The robin is the one...

Hey, everyone!

I'm posting on a Saturday night because I got home late yesterday and had to do some work earlier today. Yes, it was as tiring as it sounds. :p

I've been trying to get myself organized in terms of when to do which work and when to have social time and when to have "me" time and when to sleep. I've been keeping up with everything so far, but time will tell if I can continue to be consistent with time management and reviewing my notes on a regular basis. The semester always starts off with a lot of motivation, but somewhere in the middle, things get overwhelming, and it becomes easy to fall behind. That's why I like to stay ahead of schedule and have a plan for what I'll be doing each day. It saves me a lot of headaches.

And I push away the little voice in my head that says, "Go on Facebook for an hour instead of doing these practice problems." haha.

I have an English class this semester, which I already love. It's actually my first English class in two years. It focuses on the work of Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, and Gertrude Stein. During our first class session, we did a dictation, which was a lot of fun because afterwards, we talked about the differences in how we interpreted what we heard. We also wrote an in class diagnostic essay, which was my first one since my English 220 final during my sophomore year!

We're starting with Dickinson's work. I've read some of her poems before, and this a great chance for me to understand her work more deeply.

This is a good one:

The robin is the one
That interrupts the morn
With hurried, few, express reports
When March is scarcely on.

The robin is the one
That overflows the noon
With her cherubic quantity,
An April but begun.

The robin is the one
That speechless from her nest
Submits that home and certainty
And sanctity are best.

On Thursday, I didn't have class, but I just came in to see a friend who I haven't seen since July. We caught up on each other's lives, and he let me know that he was no longer pre-med. He decided on doing nursing instead. Whenever I hear about people changing their minds about their careers, I always applaud them for their foresight in seeing that a particular career is not right for them. It would be terrible to get your degree(s) and then realize that you are not happy with your career. It happens to people all the time, and they are able to successfully start a new career, but it's better to realize and change your path early on in life. It will just save you a lot of worry, money, and time. 

But saying all that, sometimes these "mistakes" need to happen in order for you to understand what you really want. I'm the kind of person who believes that "everything happens for a reason", and I think that going down the "wrong" path is sometimes necessary in order for you to see the right one. 

Later that day, I also spoke to friends who are worried about taking the DAT and the MCAT. I'm in that boat myself, and those exams really begin to weigh on your mind as you get closer to applying to dental/med school. I keep telling myself that all I can do is give it my all and be efficient in my studying. Great scores are achieved with effort. 

I also met a Macaulay Hunter student in her sophomore year who had some worries about the pre-med track. She seemed like she was on top of everything but was having some trouble making choices about which major(s) she would most be happy with. I sat down with her for a few minutes and listened to her worries, and tried to give her some advice about what I knew. I shared some personal experiences about my past struggles with classes or "the pre-med life", and I was honest about anything that I couldn't help her with. I think sometimes all that people need is someone to listen to them and to make them feel like they're not alone in their struggles. It's the worst feeling when you're grappling with problems, and you're alone in trying to solve them. 

I was able to recruit some new MacBloggers from the freshman class, and I'm looking forward to hearing about their experiences so far! A few of them told me that the MacBlog helped them in the college decision process, and I was happy to hear that. 

S.

Quote of the Week

“Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” 

~ Socrates

Beginning of my 7th Semester…

Hey, everyone!

I want to welcome my fellow bloggers back to Hunter for a brand new semester of triumphs and tribulations! I also want to welcome the Macaulay Hunter freshmen to college! I hope to see some of the new students blogging here in the coming weeks.

Yesterday was the first day of class, but since I don't have classes on Thursdays, I had my first class of the semester today. I spent yesterday getting a head start on some work and running errands. Today, I had my first session of History of the Jews (History 208), which was great! I'm taking this class because  I'm Jewish, and I want to know more about how Judaism came to be what it is today. The professor seems incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. He's also a rabbi, which I think is awesome. He spent today just giving us an overview of the history that we would be covering during the semester. I've already learned a bunch of cool facts like how the Middle East is actually a British term, and how some Sephardic Jews chose to go to the Caribbean to escape the anti-Semitism in Spain hundreds of years ago. I'm looking forward to learning even more.

We have Monday off because of Labor Day, and when I come back to school on Tuesday, I'll have History 208 again as well as my Gene Regulation class.

On Monday, I went to the Community Resources Fair (held during the second day of Macaulay freshman orientation). This fair is an opportunity for the freshmen to sign for clubs run by Macaulay students. Since I'm co-editor-in-chief of The Macaulay Messenger this year, I attended in order to recruit new writers for our newsletter.

The freshmen all seemed sweet, excited, and eager to get involved. We were able to meet many of them, and sign them up to write for us this year. I made some interesting observations as I watched them interact with us and with each other. First of all, I loved that many of them had already made friends. They walked around in groups and signed up for clubs together. Everyone was eager to get involved with something, which is great! As the weeks go on, they'll figure out exactly what they have time for in terms of extracurriculars, and drop everything that doesn't quite fit in their schedules. The important thing for Monday was just to sign up for things that they were interested in and to get themselves exposed to whatever they could.

Although, classes had not started yet, there were already some nerves, which is expected. So much information is being thrown at them right now (in terms of Macaulay policies, their home campus arrangements, dorm life, etc), and they're trying to figure it all out. I think the best thing for them is just to keep their eyes and ears open, and try to get all of the necessary information in terms of graduation requirements and what classes they're interested in and dozens of other things that will come up as time goes on. And also not to panic! This is supposed to be a fun time so it's important to take a breather, and enjoy the beginning of this journey.

Being at the fair on Monday reminded me of the fair that I attended during my freshman orientation three years ago. I felt like I had come full circle. I remember my own nerves, my own questions about the next necessary steps, and my own wonders about how it would all turn out.

I remember signing up to write for The Macaulay Messenger at the fair, and it was so surreal to come back to the fair all of these years later as one of the people who is running it. It just shows how far I've come since then.

I want to wish everyone an awesome semester!

Happy blogging!

S.

Quote of the Week (I think I'll stick with quotes for this semester.)

“Be a student as long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life.”

- Henry L. Doherty

Mid-August Lovely Things

Hey, everyone!!

I'm posting on this beautiful Saturday afternoon instead of my usual Friday night because I did a ton of writing yesterday, and I didn't want to go near anymore keyboards. haha. I finished my internship last week so I spent yesterday wrapping up an internship report to send to my supervisor. It was actually immensely satisfying to write that report because it gave me a chance to reflect on the 7 weeks that I spent shadowing, and it showed me how much I learned just by observing and asking questions.

Then, last night, my dad and I headed to Coney Island to see fireworks for the last time this summer. We got the chance to go three times this summer, and I've loved every single boom as each firework exploded in the sky in a beautiful array of color. I highly recommend dedicating one of these last Friday nights of summer to seeing these fireworks. You will definitely not be disappointed.

The Parachute Jump lights up in all kinds of colors at night. 

Here's a short clip from the fireworks that I saw on August 1st:

Last Wednesday, my mom and I finally got the chance to see the Charles James exhibition at The Met. I've been bugging her to come see it with me nearly every weekend this summer, but something came up every time. We finally got up there two Sundays ago. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, it was already 5 PM, and the guy at the ticket desk told us that the museum was closing in 15 minutes! The only thing I could think was that the universe really doesn't want me to see this exhibition. haha. So last Wednesday, we finally saw it, and it was worth the wait. The ball gowns were absolutely gorgeous. True works of art. I could easily tell that James had spent many hours perfecting each gown. I loved that the curators put a screen next to each dress, which deconstructed the dress and gave us a peek into how it was made. It just showed how the designer had created the perfect marriage of art and science in these dresses. When we went downstairs to see his other clothes, we fell in love with the coats. These coats are easily something that can be worn this coming winter because they are that timeless.

I've been badgering my mom to teach me how to cook for the last few years. It's something that I've always been interested in learning how to do, and in the last couple of years, I've started to collect recipes for things that I'd like to make in the future. I've seen bits and pieces of how to make something when walking into the kitchen and watching my mom. But there hasn't been any consistent teaching because either she's busy or I'm busy. I used to joke that all I would be able to make when I was older were pancakes and cakes because that's what I learned relatively well over the years.

But back in January, I took it into my own hands to finally get a better grasp on cooking. I started with making sunny-side ups. Easy, delicious, and they came out perfect nearly every time. Then, as I got busy with the semester, I didn't have much time to learn more except for the little tidbits that I would pick up when watching my mother. But this summer since we've both been at home and she's wanted to try to make new things, I've started to cook with her, and it's been such a great experience. I've learned a lot already, and we've had so much fun together. We put on the radio, talk about life, laugh, and get our hands dirty. It's the best.

I think every young person should be able to make at least a few dishes. It's such a great skill to have because you know that you'll never have to depend on your parents, friends, or the take-out place 5 blocks from you to make food for you. Besides its practical benefits, cooking is also just so much fun to do. There's real joy in knowing that you created something with your hands. So I encourage all of you to get yourself into the kitchen and learn how to make your favorite childhood dishes as well as trying out some new recipes.

(Also, if you'll be living in the Hunter dorms, then you'll save a lot of money if you cook instead of eat out.)

Check out these two pages from BuzzFeed on how to make some simple but delicious things:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/foods-everyone-should-learn-to-cook#lcwly9
http://www.buzzfeed.com/spoonuniversity/foods-to-learn-to-cook-in-college#lcwly9

I spent two Saturday afternoons making piroshki with my mom, which we stuffed with ground beef or mashed potatoes. Yum.

We make different kinds of Russian salads at home for all kinds of occasions. But my mom wanted to take a crack at making a more "American" style salad.

This photo is from the first time that we made one and since then, we've adjusted the recipe to use different kinds of onions, different kinds of lettuce, and different dressings. All of the variants have been delicious.

We also made our own bread! I've been telling my mom to make bread for years, but she always said that it's too hard and takes too much time. This summer, we finally did it, and it turned out great. It wasn't even difficult to make.

We made our own pizza too. We first tried doing this many years ago, around the first time that we moved to the US, and it didn't come out so good. This time, I found a good pizza dough recipe, and we tried out a couple of different sauces before we got it right.

I've watched my mom make kutab (an Azeri flatbread with either ground beef or greens) for many years, but I've never made them myself. I finally got the chance to a couple of weeks ago.

They were delicious and not hard to make at all.

My mom and I also learned how to make homemade whipped cream, which was so easy to do and turned out delicious. We used that to make a mini crepe cake. So divine.

Sorry for making everyone out there hungry with all of these photos. haha.

I forgot to mention this in my last post, but a couple of weeks ago, my friend and I visited the High Line again. It's a great place to take a walk and a great place to have a conversation on one of the many benches.

And there are flowers! haha

On that day, I also walked across the Manhattan Bridge for the first time. I'm always taking the train across this bridge so it was interesting to see it from a different perspective. It's not nearly as beautiful as the Brooklyn Bridge, but it's still good to take a long walk on.

The view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhattan Bridge

I'm an eternal bookworm so I've made some time to read this summer. Here are a few things that I've read this summer that I recommend.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Into That Forest by Louis Nowra
Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
Things I Know About Love by Kate Le Vann
My Mother's Secret by J. L. Witterick

Lastly, my family and I celebrated 15 years in the US this past Tuesday. Congrats to us!!!

Enjoy these last couple of weeks of summer break!

S.

Quote of the Week

“Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.”

~ Walt Whitman