Back to Insanity!

Hello readers…

SCHOOL STARTED! It’s weird having to share the campus again, but great to have Wellesley fully up and running. I am just ridiculously pleased to have a schedule, especially an awesome schedule where I’m excited for all of the classes! Of course, my life is insanely busy right now (I always think it’s insane, and then it goes and gets insaner. I think it’d be fascinating to plot my stress/exhilaration levels throughout the year, and from that extrapolate how much work I can do before I really explode.) So I’ll give it to you so you can see what it’s like!

Monday: My new blog day starting next week! Also features my “Making a Difference through Engineering” class (hereafter known as my “engineering for humanity” class, because somehow I remember that name a lot better) and my chemistry problem-session. Engineering for humanity is a new class this year, so it’ll be very exciting and problem-based. Chemistry p-sessions remind me a LOT of math office hours last year, so prepare to hear about them quite a bit :).

Tuesday: Yeah, class from 8:30-4pm! It’s like high school, except that if you have a full-day schedule here at Wellesley, people think you’re nuts. So, I have CS 112 (learning MATLAB. I am SO. EXCITED.), Organic Chemistry II (seems more fun than Orgo I so far!), Neuro 320 (Vision and Art with Professor Conway… yes, the same Professor Conway who is my research professor :)), Neuro 320 Lab, office hours, and an additional p-session for chem if I can squeeze it in. Sorry for all of the acronyms/abbreviations—‘orgo’ is organic chemistry (yeah, it doesn’t make sense to me either), ‘p-set’ or ‘p-session’ is problem set/session, ‘CS’ is computer science, MATLAB is the name of a programming language in CS, and the usual ‘neuro’ for neuroscience etc. I’m just trying to get everything written down today, since I don’t have much time (this is why I’m transitioning to Monday blogging starting next week); usually I’ll try to write everything out, since I well know that a college’s lingo can be very idiosyncratic :).

Wednesday: today! Chem again, make-up lift, and CS lab. It seems so short, but that’s because blogging needs to be done by 4 pm, and it’s the mornings that get packed. Ps, I’m swimming for the next three weeks, so add in two plus hours for that every day, plus Saturdays, and you have my true schedule. It’s a bit busy even by Wellesley standards.

Thursday: Office hours, my “Future Planning Hour” (I’m trying this out this semester. Essentially, it tells me to take time every week to reevaluate plans, go to the Center for Work and Service to work on resumes, complete internships, and ask professors for advice. I don’t know if it’ll last, but I’m trying!), more office hours, and engineering for humanity.

Friday: another 8:30-4pm day— pretty much the repetition of Tuesday, but with chem lab instead of neuro lab.

Saturday: swim meets and research.

Sunday: research.

And somehow I’ll do homework in this time too :). It looks crazy, it really does, but I think I can do it, especially when swimming is over in three weeks. And that is very bittersweet, because I love swimming (now that doubles are over, I’m appreciating working out with a team even more), but I really do have a lot going on. I talked to Professor Conway this last weekend, and he told me I needed to think about better reallocating my time for what would be useful in the future. Since my professed career plan is to become a professor, this would mean less time in sports and more in research. His end goal, of course, is for me to have the best college experience possible, and to have no regrets for whatever I do. So I am once again in the critical evaluation stage, about swimming and track and research, and I’ll let you know once I come to a decision :).

But I’m definitely in for the swimming season this year, and we’re winding down for NEWMACs, our championship meet in three weeks! It’s going to be a blast, and we’re all training hard for it. Taper, which is when practices become more sprint-y and less yardage, is approaching quickly. Taper is also my favorite part of the season, because you get the benefits for all of your hard work, and it’s just a lot of fun :).

Anyway, so for a summary of my classes, before I got sidetracked my swimming (it happens a lot, especially since the majority of my friends are swimmers):

Neuro 320 (Vision and Art) – my first 300-level class, and looks to be amazing,

Neuro 320 Lab

Chem 212 (Organic Chemistry II) – I’m hoping to improve off Orgo I,

Chem 212 Lab

CS 112 (Matlab) – So. Excited. You have no idea. I think programming is going to be my thing :),

CS 112 Lab – this is more like a practicum though, so I call it my ½-lab,

Extd (that’s Extradepartmental) 120 (Making a Difference through Engineering/Engineering for Humanity (my name)) – serving local communities :).

So, in other words, I’m a very happy camper right now. Plus, I’m trying an online version of meditation, and trying to find time for me to watch Ted Talks/read the newspaper/ do fun learning stuff every night. Not that this semester isn’t going to be jam-packed full of learning :).

And that’s all I have time to share with you guys, apologies! It’s been a very up-and-down week, what with figuring out if I’d be doing research at Harvard Med School (I’m not this semester), trying to balance swimming and research, trying to figure out if I’m doing track, emailing professors since I’m missing class for NEWMACs, figuring out what classes I wanted to take, figuring out which classes I could take, buying textbooks, sorting out everything for the semester, trying to find time for friends, expressing confusion to friends and getting advice from them, finding time for blogging, doing homework (I need to do homework. Someone just give me a Saturday so I can do it, please), swimming scheduling, weights scheduling, and finally having things mostly settled. I’m at the mostly settled point, so what I’m feeling right now is rather exhilarated :). Next week, I hope I’ll be in one of my calmer states, so I can actually write something thoughtful about all of the exciting things that are going on in my life right now :).

And now I must finish eating lunch, and dash off to make-up weights training. I’m slightly worried about myself, since words like “dash” and “valiant,” which usually just run around safely in my head, seem to be rushing off in Times New Roman 12 point font. Ah well; I’m at a high point, might as well enjoy it while I’m there :).

Best to you all, and I love comments and questions!

Cheers 🙂

Monica