Life Update

I have the hardest time keeping people updated on the major things going on in my life. So, I decided to write this blog post!

Family
I guess the biggest change in my family recently has been my parent's house in Minneapolis. This past year my parents have been working SUPER hard to renovate our house, with the aim of renting out the second floor. They did a lot of renovations on the first floor, where we live, and then they put the finishing touches on the second floor to make it a functioning duplex. And now, they are officially landlords. Currently the house is a bit chaotic (moving from an entire house to only one floor of it is hard!) but I'm really proud of all they've done. I've been at college during most of the process, and it's amazing to see the progress every time I go home.

Jobs
This semester my jobs have been quite different than the rest of my semesters at Wellesley. I'm still working at the campus library, but I also have a couple other (paid) projects going on too. I am working with a math professor, grading the problem sets for his calculus II class. It's pretty common at Wellesley for classes with weekly problem sets to have graders, so the professor doesn't have to spend their time doing it. My other project originated this past summer. I attended a Humanities Lab where I worked with a Wellesley professor exploring how to use digital maps to study mythological stories and artifacts (he happens to be an archaeologist as well as a classics professor). At the beginning of the semester he asked if I would continue to work with him, mostly preparing materials for classes he is teaching. Both of these have been very interesting experiences, but I'm finding myself having a harder time this semester managing my schedule, since I have fewer scheduled work shifts and more things I need to do on my own time.

Classes
This might not seem like a major life update, but my classes consume a lot of my time so I like talking about them. I'm taking four classes this semester, which is the normal amount at Wellesley, but my new challenge for this semester has been that two of my classes also have labs. (Basically that means that they meet an extra time each week, for two or three hours, and sometimes there are extra assignments to turn in.) I'm taking two computer science classes, one on computer graphics and the other on computer hardware and digital logic (which also has a three hour lab every week).

This is an example of what we do in my graphics
class. It looks deceptively simple, but it wasn't
simple to program!

This is part of what we do in my
computer hardware lab.

I'm also taking Astronomy 101, which has a lab as well. Astronomy lab is really fun, it has been cloudy a lot this semester so its also been a bit disappointing (its rather difficult to observe the sky when its cloudy). Finally, I'm taking Intermediate Latin (currently we are reading Latin love poetry).

College Major
I have officially been a computer science major since last fall, and that is still something I am very passionate about. There are two other things I am still considering adding on to that - I may be a math minor or I may be a Classical Civilizations major. Unfortunately at Wellesley you can only declare two things total, so I can either do one or the other. People ask me a lot what made me decide to take so many classics courses. I took one class my first year which was really interesting, and then the next semester the same professor (who I really liked) was teaching Latin 101 so I took it, and now here I am reading Latin Love Elegy and making digital maps about Greek mythology... Honestly it just kinda happened.

Study Abroad
One of the most exciting things in the works right now is study abroad next semester. There are still a lot of details to figure out, but things are starting to come together. I will be spending the semester at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. I am quite sure you will be hearing a lot more about this as time goes on! But I honestly don't have a lot of details to share just yet.

And that's about all I can think of right now. As always, I'll talk to you guys again soon!

Book Review: A Short Walk to the Edge of Life

This book is a fascinating mix of history, autobiography, survival story, and proclamation of faith. It tells the story of a man named Scott Hubbartt who becomes hopelessly lost in the Peruvian Andes while trying to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors.

As far as catastrophe and survival stories go, this one is refreshing because he is very honest about the mistakes he made, and the fact that getting lost was his own fault. His Christian faith is also a very important part of the story, and he describes all of the things that he learned and the ways he grew through his experience. It is a powerful story for anybody who has experienced the seeming absence of God in times of need - Hubbartt was lost and very near death, and every time he called out to God there seemed to be no response. However, in the end of the book his faith is even stronger than before, and he is able to look back and recognize the ways that God helped him.

Hubbartt is very clear about his Christian faith being one of the main reasons that he wanted to write this book, but the book is worth reading even if you're only interested in his story of survival or historical aspect of it.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher via Blogging for Books.

Pictures (aka Why I Love Boston and Wellesley)

As usual, my plans for what I want to write are more ambitious than the time I have available. I am planning on writing a post eventually with general life updates (like study abroad!) But for now, I want to share a few pictures with you.

This semester I have had a hard time getting off campus. Its just so much easier to stay here, and for the most part I am perfectly content sticking close to Wellesley. But last week I finally got a bit claustrophobic! It has been beautiful here lately (as it always is in the fall) and I wanted to share some pictures from Wellesley and from my excursions into the city. (Remember that you can click on the pictures if you want to see them bigger!)

I found a farmer's market in Copley Square

They intentionally made this skyscraper
reflective because of all the beautiful
old architecture around it.

Boston Public Garden

I had to take a picture of this statue in the
Public Gardens - it was dedicated to the
discovery of ether (at Mass general hospital
 I think). I thought it was a slightly
strange thing to memorialize.

Boston Public Library courtyard

The reading room in the Boston Public Library

This is near my dorm

We had a bizarrely (and wonderfully!) warm
late October day, most of which I spent
outside studying. I thought the sunlight on the
trees looked so striking against the dark clouds.

This is the complex where I live (viewed from the top
of our bell tower)

Reba and I went to the MFA (Museum of
Fine Arts

It was raining, so this was the best picture
I got outside the MFA before I put my
phone away

Priorities

During the school year I usually don't have much time for recreational reading. Or rather I should say, I don't make time for it. I've just gotten out of the habit.

Anybody who knew me when I was younger knows that I always had a book with me, and in every spare moment I took it out. I always used to read before going to sleep, and I usually read while I ate breakfast. I even took out my book in the couple minutes I had during passing periods at school.

Now, I have a smart phone. Those moments that I used to occupy with a good book more often than not are spent on my phone, playing a meaningless game or checking facebook and my email (again) or reading random articles I find online because I have nothing better to do in that moment.

A couple weeks ago I saw an article online about how to make time for reading books, and it made me start to realize how much I missed it. So, the next day I threw a book in my backpack (although its not like I didn't have enough in there already!). And low and behold, since I had it with me I found time to read it. Anyway, this has become a longer story than I intended. Books have always been an important part of my life, and I'm really excited that I'm beginning to make more time for them, even at school where I'm swamped with other obligations.

Right now I'm reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. I've read this book many times before, but sometimes I like rereading an old familiar book. It's like talking to an old friend that I haven't seen in a while, but somehow when we talk its like no time has passed at all. The other day I came across a passage in the book that I really enjoyed, and I wanted to share it with you all.

A very well-loved book, with my
very well-loved bookmark.

[context: This is the moment when Aslan, who becomes the savior of Narnia, is first introduced. Narnia is a country in which animals talk, hence the talking Beaver.]

“And now a very curious thing happened. None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don’t understand but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning - either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in his inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you get when you wake up in the morning and realise that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of summer.” (Chapter 7, A Day with the Beavers)

A Picture is Worth 1000 Words (and a Day is Worth 1440 Minutes)

I really enjoy sharing with you guys what I'm up to on a daily basis. Another post is in the works of larger life updates, but I had a really great day last Wednesday that I wanted to share with you all!

At Wellesley we have a tradition called lake day. Basically, its a celebration with food, music, and games that is a surprise until the night before. In past years lake day hasn't been very important to me, but this year for some reason I enjoyed the tradition much more. I met a friend for lunch and we headed over to Severance Green and the lake day festivities afterwards. We didn't stay very long, just to get cotton candy and deep friend bread dough (and flu shots, health services decided to take advantage of the gathering). The weather was perfect, and it was a great day to be outside seeing everybody enjoying themselves.

cotton candy :)

I've never gotten a flu shot
outdoors before!

Since the weather was beautiful, after lake day I couldn't make myself go inside to study. I decided to sit out in the Academic Quad, which is an area in the middle of campus surrounded by academic buildings. It's a pretty busy area of campus, so people I knew kept walking past and stopping to talk. Somebody stopped and studied with me for a while, and one of my professors walked past with his (adorable) dog, and a friend stopped and gave me candy. I tend to isolate myself while I'm studying, so it was a nice change of pace!

Later in the day there was an event in the math department called the math games. I wasn't going to go, but last minute a friend and I decided to go together. Basically we were put into teams, and each team was given one of the math professors as a judge. We were given different math puzzle problems and tried to solve as many as we could. There were lots of snacks and dessert (and way too much chocolate!) and overall it was a really fun event. A few of the problems were games, and they actually made us play the game rather than just explaining the solution. A highlight of the event was when our whole team had to go out in the hallway, stand in a line with either a 1 or 0 taped to our back, and correctly identify which number each of us had. It was a surprisingly nerve-wracking ordeal, but we prevailed!

The obligatory group photo

We ate so much fruit and cheese and chocolate that my friend and I swore we wouldn't eat dinner that night. Until we remembered that one of our dining halls was having a clam bake, and we decided we needed to go. There were tons of clams and lobster shaped cookies and corn on the cob cupcakes (decorated with jelly beans and candy to look like corn and butter) and other wonderful things.

Sometimes I forget to take advantage of all the cool things that happen on this campus. I'm trying to get better at that!

so much good (and slightly strange) food!

Book Review: My Irish Table

My Irish Table seems like it is part cookbook and part the life story of Cathal Armstrong, who grew up in Ireland but now owns renowned restaurants in the Washington DC area. If you're at all interested in Irish food and culture, this cookbook is definitely worth checking out. The photography is amazing! And the book is filled with a good mixture of recipes both from his childhood in Ireland and more modern, complex dishes. There is an entire chapter devoted to his mother, and a chapter devoted to recipes from his restaurant.

I have tried several recipes from the book, some of which have turned out very well (like the scones!) However, I would say that this might not be the best cookbook for the casual home chef - there are definitely doable recipes, but some of them make very large batches (like 11 cups of flour for a bread recipe) or call for very specific ingredients that I wouldn't be likely to have around. The recipes are very detailed, which is helpful but also means they're fairly complicated. I do appreciate that he gives notes on which recipes to serve together, and he includes many tips and anecdotes with the recipes.

There are many recipes I would like to try, and of the ones I have already tried there are a couple I would definitely make again. However, there are even more that I can't see myself ever attempting. Overall I would recommend this book, but perhaps more for its anecdotal nature than just because of the recipes.

Click here for more information about this book.


Disclaimer: I received this book for free from the publisher via Blogging for Books.

What I've Learned: Part 2 (And something to look forward to!)

A couple months ago I wrote the first part of this blog, focusing on things I learned in my classes over the past year. When I was writing that post, however, I was thinking about how learning is so much more than academic. This time I wanted to share a few things I've been learning recently about myself.

Now, changing the subject for just a minute. I recently signed up for a website called Blogging for Books. The basic idea is, I request free copies of books from publishers in return for posting a review of the book both to their website and to my blog. Well, I love books, so I thought it sounded like a good idea! I think it'll be a fun way for all of us to discover some new books. If you have any questions you can check out their website (linked above). So, you will see the first post about that soon. But don't worry, after that I'm sure it will only be every few weeks or so!

Now, onto the self-reflection.

Need to be Productive
One way I've noticed myself changing in the last few years is that I always feel the need to be doing something productive. When I'm at college, there is something productive I could be doing literally every minute of every day. When I'm not doing that I often feel guilty about it. That attitude has followed me home. Honestly, part of my summer I have spent trying to change that attitude and truly relax. It hard for me to watch tv, read, or spend time with my family and not feel guilty about being unproductive. Productivity is great, but so is relaxation! That's one thing I'm trying to get better at.

Living for the Future
I tend to look toward the future more than I live in the present. Sometimes this is a positive thing: I always enjoy things more when I've been anticipating them for a while. However, living for the future can definitely be a detriment to the present. When I'm too worried or excited about something that's coming up, I forget to enjoy what's happening right now.

Sleep
I've always wished I was a morning person, but the truth is I'm more productive at night and I have a tough time getting out of bed in the morning. I've been learning more and more, however, that I'm happier when I do get up early and can leisurely get ready and get going for the day. That is one more thing I am trying to improve!

Changing Roles
Earlier this summer I spent about a month volunteer tutoring at Hope Academy, the school where I went to high school. I haven't been back there in such an involved way since I was a student. This might sound strange, but I was rather apprehensive beforehand: I didn't know what it would be like to be back at my high school in such a different role. It ended up being a great experience, and it helped me realize something about myself - I'm growing up, and my roles and relationships are changing, but that's okay. The change doesn't always have to be a negative one. I tend not to reach out to people I haven't seen in a long time, but I know I will regret not reaching out for fear it might be awkward.

I love journaling, because I find getting my thoughts out on paper is helpful in processing them. I think a little introspection is good for everybody. I think we all have so many things we can learn about ourselves!