pretty soon the days in my life will become much less regimented, and thus, more difficult to write about. our last day of classes was Wednesday, and yesterday all that I "did" was shadowing a tour (I will soon be a tour guide!) and went to the de Wit Lab to participate in a paid research study. I have three more sessions to go and I get paid 250 dollas!! Oh the joys of attending a research university with an attached nationally-recognized hospital.
alright, on with the show.
Actually...Tuesday never ended. I really intended on going to bed by 4...but that just never worked out. I had a presentation to give in Spanish, and I don't settle for mediocrity, so I had the opportunity to take this lovely photo, which pales in comparison to the real thing, of course. (the immensity of the sky, the hundreds of colors, the blueness and coldness of the lake, etc) But how does one see the sunrise like this, you ask? You live in the Shoreland. I have a whole facebook album dedicated to "Sunrises and Sunsets at the Sho". the Shoreland is the best.So Wednesday started at midnight with me working on my presentation (about Federico Garcia Lorca and his book Poeta en Nueva York, you should check him out if you can read Spanish, he's pretty amazing.) I shuffle back into my room at around 8am to wake up my roommates and print out the handouts. my friend Justin and I haphazardly get ready for what we admit will be the worst day of our lives. We go outside (it is a glorious, splendid day) and wait for the Charter bus, which is an adorable little white steed of love which takes a different direction to campus than the CTA route 171. We get off at 57th street and Stony Island to get some delicious coffee at Istria Cafe and then head on to our classes. My class is Spanish 204 Curso de Redaccion Academica. After you take the 100s and the 200s sequences, there are a whole range of electives for you to take. If you take Spanish/French in high school you will probably place into 202 and then take 203, and then you can take any class in that language, all of which are pretty advanced, some more than others. I requested to place into 203 because 202 was boring, so I'm a little ahead of most of my peers. Next quarter I'm taking Spanish 208 Textos Hispanicos Contemporaneos which I am very excited for! Okay, I'm going to be less wordy from now on. I'm sorry.
my class is 8 girls/women/mujeres, (2 first years, 2 second years, 4 third years) taught by a Colombian grad student in his 4th year, Carlos. Our class is in Harper, which has gorgeous classrooms, I wish I had a picture. We sit around this ancient big hard wooden table and talk about Lorca's issues with New York and listen to a flamenco singer, Paco Ibanez, sing one of his poems. We decide to meet in front of the Reg tonight at 6:30 to go out for a celebratory dinner.
then I meet up with Justin and head to BJ. we leave at around 11:30 and he walks me to the Biological Sciences Learning Center where I will take my dreaded bio midterm (we have three midterms, no final). I haven't studied or made a cheat sheet because all last night I worked on Spanish. I'm screwed. I study for an hour, write some stuff down that I know will be on the test on a piece of paper, and hope for the best. It wasn't so bad. Thank goodness half of the grade of Core Bio is lab, because I am doing awesomely in lab. Speaking of which, after my bio final, I have to go write my final essay, a "Letter to the Editor" about a controversial issue in biology, which is due at 5pm. I go to Crerar, where I never go. I actually never go to any of the libraries to study, but going home was just impractical. First, I head downstairs to find my dad's dissertation. On the way, I get distracted by a shelf of these:
French recipe books????? In micro-form?? Those boxes are four inches wide...sorry for not providing scale in the photo. Crazy Crerar.anyway, I find the thing, "Kinetic Spectroscopy in Supersonic Free Jets," and read the acknowledgments, because that's the only part I can understand.
Why am I still writing so much? ugh. Sorry. I'll try again to cut down.
So I write the thing, (about the existence of a gene for male homosexuality) turn it in, and go on a quest for a croissant with Justin. We run into a friend John near the Div School Coffee Shop (which was closed), who gives us delicious deep dish pizza from Giordano's instead.
We see our other roommate on the quads, she's heading off to Hutch Commons in the Reynold's Club to eat with her friends from Sosc class, which she does every Monday and Wednesday after that class. We try to convince her to get us food 'cause we are po'...but no dice.
Justin heads off to work at Ratner (he swipes your card as you enter), and I head home to compose myself with a lil nappy nap. After an hour of glorious oblique sunlight on my face in my warm cozy nest, I head to the Reg with my friend from Spanish, Talia.
We meet up there with Carlos, Amanda, and Kelin, walk to his car, and drive to Pilsen. We go to la Cocina Mundial, which is RIGHT near the pink line stop at 18th street...you should go. It's delicious. We are there for three hours, talking in Spanglish about everything.
He drops me and Talia off back at the Shoreland. There, I go to a house meeting and announce to Michelson that we will be hosting PROSPIES!! on Monday April 7th, Thursday the 10th, and Thursday the 17th. I'm Michelson house's PSAC Representative, so I organize the overnight stays of prospies in our house. If you come on the 7th, which you should, you will be hosted by Michelson. Those other two days are the HUGE MASSIVE April program days where EVERY house hosts and the campus is swarming with high schoolers.
After the house meeting there is Study Break, which during reading period and finals week, is a free snack provided by your Resident Heads at 10pm every night. On normal weeks, the RH study break in Thursday (in Michelson), the RAs study break is Sunday, and a student study break is Wednesday after house meetings. Every house is different.
After study break, there is a showing of The Man Who Fell to Earth, with David Bowie and a glorious soundtrack. A good part of the house shows up for that; some of my other friends go to a frat party; Justin and I pass out and sleep for a glorious 10 hours.
alright I really gotta run,
catching a train in half an hour to go down south to go ride with Caroline and Justin! (I'm from around here, I have a horse, and I haven't seen her since January, so I am very excite. This quarter did not allow me time to go riding!)
Good luck you guys, in hearing back.
I hope you all get what you want.
and if you don't, don't fret. College is freaking awesome at other places too.
-eliza.
