End of the Month, September

So last week was our second full week in a row (and our fifth in total), and I have to say I'm surprised at how fast it is going. It might help that I have Mondays off completely, but I still think I would say it were going fast. The days don't seem to, as they're happening, but now that it's the weekend and another week is just around the corner, I'm like "Woah, where'd the week go?" I feel like I've said the same thing and held the same sort of sentiment since sophomore year in high school, but I definitely always feel it. Also, the thing about university is that it is quicker - you only take a course for one semester instead of, how I believe most classes are done in high school, for an entire year. And this semester, I am taking five courses (which is A LOT, but actually quite a few less than in high school): Chinese, a Political Science course that is about American Criminal Law, a Human Rights course titled International Justice and Policy, the Science and Technology Macaulay seminar, and Arabic 101! I'm really happy with my courses, overall, and even though this is the MHC seminar I'm probably least suitable for, it's actually not too bad because our big project has to do with international environmental policies and whatnot. I think my favourite course at the moment has to be my Human Rights course, because we've already seen 2 speakers and it's really interesting, and incorporates international justice with a bit of history and of course human rights issues, all of which I'm really interested in. I am enjoying most of my other classes too, and even though Arabic is SO DIFFICULT, I am really excited about learning a new language..

As we are approaching a new month, I thought I'd just write about a few things that I experienced this month that I thought were worthy of being talked about. The first is the fact that there is a new Pret right by the 6 train on 23rd street; bad for my wallet, good for my taste buds! I've actually been quite surprised by how many of my friends don't know Pret! They have them in England, and my family often likes to stop in (whether in NY or in England somewhere) for a quick sandwich or soup, on a cold day. Now I've had two sandwiches, both actually last week, which I really loved and highly recommend. The first was the Chicken and Bacon sandwich, which was something I had rushing to Human Rights on Wednesday and was quite filling and definitely a good late lunch/early dinner thing. The second was something that I picked up on my way home on Friday, and is called the Bang Bang Chicken. It's one of their new wraps, and has a bit of a kick - so if you don't like spicy, you might not want to try. Both of them were very filling and very yummy!

Another mentionable was the Colour Run which I volunteered at with Stacey and Sam. My shoes and bag are still bright pink! We didn't actually run it, but I still think that volunteering was a lot of fun and a bit of hard work. I would definitely recommend signing up to volunteer at a 5K sometime; charity ones (which I've volunteered at before) are really good because it's for a good cause, and even if you aren't running, you're still showing support. But even 5K's that are just for fun are good to volunteer at because you get to see these people who are having a lot of fun exercising, and you know with ones like the colour run you get to have some fun too. And as Macaulay students, we're always looking out for ways to get in our community service hours (need to go find that sheet so I can claim my hours!).

And just a quick last thing which I saw just this weekend, but put a smile on my face for old times is this video of Kurt Hugo Schneider and Lindsey Stirling on Youtube. They made a Pokémon Dubstep Remix and it is awesome! I don't know if you were into Pokémon as a kid, but I was and I thought this was a cute throwback.

 

Exams (Yuck)

Hi, everyone!! =)

It's the end of another week here at Hunter, and I'm feeling a bit exhausted. I'll be studying for my Stats 213 exam this weekend, and I'm really not looking forward to it. I don't like when my weekends are swallowed up studying for exams and/or writing long papers. You can be the best student in the world, and those kinds of weekends will still feel like torture. But by Sunday night, when you've completed the studying/writing, you feel so good just to be done. But I know that I'll be even more relieved by Monday afternoon when my exam is over. Sigh. This semester's academic struggles are slowly but surely beginning.

Speaking of exams, people always give advice about how to best prepare for an exam, but hardly anybody ever talks about what to do during the actual exam.

Below are a few tips I have about how you should be thinking and what you should be doing during an exam in order to increase your chances of getting a fantastic score:

• When you first receive the exam, take a deep breath and block out all distractions. Do not think about your family, your friends, or the guy/girl you like that might be sitting beside you. Just focus on the paper in front of you.
• Tell yourself that this exam is only a piece of paper with words on it. You have a whole beautiful brain with amazing thoughts. The exam has nothing compared to what you have. Do not let it intimidate you.
• Write your name on the exam. Seems kind of obvious, but when people are stressed, they tend to forget the basics.
• Before tackling any of the questions, flip through the exam, and note how many pages there are (make sure your aren't missing any), and note how many questions there are. This should help you figure out approximately how much time you should spend on each question. 
• As you go through the exam, read all of the questions thoroughly. Read them several times, and underline key words. 
• Do not lose your focus during the exam. But at the same time, do not drive yourself to insanity. When you're stuck on a question, look away from the exam for a bit. This helps you to relax your brain for a bit, and may also help you get the answer. When your brain has a few seconds to breathe, you may make a connection that you didn't see before. 
• This is kind of an obvious one, but since cheating still goes on in college, it's definitely worth mentioning. Please do not look at other people's exams, and do not talk to anyone during the exam. And don't look at illegally obtained exams given by the professor in years past. That gives you an unfair advantage, and that is just wrong. If someone tries to talk to you during an exam, pretend that you don't hear them. It's not worth putting your academic integrity at risk for a few points. And don't put other people's futures at risk by cheating off of them. Cheating is stupid and gets you nowhere. You may cheat and get a way with it and get an amazing score, but you're always going to know that you didn't earn it the right way. 
• During the last few minutes of the exam, when you're struggling to finish the last few questions or tackle the most difficult ones, you have to be at your best. Do not panic. Do not focus on that fact that you have only five minutes left to finish. Just do it. If you're trying to finish the last couple of questions, just read quickly and write something down. Give it a shot. If you're struggling with that last question and you just want to give up on it and just give your exam in, don't. Hang on, and just think about that question in a different way. When that adrenaline is pumping through you, you tend to make the necessary connections. Just don't give up. 
• If you have some time left at the end of the exam, check your work. Make sure your calculations make sense, your sentences don't have typos, and that your handwriting is legible. Fix mistakes quickly and without panicking.
• Give in the exam, gather your things, and leave the room. Take a deep breath. Avoid discussing answers to exam questions with your friends. This will just freak you out. 
• Try to go outside for awhile, eat something, and just relax.
• You did it, and you can be proud in the fact that you didn't give up. 

I hope that this was helpful for anyone reading this. Exams are just part of a student's life. The better you learn to handle them, the less painful the experience will be. 

Now to a completely different topic. haha.

I went to the Brooklyn Book Festival last Sunday. It was held in downtown Brooklyn on a beautiful sunny day. It was the perfect weather to discuss reading, writing, and the modern literary experience. The highlight of my day was getting to see Lois Lowry (The Giver Quartet, Number the Stars) and Meg Cabot (The Princess Diaries). I grew up reading their books, and it was so exciting to see them just a few feet away from me. I must have sat there with my mouth open the whole time just absorbing everything they said. I was also introduced to a bunch of new authors whose books I'm eager to tackle during our next college break. 

Lois Lowry (At left)

Meg Cabot

September is already ending...and with it the first month of my junior year. Here's to continued success for all of us as we tackle this semester. 

S.

Song of the week

I tried carrying the weight of the world
But I only have two hands
Hope I get the chance to travel the world
But I don't have any plans

Wish that I could stay forever this young
Not afraid to close my eyes
Life's a game made for everyone
And love is the prize

So wake me up when it's all over
When I'm wiser and I'm older
All this time I was finding myself
And I didn't know I was lost

~ "Wake Me Up" by Avicii

Being Pretty in the City

So I have been talking about going with short hair for a very long time.
This Friday, I gathered all my courage and did it!

Now, getting any sort of beauty treatment here in the city is an interesting experience. Most of the salons and such are very nice - but very pricy. And even though our tuition is paid, I am still a broke college student. You can go to a cheap place in Chinatown, like some of my friends do. But those kids speak fluent Chinese, and I am not brave enough to attempt going there without them.

So what's the solution?  Let your hair grow until it drags along the floor? Cut it yourself and hope for the best? Wait until you go home again?

Nope. The solution is free haircuts.

This place teaches advanced haircutting skills to people who are already certified hairdressers.

But they need models to teach on, so they'll offer free cuts if you're willing to fit to one of their styles. You can get a few different ones, I went for a razor-bob cut. (I am not cute at the moment, so no pictures today. Sorry guys!)

They emailed me at 10:30 in the morning, and I was in for a 2:30 appointment. All I had to do was send them a picture of my current hair length. Normally you do have to go to a preliminary hair assessment, but they needed models badly that day.

The other upside is that I managed to be rebellious and make my mother angry. She hates my hair short, but its how I feel most confident. And that is part of what college is about - making yourself happy. When my mom was the one paying for my haircut, she would simply refuse to pay to get it short, and I was too cheap to pay for it myself. Now, I'm living on my own, making my own decisions - and it felt like the right time to reassert my individuality. (I got said cut 2 days before my 19th birthday.)

When I told her on the phone, she wasn't thrilled, but I think that "Mom! I got that haircut I've been talking about for over two years that you wouldn't pay for, but I got it for free!" is definitely a better reason to call than "Mom! I've found myself and I'm moving to a Buddhist commune on the West Coast with my friends Ash, Patchouli and Mountain!"

The whole commune thing is something my mother fears a little bit. I'm too much the hippy for her taste.

Greenmarkets and Beautiful Sundays

So I'm gonna be slightly less intense in this blog post than last. It's a beautiful Sunday here in New York, the perfect weather for just lazing around and reading a book in the park or brunch. Tee-shirt, jeans, and flats weather. Unfortunately, I have a lot of work to do so I can't really luxuriate in the beautiful sunny day. However, I snuck a little fresh air in after lunch by going to the Stuyvesant Town Greenmarket. I usually go to the Union Square Greenmarket, but it's not open on Sundays.

For those who don't know, New York is rife with cute little farmer's markets where you can buy organic produce, artisan bread, jellies and jams, cheese, and meat from counties throughout New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and even Vermont. It's a little piece of green in a concrete jungle such a New York. I always feel so healthy and good when I go there. This market was smaller with just 10 booths, compared to the almost 40 of Union Square, but it was cute and quaint. I got ingredients for making dinner tonight (yellow squash and zucchini) and fresh 9 grain bread!

It was also the apple harvest festival today, so there were free apple tastings and over 70 varieties to choose from. I've always loved Macintosh apples because they're the Kindergarten apples (sweet and easy to bite). I found a new apple love in Honeycrisp though. Now I'm going to eat the fruits (haha) of my labors with honey and do my dreaded homework. God, I love fall.

P.S. There's an entire list of Greenmarkets in NYC, which can be found by clicking here.

A Mixed Bag of Thoughts

Hi, everyone.

I started off this week in a semi-crappy way. My first class of the week is Asian Religions, and it's at 9:45 AM. I usually get there 10 or 15 minutes early because I can't stand being late. But this Monday, there were signal problems and a medical emergency on the Q line, so I was stuck on the train in Brooklyn for a long time. I originally thought I was going to be only 10 or 15 minutes late. Boy, was I wrong. As I stood on the train and watched the minutes pass, my frustration grew and grew. I was fuming. I ended up coming to class 35 MINUTES late. I have never been this late to a class in my entire life. By the time I came to class, I had calmed myself down and just accepted it. I'm lucky that my professor is super nice, and she didn't mind me coming late. The point is stuff like this is bound to happen in life. Let yourself get frustrated, but remember that in the grand scheme of things, this moment won't even matter. Fun fact: I actually came 15 minutes late for my first college class back in freshman year. Guess why? Medical emergency on the train. Sigh. As a commuter student, I'm always at the mercy of the MTA.

In my religion class this week, we've been discussing The Bhagavad Gita. One of the points that Krishna makes is that we should work without expecting a reward. It's an interesting concept because we live in a world where our every action is done in order to "get ahead". We are always interested in doing whatever is necessary to get to the next level. Ambition is a great thing, but when we are always focused on getting to the next thing, we don't enjoy what we are doing at the present. I know that this is a huge problem for me as a pre-med student. Pre-meds are constantly under pressure to make sure they finish all of their required coursework and do well in all of their courses. After months of doing this, we lose interest in the subject we are learning. We just worry about the next science course we have to take or the next volunteering/internship opportunity we should take advantage of it or the next research lab we should join. It's always about just doing, doing, doing with the intention of getting that awesome reward, getting into med school, and of course, getting the ultimate reward, becoming a physician. How about we just enjoy one class at a time and one opportunity at a time without thinking so much about the end result? We would learn so much more and feel so much more fulfilled.

There's been a lot of talk about General Petraeus on this blog, and I figure that I should give my two cents. Personally, I don't think he should be teaching at CUNY. I believe he took this job for purely selfish reasons, and he doesn't really care about any of us. But those protests got out of hand. People were following him, and shouting at him. Even though I dislike the man, it was hard to watch. I feel that having these kinds of protests will accomplish nothing because it's too easy for the administration to say that the protests are out of hand and to just completely ignore the issue. I think that having a meeting where all sides of the argument get to be heard is the best option. This afternoon, there was a meeting at the Macaulay building to do exactly that. I have no idea how the meeting went, but I hope that the administration understands why the students are so frustrated. They need to listen to us because college is about the students and not about the people who are on top and making all the money. There are dozens of amazing academics out there. Why does Macaulay need this one? I don't want us to be known as the program that Petraeus used as a stepping stone to regain a top position in society. We are the problem-solvers of tomorrow, and we deserve better.

Since I don't want to end this post with talking about Petraeus, I'll end with something more positive.
A few weeks ago, I went to my bio advisor's office hours to ask some questions. At a certain point in the conversation, he asked me "What do you want to be when you grow up?" It's been so long since I've heard that question. I feel like everyone assumes that we are grown up, and it was nice to hear him ask me that. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm not in any particular rush to grow up. Here's to always asking yourself that question.

S.

Quote of the Week

“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” 

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Petraeus Nonsense

I feel the need to clear some things up in terms of my opinion on General David Petraeus's appointment as an adjunct professor at Macaulay. Obviously, this appointment is controversial. Obviously, it has incited much discussion over his qualifications and his history as a war criminal.

Many believe this appointment to be justified, such as the Board of Trustees as well as Dean Ann Kirschner. And that's completely fine. However, as Kirschner says in her statement, CUNY is a place where complex issues and points of view are discussed and debated in order to solve the issues in our world. To this end, "it is important that multiple points of view be heard." This seems to be a good statement. A great one, in fact, for supporting the appointment of someone with a sordid military history and dubious moral standing. 

But that's just my opinion. One that should be heard, and allowed to be voiced under the First Amendment. It's great that we respect all points of view, or at least feign to. In fact, it's come to my attention that there is only respect for views that agree with our own or which are convenient to our ends (see also: the appointment of Petraeus as a political move; more on this later). 

In this way, I don't see a respect for all points of view. Six protestors were arrested for "inciting a riot, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct." In fact, one of my professors was at this so-called "violent" riot. She said it was a peaceful protest, marked by forced police intervention for nearly no reason. All I see is police brutality in the force of peaceful protest and rightful voicing of opinions that deserve to be heard. I see the silencing of those who don't support the appointment of someone who they see as a war criminal, because the way they are going about it seems "disgusting" and that protestors are "crossing a line" and being "childish" in their protests. Well, I don't know how to word this nicely, but sometimes to make yourself heard, it isn't pretty. It isn't nice. It's called protest for a reason. I feel nothing but pride as I watch my fellow students express their opinions about Petraeus's appointment, because they are voicing an opinion that has a right to be heard, whether or not others agree with it. It's not childish to demand your constitutionally-endorsed right to freedom of speech to be respected. I wonder how societal change can be achieved without those who believe in freedom of speech, regardless of consequences.

In my opinion, Petraeus's appointment has nothing to do with his academic merit. It has nothing to do with what he could or could not teach us. It has to do entirely with CUNY's reputation, image, and renown. It has to do with the supposed repairing of Petraeus's destroyed public image after the scandal which cost him his job as head of the CIA. How generous of him to teach us for just $1 (but only after the uproar surrounding his would-be salary of more than $200,000).  

I feel Petraeus's presence on an academic campus to be the beginning of the end for open academia. It signals to me, as my teacher put it "the militarization of education". This terrifies me. For as long as I've known, education has been the one freedom we have to express our thoughts and opinions. What will happen when education is manipulated towards the ends of the military? Where will free speech go? It seems, where it has been going. In the gutter.

To address the criminal charges against Petraeus: although he has not been tried (and never will be), I refuse to acknowledge his innocence. He will never be tried for his war crimes, and that is an injustice to society. There are laws to break (Henry David Thoreau's *gasp* tax evasion in the name of revolution against the state's tyranny and oppression of the people), and then there is the human rights violation of the torture methods used in Iraq, and the needless many others killed at Petraeus's hands. I don't deny those who claim he was just following orders. So were those who persecuted and exterminated the Jews in concentration camps during World War II. But I don't accept that just because he was following orders, he is innocent.

Henry David Thoreau believed in the importance of the individual. The individual contributes to the rise and maintenance of the state. It is on many individuals that laws are maintained and the state continues running. In Thoreau's opinion, the individual must make his true opinion heard, regardless of the consequences. Not to do this would be a moral disgrace. Moreover, to blindly acquiesce to the majority without thought would be to affirm the government's right to oppress people. 

Today, sitting in the Honors Lounge, I heard students talking about this issue, saying that Petraeus isn't going anywhere and the protestors are being "annoying" and should just give up. This passivity irritates me, but more so worries me. If we, as students, passively accept what the administration, government, and society says without question, we are doing ourselves and our school a disservice. In fact, the whole point of school and education as a whole should be to question our previously held notions of the moral authority held by those in power. That students are inconveniencing the school and the community is exactly what they need to be doing. Change comes about inconveniently. The arguments used against these students, that they are being "disruptive," is the same argument used to silence those who inconvenience the majority (see also: those who fight for gender, race, and economic equality; those who fight against/to dismantle the societal hierarchy). These people deserve to be heard just as much as Petraeus, or anyone else. If we are to be truly supportive of the idea that many points of view should be heard, we shouldn't be silencing those who disagree with the faculty appointment of Petraeus. Just because he has been approved by faculty doesn't null the weight of the charges brought against him, nor does it make the dissent among students and faculty impermissible. We shouldn't just sit by and watch as those in power make decisions that affect us. We are a part of this institution, and we should have a say in it. 

A Whole Lotta Pink

A week and a half ago I volunteered with some friends at two 5k’s: The Color Run and The Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure. In total, we did about 12.5 hours of volunteering.

On Saturday we woke up at the wonderful hour of 4am to make the trek to Brooklyn, aka where the color run was held. I actually ran the race last year and figured volunteering would be just as fun, and it was. 

Preparing for action 

My friends and I were stationed at the first “color zone”. It was our job to douse

thousands of happy runners in pink cornstarch.  For six hours we were on our feet dancing as well as wielding mustard bottles in dense clouds of pink fumes, but overall it was a great experience and I’m definitely going to drag more friends with me to volunteer next year.

On Sunday we also woke up at 4am to get to Central Park on time for the volunteer check-in at the breast cancer walk, obviously donning whatever pink clothes we could. We spent around six and a half hours working the baggage claim, a job which is much more strenuous than it sounds. We had to direct stubborn New Yorkers not in the race away from the barricaded site, keep track of every one’s personal items, organize bags with five digit id numbers numerically, just basically a lot of running back and forth. It was a long six-ish hours, but totally worth it. Everyone’s energy was great, and its always fun hearing total stranger’s stories, whether they’re checking in their stuff or beside you volunteering.  

There’s just something about the energy at races that I love so much, whether I’m participating or volunteering (gotta get those hours). It’s a fun way to work with and meet new people, even if you’re never going to see them again. 

Guess who's back???

First of all, I'd like to welcome all the new bloggers, all the new students, and all the new blog-readers to this school year! Everyone else - welcome back!

The beginning of my sophomore year is exactly how I expected - classes, ambitions, and a whole lot of chaos. Also, I might be sick.

My summer was excellent - I worked as a Deputy Field Organizer in the Town of Huntington, running a coordinated campaign for the Town Supervisor, the County Legislators, and the Town Council members. I went to Disney World in Florida with my parents and my little brother.

Move-in day was hectic, since Hunter moved in the same day as the BioBlitz. The BioBlitz was intriguing, if not my cup of tea. The nice part was that I got plants, which meant I got to take the day easy- plants can't run away.

The first week of classes went about as I expected. I'm taking an Asian Religions class, a class on Criminal and Constitutional Law, my Macaulay Seminar, and a class on the Bill of Rights. While I like the topics, I've found a few professors I don't care for. However, I decided not to switch out of the classes. It felt too much like giving up if I did. I guess I'll just focus on the readings and pray that I survive class time. We had quite an odd assortment of days off in the first two weeks (thank god for Jewish holidays) so I went to Buffalo to visit my Grandmother. She had a small conniption when she found out that textbooks really do cost $160 or more. She thought the man on the radio was exaggerating. Oh how I wish he was Grandma, how I wish he was.

Its pretty excellent being back in the city - 24 hour restaurants, 24 hour subway system, constantly surrounded by friends - I missed this when I was home. To be frank though, I miss the sleep I got when I was home.  This is "the city that never sleeps" for a reason.

I feel compelled to say  something on the subject of General Petraeus' appointment. There has been so much controversy about it - students incredibly excited to learn from such a successful man, students terrified to have him among our ranks. People are continually calling him a "war criminal" and a "misuse of CUNY money".

I don't have an issue with the respectful dissent that is going on - people not signing up for his class, sign-holding, respectful protest against his presence. No one says you have to agree with every decision CUNY and Macaulay make.

But of late, the protesting has gotten out of hand. Students were shouting at him, calling him names, not even related to what his supposed transgressions are. By harassing him and disrupting his class with displays outside of it, they're refusing to respect the intellectual freedom of their fellow students.

If we, as a society, decided to outlaw learning from "criminals", we would be sent back to the stone ages. Many great theorists in politics were technically members of the Nazi party. Wernher Von Braun, the founder of NASA, was a Nazi. Even Henry David Thoreau wasn't a law-abiding citizen. One of the professors here at Hunter was suspected of terrorism, and incarcerated for possession of explosives. Yet, she teaches one of the best classes - Women's Prison Memoirs. General Petraeus isn't teaching a class on warfare. He's not talking about destruction. He's talking about creation, the future- and what we as students might do to make it better.

And for those who claim to know something about the war he helped command, those who seem to determined to say that he is, beyond all doubt, a war criminal - I would remind you "Innocent, until proven guilty.

If you'd care to read it,  here is Dean Kirschner's excellent response, on the Macaulay Homepage.

Crossing That Line

My second post was supposed to be happy - about starting up my fall classes, finally moving all my stuff into my room and having it be livable, and getting to hang out with all the friends that I hadn't seen in months - but somethings have been happening at Macaulay and Hunter recently that I couldn't not say anything about. I'm sure everyone knows about General Petraeus' class and about much of the attention that his position at Macaulay has garnered. Well, last week was the first class and there was a group of students protesting outside. Now, I wasn't there but I have seen a video documenting a group of students' verbal harassment of General Petraeus while he's walking on the streets that day.

I am not an expert on Petraeus' past, I don't particularly have any personal interest in taking his class, but I know when something is crossing a line. And I'm not talking about him teaching here, I'm talking about these students verbally abusing a man that has been approved of by the faculty at this institution they are a part of. Watching the video of them doing so actually made me feel ill. Petraeus remains silent and continues to walk, even crossing the street in an attempt to get away from these students (though they follow him). In response, Dean Kirschner put out a statement that did not outright ban the students from protesting again (as they promised to do to Petraeus' face), as she obviously cannot censor them that way, but more asking them to reconsider acting so disgustingly (not using that word, of course).

I don't think that there is any problem with students not wanting Petraeus to teach here. I don't think that there is any problem with any student not wanting any professor to teach here. However, shouting about Petraeus being a war criminal, in my opinion, is really ridiculous because he has never been convicted - he's never even been brought to trial. Also, no matter how much you don't want something - making yourself look like more of the bad guy is never the solution. I think the bottom line is that I, personally, don't believe that one should cross ethical lines to get one's viewpoint across. Now the question would be, I suppose, is protesting the way those students are crossing an ethical line? To me, when I'm watching a recording of it and feeling ill, yes it is. And, personally, I am really embarrassed to call these people my classmates/schoolmates, because their reactions to what has become a controversial appointment is very childish and, as I've said, has made me ill to watch. I don't think that anyone should be stopped from protesting or talking about why they don't want Petraeus to teach at Macaulay, but I don't think anyone should resort to the manner these students have.

If people are interested, here is the link to the video and you can find Dean Kirschner's statement on the homepage of the Macaulay website.

The Liver and His Integrity

Sadly, I'm afraid that this blog has essentially become a chronicling of my ridiculous tv obsessions through college. I'm surprised I didn't dedicate an entire post to Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls' baby faced smile. But aha! This year I have only watched one twenty minute show and it's been two weeks of college! And it was the season 2 premiere of The Mindy Project! Ok and Legend of Korra season 2 premiere as well...but nothing else! (Wait can I just say...Mako and Korra are cute and stuff but also boring now that they're together. Moment of silence for this)

In my exciting adventures this past week, I ran into a vaguely cute boy. We made slightly awkward eye contact before I casually sashayed away (just kidding. I bumblingly dashed, I'm sure, but for imagination purposes let's go with sashayed) and as I contemplated the meaning of our .02 seconds of deep eye contact, my ever informative friend tapped my shoulder and told me of the piece of banana hovering over my lip. And that's how I keep it classy with the boys, folks. In fact, I'm sure I'll meet my to be husband (unless the title of cat lady is in my future) while doing something extremely embarrassing. I say this because every cute boy I've ever interacted with usually involves our first meeting being very memorable... them tapping my shoulder and me shrieking and turning around as if I were in Taken with enough fright to make them fall, and other worse stories like this but I'll refrain from scandalizing the public with unnecessary awkwardness.
However, my dad has hope for me yet: in admiring the watch he bought for me for class, he looked at it lovingly and said, "You know Amirah. I think now that you've got this watch, and it looks so nice and stylish, you'll hook a lot of boys now." Obviously the watch alone will help me in this regard- thank goodness I've got it now, dad, it'll definitely bring all the boys to the yard, this is what I've been missing all these years, this thin stylish band that will heighten my attractiveness to an unparalleled level never seen before!

Anyway, other updates I'm sure everyone wants to read: I spent last week reading over twenty chapters, and my textbook was interesting, so interesting in fact that I have written a series of short stories entitled The Liver and His Integrity. Additionally I am creating a master-plan outline for my upcoming new fantasy adventure series that takes place in the body, and features:

-a pair of naughty prankster lungs and their pleura, whose idea of fun is to feign respiratory arrest and ask the cerebral twins for bail

-a burbling, slow moving blood-brain barrier whom nothing gets past (quite literally so, eh?)

-a grumpy paranoid cirrhosis-fearing liver and his enzymatic minions of digestion

-a soft speaking, literary aficionado heart whose mutters are oft taken for murmurs, to his great annoyance 

-a loud, grumbling but harmless and generally overestimated fellow of a stomach who doesn't like his HCL anymore than the next microbe

-all in all, a really rather cheeky gallbladder

-a worrisome, overweight bladder with an overbearing uterus of a mother

-and of course, our underdog hero and his possible band of misfits...but it's a work in progress. 

I have really been spending a lot of time with my textbook. Don't judge me.

I feel needlessly happy- no really- because I've got so much reading to do and clinicals to practice for, and I had two long classes today but I enjoyed them and I like what I'm doing! And I guess that's enough to be happy sometimes. Junior year feels like freshman year all over again. I'm in the nursing program, so I'm meeting and befriending cool new people, and I wish we could all just know each other already so we'd be past this potentially-awkward meeting stage. I have made a bunch of cool new friends and we hang out and practice taking blood pressure on each other and make jokes about assessing our lives since that is a major component of our nursing textbook right now.

I meant to keep this post short and decidedly non-rambly, but what fun would that be, so wish me luck in my adventures of trying to accurately take blood pressure without cutting off my friends' circulations!

Amirah

PS: Excerpts from this week's Adventures in the Library

1. Ate chocolates and toffee before going to the library this week, promptly fell asleep and woke the next hour living in fear that the poor lady next to me had cringed listening to me snore the entire time

2. Reflected that Copacabana is a cool name and a cool place where I would like to fan myself on the beach and sip a cold drink. This may or not only be because of a recent Bollywood movie I watched and them mentioning this location in Law & Order: SVU. 

3. Cried over Esperanza Rising when I reread the ending. This crying in the children's book section is getting inappropriate because the kids keep seeing me, and I'm not sure if I'm scaring them off books. I couldn't believe the onset of emotions I had over Miguel and her father dying. I'm not sure the fifth graders could believe it either.

4. I bilaterally assessed my carotid pulses and then I read that you're not supposed to bilaterally do it, because you could stimulate your carotid sinuses and cause irreversible damage to cerebral blood flow, which then freaked me out for the next hour as I convinced myself that I was having odd head and neck pains...I'm still not 100% sure my neck feels the same right now either, honestly

My Kind-of Quarter-Life Crisis

My blog posts on here have become kinda preachy and annoying. Hm. I think it's a symptom of my increasing awareness of my (less than) 6 months left of teenager-hood. I'm not quite sure how the time got away from me, but like five seconds ago I was 17 and not sure what to do with my life and now I'm quickly approaching 20 and (again) I have even less of an idea of what I'm doing with my life. You might think that as a sophomore (with a definitively declared major, no less), I would maybe have a hold on things. Ha, you guessed wrong there.

You'll find that declaring your major makes you feel slightly better in that, on paper, you know where your life is headed. However, your major isn't definitive in that it doesn't exactly tell you what you're going to do with your life. I mean, Miuccia Prada has a P.h.D in Political Science, yet she participated in the women's rights movement, was a Communist Party member, a mime, and is now a prominent fashion designer. What does that even say about our major decisions? I'll tell you what it says to me: to limit what you want to do with your life by what you study in college is crazy. Of course, there are practical considerations (money, which is sadly a joke to an English major such as I).

But I like to think (the semi-idealist that I am) that you should not be bound to work in the field you studied in college. Do what you love, what you're good at, or what you're interested in. I see so many people choose majors based on future economic success. Pre-med is disgustingly over-enrolled. I'm not saying there aren't those who would enjoy that route. I'm just saying, do something you love. Even if it's impractical. You'll learn something anyway, and you'll be a lot happier. If you can't do what you love in college, I say don't bother. But that's coming from the privileged perspective of someone who doesn't pay for college at all, I guess.

The semi-amended version of this statement for the not-so-idealists is try something new. Try something you don't know if you'll like, or something that doesn't go towards one of the many GERs or P/D requirements or major requirements. You have electives. You have room in your schedule. Believe me, even as a double-major I have room for electives. The GERs and P/D requirements will expose you to some pretty great stuff, but there's always another language to learn, a philosophical theory to study, or a historical period to explore. There's dance classes (yoga is something I've been eyeing for awhile), literature courses, and a culture or religion you know nothing about.

There's more to life than figuring out what you want to do as a career. It's important to figure out who you want to be as a person. And that's what college is all about for me.

And that actually ended up being only half-preachy!

Erica

Namaste

Hey, everyone!

We actually had an almost full week of classes this week, and I definitely felt the tiredness. But next week will be the real full week. Yikes. But I'm ready to "attack" the semester. After two years, I like to think that I've got things under control, but life likes to surprise people (especially us poor, unsuspecting college students).

I've previously talked about my love for putting things up on the walls of my room. There's stuff up everywhere. I'm running out of white space. But I think it looks awesome. It's the culmination of three years of inspiration and lots of "Hey, I think this looks cool. Let's put it on the wall." I know that a lot of people decorate their dorms when they're college, but since I don't dorm, I'm missing out on that experience. I'm completely ok with it though. My room is much bigger than a dorm, which means I have more wall space to put things on. Also, if I dormed, I think I would miss all the cool things hanging on these walls.

The primary election was this week, and I voted! My last class that day ended at 6:50 P.M. so I had a good amount of time to get back to Brooklyn before the polls closed at 9 PM. The old voting machines (they're from the 1960's) were not as confusing as I thought they would be, but I heard there was some trouble with the machines in some other areas. The biggest story that came out of the primary was the continuing battle between Bill de Blasio and Bill Thompson. We still don't know who the Democratic mayoral candidate is, which is a bit frustrating. Also, I was surprised to see that Spitzer lost to Stringer. I guess his money wasn't enough to make people trust him. He's super intelligent though, and I really think he may have been the better comptroller.

I was sitting on the train on Wednesday morning on the way to my 8 AM physics class, and I was reading The Bhagavad Gita, which is part of a Hindu epic called Mahabharata. (My religion professor assigned the first few chapters for us to read for next week.) The man sitting next to me was an Orthodox Jew, and he was reading a  book written in Hebrew (which I assume was the Torah, but it could have been something else.) On the other side of me was a woman reading another book, but I'm not sure what it was about. I just thought it was the coolest thing that the three of us were sitting side by side reading three different texts at 7 AM on the train. Kinda awesome.

I had my first bio quiz for Bio 203 on Thursday. It was NOT easy. Sigh.

Some thoughts on DNA: People underestimate the complexity of DNA. They like to think that all the answers to a person's problems lie in their DNA. Maybe they do, but first we have to understand how to read it properly and that is not an easy thing. Also, people like to think that DNA is a concrete thing, and it is in many ways. But gene expression changes all the time, and we don't fully understand why or how.

Anyway, we're approaching mid-September. I'm looking forward to the crisp fall air that's soon to come.

I couldn't figure out what to call this week's featured phrase so I just called it "Meaning of the week". Every time I think about the meaning of "namaste", I want to quit saying "hello" to people and just say "namaste". It's so much more powerful.

S.

Meaning of the Week

Namaste

“I honor the place in you in which the entire universe dwells. I honor the place in you which is of love, of truth, of light and of peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, We are One.”

Late to the Party

Well, explaining my summer, that is. Hello friends, unlike the lead singer of The Ting Tings, my name is Stacey. I am a sophomore and my majors are Chinese & TBA (Economics??). As my sophomore fall starts, I am just beginning to get over my horrible jetlag. Here's why:

This past summer I spent eight weeks studying Mandarin in Taipei, Taiwan! Since I am a U.S. citizen and reached the intermediate-mid level on some speaking test, my tuition and airfare were covered completely by the flagship program, that’s right, $7,000 smackeroos.  

I studied at National Taiwan University (NTU), pictured above at sunset, which is one of the best universities on the island. (When you tell cab drivers you study there, they realize you’re actually smart and not some crazy foreigner, especially the white girl with dirty blond hair and green eyes aka me.)

The campus (above) was a total jungle (unlike the concrete jungle in which Hunter is located) and it was about 800% humidity every single day, but that’s all apart of the experience, adapting to your new surroundings, trying to fit in the best you can. We had tons of independence, lived in off campus apartments, used public transport, the whole nine yards. My favorite mode of transport was biking. Several friends and I signed up for the the bike share system, a super cheap way to see the city, get to class, as well as exercise.

One of the many night markets in Taipei

Obviously there was a whole lot of work, but it was totally worth it. My confidence speaking the language improved a crazy amount, even though I didn’t study as hard as I should of. Hey, I didn’t know when I’d be back so I spent a bit more time exploring than I should have. Ok, a lot more time, but there was so much to see in such little time!

My friends and I traveled all over the island, such as to Taroko National Park pictured above, and every last bit of every trip was planned and arranged by us, so clearly we used the language in “every day situations.”

I also gained like ten pounds since most of the food is so cheap, but now that I’m going to be healthy this semester (ha) I’ll loose it quick enough. (One of the school field trips was to Din Tai Fung, a famous Taiwanese restaurant, food shown above.)

View of Taipei 101 from a nearby mountain

This past summer was an unforgettable study abroad experience, and lucky me, I still have my Macaulay opportunities fund should I want to go abroad again! I think, I’m not so sure how it works, but it is def one awesome aspect of coming to this school.

I Dare You to Move

Hi, everyone!

Shanah Tovah to everyone who is celebrating the new year!

We only had one day of classes this week so we've had basically a full week of vacation. But it hasn't felt like much of a vacation to me. I've been going over my notes, reading my textbooks, and just trying to get organized for the rest of the semester. Not that I'm complaining. Being busy feels good. I like to feel like I am doing something with my life. haha.

Next Tuesday is the primary election, and it will be the first time that I will actually vote in a primary election. I actually didn't vote in either the primary or the general election, in the first year that I was eligible to vote because I was at Hunter all day, and I didn't feel like getting up early to go to the polling place. Last year, I didn't vote in the primary election, but I did vote in the general election because we had to pick our next president, and that's kind of a big deal. :p This year is a big election year for New York so I will voting in both the primary and general elections.

I've been having a hard time deciding who to vote for in the primary in regards to the mayoral and comptroller positions. I think I've finally come to some kind of a decision, but I won't be revealing it here! (at least, not yet!)

Bloomberg has been with us for a long time, and I know that people say that they're tired of him and that he's this horrible person. But the truth is, he's done a great job of handling this city for the last 12 years. We are not an easy city to govern. There is so much going on that needs to change. He did a good job of helping us progress as a modern city. The next mayor needs to be someone who understands the essence of New York and who is sympathetic to our needs and concerns.

As for the comptroller position, Spitzer and Stringer both seem to be capable candidates. When Spitzer was governor, I thought he was great, albeit I was 13-years-old when he was elected, and I didn't know the first thing about politics. Then, all that ugly stuff happened, and he had to resign. So now he's back, and I don't really know what to make of him. He's incredibly intelligent, but can we trust him? Even though Stringer seems like he could do a good job as comptroller, I'm not too excited by him.  At the end of the day, we need someone who will get the job done, but I'm still on the fence about those two.

Last Saturday, I woke up with a swollen and itchy right earlobe. Sounds weird, right? The last time this happened was when I was 16. Back then, my doctor told me I was allergic to a certain metal in my earrings, and she gave me some cream, and everything was fine. This time, I was wearing hypoallergenic earrings so I didn't understand what was going on. That Thursday, my dad had put some iodine on my earlobe because I had a small bump in my ear. Then, on Friday, I saw some people giving my ear a weird look, and I saw that my earlobe had begun to smell and was getting itchy. On Saturday, I woke up with this weird looking ear lobe so I took off my earrings off. I noticed that the earrings had turned blackish, which I think might be because the metal reacted with the iodine. I thought maybe that was the reason for the allergic reaction. The swelling still wouldn't go down. Then, I thought that it might be infected. I ended up going to the dermatologist on Sunday who told me that it was probably a combination of an allergy and an infection. Yay for me! =( She prescribed me some cream and antibiotics, and my earlobe is back to normal. So why am I telling you guys this story? Be careful what kind of earrings you wear. It's good to wear gold earrings or hypoallergenic earrings. I don't know what happened with my hypoallergenic ones. Maybe the metal just corroded or the iodine ruined them. But it's better not to wear the fake stuff because you never know how your body will react. Also, avoid touching your earlobe with unwashed hands.

Also, on that same Saturday as my little earlobe drama, I found out that my Macaulay Hunter advisor, Adrienne Fitzgerald, is leaving Macaulay Hunter to go to Macaulay John Jay. They've just started up the Macaulay program there so she'll have a hand in developing it. I'm so sad to see her go because she is just so awesome at her job. She knows a ton about the different opportunities available out there, and she's always available for help whenever I have questions about anything. I truly wish her the best. She's a real star.

S.

This week's featured song is one that I heard a few years ago while listening to the radio. I immediately fell in love with it because of its fantastic message. Whether I'm sad or happy or anything in between, this song makes me feel just a little more alive.

Song of the Week

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before

~ "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot

Not Even a Week...

Hey guys, it's been a while! For those of you who don't know, and don't want to scroll back, my name is Maya Kinsman, I'm currently a sophomore (oh gosh!), and this is my second year writing for the MacBlog. But - I actually haven't been back in New York for even a week yet. I am in the Chinese Flagship program, and this summer many of us went to Taiwan for two months to further our studies. Last Wednesday I landed at JFK before customs opened, back from almost 3 months abroad in Asia. I really enjoyed my time overseas, and though I have traveled pretty extensively with my family, I've never studied abroad before or traveled alone/with friends overseas. School in Taipei was pretty rigorous and although we had our ups and downs, overall it was so worth the experience - I really recommend studying abroad, even if you aren't a language major.

Other than studying, of course we took advantage of being in a completely different country and explored quite a bit! Right out of the park, we went to a restaurant that is toilet-themed! The food is served in urinals, toilet bowls, squaty-pottys, and all the decor is bathroom-related. Although it wasn't amazing food, it was a fun experience! Especially for all the puns my friend was able to use.

Towards the end of our time in Taiwan, a few of my friends and I climbed up a mountain called Elephant Mountain, which has a great view of Taipei 101, and took some pretty silly photos.

However, our campus itself (National Taiwan University located in Taipei) was really gorgeous and a real change from Hunter, itself. It was definitely something to get used to: having to walk 15 minutes across campus to your other classes.

After Taiwan, a few of my friends and I traveled for the majority of August through Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Hong Kong. Don't ask me what my favourite place was!! I really don't have a favourite or a least favourite for that matter, mainly because they are quite different places and we had quite different experiences in each of them! They were all so exciting and interesting, whether we went to cultural and historical sites or just made friends from around the world at our hostels. 

In Singapore, we went on the tallest ferris wheel in the world (called the Singapore Flyer) which has a spectacular view of the city, night and day. We also went to the only Night Safari in the world, which was pretty much a zoo at night with a amusement park/zoo-like safari ride included. And I bought a white tiger key chain from there, which is adorable!

In Malaysia, we met up with one of my Chinese tutors from Hunter (who is Malaysian) and got shown around parts of Malaysia we wouldn't have seen otherwise (like her home village outside of Kuala Lumpur). We also went on a snorkeling trip on the other side of the country, which was really fun.

In Thailand, we visited two places - Phuket and Bangkok. In Phuket, we managed to have a few days just to relax and also to visit James Bond Island where The Man With the Golden Gun was filmed. In Bangkok, we spent a few days doing guided tours to the floating market and Attuhaya (an ancient Thai capital), as well as showing ourselves around the particular part of Bangkok we were staying in. We actually happened to be in Thailand for the Queen's birthday, which is also Mother's Day in Thailand, and is a National Holiday, during which alcohol is not allowed.

After Thailand, our group shrunk a little bit and three of us went to Hong Kong. I was born in Hong Kong, I lived there until I was five, and I go back every three years, so it wasn't quite as exotic and different for me, but it was still a really fun trip. We stayed in an apartment in a village in my old hometown, and I even managed to fit in a haircut at the same place I got it cut there three years ago!

I loved traveling, even studying, abroad and I can't wait to be able to do it again. However, right now, classes have started up (though we do have quite a long weekend after today, especially as I have Mondays off) and I need to get back into homework mode. Sad as it may be, I am glad to be able to see all the people I've missed since being away! Next week I'll hopefully be able to talk a little more about how my classes are going, and maybe my dorm room will be set up enough to post a picture (right now I'm still practically living out of my suitcase, as I haven't had time to even go back to Westchester yet to get my fridge or even a fan!!). And, just as an addendum, if you have any questions about studying abroad or traveling abroad on your own/with friends, feel free to send me an email or post a comment; I would totally be willing to talk about it more.