New Year!

I realized that it has been quite a while since I last updated this…I don’t think I ever closed off last semester.  I did pass and am now a second year student! Last year I applied for the position of student adviser and was placed in Rathje for the semester.  I will have to move at the start of second semester due to some scheduling issues, but I will enjoy my time in A/C while I can!  I got here on August 10 for SA training which consisted of talking, writing, and lots of new information on policy and how to interact with residents.  We then helped facilitate New Student Orientation which was stressful but a lot of fun!  I’ve met some awesome new residents and now have some amazing friendships with other SAs I may not have met otherwise.  It was difficult at first to be at Grinnell with hardly any one else here as well as so early, but I think the small population of people created an environment for strong friendships to form. 

This semester I am taking Biology 251, Organic Chemistry, Literary Analysis, and an anthropology class called Indigenous Health and Human Biology.  I am excited for all of my classes, but I missed biology last semester when I took physics and chemistry, so I am ecstatic to be in a biology class again!  I was sitting in class today and we were just discussing cell function and I was disproportionately excited for the class compared to what we were reviewing.  I think that this will be a busy ad difficult semester, however, the material seems interesting and I am ready to learn!

During training there was the peak of a large meteor shower.  A couple other SAs and I decided to grab some blankets and head out to the soccer field to stargaze.  It was absolutely beautiful!  We so saw many meteors, there I not a lot of light pollution out here and even less when you go out onto the field.  There is another meteor shower in September that I am also hoping to go see and put a program on for my residents.  I have also found a group of SA and Student athlete mentors tht all love to play Settlers of Catan.  We have quite a competition going and it is great to just take a break from work and play a game.  A couple friends and I went to the Iowa state fair to listen to Bernie Sanders speak.  We got 4^th row seats and it was awesome!!  He is coming to Grinnell on Thursday, but  have a lab so I cant go, which is very disappointing! 

Anyways, I’ll try to post some pictures of my room and of training later this week, but I figured I would start out the semester with a quick update on life at Grinnell!  

9 Days and Counting!

Nine days until spring break and mid semester exams and projects are really picking up.  Next Friday I have an exam in both Chemistry and Sociology.  I already took my mid semester exam in Anthropology and Physics.  We also had a research paper and project in Sociology.  I feel pretty confident about my classes so far, although I may end up getting a tutor for Physics simply because my brain don’t wrap itself around Physics very well!

I think in the past few weeks I have really found my rhythm again.  When I came back from Winter Break I had a hard time adjusting to school and being away from home again.  In the past few weeks I have again gotten to the point where I am ahead in my work and efficient in how I work (I say this as I am using this post to procrastinate on doing homework for Friday…).  Although I will always miss home because that is where my family is and where I feel truly comfortable, Grinnell is a pretty darn great place too.  I think struggling to adjust here at Grinnell has brought me closer to friends here and I sit here doing homework with three girls from salsa, two of whom I met just two months ago when they came back from abroad. 

Over the past few weeks I have also gone through the process of applying to be a student advisor next year.  Student advisors (or SAs) are our equivalent of RAs at other schools.  SAs have no disciplinary responsibilities and serve as a resource for students in their dorm and work to build community and teach about self gov.  The application process consisted of an application with a few short answer essays, a letter of recommendation, an individual interview, and a group interview.  We were informed about a week ago of our positions.  I was not accepted as a full SA but rather an SA at large.  This means that I will help SAs in my dorm.  If another SA goes abroad or is unable to continue holding the position, one of the SAs at large will move into that dorm and become the student advisor of that dorm.  One of my good friends got accepted as a full SA and I am so excited for her!  We were going to room together, but I guess since we both will have singles (albeit on opposite sides of campus) we will just have to hang out in each other’s rooms!  I have also talked to several first years on the Softball team who plan on living on the same floor as me, and a few other girls are talking about trying to get a four person cluster a floor below me!  I’m sure I will be busy regardless of who is rooming where!

Next week the temperature is supposed to be in the mid-50s to 60s and I’m pretty sure it is going to feel like summer after our -30 degree (with windchill) day a few weeks ago!  Needless to say, I’m pretty sure everyone here has spring fever and is more than ready for a break!

2nd Semester!

Five weeks into this new semester I have finally felt that I have the time to write a short post about what has been going on.  Over winter break I had the opportunity to shadow 10 doctors in all different professions as well as six surgeries.  It was a great experience to have a first year student and really confirmed for me that medicine is what I would like to do!  This semester I am taking all introduction classes: Sociology, Anthropology, Chemistry, and Physics.  They are all really interesting, although right now Anthropology is my favorite class (maybe because we were just doing biological anthropology and evolution).  Salsa has of course started again, and we are working on choreography for our showcase performance in April.  There are also four couples working on choreography for a performance in Los Angeles in May.  I learned the first part of the dance and can’t wait to see how the rest turns out when the performers dance it! 

Some fun and interesting experiences so far this semester:

Frank – named after Frank Sinatra, women dressed in cocktail dress and men in dress shirts and ties (and the occasional jacket), for the first hour and a half or so it was all music from the 50s and (after I left) it turned to more modern music. 

Chains – The best way to describe chains might be a high school dance, only every date is blind date and you are physically handcuffed to your “chain”.  This was our Valentine’s Day dance.  I knew my friends had chained me to a few people, but they wouldn’t tell me who.  I almost backed out the last minute, being a bit of a control freak, it was a bit difficult for me to relinquish control!  I ended up going, to discover that I was chained to one of the salsa guys, we had a blast and I’m glad I went. 

Concerned Black Students’ (CBS) performance – Three of the guys in salsa were performed a Step dance performance and so I think almost everyone from salsa showed up to cheer them on.  It was incredibly entertaining.  A girl that lives in my dorm also gave a very moving and emotional slam poetry performance.  It was wonderful that such an amazing event was put on for Black History Month.

TEDxGrinnell – For the first time ever, Grinnell hosted a TEDx event.  Seven alumni spoke on the theme “Speak Out!”.  From scientific to moving, it was inspirational to hear these alumni tell their stories.  I won the design contest for the logo, so I got a ticket and a free t-shirt with my design on it!  If any of you are interested in listening to the TED talk, they should be online somewhere (possibly here: http://www.tedxgrinnell.com/home-1/).

Chinese New Year – Again, another one of the salsa guys was performing so everyone showed up to watch him dance!  Of course there was yummy food, and I heard a few stories found in Buddhism. 

 

The last three events were all this past weekend, I had quite the busy and culturally diverse experience! 

Weather wise, it has been a bit of a rollercoaster.  The first week or two after winter break, the temperature stayed around 40 degrees, and then dropped into single digits with negative windchill.  It then proceeded to snow 9” and stay really cold.  Today it was -6 when I woke up with windchill to -18 and now it is 16 with windchill to 3.  We are supposed to get snow later this week, then hopefully we can be out of the woods in terms of snow!  It is absolutely beautiful, but I am ready for spring!!

These pictures were taken Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning.  For a total of 9 inches.