Snow, V-Day, and Crystals

Hey, everyone!!

It's a foggy Monday afternoon in NYC, and I'm sitting on the 7th floor skywalk. It's kind of noisy right now because a bunch of people are hanging out, eating, and talking. I really like it up here though. The view is amazing, and I always feel unburdened when I sit here. Maybe it's because I can see how big the world is, and that helps to keep things in perspective.

We finally had a big snowstorm this winter! I know snow can be a pain with all the trouble it causes with transportation, but I think it's really pretty. It's just not winter if there's no snow. It's also really fun to walk in the snow. I always feel like I'm in one of those warm winter movie scenes where the main character catches a snowflake in her glove and sighs with content at the beauty of the world. haha.

This Thursday is Valentine's Day, and it's also the 15th anniversary of V-Day. V-Day is an organization that seeks to end all violence against around the world. It was started by Eve Ensler, the writer of The Vagina Monologues. I highly recommend reading it. If you're a girl or even a guy, it will make you question things, and it will inspire you. This Thursday, V-Day is celebrating its anniversary with a new event called "1 Billion Rising". One billion women around the world are subject to violence. The movement wants to counteract that statistic with the image of 1 billion rising and dancing.
This Thursday, Hunter is going to host a V-Day event on the third floor of HW on Thursday if anyone's interested.

Thursday is also Valentine's Day so that's always exciting. haha. It's always cool to celebrate love and kindness and friendship. It's also a great excuse to wear red and eat chocolate. :p We all have to make time for love somewhere in the middle of organic reactions, papers, and general exhaustion.

In orgo lab today, my partner and I did a crystallization experiment. We had to purify a solid through the use of a solvent and filtration. It was actually really interesting. When we saw our purified crystals at the end, it was so exciting!! haha. Science can be really cool sometimes.

I chose the song below for this week for 3 reasons.

1. I've loved Lifehouse and Natasha Bedingfield since I first heard "You and Me" and "Unwritten", respectively.
2. Valentine's Day is this week.
3. It's raining. haha.

S.

Song of the Week

Look around
There's no one but you and me
Right here and now
The way it was meant to be
There's a smile on my face
Knowing that together everything that's in our way
We're better than alright

Walking between the raindrops
Riding the aftershock beside you
Off into the sunset
Living like there's nothing left to lose
Chasing after gold mines
Crossing the fine lines we knew
Hold on and take a breath
I'll be here every step
Walking between the raindrops with you

"Between the Raindrops" by Lifehouse featuring Natasha Bedingfield