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.

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!