I went to talk to my Biology professor who happens to be the head of the BioChem department and the co-chair of the Health Professions Advisory Board about my schedule and she told me that I am better off taking a neurobiology course and instead studying abroad my 3^rd year.  She was telling me about a program in Denmark that she has several students at right now.  It sounds really interesting that I will definitely have to explore more! 

Over the past few weeks the social piece of college has changed a lot.  I have become closer friends with some of the people in Salsa and have meet some others who I have become friends with.  I think everyone always forgets that we have only been here such a short time and friendships like we all had back home won’t form in a month or two, it will take time.  Maybe that’s good though, we can always learn to be a little more independent are self-reliant for our happiness and stress management. 

Anyways, it’s been a good few weeks and there are lots more to come!  I will also post some pictures that I have taken as fall has fully hit Grinnell.  From green leaves to colorful trees, to pretty much just branches as a look outside right now.

10/10 (Plus a fun story!)

Tonight is a big campus party called 10/10.  It consists of moving around campus taking shots at each location.  I am not participating, however there are lots of sub-free option so people don’t feel trapped in their room if they don’t choose to take part in the drinking.  I am planning on going to Harris where there will be board games and craft supplies!  I know that the school bought tickets to the local movie theater for a few movies through the night too! 

A fun story from tonight: 

I was sitting in the Rose Lounge chit chatting with someone when another guy that I know comes running in from outside and says that there is a really bright satellite flying overhead.  Both of us in the lounge dropped everything and ran out with the other guy.  We watch what we think was the International Space Station for a few minutes and talk about stars and other objects in the sky for a few more minutes.  It was really fun and typical Grinnell! 

Just a Few Pictures!

It has been a crazy few weeks and next week promises to follow suit!  I will write more later, but here are some picture from the past few weeks on and off campus!

A Day in the Life...

Sorry I’m late posting this, I’ve had a busy weekend and beginning of this week trying to get ahead on homework!  On Friday I decided to give a look at what I did as I did it! :) I did lots of extra things but I don’t think this is unusual for how busy I am!

 

8:00 – wake up

8:30 – go to breakfast – Oatmeal bar! (my favorite meal in the Dining hall)

8:50 – Head to Calculus

9:52 – head to German, my Calc professor ran a little long!

11:15 – Lunch

11:53 – Run back to my dorm because I realized I had a lab write up due at 12:00 (I had it done, just forgot that I had to turn it in)

12:00 – Worked on Calculus and spend some time relaxing

2:15 – Went for a run

2:45 - showered

3:05 – Finished Calculus with a Friend

4:00-5:30 – down time

5:30 – went to Biology department BBQ at a professor’s house

6:15 – went to the Grill and the Wellness Lounge

6:50 – 9:00 – Salsa!

9:50 – 11:20 – Worked in the student run ceramics studio

11:50 – 2:00 am – Nerf at Noyce

2:15 – Sleep!

 

In case you are wondering, Nerf at Noyce is held every weekend at Midnight, in where else, Noyce.  We play two different games both involving Nerf Guns and LOTS of fun!  The only hard part is staying up that late!

Little Critters on the Prairie AKA Critters on Campus

There has been a plethora of little critters that I have seen around campus.  Everyone seems to think that I just attract all of them, and maybe that’s true, but never the less, I enjoy seeing all of them!  Here are few pictures to give you a taste!  (Of those not pictured: dozens of frogs, bunnies that moved too fast, more squirrels than I could count, a really cute rodent thing that I think was a vole, and a cat.  A lot of people walk their dog through campus so there are a lot of dogs as well!)

 

Rose Hall Lounge

The First Full Week of Classes!

Wow!  It has been a crazy crazy week!  It was our first full week of classes and our professors did not hesitate to jump into the material!  I’ll start out will class stuff and then talk about other things! Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I have Calculus and German.  Calculus has been very very hard.  Mostly trying to wake my brain up from the summer but also just because it is difficult math!  I’ve gone to the math lab a few times and the have been helpful.  The math lab is essentially run by older students who professors recommend as good mentors.  They can step you through math problems or just answer your question on a part of a problem.  Having someone explain the specific problem was helpful, but was even better was the group work that we ended up doing.  Several people were there from my class and we could all help each other in different ways!  My professor is great and really loves his job, so that makes math even more enjoyable!  Oh, I also got lost in Noyce Science Center almost every day this week…..and I panic and just leave at the first exit I see and then get really turned around!  Anyways, next I have Intermediate German 1.  Language classes in college are much different than high school.  Most of the class is taught completely in that language and at a school like Grinnell, the classes are so small you are forced to participate.  I think I have spoken the most consecutive German I ever have in the past week.  It really is fun though!  We are doing a lot of grammar but we are also reading stories in German and doing some basic literary analysis.  Tuesdays are my busy days, I have my Tutorial (which is on failure and that is what I shall call it from now on!), Calculus and Biology.  I really love my tutorial class.  We have had several fascinating discussions on failure and we are reading excerpts from books and short stories written about failure. Right now we are looking at how failure plays into creativity.  I think this is really interesting because in high school I did a lot of ceramics.  I was always afraid to make a mistake and often didn’t’ make piece because I thought I wouldn’t succeed.  I hope Tuesday will yield yet another great discussion!  My Biology class, titled Bio 150, Microbial Pathogenesis, has already had us in the lab plating bacteria cultures and reading literature from scientific journals.  Next week we start our first lab, looking at the difference in store bought organic and conventionally grown leafy produce…probably spinach.  Speaking of biology, guess who won the bacteria growing contest?  Me! I didn’t get to take a picture of that particular plate, but I took a picture of one similar to it!  I will post it here!  We also did some dilution plating on Thursday and had to go into the lab on our own time on Friday to count the colonies.  It was really fun to go in by myself, wash my hands, put gloves and a lab coat on and just work!  I actually felt kind of like a biologist!  Thursdays consist of Failure and Biology.  Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I am done with class at 10:50, which is really nice because I can work on my homework in the afternoon, go for a workout and not have to stay up super late trying to finish my homework!  This also allows me to work ahead and hopefully not be so swamped on Tuesday and Thursday!

 

Ok, so enough about classes, I did quite a bit of extra-curriculars this week so I’m just going to summarize most of them!

 

On Monday I went to Ultimate Frisbee, a really great group of people, but way too serious about Frisbee for me!  If I could run more I might’ve stuck with it but the combination of the two was not going to fit with me this year!  On Tuesday, I went to Salsa!!  They have a performance group as well as a “just for fun” group.  I am really excited to learn more!  I spent an hour or so dancing several dances with many different people!  Right after Salsa my roommate and I went to the Student Alumni Council (SAC) meeting.  This group coordinates networking and other events on campus to facilitate contact between alumni and current students.  They also plan events to get students into the habit of giving back to the school so that when they graduate they will give back in any way they can, not just monetarily.  I think that this will be a great resource as well as a great way to get involved!  On Friday my dorm had a movie night, so we all sat in the lounge and ate popcorn and candy and watch The Princess Bride.  Saturday I worked on homework most of the day and then in the evening few girls and I went to Dari Barn, a wonderful ice cream place in town!  It is right next to what is essentially a tractor and farm equipment parting lot where two really small cats live, they were really cute!  Then in the evening was the first Harris Party, a school sponsored party at the Harris Concert Hall.  My roommate and I decided to go, it is not my scene at all….but it was fun and I’ll go to another one when everybody dresses up in some crazy outfit (basically the rest of them!).  But then I came back and went to sleep!  Today I am going to help my roommate with calculus, write a short essay for my Tutorial and maybe work ahead on math a little!  I managed to finish all my homework for tomorrow yesterday so I get to work ahead of the game today and hopefully won’t be so busy Tuesday and Thursday!

Class of 2018 Stats

Of the 438 members of the entering class:

• 25 percent are U.S. students of color.
• 68 percent participated in community service.
• 69 percent graduated in the top 10 percent of their secondary school class.
• 63 percent graduated from public high school.
• 44 percent were varsity athletes.
• 54 percent participated in the fine arts (music, theater, dance, visual art).
• 15 percent are first-generation college students.
• 21 percent participated in student government.
• 18 percent worked on high school publications.
• 18 percent were active in speech, debate or forensics.

Eighteen percent of the incoming class are international students representing 27 countries. The gallery of flags above Spencer Grill will be expanded to include flags from Albania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Uzbekistan.

First Two Days of Classes!

We started class on Thursday!  I am currently in Failure (My tutorial), Biology – 150 Microbial Pathogenesis, Calculus II, and Intermediate German I.  I may switch into Calculus I, but I figure I’ll give Calculus II a chance first!  So Thursday I had Failure and Biology.  I started off the day discussing with my tutorial class of 13 the concept of failure, what it means to us, to society, is it final, is it a process, all in all it was fascinating.  We discussed for maybe 40 minutes and then watched a TED talk about failure and continued discussing for another 15-20 minutes.  It was a wonderful way to start of a morning!  Next I went to Biology.  This class period runs from 1:15-4:05 every Tuesday and Thursday, this time allows us to also work in the lab and do extended lap projects without having to worry about the time.  I am really excited for this class even though I know it is going to be hard.  As with all of my classes, we started off discussing the syllabus but then we were introduced to our lab!  Our lab is run at a level 2 safety level, which means any papers, pens, pencils, or notebooks that we take in, are not allowed to come out with us.  This is because we are working with some pathogens that might cause human sickness and it is a liability for the college to have people bringing things in and out of the lab.  Anyways, we got to go into the lab and practicing growing bacteria on a plate, we will learn Tuesday who won the “Grow the best bacteria colonies” competition! J My classes on Friday were Calculus II and Intermediate German I.  The professor who teaches my calculus class is wonderful, however I’m not sure if I can remember enough of my high school calculus to do well in the class.  I will be going to the Math Lab tonight and talking with my professor tomorrow!  My German class was fantastic!  With only 5 of the 15 students being first years, it is a great dynamic with all of the variety of ages.  For most of the class our Professor asked us to have a conversation with the person next to us about our summer.  He then went around the room and asked us a quick question about our summer.  It was probably the most consecutive German I have ever spoken!  Most of the class was taught in German and I was happy to realize I could understand most of it!  I am really excited for this semester, I think I have a good set of classes, with a great set of professors!  Let’s get this learning started!

However, I have spent a small fortune on books....... 

Auf Wiedersehen!!!

The Medallion Ceremony

It was such a great experience to participate in this ceremony.  There were several speakers, most of which were alumni from several different decades.  The history of this event is rooted deep in Grinnell history and lore.  So here is the story we were told:

The Iowa Band, a group of abolitionist ministers wanted to form an “ideal community” where students could learn and live together.  As they were deciding where to go and how to fund the college a man named James J. Hill came into the picture. James Hill was a self-made man who could not afford more than 9 years of education.  When he heard about the Iowa Band’s goals and dreams he sought them out and lay before them a sliver dollar.  He said that this would be the start of an endowment for the college.  He told the Iowa Band to nurture and grow this dollar so others who could not afford a higher education could still have an opportunity to attend a great institution.

 

Every student gets a medallion to represent this silver dollar and the possibilities that Grinnell offers its students.  Every medallion has the graduation year of the incoming class.

 

 

Also, first day of classes were today!  After I attend the rest of my classes tomorrow I will post about each one!