I want to go flying, readers. Run run run and jump straight up into the sky!
Failing that, I want to do a lot of skipping and sidestepping, which I executed marvelously running/galloping/verbing back to my dorm last night. I checked that no one was around first, of course, then had at it—not only was it fun to feel my body move, but the twirling beat a syncopated rhythm onto the pavement—babumpbabumpbabump.
It had been a particularly fabulous Thursday. I had finished studying and taking my Psych exam on Tuesday (check), I had finished studying and taking my CS exam that morning (check), I had gone to office hours and was ahead on my physics homework (check), I’d gotten through a good portion of my math homework (check), and I’d just sent a momentous email to my research professor. You see, for the last month I have been wrestling with a tough decision, part of which was realizing that I’m probably going to end up in cognitive neuroscience. Given this narrowing of my career goals, it would be opportune to work in a cognitive neuroscience research lab. However, switching from one’s current lab to a new lab is not something to be taken lightly, if you’re someone who is planning to go to graduate school in neuroscience (possibly straight out of undergrad) and moreover get stressed whenever academic plans change :).
But plans change! (Jane told me this.) It’s your life; you can do whatever you want with it! (I told myself this.) I think you know what you’re going to do, (Professor Keane observed.) If it was grad school, it would be different, but now it’s your decision, (Professor Higgins remarked.) And I talked to Professor Hildreth, who has been absolutely wonderful in coaching me through, and I talked to all my swim friends, who are probably darn tired of hearing about my research drama, but who still reassure me that yes, we want to listen, and yes, we want to support you in any way we can.
The decision is made, my research professor knows about it (courtesy of the momentous email, and a long talk in person I anticipate shortly), he is happy to support me in all further travels, and all of this makes one very happy Monica. A Monica worthy of dancing back to her dorm room, tapping and stomping rhythms on the pavement.
… Let me tell you about the rest of my Thursday! Because I woke up happy yesterday (don’t you love when that happens?) and enjoyed the whole day through. Thursdays are my busiest days, but I really do love all my classes and activities right now, so Thursdays are usually fun, and always productive and satisfying.
We began with my CS (computer science) exam at 8:30am—and I’m a quite happy test-taker, I just worry about all the studying beforehand. But Thursday morning all the studying was behind me, and I knew the answers to all the questions, and even wrote a novel for the last prompt. (She’d given me a prompt about color, and from my research lab I know all about color.) That was my last test of the week, so I left very pleased, and went off to physics at 9:40 am. Between center of mass calculations and special relativity, Lisa and I whispered a bit and took notes in multicolored pens. That test is on Monday, but I’ve cleared out my weekend towards studying for it :).
11:10 am was my math class, and I love Professor Lange. I have told you before, but math is fun this year, and it’s not my hardest class either, both of which are practically unheard of. It might be the material (visualization is awfully fun), it might be the teacher (her energy and patience are extraordinary), it might be the expectations (hey, if you go in expecting it’ll be arduous, it can only get better from there), or it might be a combination of all three. I place heavy emphasis on the teacher, personally, but I’m just so happy it’s working out.
At 12:20 pm I have lunch with my friends, and around 1 pm I take off to the Sports Center for my PE class. Coach Meg had us doing deadlifts for the first time in Strength and Conditioning, and I’m up to 165 pounds for five repetitions! That’s more than I weigh, ha :). Then, because Coach Meg knows I like this stuff and there’s only four of us in this class, we did a cardiovascular set afterwards (running and burpees, repeat three times). I couldn’t really breathe afterward (Coach Meg was just watching me gasp, which is wonderful, because peers always comment when you sound like you’re dying, but coaches just appreciate how hard you’re working), but the endorphins afterwards are a nice treat. I realize this is all a jumble of esoteric catch phrases for non-athletes out there, but I throw it out there for the crazy ones who do this every day :).
Then 2:50 pm (run, Monica, run!) is my creative writing class, and I started out the discussion yesterday, extolling how much I loved the first half of the story Pauline had written, but how much I was confused by the second half. We each have two days per semester when we write and present a story; on the day before our presentation day, we send out our story to the class, and then the next day we have our discussion. They’re great discussions—you really find out where your writing is unclear or not executed properly—and people are pretty nice about pointing things out. Our professor, Jimmy, has a rule that the writer is not allowed to speak during these discussions, and he’s careful to ensure that only one person speaks at a time, so the talks are lively, controlled, and very useful. I always look forward to this class, because it makes my mind spin in different patterns than it’s used to, and it’s lovely just to sit back, look at the beautiful scenery outside, and talk about stories.
4 pm! Usually time to head up to Professor Keane’s office to discuss the psychology papers I’d been thinking about this week, but this week I wrote my momentous email, and talked to some of my lab members for the first time about my decision. Kaitlin was disappointed, but accepting, and I’m so glad I’m not going to be ostracized for this. This was not a reasonable assumption to make, by the way, and I don’t even think it was conscious, but poor Monica was a bit scared ;). Then I was so happy I decided to try to tackle my schedule for next semester yet again…
I know you’ve heard from the other bloggers that registration was last week, and many of them were successful in getting the classes they wanted. I have to say, this spring has the worst possible registration schedule that I’ve experienced so far, so I’m having to get creative :). The problems are many, but here are the main ones:
– I need to take 1. computational neuroscience and 2. probability and statistics next semester, because they are pre-requisites for my fall senior classes.
– I’d really like to take english, physics, and psychology statistics next semester, since they are all required for me to graduate (plus psychology statistics is a pre-requisite for a cognitive neuroscience class I want to take next fall)
– Problem: computational neuroscience, probability and statistics, physics, and english are all at the exact same time.
As far as I can tell, this is practically unheard of. Who has four classes overlap on Tues, Weds, Fri, 9:50-11 am? It is maddening, and when I woke up at 5 am last week to register (I was in San Diego, so three hours behind) I did my best, but I fully expected to drop all of the classes I signed up for once I figured it all out. Well, I have finally figured it mostly out, and it’s definitely creative :).
I’ve given up on taking the cognitive science class my senior fall, because there is no possible combination that will allow me to take psychology statistics next spring. However, I am now taking Wellesley’s computational science course, but am taking MIT’s Intro to Probability and Statistics course. I didn’t get into physics (yet another issue. Happily, they’re opening up another class section, because the physics department has a reputation for never turning a physics student away. I don’t think it will fit in my schedule though), so I’m abandoning that idea. However, I am flexible in my english class at least, so I’m determined to find an english class as well, meaning I’m 3 for 5!
[Readers, be aware that if you go to a small school, there isn’t going to be an infinite selection of class times. However, each of those classes will be taught by a professor, those professors will likely bend over backwards to get you in, and only if you are very unfortunate will you have more than one conflict with two classes at the same time. However, even if you do end up being that unfortunate, you can take classes at Olin (the neighboring engineering college), Babson (another neighboring college), MIT (I think we all know this one), Harvard (really difficult to navigate with their schedule, but I’ve heard it can be done), or hey, just switch classes. Because plans change, and as long as I’m happy and get the classes done eventually, that’s all that matters :).]
So my dramas are done :). I’ve prepared an email for the new lab I would like to join at MIT, I have a reasonable class schedule that involves me traveling to MIT three times I week, everyone is pleased at me with Wellesley, I caught up with friends for two hours yesterday because I was ahead of schedule, I only have one test and one paper standing in between me and Thanksgiving Break, and I’m spending Thanksgiving Break at Tiffany’s house, where we will have a Chinese Thanksgiving dinner (I am curious as well. I will include pictures.) I enjoy all my classes and my activities, and I’m applying for a job next semester as a tutor. I was chosen as Wellesley’s Goldwater nominee, and people have come up to me in the hallways and congratulated me. Plus, tonight is Wellesley Swim and Dive’s first home meet against MIT, so I’ll be able to see everyone rock it in the pool tonight, and I am so psyched. How could life get any better?
If you come up with any ways, comments and questions are my favorite :). Have a happy Friday, readers, and thank you for listening to my rambling!
Best to you all, Monica