Dear readers,
SCHOOL IS OUT! Thank goodness. I love school, but that’s easier said as a blanket statement than when you’re about to take a two-and-a-half hour final. I was very lucky and only had two finals, Neuro 320 and Organic Chemistry II, along with two final projects, one for Making a Difference through Engineering (WE-lab!) and one for Computer Science / my research. It turned out that the projects took just as long as studying for my tests, but documentation for projects is much less stressful than test studying. My friend Nathalie had to take four tests, pack, and leave on Wednesday, so I count my blessings.
One of my favorite things about Wellesley is the honor code, which translates into a beautiful finals period when we can take our tests whenever we wish. There are three slots open—9-11:30am, 1:30-4pm, and 6-8:30pm, and we can take our tests anytime Monday through Friday in those three slots. It’s a wonderful system, because then the people who want to leave Wellesley can take more than one test on Monday, and the people who want to continue living in the Science Center (guess who?) can take their last test on Friday. I also use it as a great motivator—yes, Monica, you’re going to take a 1:30-4pm test! T minus 3 hours, T minus 2 hours, T minus thirty minutes—okay, fine, you really don’t know your carbohydrate chemistry, let’s back it up and take it at 6pm instead. T minus 4.5 hours again! … This kind of cyclic adrenaline building keeps one’s productivity up, though I don’t recommend it except for the final test, because it leaves you a bit drained ;P.
Both tests went well, and I was especially pleased with organic chemistry. Interestingly enough, I currently have the greatest understanding of chemistry than I will at any other point in my life. It’s a bit odd to be peaking when I’m 20. (ARG, I’m twenty now! So old.) But no more chemistry for meeee :). Hopefully, my grade will even show improvement from last semester! Organic chemistry is the first science class when I’ve had to lower my expectations for my grades… it is intrinsically difficult for me, and I found myself unable/unwilling to throw myself into it as I do for neuroscience when it gets tough. On the other hand, I learned a lot, and chemistry lab was very enjoyable. I love NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging), and if I could just do chemistry lab, I would sign up for another chem class no questions asked…
Surprisingly, there’s a lot to be done after finals are over. First, the emergence from the studying room— I moved into the Conway lab for finals period, of which you’ve already seen some marvelous stills of the door— and my very sad departure from the Science Center. Since I had moved the entirety of my desk’s contents to the Science Center, it was an adventure moving it all back to the room I actually sleep in. Then I had to sort all of that stuff, and put some of it into storage, some of it in a suitcase, and some of it in boxes heading into Boston. Have I told you all my summer plans?
This summer, I am first heading to Illinois for the Illinois Summer Neuroscience Institute, i.e. Neuroscience Camp. This lasts a week; I am terribly excited, and you will hear all about it next post. My family is then driving down from Minnesota to visit me for a few days, and then I’m back on the plane to Boston! For the rest of the summer, I shall be working in Professor Conway’s lab at Harvard Medical School, all the way until August 2nd. It’s going to be a packed summer, full of research—if you’re interested in undergraduate research, don’t be afraid to ask questions!
Moreover, I needed housing for the summer, if I was to be commuting to Harvard Med School every day. Thus, after searching in vain for several apartments, Alice and I (we’re roommates! Alice is a fellow Wellesley sophomore) ended up at the MIT Fraternity Theta Chi. The house looks nice, and I think we’ll have a great time :). What was really funny was that my aunt-in-law Rachel helped me move my stuff into Boston yesterday, and she told me that she had stayed, 20 years ago during her sophomore summer at Brandeis College, in the frat next door. The fraternities hadn’t changed :).
So aside from all of the packing and creative sleeping (I had already packed my sheets and blankets, but I’m a good forager), there were professor thank you notes to write, emails to respond to, social things that I had neglected especially during finals period (I tend to isolate myself from my fellow human beings), exercise, cleaning, buying and selling textbooks for next year, shopping through the clothes and food people were giving away… in short, I was probably busier during the two days after finals than during finals themselves. The amount of time real-life things take, as opposed to school, is always astounding :).
And so I am finally now moved out of Wellesley. It was a great sophomore year, very challenging for the most part, but full of growth and learning and self-discovery. I shall miss my friends over the summer, with which I have made many new memories. On the other hand, I am excited for research and this camp, and recreational reading on weekends :).
Best to you all, readers. Sorry for the quick post—I’m in the airport waiting to catch a plane to Neuroscience Camp, and my life is going to be very back-to-back for the next week or so. All exciting, all fun, but busy, just how I like it :). If you can navigate the evil robot-checker that prevents you from making comments, comments are wonderful and so are questions :). Hope you all have a great week!
Monica