I am very happy to say that Macaulay is funding both my trip to Germany and my excavation in Minorca, Spain. I will be in Spain from June 3 - June 16 and then I will be going to Kassel, Germany with Hunter's immersion program. I will be in Germany until July 18. I am SO excited!! After these two trips, I will visit my family in Greece until the end of August. I will have a very busy but fulfilling summer!

This semester is almost over. I just need to get through finals. I hope I make it out alive!!

Saturday Night Musings

Hello everyone.

It's a Saturday night and I'm sitting at home listening to some music and of course writing this blog post. I've been trying to write my Seminar paper all day and I've made some progress but I've still got a lot to write. 
The end of the semester is always the toughest because a lot of papers are due and tests start getting harder. Finals are right around the corner too. But I figure I'll be alright. I managed to get through last semester in one piece. haha
Registration for Fall 2012 is this Tuesday and it's sure to be stressful as everyone rushes to get the classes they want. A semester in college is just not the same without that stressful day. :p
I can't believe freshmen year is almost over. It seems like yesterday that I was on Governor's Island on the first day of freshmen orientation. I remember how new and exciting it all felt. The possibilities seemed endless. 
I've had a great year. I've met some amazing people and learned a lot about myself.
I guess the most important thing I've learned is to stay true to myself and not get lost in all the craziness that this life can throw at us.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. <3

 Quote of the week:


A flower cannot blossom without sunshine, and man cannot live without love.
~Max Muller

S.

Sunny with a chance of a Bio Exam

Hi everyone. =)

It seems like every time there's a bio exam or chem exam all of the pre-med students in Macaulay go into crazy-student mode and get immensely stressed out. Every test feels like a big deal and it really can get overwhelming. I just had a bio exam this past Thursday and as you can imagine, I spent the entire week reading my bio textbook and trying to understand all the little details of the way the human body works. As much as this stuff can make me crazy, I love it and couldn't imagine not having this be a part of my college experience. Biology, in particular, makes me appreciate what our bodies do for us every day. There's an internal war going on every day with phagocytes engulfing pathogens, the heart beating nonstop to help circulate oxygen, and the liver detoxifying all of the junk food we put into our bodies. It's really amazing and I feel like most people don't take the time to really appreciate what our bodies do for us. So in the midst of memorizing how rod cells help us see at night and how B cells are activated, I took a step back from it all and told myself not to stress out and remember why I fell in love with biology in the first place. I find that this is the best way to get yourself through studying. Just remind yourself about that moment you first became interested in a particular subject and what you hope to do with your interest. It puts things in perspective.

This week was exceptionally sunny and spring-like. Perfect for long walks, eating out with friends, and people watching.

Speaking of friends, I don't know what I would do without mine. They keep me sane.

Have an awesome weekend! Mine is going to be a busy one. Yay for writing lab reports and studying for chem tests. haha

S.

Quote of the week:
Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds.
~Oscar Wilde

It's a small world after all

In the throes of writing a Genetics lab report, I am taking a "study break", a.k.a procrastinating, whilst my brown noise machine ( simplynoise.com - the best way for me to do work in the loud conditions of my floor) is on full blast.

I came across this article on the background reasons for why people pick their pets from shelters. Having adopted my Jack Russell Terrier-Hound/mutt mix, Ginger, from my local shelter, I was obviously interested in not only the article, but the paper.

The first thing I noticed when I went to the related study was that an individual from Hunter was a co-author of the study!

It's quite funny and cool to see Hunter all over the place.

http://shine.yahoo.com/animal-nation/aspca-study--pretty-pups-picked-first-at-shelters.html

Freebies

Yesterday was truly possibly the only day I had as a break this past week. My friends and I went to see the Anderson Cooper show. It was the first time that I ever participated in a quasi live tv show audience, and it was an unforgettable experience. Of course, with my current sniffles and cough, the thing most on my mind was "Dont cough or sneeze while on camera!" I think I literally went though all my cough drops (6, not good!) within the 2 hours.

After the show, I participated in the Zagat review table that they had laid out in a close by location at the TWC. I got my second freebie for the day ( or actually 2): a free t-shirt, and I will have a 2013 Zagat restaurant review guide mailed to my house come November.

To keep the ball rolling, my friends and I kept on wandering the pretty expensive yet beautiful stores at the center, when we came across the Godiva store. After perusing their sale section, we got samples, and I (finally) signed up for the Godiva rewards card, and got another free chocolate. I was on cloud nine!

Yesterday just proved to me once again how you can enjoy the city on a budget, or even for free!! I have once again promised myself to hunt down the best free/on the cheap things to do in the city- I can't wait to have an adventure at least once a week!

After getting home from the mini adventure, I filled out that popular "100 things you must eat before you die" list on facebook. I sadly only ate about 18 of the 100 items on the list! This totally trumped my mini high success from filling out the 15 reviews for the Zagat earlier in the day. In the spirit of reigniting former drives to accomplish old goals, I promised myself once again to try as many new things as possible, such as pho, haggis, alligator, bird's nest soup, etc.

An invigorating day, filled with new promises and great company. What a great break day!

Sunshine, MoMA, and the Garment District

Hello, everyone!!

I hope you're all having a fantastic break. The weather has really been amazing, and I find myself making excuses to go outside. haha
To those of you reading this that are seniors in high school and have already received your acceptance letters Macaulay at Hunter: Come to us!! We're cool people!! =)
I had a great time at the MoMA today. I've been trying to find the time to go for months, and I finally decided today was the day to just go and immerse myself in some contemporary art.
It was awesome. The two main exhibitions right now are the Diego Rivera exhibit and the Cindy Sherman exhibit. The Diego Rivera murals are breathtaking in their portrayal of Mexican workers and 1930's New York City. Cindy Sherman's work just completely blew me away. Virtually all of her photographs and portraits are of her dressing up as a particular "character". She not only is the photographer but also the subject, the stylist, and the make-up artist. Artists like her push boundaries to make the viewer see things in a different way.
Some photos from my visit:

A College Student's Thoughts...Zzzzz

Diego Rivera welcoming me into the exhibition.

The Starry Night

Self-Portrait by Frida Kahlo (Diego Rivera's wife)

I highly recommend both exhibitions. The other work in the museum is fabulous as well. Be sure to check it out.
I also visited the Garment District to get some photos for my Seminar 2 website project. I'm always trying to go to neighborhoods in Manhattan that I've never been to before.

In honor of the area's Garment Industry History

Last week, I went to the West Village. It's definitely an interesting neighborhood. The streets are slightly confusing because it feels like they cross every which way but I eventually got the hang of them.

Enjoy the rest of your break!


Quote of the Week:

"Today expect something good to happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday. Realize the past no longer holds you captive. It can only continue to hurt you if you hold on to it. Let the past go. A simply abundant world awaits."
~Sarah Breathnach 

S.

Presentation, Spring Break, and Unpredictable Events

Hello everyone.

I hope everyone had a good weekend.
Spring Break is so close I can smell it. haha
Just four more days till freedom. =)

This past Thursday, I presented my final project on East European Jews and how they made a living in their home countries and in New York City. My partner said I spoke for 30 minutes straight. (I was supposed to speak for only 15 minutes!) But what can I say? I had a lot to say. :p
The next part of the project is making a webpage to educate other people on what I researched. The final part of the project is a research paper. I have really connected to my topic, and I find it all incredibly interesting.

Recently, I've been thinking about the idea of how easily the rug can be pulled out from under us and how we all take so many things for granted. Nothing is guaranteed in life. You've always got to be prepared for whatever comes your way. But at the same time, you can't get too preoccupied with all the "bad" things that can happen because that's no way to live. This can be a difficult thing to balance for many people.

I also volunteered for the Macaulay Admitted Students Day for the Class of 2016 this past Wednesday. It was exciting to see all of the kids who got in. I remember being in their position just a year ago. It's insane how fast time goes by.


Quote of the week:
“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” –Life’s Little Instruction Book

S.