Welcome back to classes!
It's the first Friday of the semester and probably the only Friday for the next 4 months where I won't be feeling exhausted. haha. But it feels good to be back and to see the hallways filled with students again. It gets unusually quiet at Hunter during winter break, and I begin to miss the loudness and the hustle and bustle.
Last Saturday was fun because I got to help out with the Macaulay admissions interviews. This was my third year doing it, and it was definitely worth waking up early on a Saturday! Each student volunteer was paired up with an alumnus, a friend of Hunter/Macaulay, or a professor. I was lucky to be paired up with my MHC Seminar 2 professor from my freshman year. She teaches anthropology at Hunter and is truly a wealth of knowledge. We interviewed 6 students, and they were all awesome. (Maybe one of them is actually reading this right now. That would be cool! :)) I loved to see how motivated these students were, and I loved hearing all about their hopes for college. Every one of them was involved in multiple clubs and volunteered at different organizations. Most of them had already traveled abroad to many places and were eager to travel some more.
Macaulay is always good at providing us with food so we had a nice breakfast and lunch spread for the interviewees, the volunteers, and everyone else who was there that day. In between the interviews, I ran over to grab sandwiches and dip pita chips into hummus.
I also love volunteering at any Macaulay event because I get to interact with Macaulay staff/faculty, which is always fun. Everyone at Macaulay is warm and friendly and honestly wants the best for us confused millennial students. haha. They're also super inspiring to be around because they have dozens of stories of all of the things they've been involved in and hearing it all makes me motivated to get out there and do things just as exciting and fulfilling.
It's funny that I picked last Saturday to volunteer because it happened to be the 3 year anniversary of my own interview. I just remember that I was super nervous before the interview, and I remember my dad telling me to grab something to eat, but I was too hyped up to eat anything. After my interview (which thankfully went well), he told me to grab something, and I randomly grabbed a Nutri-Grain bar. When I went over to the spread this Saturday, there were a bunch of Nutri-Grain bars sitting in a basket. It was kind of a full-circle moment so of course I had to grab one.
Sunday night was fun because of the Grammy's. One of the great things about living at home is being able to watch awards shows with my family. I know there are a lot of politics involved in these award shows, but I love seeing great artists being awarded for their hard work.
Some Highlights: Bey and J. (they have a great connection), Macklemore and Ryan Lewis "Same Love" (I loved seeing all of those couples getting married!), John Legend ("All of Me" is my new favorite love song), Sara Bareilles and Carole King (Their voices went so well together.)
Check out videos of the performances here.
Monday was the first day of the spring semester. This semester I'm taking Physics 2, Biological Chemistry, Filipino American Literature, and Intro to Experimental Biology. I only had a 50-minute physics class on the first day, which allowed me to ease into the workload of the semester nice and slowly. My physics professor is Hungarian, and seems to explain things well so far. He also has this awesome mustache. Mustaches have become less popular over the years, and it's nice to see that they haven't completely gone away. I feel like I'm talking about endangered species or something. haha. Save the mustache!
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| Photo courtesy of Musicroom.com |
On Tuesday, I was at Hunter until 7 PM. My Tuesdays and Thursdays are my longest days (as they've been since freshmen year). Tuesday was actually really great though because my Filipino American Literature class met for the first time, and I can already tell it's going to be a great class. My professor is a professional writer and poet, and is filled with knowledge about Filipino culture and history. I'm already learning a lot.
Here is one of my professor's poems. I think it's really beautiful.
To Slaughter Angels or Stand With Them
Luis Francia
You don time and search for spirits
As if there were nothing to exploring
As if on a few chosen afternoons you
Could see who sat behind the big screen.
But lives end and stories don’t
And even spirits do, and
Whether you encounter god as
An ant or your dead father in the
Hall, or galaxies glimmer on the
Head of a redemptive dog, disorganize
Or organize, what does it matter?
What does it matter whether idiot
Loves have shaped your life or smeared
Its edges, whether history were to begin
Again by outing its own silences, whether
You slaughter angels or stand with them?
What manner of rock will you build on?
In the hierarchy of needs is
The need for no hierarchy.
This moment has its own paradox, with
No higher truth than this:
The rock I seek is me.
I wish you all the best for this semester!
Good luck to all of the high school seniors who are anxiously awaiting their college acceptance letters!! =)
S.
Over the last 2+ years, I've featured quotes, songs, poems, and other things at the bottom of my posts. This semester, I want to try something a little different. Since this blog is catered towards prospective students, every week, I'm going to feature one piece of advice on college life. When I was in high school and just starting college, I was always itching to hear older students' advice so I hope this will be helpful for some of you anxious high schoolers/college freshmen out there.
College Tip of the Week: Come with an open mind.
This is probably the most important piece of advice somebody can give you in college. I'm sure you've all heard that these four years are the time for exploration and taking chances. The only way you're going to progress as an individual is if you come into college with the eagerness to learn and the flexibility to change. Have you always wanted to write for the school newspaper but never thought that your writing was good enough? This is your chance to make your writing better. Have you been too scared to join a sports team? This is your chance to let your body show you what it can do. Do political and religious discussions make your head spin? This is your chance to learn about all of the big debates out there and how to join the conversation. A good college experience means no shyness, no fear, and a mind as open as the blue sky on a beautiful spring day.
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