Sinai, Chills, and Gotham

Hey, everyone!!

Happy Halloween!

It's been a chilly end to the week, and I can finally feel hints of winter nipping at my heels. As much as the cold can be bitter and make it hard to go out, I also find myself liking it every once in awhile. It wakes me up and helps me clear my head. But ask me again in 2 months, and I'll probably be complaining about how cold it is and how I want to see sunshine and pretty spring flowers again. haha.

In my last post, I promised that I would tell you about the event that I went to last Saturday. I spent a majority of that day at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai's annual open house. I'm glad that I went because I learned some good information through the Sinai admissions officers as well as through current medical students. Everyone there was warm, welcoming, and honest about the medical school applications process and the medical school lifestyle. The big takeaway for me was that I need to continue putting in hard work so that I can be at a school as great as Sinai one day. After all, dreams don't become reality just by wishing for them to come true but by putting yourself, fully and truly, into achieving them.

On Tuesday, I found out that I got an A on my Jewish history midterm (the one that I mentioned last week)! Getting that exam back was definitely a good way to start the week. Now here's to killing the rest of my assignments during the semester.

Tuesday night was the first round of presentations in my gene regulation bio seminar. My professor gave critiques to the presenters right on the spot so that the entire class could learn what we should all do better in our own presentations. The great thing is that he's not grading these presentations (at least not at first). He's giving us the opportunity to revise the presentations, and he'll grade those revised versions. Super nice of him. He understands that this is a difficult class so he's trying to make it manageable for us. I'll be presenting on the 11th. Wish me luck!

So let's talk about non-school related things like TV!

I've talked about Grimm a number of times on this blog because I just love the stories that are shown every week. It's fun to see what kinds of "creatures" the writers will come up with next. Last week, they featured a guy with an octopus head who was able to steal people's memories. Yikes.

I've been following this show since the beginning of my freshman year, and I can't believe it's already in its fourth season. How quickly time goes by.

So if you have time over Thanksgiving or winter break, catch a few episodes from the first season. You might get hooked. ;)

A new show that I've been following lately is Gotham. It tells the back story of the city that a young Bruce Wayne will eventually grow up to protect. But the show doesn't focus so much on Bruce as it does on Jim Gordon, who will eventually become police commissioner. In Gotham, he is a young idealistic detective who is determined to help restore order in a corrupt and decaying city. Ben McKenzie is perfect for this role! He knows how to portray the young Gordon's idealism along with his struggle to keep that idealism in such a difficult environment.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

The show has been fantastic so far. The writers have introduced several characters that will eventually become important in the Batman storyline. It's fun to see how the writers re-imagine some of the origin stories of characters like the Riddler, the Penguin, and Poison Ivy. Gotham is also great at talking about issues within the criminal justice world as well as the various issues that come up in dense urban environments.

It's also beautiful to watch because it depicts characters and settings that have a 1940's feel even though the audience knows that the show takes place during modern times (there are cell phones). Some of the clothes are typical of the war period, and others seem to have come straight from our own closets. The police station looks like it could be from the 40's, but the apartments look like fancy modern-day ones. I think this interplay between two time periods adds a layer of complexity that makes the show aesthetically rich.

If you have time on Monday nights, check it out.

A photo of the rose that I got last week. Stunning, right?

S.

Quote of the Week

“Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learning is perilous.” 

~ Confucius

A Film Adventure and Halloween

Hello everyone!

This past week has been a relatively quiet one for me. The assembly with Colum McCann that I mentioned in my last post was very insightful and it was an amazing opportunity to hear the author read passages of his own work and to talk about the motivation and meaning behind the wonderful piece of literature. The novel he presented on, Let the Great World Spin, is emotional and intense and I would highly recommend it! Although you'll all end up reading it anyway if you end up going to Macaulay Hunter so maybe you could wait until then.

In other news, my friends and I attempted to go to a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Chelsea Bowtie Cinema on Friday night, but arrived only to find that tickets were entirely sold out for that night AND the following night! Instead we just went and had some donuts and cried about not being able to see Rocky Horror. Other than that unfortunate incident, my weekend went well. I found out that I'll be acting in the next film for the Pied Filmmakers Collective, which is surprising and exciting since I've done production and directing for the first two films of the year. I originally joined the group with the intention of acting, so it'll be nice to get in front of the camera, although I definitely enjoy both jobs.

Speaking of film, I've decided that I'm going to take Film 101 over the winter intersession since it will help fulfill some of the Hunter Core requirements and film is something that I'm more interested in than I had anticipated. I'm most excited about taking it because that mean's I'll be able to live in the city over the break! Yay!

With Halloween, the opera, and spring registration all right around the corner, time seems to be flying by. I feel like I only just moved in a week ago, when in reality I've been living here for over two months! How did that happen?! I'm most excited for the fact that November is right around the corner, since Thanksgiving means I'll finally be able to go home and see my family, even if it is only for a few days. I miss them a lot and I'm very excited about getting to see everybody again.

Anyway, I should probably head off to bed before getting too sappy! Goodnight and stay well!

~ Adam Hobbins '18

Begin it!

Hi, everyone!

I had my first exam of the semester today, and it was for my Jewish history class. I actually haven't taken an in-class exam since my physics final back in May, but it's amazing how naturally I got back into my "exam-taking" mindset. But that doesn't mean that I wasn't nervous beforehand. I spent my morning worrying before I went in and took the exam in the afternoon. I felt MUCH better about it after I was done.

Then, my day got even better when I got a flower from someone. Yay for red roses!

The last couple of Tuesdays, I've found myself on a Central Park bench studying for a couple of hours. The weather was gorgeous! The trees were still mostly green with hints of orange and red. The sun was shining, and there was just a slight breeze. It made studying feel a lot less tedious. But the weather will be cooling down soon so I'll be back in the library. Not that I mind too much. It feels good to know stuff, if that makes sense. It feels good to be filled with knowledge and to know that my hard work is taking me places.

Then, Tuesday night, we had our penultimate discussion on scientific papers in my gene regulation class. That means people are going to start presenting next week, and the first draft of our paper is due in less than 2 weeks. Yikes. Much reading and writing for me in the days to come.

On Wednesday, we discussed this poem by Marianne Moore. It's one of the hardest poems out there but also strangely beautiful. Have a hand at deciphering it or better yet, allow yourself to float in the difficulty, which is what our English professor was telling us to do.

Tomorrow, I'll heading out to an event, which I hope to tell you guys more about in next week's post.

Btw, how are all of you prospective students handling the college admissions process? It's been 4 years since I've gone through it, but I still remember the pain of making sure every piece was just right. Please feel free to leave us questions in the comments section about anything and everything college-related. And please read over some of our old posts. There are great pieces of advice scattered throughout each one.

S.

One of my favorite quotes of all time:

Quote of the Week

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and endless plans: That the moment one definitely commits oneself then providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Midterms Are Finally Over!

Hello all!

It has been quite a few weeks since I last posted, and I apologize for my long absence. Unfortunately, I was more than a little busy with all of the essays and exams that I had for midterms. Luckily, midterms are finally over and I can relax a little and fall back into the more typical routine I've been used to. In a similar train of thought, I've started to plan my schedule for next semester! I'm not entirely confident in it yet, but I do know that I plan to take my next Macaulay seminar as well as French, Calc 2, and Physics. Should be a good time!

In other news, I've been having a great time going to events for my seminar. I went to an incredible concert/play type performance art thing in Bushwick a few weeks ago called Ghost Quartet! The musicians were incredibly talented and the songs were amazingly good, telling an incredible story within a story within a story. Since I got to see it for free as part of my seminar, I plan to go again just because it was that good. I also went to see the Fall for Dance Festival at City Center last Thursday! The Festival involves several short performances by a few different dance companies and the particular night that we went was a very nice mix of ballet, contemporary, and even African dance styles. It was a great show and I'm glad I had the opportunity to go.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Macaulay freshman and all of the freshman in the various Scholars Programs at Hunter are going to an assembly led by Colum McCann, a professor at Hunter, an internationally bestselling author, and a National Book Award finalist! Unfortunately, I haven't had time to finish reading the copy of his novel, Let the Great World Spin, that we received, but I'm about halfway through and it's absolutely phenomenal, so I plan to get it signed and then finish it! Another exciting thing coming up is my planned trip to see the Metropolitan Opera next Wednesday for my seminar which I am extremely excited about and should be amazing!

And with that, I think it's time for me to head to bed! I plan on going back to posting weekly now that I've overcome the hurdle of midterms and you can look forward to hearing from me more often now. Be well all!

~ Adam Hobbins '18

Stuffed Animals and Graduation

Hi, everyone.

It's been a quiet week so I don't have anything too exciting to report to you all.

But what was great about this week was that I reached out to my AP English teacher. I haven't spoken to him since his retirement party in June 2013 so I wanted to update him on what's been going on in his life. He's the kind of teacher who really cares about his students and absolutely loves hearing about all of our accomplishments. He was happy to hear from me and said that he was enjoying retirement, which he definitely deserves. He's one of the most dedicated teachers that I know.
Keep in touch with your old teachers!

On Wednesday, we had a guest speaker in my English class who spoke to us about Emily Dickinson (whose work we've been reading since the semester started). He teaches at NYU and is currently working on his dissertation in comparative literature. He was full of interesting thoughts, and I could see that he really knew what he was talking about in regards to Dickinson and the other poets who he's focusing on for his dissertation. I love people who are masters at certain things whether that be plumbing, poetry, or philosophy. They spend a lot of time getting good at something and then, they get to share it with the world. It's great to hear them speak because they have such a passion for what they do. It comes through in the sparkle in their eyes and in the motions of their hands. I hope I get to be that way one day.

Today, I had a meeting with my Macaulay advisor, and we ran through a list of things to make sure I had completed everything that I need to graduate. We also talked about the MCAT and post-graduate plans. Graduation is not as faraway as it once seemed. It's scary and exciting and I'm just trying to enjoy this last year of my college life.

But can I be a kid for a second?

My stuffed animal (and doll) collection:

(I've had some of them since I was 3 or 4 years old. And some of them traveled all the way to the US with me when we moved here 15 years ago.)

S.

I love this quote by Einstein because of how true it is. If you can break something down to its simplest terms and explain it to someone who has no previous knowledge of it, then you know that you truly understand it. That's what being a good student, both in college and in life, is all about.

Quote of the Week

“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.”

~ Albert Einstein

Hanging out with the lions...

Hi, everyone!!

This is the end of the first full week of school we've had in awhile. It actually wasn't too exhausting except for the first half because I had to hand in some work for my bio and English classes.

One of the highlights of this week was the Macaulay Scholars Council meeting that I attended on Wednesday. Since I'm now one of the Macaulay student club leaders, either my co-editor-in-chief or I have to attend each monthly meeting. Besides the club leaders, student reps from each of the graduating classes and campuses were present as well. The meeting was run by Drew Adair, Associate Director of Student Development at Macaulay, who loves hearing our ideas about anything and everything. I'm looking forward to these monthly meetings and getting to see how Macaulay events are planned behind-the-scenes.

And of course, they gave out free food. Macaulay is awesome at feeding us! One more reason for all of you prospective students to apply here! *wink, wink*

What was not-so-fun about this past week was getting sick on Saturday. I just felt so achy and tired and had some tummy issues. It was so hard to get any work done, which sucked because I had 2 major things due this past week. I'm the kind of person who avoids taking pills, but I finally gave in and took an Advil. Thankfully, I felt a lot better that night.

Today was great because I hung out with my friend in midtown for awhile. We dropped by Grand Central Terminal and the NYPL's main building on Fifth Avenue to get some shots for an article that I'm working on.

Grand Central Terminal

One of the beautiful lions in front of the NYPL building

I also bought an awesome grey skirt and tights at H&M! Yay for fall fashion.

I have another food recommendation for you guys if you're ever in the Upper East Side and need lunch for a good price: Elim Deli Cafe. One of my friends introduced me to this place during my freshman year, and I have loved it ever since. They make awesome heroes, quesadillas, wraps, etc. They also have a fantastic buffet of yummy hot food and a good salad bar. I would recommend going there before 2 PM just because much of the buffet food is gone by then (after the lunch crowd has attacked it! haha). They're also great for breakfast food.

One more thing cool thing from this week: We organized a meeting for The Macaulay Messenger section editors this past Sunday, and it was so cool to be on the other side of things. Just 8 months ago, I was one of the section editors, and now I'm running things with a friend. I love progress in life.

Enjoy the long weekend!!

S.

Quote of the Week

“Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” 

~ Isaac Asimov

Visualizations

Hey, everyone!

September flew by, and classes are getting serious with the workload. Like my Gene Regulation seminar. I have to submit an outline for my semester-long project on Tuesday, and I'm a little bit overwhelmed in the process of trying to figure out what direction to take. But I think I've made some progress so hopefully, I won't be too bogged down and stressed this weekend because of it.

I also have an English paper to write for Wednesday, which I'm actually looking forward to because it's on two Emily Dickinson poems. I didn't know much about her or her writing before this class and now, I have a great appreciation for her words.

Earlier in the semester, I mentioned that I'm co-editor-in-chief of The Macaulay Messenger this year, which means that I edit a whole slew of articles (along with my partner) once a month. We just had our first deadline this past Sunday so now we're in the process of looking over the articles that our section editors edited. We should have them published some time next week so look out for that!

This week was great because I got the opportunity to attend two pre-health events at Hunter. On Wednesday, I went to an event that discussed how to finance our future medical educations. We had a speaker from Albert Einstein School of Medicine that went over the basics of scholarships and loans. We also had people from the army who informed us about how the army gives students a tuition-free medical education in exchange for service. Lastly, we had a speaker from Weill Cornell Medical College who also went over some basics with us. I'm really glad that I went because I got to learn some tidbits of information.

My favorite part of the event was when the man from Einstein told us to close our eyes, visualize our lives 10-15 years from now, and then do a quick sketch of our visualization. He said that we should always keep this image in mind because it helps us visualize our goals and keeps us motivated. He also mentioned that if we don't take care to learn how to create a budget and think about how to pay for med school wisely, that visualization may never come to fruition. I think that's a great piece of advice because so many young people don't know how to manage money and really need to learn either through the Internet or by taking courses/attending workshops.

Below is my sketch from that day. Please excuse my poor drawing skills and handwriting. haha.

The takeaway from my visualization: I want to be a physician who is known for being a great listener because listening = great patient care. I'd also like to be married because I want to have that great love in my life that not only sweeps me off my feet but with whom I can share my everyday hectic life. And maybe I'll even have a child by then?

And that last statement in the bubble? My greatest goal in life, which I share with probably everyone else reading this, is to know that I have a purpose. I want to feel fulfilled in my everyday existence.

Having this all on paper for the first time makes me so excited for what's to come and also so appreciative of my life now. What's to come is incredible, but it will only come if I put in the work and take care of myself now.

I came home even more inspired on Thursday because I attended a panel discussion with 3 current medical school students. I absolutely LOVED them. They answered all of our questions honestly and gave us a lot of confidence to keep going on our journey.

S.

Quote of the Week

“Students are intense people, they laugh and cry, they break down and rebuild.” 

~ Ursula K. Le Guin, A Fisherman of the Inland Sea

A Relaxing Break From School

Hello everyone!

Last week was quite the relaxing one since we only had classes on Monday and Tuesday. We had the rest of the week of for Rosh Hashanah, which was very nice. To kick off my stretch of free days I went on a 'Vertical Tour' at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine on Wednesday afternoon. This is a tour where you get to climb the spiral stairs in the walls of the cathedral all the way up to the various levels of the church and then up onto the roof, giving you incredible views of the stained glass and architecture, and then incredible views of Manhattan and the skyline. I absolutely love churches and cathedrals even though I'm not personally very religious. The architecture and history are the things that appeal to me! During my travels in Europe during high school, I visited many famous cathedrals, churches, and basilicas and it's quite the awe-inspiring experience to be in the presence of so much. It was nice to have the same feeling last Wednesday right here in New York!

The following day I went to the train station to pick up my mom and grandma who had come down to visit me for a few days. It was very exciting to have visitors and I spent the next few days taking them to some of my favorite parts of the city like the High Line, Central Park, the Guggenheim, and the DUMBO Arts Festival. They also came to see my room since I'd made a few changes since when my mom helped me move in and they had brought me a few things for it. It felt nice to show off a little space that really felt 'mine'. Sunday morning was their last time in the city and when I said goodbye to them. When I got home after I realized that my dinner that night was going to be the first meal I had had to cook/pay for myself since Wednesday as they had been feeding me the entire time! It took a little while to get back into the routine of cooking, but I feel back on track now, thankfully.

Even though I had a lot of fun, the break from school was also quite productive! I was able to get a lot of work done and even get ahead on the homework for a bunch of my classes! It felt great to be proactive and I'm thankful that I had the time to do so. Luckily, we also don't have class this Friday due to Yom Kippur, so I won't be getting too used to the school routine... Also, I apologize that this post came so late! I'm aiming for posting every Sunday night, but it's become too hard to do that with all of my work. Therefore, I've been doing Monday nights instead, but was too busy last night as well! However, I think Monday nights will probably become the normal night for my weekly posts. Well, that's enough babbling for now! Talk to you again next week!

~ Adam Hobbins '18