I have been quite diligent about my blog posting, obviously. So much has happened between January 1st and right now (September 3). 8 months' worth of stuff. I can't even try to summarize what has happened. I went to Austria and spent an amazing 10 weeks living and learning in Vienna. I grew so close to those friends I had with me and I learned so much about myself in the process. I became comfortable living in a city and taking a subway to school. I had the chance to feel rejuvenated in music, both my own playing and the amazing performances I witnessed. It still hasn't sunken in, months afterward, that I lived and studied in one of the most musically-rich cities in the world.
Then I spent the next 10 weeks at school, living with my best friends and finding so many great new people over the summer. I made friends that are so caring and passionate and interesting that I had never known at Dartmouth before. I got discouraged sometimes, but I think I overcame some major things that were holding me back. I grew up, if only a little bit. I gained back the optimism I had taken for granted freshman year.
And maybe things don't always turn out the way I want them to. But I know that I am blessed to have this life with all of its love and excitement and friendship and opportunity. I am so lucky to be where I am with these once-in-a-lifetime chances. And I hope that I will never take them for granted.
9.03.2011
1.01.2011
Sometimes I feel so lost. When I came back from summer and I didn't have exciting adventures of a trip to a far-off country or stories from an internship or pictures of me helping impoverished kids while working in a medical clinic. I feel so inadequate when it comes down to it. That I can't find some burning passion that I would do anything for. That I don't already have 3 terms of research under my belt. That I don't get the grades I work really hard for. That I don't know where I'm going or what I'm doing. College is supposed to be a time that you find yourself, and it feels like everybody is already 10 steps ahead of me on that.
So here's to 2011, the year that I will turn it around, the year that I become more independent and rely on myself more than the presence of others. Here's to the year that I find a research project I'm passionate about and a professor that shares those passions. Here's to the year that I try my hardest in every class, regardless of how much time that will take. Here's to 2011, my year.
So here's to 2011, the year that I will turn it around, the year that I become more independent and rely on myself more than the presence of others. Here's to the year that I find a research project I'm passionate about and a professor that shares those passions. Here's to the year that I try my hardest in every class, regardless of how much time that will take. Here's to 2011, my year.
11.25.2010
11.03.2010
So there have been zero blog updates from this year thus far...whoopsies. I guess I have just been waaaaaay too busy to even begin to start writing stuff down. Luckily, today is actually a day that I don't have that much to do, so I guess there is no better time than now.
Classes this term are kicking my butt. When I'm not doing orgo, I'm doing some very strict composition for my music class or the never-ending busy work that is my German class. I LOVELOVELOVE my German professor (he is legit one of my favorite profs here thus far) but I am really just not good at understanding German, abstract, post-war poetry, which is the majority of the homework. And then orgo is just constant work and then when tests come around, I basically stress out like no other. I like the prof a lot too, but he's not the best lecturer. Like he is a great guy and really funny but I feel like he seems so confused sometimes during lecture...and personally I don't want to be learning a difficult subject from someone who seems confused about the material as well. I like lab, even though it is 6 hours long, just because of the rhythm and regularity of the work. True, I am usually itching to leave 4 hours in, but overall I like the experience which is quite promising since I want to be a researcher hopefully in life. And music class is so frustrating sometimes. My class is full of these crazy pianists, singers, and musicians that can just write the most beautiful melodies and mine are always just okay. They follow 18th century counterpoint rules...but they don't do much beyond that haha. Thankfully we aren't graded on creativity but we do have some ridiculous assignments sometimes (like listening to the entirety of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier which meant listening to 5 hours of piano preludes and fugues while keeping a listening log). So overall, classes are difficult but I'm getting by. The only time I really hate them is when all the work piles up in each of the classes at the same time (aka this past Monday and Tuesday).
Sophomore fall is really different in that everyone has rushed and pledged frats and sororities. None of my girl friends are in sororities except for Clau (rush is a very weird process and way too long to explain); Andrew and Paul are both in frats. Sometimes I think about whether or not I'd like to join a sorority because you just feel so left out when they all go to tails together or have to go to meetings or are all decked out in crazy clothes. It's never fun being on the outside looking in, plus everyone is OBSESSED with their house right now (aka the honeymoon phase) so it seems like such a big deal. But then I remind myself that I'm just not that type of person and that you can be an amazing person without a greek affiliation. You don't need to be prolific on campus to make a difference. We have a thing at Dartmouth called "facetime". Since we're such a small school, you know a good majority of campus by sight, if not more. There are people who you just seem to see everywhere and those are the people that maximize their facetime. The ones who study on First Floor Berry cause everyone has to walk through there to get to the rest of the library, the ones who eat on Collis porch cause everyone can see you there, the ones who are always waving hi and stopping to chat with everybody. And I know I'm never gonna be one of those people with lots of facetime and popularity, but some of my favorite seniors last year were unaffiliated and completely disconnected from the Dartmouth bubble. Not that they weren't invovled on campus, they just didn't fall into that side of Dartmouth that gets showcased at Dimensions and freshman year. They were the people in orchestra, Cabin and Trail, and the LDSSA. I just need to keep reminding myself that I can be a big part of Dartmouth without needing to subscribe to the Greek culture.
Overall, the year has been exhausting but fun :) I love rooming with Damaris and Lilly and living literally 10 feet away from Jing, Anne, and Natalia. I love making more new friends and getting to know lots of people better. Life is great!
Classes this term are kicking my butt. When I'm not doing orgo, I'm doing some very strict composition for my music class or the never-ending busy work that is my German class. I LOVELOVELOVE my German professor (he is legit one of my favorite profs here thus far) but I am really just not good at understanding German, abstract, post-war poetry, which is the majority of the homework. And then orgo is just constant work and then when tests come around, I basically stress out like no other. I like the prof a lot too, but he's not the best lecturer. Like he is a great guy and really funny but I feel like he seems so confused sometimes during lecture...and personally I don't want to be learning a difficult subject from someone who seems confused about the material as well. I like lab, even though it is 6 hours long, just because of the rhythm and regularity of the work. True, I am usually itching to leave 4 hours in, but overall I like the experience which is quite promising since I want to be a researcher hopefully in life. And music class is so frustrating sometimes. My class is full of these crazy pianists, singers, and musicians that can just write the most beautiful melodies and mine are always just okay. They follow 18th century counterpoint rules...but they don't do much beyond that haha. Thankfully we aren't graded on creativity but we do have some ridiculous assignments sometimes (like listening to the entirety of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier which meant listening to 5 hours of piano preludes and fugues while keeping a listening log). So overall, classes are difficult but I'm getting by. The only time I really hate them is when all the work piles up in each of the classes at the same time (aka this past Monday and Tuesday).
Sophomore fall is really different in that everyone has rushed and pledged frats and sororities. None of my girl friends are in sororities except for Clau (rush is a very weird process and way too long to explain); Andrew and Paul are both in frats. Sometimes I think about whether or not I'd like to join a sorority because you just feel so left out when they all go to tails together or have to go to meetings or are all decked out in crazy clothes. It's never fun being on the outside looking in, plus everyone is OBSESSED with their house right now (aka the honeymoon phase) so it seems like such a big deal. But then I remind myself that I'm just not that type of person and that you can be an amazing person without a greek affiliation. You don't need to be prolific on campus to make a difference. We have a thing at Dartmouth called "facetime". Since we're such a small school, you know a good majority of campus by sight, if not more. There are people who you just seem to see everywhere and those are the people that maximize their facetime. The ones who study on First Floor Berry cause everyone has to walk through there to get to the rest of the library, the ones who eat on Collis porch cause everyone can see you there, the ones who are always waving hi and stopping to chat with everybody. And I know I'm never gonna be one of those people with lots of facetime and popularity, but some of my favorite seniors last year were unaffiliated and completely disconnected from the Dartmouth bubble. Not that they weren't invovled on campus, they just didn't fall into that side of Dartmouth that gets showcased at Dimensions and freshman year. They were the people in orchestra, Cabin and Trail, and the LDSSA. I just need to keep reminding myself that I can be a big part of Dartmouth without needing to subscribe to the Greek culture.
Overall, the year has been exhausting but fun :) I love rooming with Damaris and Lilly and living literally 10 feet away from Jing, Anne, and Natalia. I love making more new friends and getting to know lots of people better. Life is great!
8.30.2010
Okay, so I have about 4 posts that are left unfinished from the time that Erin visited all the way until this summer. And I'm not sure if I will ever finish them haha sorry.
But as I am sitting here packing up EVERYTHING (aka fitting all of my clothing into one suitcase...an amazingly difficult feat), I am getting so very excited for next year. I know I say that at the beginning of every term and year, but I'm really looking forward to what's to come. I'm so pumped for my roomies, my floormates, my classes, DSO and co-managing, DWS, church/institute, and AUSTRIA! I'm excited for all the funny moments that will happen and I'm actually itching to go back to class and do something productive. Not that I didn't enjoy a summer full of nothing, but I'd really like to actually be doing something. I'm glad that I get to go to school so early, lead a trip, raid some other ones :), decorate our room, and hang out for a full week with so many friends and NO class. AHHHH so excited!!!
But as I am sitting here packing up EVERYTHING (aka fitting all of my clothing into one suitcase...an amazingly difficult feat), I am getting so very excited for next year. I know I say that at the beginning of every term and year, but I'm really looking forward to what's to come. I'm so pumped for my roomies, my floormates, my classes, DSO and co-managing, DWS, church/institute, and AUSTRIA! I'm excited for all the funny moments that will happen and I'm actually itching to go back to class and do something productive. Not that I didn't enjoy a summer full of nothing, but I'd really like to actually be doing something. I'm glad that I get to go to school so early, lead a trip, raid some other ones :), decorate our room, and hang out for a full week with so many friends and NO class. AHHHH so excited!!!
5.31.2010
4.07.2010
Fun fact for today: I usually have lunch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with Andrew, Robbie, Tommy, and Jing at 1:45...but I showed up at Foco at 12:45 today. So now I have a good solid 30 minutes to wait for them and I've already finished eating (by myself, mind you). Ah well, got some reading done in the mean time.
IMPORTANT NEWS: ERIN IS COMING TO VISIT.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so excited that I can't even contain myself. I have to stop from telling too many stories about her and gloating to everyone that she is coming, I am just that pumped.
I have a feeling that this week is going to be a lot of sleep deprivation. I've gotten in the habit of writing out my schedule hour by hour every day to insure that I don't forget anything and it makes me realize how little time I have for random stuff. I still manage to fit in watching the NCAA finals or YouTube-ing awesome songs in Damaris's room, but I definitely spend a lot of my time doing work.
Recap of classes thus far:
CHEM 6--I love this class but I feel bad cause I don't do the reading on time since there is no way for him to check that we did the reading or problems (unlike my other classes). The prof is really into chemistry and a million times better than last term's. He answers questions and had the majority of people's names memorized on the first day (each teacher gets a roster with our ID pictures and names...but the class is like 120 people so he is CRAZY for already knowing so many people). I'm in Julia's class again and Karoline is with us too! Yaaaay. There are also a lot of random people in there so it's fun to watch people file in.
We had our first lab yesterday and it's funny how little things have changed. This time Jing is my lab partner and already that makes it super fun. Plus she is a million times more competent than my last partner. I have the same TA, the same two guys are across from me, and the same two girls are behind me. Only difference is that I'm not sleep deprived at 8 in the morning and just missing out on valuable homework time at 2.
GERMAN 2--I love this class! We have this method of teaching at Dartmouth called drill (it's only for languages) where you get in groups of 8ish and there is a drill master, a Dartmouth student who is fluent in the language and trained in this special Rassias method. Essentially they say a sentence like "Ich liege auf dem Bett" then say something like "der Tisch...Ich liege auf dem Tisch." Then they say a different word, point to someone, and you have to repeat the sentence, correctly changing it to fit the word they prompt you with. It's a lot cooler than I'm making it sound haha. But we do that 4 times a week for 50 minutes each and it's just a nice break from work. The class itself is so unstressful that I really like it. The professor is so cute and funny; she's slightly awkward but so into teaching that it makes up for it haha.
SEMINAR--This is the class that I'm not the fondest of. While I love love love having a class with Natalia, I am not a fan of 4 hours of work every night cause we have to watch a movie and then read 4 chapters in various books that need to be found. And then we don't even discuss in class and she just talks for 2 hours...kinda boring. The kids seem cool but we have like zero time to talk so I don't even know their names. I guess after having the best writing class/professor last term, it's hard to go back to something like this. And maybe also because we're starting with Richard III. WHICH IS SO BORING. Twelfth Night and Macbeth will be much better I imagine.
One day I will post about spring break...but for now, suffice it to say that I absolutely loved it!! Amazing hiking, views, and people. Can't get much better than that :)
IMPORTANT NEWS: ERIN IS COMING TO VISIT.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am so excited that I can't even contain myself. I have to stop from telling too many stories about her and gloating to everyone that she is coming, I am just that pumped.
I have a feeling that this week is going to be a lot of sleep deprivation. I've gotten in the habit of writing out my schedule hour by hour every day to insure that I don't forget anything and it makes me realize how little time I have for random stuff. I still manage to fit in watching the NCAA finals or YouTube-ing awesome songs in Damaris's room, but I definitely spend a lot of my time doing work.
Recap of classes thus far:
CHEM 6--I love this class but I feel bad cause I don't do the reading on time since there is no way for him to check that we did the reading or problems (unlike my other classes). The prof is really into chemistry and a million times better than last term's. He answers questions and had the majority of people's names memorized on the first day (each teacher gets a roster with our ID pictures and names...but the class is like 120 people so he is CRAZY for already knowing so many people). I'm in Julia's class again and Karoline is with us too! Yaaaay. There are also a lot of random people in there so it's fun to watch people file in.
We had our first lab yesterday and it's funny how little things have changed. This time Jing is my lab partner and already that makes it super fun. Plus she is a million times more competent than my last partner. I have the same TA, the same two guys are across from me, and the same two girls are behind me. Only difference is that I'm not sleep deprived at 8 in the morning and just missing out on valuable homework time at 2.
GERMAN 2--I love this class! We have this method of teaching at Dartmouth called drill (it's only for languages) where you get in groups of 8ish and there is a drill master, a Dartmouth student who is fluent in the language and trained in this special Rassias method. Essentially they say a sentence like "Ich liege auf dem Bett" then say something like "der Tisch...Ich liege auf dem Tisch." Then they say a different word, point to someone, and you have to repeat the sentence, correctly changing it to fit the word they prompt you with. It's a lot cooler than I'm making it sound haha. But we do that 4 times a week for 50 minutes each and it's just a nice break from work. The class itself is so unstressful that I really like it. The professor is so cute and funny; she's slightly awkward but so into teaching that it makes up for it haha.
SEMINAR--This is the class that I'm not the fondest of. While I love love love having a class with Natalia, I am not a fan of 4 hours of work every night cause we have to watch a movie and then read 4 chapters in various books that need to be found. And then we don't even discuss in class and she just talks for 2 hours...kinda boring. The kids seem cool but we have like zero time to talk so I don't even know their names. I guess after having the best writing class/professor last term, it's hard to go back to something like this. And maybe also because we're starting with Richard III. WHICH IS SO BORING. Twelfth Night and Macbeth will be much better I imagine.
One day I will post about spring break...but for now, suffice it to say that I absolutely loved it!! Amazing hiking, views, and people. Can't get much better than that :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)