I Can't Think Of One

I'm such a good/crazy roommate that I stayed up with Michelle and kept her company as she pulled her all-nighter. Well, I did some work too but I certainly didn't have enough to the point where I needed to pull an all-nighter. I did fall asleep on her floor sometime around 4 a.m. so I guess it wasn't a full-fledged all-nighter on my part.

C.A.B. is sponsoring a whole boatload of events in the next few weeks and I would SO be at all of them if my responsible student conscience wasn't getting in the way of me having fun. There's a paintball trip this Saturday, laser tag sometime next week, and then a Phillies game, a Riverdance performance, and SPRING JAM! And those are only the few that I can remember. I actually already know who's playing at Spring Jam (one of the perks of working for the Triangle) but I can't divulge it yet for fear that I might get tarred and feathered. ;)

Okay, off to PSP. Enjoy what's left of this gorgeous day!

Until next time...

Please Write My Folks And Throw Away My Keys..

Yesterday, Jess' mom took the three of us roomies out to lunch at Rembrandt's as a pre-emptive celebration of Jess' 21st. Rembrandt's is up in the Fairmount district by the art museum but I had never been there since I don't usually venture into Northern Philadelphia.

The restaurant was quite literally a half a block down the road from the Eastern State Penetentiary. For all of you non-Phillyites, ESP, is one of America's oldest historic prisons and a historical landmark in Philadelphia. Al Capone was once incarcerated there too. It hasn't been in use since the 1970s but rumor has it that it's haunted by the ghosts of past inmates apparently it's been around for awhile. Don't know how true the ghost thing is but a couple of years ago, MTV's FEAR filmed an episode there. And apparently Ghost Hunters come out to visit a lot. Every Halloween, ESP has this huge "Terror Behind The Walls" haunted house experience where you go on a tour of the place and then get the bejeezus scared out of you. PSP went last year but I had an exam or something the next day and opted out of it. Hopefully we make another trip this year. And if you're really into ghosts, there's a company down in Olde City that does Philadelphia Ghost Tours around Halloween as well. THAT was a fun-night (also another Frat event).

Anyway, back to Rembrandt's--great place! The top floors of the place overlook the Philly skyline. I didn't get to see because we opted to sit outside and enjoy the weather. I got this chicken sandwich thing whose name I can't remember, let alone pronounce, and it was pretty delicious. They've got a whole bunch of salads, appetizers, and entrees on their lunch/tavern menu that are pretty affordable. Jess and Michelle opted to split one of their wood-oven pizzas and this crazy looking spinach crepe. Good times were had by all--hopefully we get to go back someday.

And now I've got a ton of work to finish before I head off to, count 'em, THREE, different PSP Meetings. I'm clearly head-over-heels in love with my Frat. What other reason could I possiby have for giving up my Sunday evening?

Until next time...

Le Fin

And thus a long week finally draws to a close. After handing my Metabolism midterm in, I officially lost all ability to concentrate on any of my classes. I suppose three hours of sleep will do that to you? Dev Psych and Anth passed by in a blur and then I trekked home to meet Jess to go grocery shopping. I accidentally discovered an Indian grocery store on my way to the market so I may stop by there sometime next week because PSP is having an Ethnic dinner and I'm going to need a ton of spices if I'm making anything Indian.

I just got back from going out with a whole bunch of my friends. We surprised Jess with Dinner at The Melting Pot for her 21st Birthday. If you've never heard of TMP, it's a classy little fondue restaurant. There's one down in Center City but we couldn't get reservations until 9 p.m. there so we drove to the one in Chestnut Hill which is about 20 minutes away. We got two gigantic vats of cheese and a whole ton of bread, apples, and vegetables to eat with them. Once that was done, salad showed up which was pretty good, even if the dressing was a tad bit on the sweet size. The best part was dessert--CHOCOLATE fondue. We had two different kinds, one was milk chocolate mixed with Bailey's and the other was a Turtley mixture (milk chocolate with caramel and walnuts). SO GOOD. They gave us strawberries, bananas, pineapples, pound cake, brownies, and marshmallows as dippers. In the words of Rachael Ray, "yum-O." So I'm utterly full. And satisfied. Chestnut Hill is a cute little town, I kinda want to go back to go exploring someday. We passed this place called the TrolleyCar Diner on the way to TMP so we've decided to go back there some day. I <3 mini-adventures.

And now I've got to change and head back out. I'm celebrating the end of a loooong week with some of my favorite girls!! Good times are to be had.

Glycolysis

EDIT 3:13 a.m. I'm kinda tired from all that studying. Fortunately, Michelle stayed up too because she was working on her own paper. All-nighters are always easier when you've got someone to keep you company. Roommates= awesome.

That's what I SHOULD be studying right now because I have a Metabolism (Biochem) midterm tomorrow. Thankfully I've already reviewed my notes so I'm not freaking out too much. I just need to make my study sheet that we're allowed to bring with us and I should be good to go. I hope.

I just finished eating Chinese food with Michelle while we watched the first half of Sweet Home Alabama. We ordered off of Campusfood.com which is probably one of my most favorite websites ever because you can order food from a million different restaurants on it. So basically if one person's in the mood for Chinese and the other wants wings you can both order from separate restaurants and the food will show up at your door. No cash = no problem because they take credit cards too!! It's pretty flippin convenient. Now that all of us opted out of getting a meal plan, we order out like once every other week or something. It's a nice break from cooking dinner.

I'm going to be SO relieved after this midterm is over tomorrow. I've got a Tri-Beta meeting and then a bunch of us are going out to dinner, and after that my friend is having a party so I reckon we'll head over there. Saturday I'm taking a Full-Length MCAT (I can hardly contain myself), going to lunch for Jess' birthday, and then in the evening going to Lock-In. Sunday I'm probably spending all day studying and then it's just a whole bunch of PSP from 630-whenever.

Back to the books!

Until next time...

Drops of Jupiter

::really huge grin::

scott-stein@comcast.net (Scott Stein)

Congratulations! -- WoW Writing Contest Results

---

Dear Students:

I am writing to congratulate you on the results of the 2007 WoW Writing Contest. Please read below for details, as all of you are invited to read at WoW.

The results are:

POETRY CATEGORY:

First Place: "Ode To My Liver" by Sravanthi Dama -- $100 prize

Did I mention that I'm an absolutely WRETCHED poet?? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

My Room Has Great Acoustics...

...but that is not the point of this entry.

::sings:: I've got so much work to do. Doo-dah, Doo-dah. I've got so much work to do all the doo-dah day!

I'll be the first to admit that I am totally used to the quarter system and it's fast pace by now. However, as my classes get harder, being used to the quarter system doesn't do much to soothe my concerns about getting good grades. I've got two quizzes and two midterms this week followed by one next week, another the week after, and two midterms the week after that. Whooo welcome to the quarter system! 10 weeks does not give you much time to slack off but at the same time I enjoy it because you get to experience more in the same amount of time as other kids who go to semester schools. For example, I get to have 3 new sets of classes every year while most students only have 2. It keeps life interesting. Instead of being stuck in the same classes for 15 weeks, I'm done in 10 and then I can move on. Plus, since our spring break comes after the end of winter quarter, it is an ACTUAL break. Most students at other schools come back from spring break and have to take midterms the following week. (I heard plenty of complaining from the Penn kids in my MCAT class about this subject). And generally, the quarters seem to fly by. My junior year is actually quite a blur to me right now..it doesn't seem like I even lived through winter quarter. I'm already a senior by credits and if I really, really wanted to, I could graduate a quarter early. (But I'm not going to because I'm in no hurry to leave Philly). High school seems so ridiculously far away, although I still remember it well. But now I'm closer to my college graduation than I am my high school graduation. BIZARRE.

So yes. The quarter system. Learn to love it and manage your time accordingly and you'll be a-okay.

Until next time...

I Traced A Way To Fall

The weather is absolutely amazing today. So much so that I think I'm currently in love with Mother Nature and Father Earth. According to Weather.com, it's 81 degrees outside right now. Delicious! I wish I was out there myself but I've got a Tri-Beta meeting in roughly 20 minutes and I'm pretty sure that once I go out I'm not going to want to come back in. They turned the fountain on in the Quad this morning so I sat and watched it for a bit because I got to campus early for my 10 a.m. class. I really want to see it at night when the lights change colors..perhaps some other time.

I've got two midterms this week which is a bit of a drag because they're on Thursday and Friday. Way to prolong the agony ya know? I guess it's good in the sense that I have more time to study for them, which I'm definitely going to need. I'm not too concerned about my Foods one but Biochem is likely to give me an ulcer before the week is up. Figuratively speaking of course. My stomach's mucosal lining does a pretty good job of protecting me against chyme.

::end geeky Bio major moment::

Last night was Upsilon's class Pinning ceremony for PSP. 25 Initiates got pinned in what turned out to be a shorter than normal ceremony and then everyone chowed down on an ungodly amount of food because it was a potluck dinner. It went off without any hitches which made me glad. Now we just have to get through the next seven weeks and arrive safely at Induction. ::fingers crossed::

Until next time...

Land of the Maries

So the Frat just returned from Maryland where we were down for the Alpha Beta Volleyball tournament. Alpha Beta is the chapter of Phi Sigma Pi at UMD and this is there 15th year holding this tourney. It was my first time there but apparently it's quite popular--Brothers drove up from Florida and North Carolina State to be there.

We left on Friday evening..it's supposed to be a 2 hour ride but we took a ridiculously long, albeit highly entertaining Wendy's break so we didn't get to the hotel until much later. There was supposed to be a "Greek Gods and Goddesses" Toga party that night but all of us were so tired that we stayed at the hotel and watched HBO. The beauty of the night was that there were 11 of us Brothers and only two double hotel rooms which, according to the hotel, could only be occupied by 3 people each. Whoops! So there ended up being 6 people in my room and 5 people in the other. We pushed the beds to the walls and inflated an air mattress on the floor. It was one ginormous slumber party. Pretty freaking awesome.

Saturday we woke up, went to breakfast, and then down to the field to the warm up. We got these sweet new team shirts that Lindsay designed so we were all decked out in Gamma Xi pride. Before the tourney started the President of Alpha Beta said a few words and we had a few moments of silence for Erin Peterson, who would have been inducted as a Brother this weekend into the Alpha Rho chapter at VA Tech and Reema Samaha, sister to an Alpha Rho alum.

Gamma Xi was slated to play in the first round against Beta Delta and while the Brothers put up a valiant effort and pushed it to three sets, we still lost. I didn't play..although I did have a mighty good time cheering my head off and coming up with new cheers for the Brothers. Later we did a park cleanup service event where we basically uprooted a whole bunch of invasive plant species from the park nearby. After the BBQ lunch we basically spent the rest of the day lazing around on the fields. Brothers got pick-up games of ultimate frisbee and football going..it was a very laid-back atmosphere. People were happy to just be hanging out with their Brothers on an awesomely gorgeous day.

GX went to dinner at Bennigan's (good food!) and then to the party that Alpha Beta had organized in a nearby Knights of Columbus hall. Good times were to be had...I was DD so I managed to keep my eye on everyone and we all successfully returned to the hotel in one piece where we played Rummikub until 2 a.m. Four of us left bright and early this morning so that we could get work done in the city. Pinning is this evening and I'm kinda anxious for it, hoping that people remember to do or bring what they said they would. ::fingers crossed::

Until next time...

Ugh

I'd just like to say that I'm not a fan of the 23 hour days. I mean, seriously, not cool!! I was up at 5 a.m. (yesterday) to study, left for school at 8:30, was at a mixture of work/classes until 4 p.m., at the library until 6 p.m., candlelight vigil til 6:30 p.m., Honors lounge til 7:30 p.m. and at the PSP Rush Event/Special Meeting until roughly 1 a.m. And now it's 3:34 a.m. and I've just finished e-mailing the last of the bids out.

And then I get to wake up in roughly four hours and repeat it all over again.
Can't wait!

Note the deep puddle of sarcasm on the floor at my feet.

A Casual Line

I'm currently on a break from studying for my Evolution test tomorrow. It's such a dry topic that doesn't hold my interest at all, which makes studying doubly hard.

Today was an adventure...after sleeping through the alarm that I had set for 5 a.m. I woke up at 6:13 a.m., freaked out for roughly three seconds and then leaped out of bed to study for my two quizzes. I gave the term "cramming" a whole new meaning. And I had some choice words for my alarm clock and my subconscious ability to ignore it but we won't get into that here.

In spite of my frenzied panic, I got to school a whole half before I was supposed to meet my professor (I was a crazy speedwalker today). Yes, I'm crazy like that. Most Indians operate on Indian Standard Time but all of my friends joke that I rebel against my Indian upbringing by being a hour early to everything rather than an hour late. It's true I suppose. If I'm not there early, chances are something's gone awry. Today was my loooong day of classes, five in total, 9-11, and then 12-3. It's doable provided I nourish myself during my breaks. After class I went to work and after work I went to meet my roomies and one of our other friends, Regina, for a quick dinner at Cosi's. They've had these awesome coupons in the Triangle which basically lets you buy 2 sandwiches for the price of 1 so we were all over that! One of the skills you develop as a college kid is the ability to find discounts or free food wherever you go. It's very a very valuable skill to have, trust me. Cosi's was too short for my liking and then I headed off to MCAT class which led to a grand total of 8 hours of class today. I'm a tad bit tired to say the least.

I forgot to mention that YESTERDAY was free cone day at Ben & Jerry's! I've gone every year since I've been at Drexel and I love it. Yesterday was a bit low-key since it was windy and it wasn't exactly ice cream weather but I dragged Michelle out with me and we waited in line for a mere 20 minutes before getting the most awesome flavor of all--Chocolate Fudge Brownie. YUM. So once we had dessert we came home and made a bangin' chicken teriyaki/stir fry dinner. Regina came over too and the three of us just hung out and chilled. It was one of those "I'm happy on the inside" kinda days..I love when those happen.

And now I really do have to get back to studying. Tomorrow is liable to be longer than today. Class 930-11, 1230-2, work 2-4 p, group project at 5, candlelight vigil for VA Tech at 6, Rush Night#2 at 730, Special Meeting at 9. Sometimes I wonder what my house looks like in the afternoons.

Until next time...

Hunger Pains in the Honors Lounge

In the best news ever, I just found out that CAB (Campus Activities Board) is sponsoring a paintball trip!! Twenty bucks for tickets AND you get free transportation there and back. If life doesn't get in the way, the Betas are rounding up and heading out again...should be awesome. Especially since this time we'll have some tiny idea of what we're supposed to be doing.

There's also supposed to be this sweet laser tag event in the Quad tomorrow which CAB is also sponsoring. Apparently they're going to set up a large inflatable dome and teams of 5 are going to go against each other. All in the middle of the flippin Quad!! I won't get to actually partake in it due to a combination of classes, work, group projects and meetings but I definitely want to go take a look at it if I can.

My stomach is GROWLing right now so I think I'm off to the lunch trucks. I <3 Drexel's lunch trucks...there's six million of them. (Okay, I lied, more like 10) But they're pretty cheap and oh-so convenient when you want to grab something quickly between classes.

Until next time...

Take A Moment

Stop what you're doing, and be thankful for your life and remember those who lost theirs in a blink of an eye.

Breather

Wow, clearly some divine Force took pity on me because the start of this week wasn't as horrible as I had anticipated. Since Archaeology got canceled, I took care of some stuff for PSP and then stopped at Wawa for a quickie dinner and headed off to MCAT class. I take Kaplan's MCAT class because there is a Kaplan center on 40th Street which caters to Penn and Drexel students. They offer a whole bunch of prep classes for college kids such as the LSAT, MCAT, DAT, OAT, GRE, etc. The classes are usually held on Penn's campus which is roughly a block southwest of Drexel's southern borders. So in other words, a very short, convenient walk. Drexel students also get to use UPenn's library which is actually quite massively beautiful. I really need to go in there one of these days to explore...

Anyway, I got to Williams Hall where class usually is and as it turns out there was some sort of scheduling error and all of the classrooms we usually meet in were occupied by Penn classes. It took about twenty-five minutes for a building supervisor to come by, but even then we were told that we'd have to wait for one of the classes to leave before we could use the room. At this point the 10 of us were pleading with our TA to cancel class. Apparently it's a crappy week for everyone because while the Penn kids were complaining about having Orgo midterms, Kelly and I were doing the same about our Biochem Quiz, Evolution Test, GMF Quiz, and Nutrition Lab.

Anyway, long story short, she relented and we got to leave. I got home by 7 p.m. which was exciting because it gave me a chance to get ahead on things. It's not that I purposely enjoy missing class...but I was relieved to have the extra time to get other school work done. My claim to fame amongst my circle of friends is that I have never missed a single day of class at Drexel. Yes, you heard right. I absolutely, positively refuse to miss class for any reason whatsoever. Last May, my friends decided to take a Thursday off and take advantage of the weather by heading down to Stone Harbor to go the beach. And as tempting as it was and as much as I did not want to sit in my Statistics class I didn't go with them. Whoo for not succumbing to peer pressure. I could never not go to class..I'd feel too guilty about wasting my time instead of learning which is the whole reason I came to college in the first place. Plus I overall just see it as as a waste of tuition dollars to skip class without a good reason.

So moral of the story? Don't skip class kids! It might become a dangerous habit once you start it.

That said, I'd like to take a moment of silence for the 33 students that were killed at Virginia Tech this morning. It's such a senseless tragedy..my heart goes out to them and their families. There's a chapter of PSP down at VA Tech (Alpha Rho) and unfortunately one of their Initiates is still unaccounted for...I wish I could do something for my Brothers but I guess I'll have to settle for keeping them in my thoughts for now =[

Under The Weather [hah, no pun intended]

Yeah so I picked my most stressful week of the quarter to get sick. Awesome. I think it was a combination of running around in the woods for 7 hours, and then working in the rain yesterday. So anyway, yes I'm not likely to be my cheerful, upbeat self this week and I apologize in advance. I've got six million things to do this week including two exams and two quizzes so the way I see it, I need to conserve as much energy as I can before I keel over. Actually, that sounds a bit dramatic...oh well. I've got to shower, chow down, and head to campus for class.

And you know how they say every cloud has a silver lining? Well, my Archaeology class just got cancelled...and it's the last one of the day. SCORE!

Blue Power!!

Oh man. Paintballing =AWESOME! Poco Loco is basically just this gigantic paintball field in the middle of the woods in Pottstown, PA (roughly 45 miles out of Philly). The 9 of us were on the Blue team with some other folks and we played the Grey team the entire day. The Greys were actually full of really strong, bulky guys and I was kinda afraid we were going to get annihilated but we took them DOWN! At the end of the day one of the refs let us go into the smaller fields where the 9 of us faced off against each other. That's the part when all of us got creamed the most. For most of the day we got pretty good at ducking and hiding and shooting from random places. We got ridiculously dirty though. There was a "swamp" field that was full of muddy paths and had a creek running through it..we definitely got the worst of that.

Anyway, I am SO freaking tired right now. And sore. And I think I may have mildly sprained my wrist when I was running for cover. In the end though, we had a fun, exhausting day...I highly recommend that you guys try out Paintballing. All of us were novices, and sure as heck, we made it out alive, with a couple of scratches and bruises. But after all, what would paintball be without a little bit of pain?

On a side note: I'm working Accepted Students Day on Sunday morning, look for me...I'll be the one in the yellow shirt and khakis looking like she's about to keel over ;)

Sniffly

Oy, my allergies picked a great time to kick back into gear. My eyes were so itchy today that I could barely stand to keep them open...forget about even trying to put contacts in.

The Tri-Beta induction went off rather smoothly this evening. We have now officially been installed as the Omega Sigma chapter of the Beta Beta Beta National Biological Honors Society. Exciting! Dr. Murasko, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences even came out to the ceremony and made a speech which was awesome because she's normally always so busy with her work.

After the ceremony a bunch my good friends and I (I refer to us collectively as the Betas) went back to Crossings to hang out for a little bit. Then the hunger pangs kicked in and we all went to Pizza Rustica where we scarfed down two pies in record time..I even bumped into my friend Andrew who apparently works there. Small world I suppose.
His life is so exciting--he's going to Paris in August (through Drexel) to study and work for there for nine months. Study Abroad is such an exciting opportunity..it wasn't feasible for me to do for a variety of personal reasons but how many opportunities do you really get to immerse yourself in another country for a prolonged period of time?? I know a bunch of kids who have spent a quarter (or more in London). One of my friends that I met this year who is a Digital Media major is actually doing the first half of her co-op for a WebDesign company in Northern Jersey and then going to Dublin, Ireland for the second half of her co-op. I'm quite literally green. No pun intended ;)

Anyway, back to the Betas...it was our first genuine reunion outside of class in quite sometime and it was quite lovely. I <3 those kids a whole lot. They make the whole being a Bio major bit so much more fun because they're usually ridiculous times a 1000. Again, I've had major luck with making the friends that I have made in college. There's really nothing more that I could want than good grades. And guaranteed acceptance to med school of course. Clearly, I'm a dreamer.

I've gotta hit the sack now because I'm going Paintballing with the Betas tomorrow!! There was a vendor that came to Drexel in February who was selling $5 paintball tickets. The field is in Pottstown which is about 45 minutes away from here and all we actually have to do is buy our paintballs. I've never done it before but I'm sure it's going to be super messy, if nothing else. We've been amped for this trip since February so hopefully it's all gonna be worth it. Hopefully I get my energy back by tomorrow...this week has sucked the life out of me. Although seeing the Betas today definitely made it better.

Roommates = Love

I just got back from seeing Oliver, it was FANTABULOUS! If I weren't so tired and faced with the prospect of a long night of homework I'd be singing along to songs right now. It was a wonderful night full of roommate bonding. These days (or at least since spring quarter started) it seems like I leave the apartment at 8 a.m. and don't get home until 10 p.m. which leaves little time to hang out with the girls. Which is a shame because we always have fun together even if we're like all sitting in the living room doing our readings for class.

Roommates are probably one of the biggest parts of college life if you're living on campus. Which I absolutely, definitely recommend! You can't replace the dorm experience at all.

Freshman year I lived in Honors housing in East Hall which was all suite style living.
Side note: next year the brand spankin' new Race Street Residence hall will be reserved for Honors housing and it's suite style too. Anyway, yeah, Honors housing = awesomeness. A suite is basically a mini apartment with a living room, kitchen, and bathrooms. I remember when I first walked in there with my parents they remarked that the place was more luxurious than our digs back home.
This was the view from my room:


















I had five roomies (twas a 6 person suite) on top of all of it! You can room with someone in your major or you can request to live with someone too. My roomie was a Business major and we got along remarkably well..mainly because both of us were pretty carefree people. The only issue the suite had was getting people to keep the place clean. We resorted to creating a chore schedule...it wasn't perfect, but we did what we did. We had some good times there...namely gorging ourselves on Ben & Jerry's while watching Law & Order marathons.

Sophomore year, two of my suitemates from frosh year (Jackie and Michelle) and I opted to live in North Hall, which was the upperclassmen residence hall. I was in a 4-person suite in North. Since there were 3 of us, I got a new roommate all over again. And I could not have asked for a more ideal roommate. Lauren was a Senior Interior Design major and while I was apprehensive about living with someone older we got along fabulously well. She got a job with an Interior design firm in Manhattan about three months out of college so she's off doing the real world thing now. I miss having her around. My favorite part about North, hands down, was that our suite had the craziest holiday decorations.
Case in point:

Check out the bats hanging from the ceiling and our life-sized skeleton. We also had a motion activated doorbell that scared the bejeezus out of anyone that knocked on our door.





















This took forever to do and looking back on it, it seems RIDICULOUSLY cheesy, but it was fun in the moment..











We made this life sized Santa by stuffing my clothes with a whole stack of newspapers and then tacking him to our door. We were nothing if not ingeneous. And we definitely had wayyyy too much time on our hands.

















Michelle and I decided that we wanted to find our own place come Junior year. We were going to get a house with 5 other girls but that didn't pan out. We met Jess in the process though and she became our third apartment-hunter. I found our current place on Craig's List It's about a mile off of campus which means it's an easy 20 minute walk. Even better is that the trolley stops right on the corner so if I'm ever feeling lazy I can take that to campus for a mere $1.30. That's like the cost of a pack of gum. The place is pretty swell. It's got a cozy feel to it... hardwood floors, exposed brick walls and skylights! We all have our own rooms and I've even got my own bathroom too! So off-campus living, definitely not a problem to find if you put in the effort.

So what was the point of my now ridiculously long entry?
Ah yes, I miss my roommates. Tonight was sorely needed. In most cases, your college roommates pretty much become your second family. They're the people you go home to at the end of the day, they're the ones that are there when when you stumble into kitchen in your PJs, bleary-eyed and hungry for breakfast. They're there for your most vulnerable moments and for your proudest. They're the ones that come to you at 3 in the morning when you're pulling an all-nighter and ask if you want to go on a Wawa run. Am I getting cheesy enough? I suppose luck may have something to do in finding the right roommates, but when you do, my advice is to hang on to them for dear life. Hands down I've got one of the best families ever...you'd probably lose if you tried to argue with me. ;)

Until next time...

Busy^2

I'm probably the only person in the world who seems to enjoy being busy. This week has already been crazy and based on my planner (a suprisingly useful tool for time-management--invest in one!), I don't have a free moment until the end of April...and weirdly enough, I don't mind! Being busy keeps my mind occupied which is a good thing because I should be exercising as many of those neurons as possible. Neurons die if you don't use them, as I learned in my Human Physiology class. So you might as well use 'em while you've got them because neurons also have this unique ability of not being able to regenerate. The things you learn as a Bio major.

Rush events for the frat (Phi Sigma Pi) start next week and once we have the Pinning ceremony for our new Initiates, the Rush term kicks into full swing which means Kate and I (as the Initiate Team) get our lives launched into overdrive. We've had a ton of kids come to our Meet Nights, moreso than we expected so I'm psyched to have a large Initiate class and to help shape the future of our Frat. Yes it's going to be a ton of work but I'm confident we can handle it. Plus all of the Brothers are super supportive of us and I know there'll be people to catch us if we do somehow trip up along the way.

Tomorrow (today) is actually a relatively calm day. After work I' m going to a poetry reading on campus that Drexel's Writing Program is sponsoring. Two poets, Sarah Vap and Forrest Gander, are going to be reading their works. I've never read their stuff before and while I certainly couldn't write a poem if my life depended on it, I have a deep appreciation and admiration for those who can. Anyway, the entire shindig is totally free and open to everyone and I psyched about the fact that it's mostly contemporary poetry--it's easier for me to relate to. The other exciting part is that I'm going to the reading with my buddy who just went on co-op this term...it feels like I haven't seen her in forever (okay, like 2 weeks) so it'll be a pseudo-reunion of sorts. We're officially poetry buddies now--this is the third reading we'll be going to. Last quarter we went to a "reading" given by Thylias Moss who is probably one of the most unconventional poets you're liable to meet. The Writing Program is really good about bringing in all sorts of writers and poets that you otherwise probably wouldn't have a chance to meet.

After the reading, the roommates and I (collectively referred to as the Triumvirate) are going to go see a production of Oliver Twist. I've been humming "food, glorious food" underneath my breath for the past week or so because that's how excited I am for this play. My third grade class put on a production of it and as far as I can remember, we put on a pretty awesome show for being 8 years old at the time. Okay, so maybe I'm biased, but whatever. Oliver Twist hasn't been in my life for the past 13 years (crikeys, I'm old) but tomorrow he'll return! I feel sorry for my roommates already--they probably won't be able to shut me up once I start singing after the show is over.

Bio Major Humor..

Stride

Today in Foods, our professor was listing a whole bunch of sugar alcohols and I glanced down at my gum wrapper only to realize that all of those alcohols were ingredients in it. Nifty coincidence I suppose.

On to more relevant things. This is a rush term for Phi Sigma Pi which is the co-ed (yes, you read right) National Honors Fraternity that I joined last Spring (yeah Sigma class!). Rush terms are always fun but they're also kinda hectic since we have so much stuff going on. This term I'm the Assistant Initiate Advisor so basically I'm there to guide the pledges along the entire process. It's definitely going to be a lot of work but I really wanted the opportunity to get more involved with the frat since I'll be going into my senior year in the fall. I like that PSP isn't your typical social frat but it isn't a hardcore nerdy frat either. We have our fun but then we also do a lot of scholarship, service and fundraising events as well. We just started brainstorming event ideas at our meeting yesterday so I feel like this is going to be an awesome term. Plus the Brothers are in general, just awesome, dynamic people. It's always a trip with them. Next weekend we're going down to the University of Maryland for their PSP Chapter's annual Volleyball tourney. I can't play volleyball for my life but I'm going to stand on the sidelines and cheer my head off for our Chapter (Gamma Xi). Road trips are pretty flippin' sweet after all.

Two Minute Entry

Okay really quickly, and bulleted for your convenience, here goes:

• The Comcast tech came out today and we have our Internet back! Wahoooo!!! I hate not having the Internet at home. It makes me miss the dorms. Oh beautiful T3. ::sigh:: But I've got my Internet back which means I don't have to stress about staying late on campus to do stuff. Excitement!!
• The roomies and I decided to go see Shooter on a whim last night because we realized that the 3 of us weren't going to be free on the same day for like the next year or something. It was a good movie, I highly recommend you go see it! I'm not too much of a blood, guts, and gore person but it was tastefully done if nothing else. Plus Mark Wahlberg is a hottie, that's always fun to look at. We didn't see ourselves in the crowd scene although we certainly did squeal with excitement. It was a bit surreal but it seems like we've come full circle. Being extras that day was the first time that the three of us had done something as roommates and then six months later we're sitting they're watching it. A sentimental moment if you will.
• Our pet bunny, Grommit, is CRAZY! He's recently developed this ridiculous habit of nudging his water bottle up and out of the holder so that it falls on the floor outside of the cage. It's fine when we're there and can replace the bottle but sometimes he does it in the middle of the night and when I wake up in the morning I'll find him staring at the water bottle on the floor. And then when I replace it he sucks the life out of it. Odd little guy.
• This week is ridiculous. I've got work, MCAT classes, PSP Chapter Meeting and Meet Night #1, more work, museum trips, projects to work on, a Metabolism quiz, Oliver Twist to go see with Michelle, a meeting with my Pre-Med advisor, and then Tri-Beta Induction on Friday. I love being busy but wow, this is just a tad bit insane. At least falling asleep will be easy.

And this entry took wayyyy longer than 2 minutes...I'm off to the PSP Meeting!

Until next time...

The Journey Home...

...is never too long, your heart arrives before the train.

Recognize the lyrics? They're from Bombay Dreams. It was the first, Indian themed musical to hit Broadway sometime in 2004/2005. My mom and I went to see it and I completely fell in love with the soundtrack...

ANYway, I'm back home in the Hicksville tonight. Yes, that's the actual name of my town. Hicksville, Lond Island. Feel free to snicker. Sometimes I call it Icksville for fun. It's bizarre moving to the suburbs after having lived in Queens my entire life. Mainly I can't get over how quiet it is here. In Queens I lived in the vicinity of three hospitals, a bunch of fire stations and one or two police precincts. Most of the time I was lulled to sleep by the sounds of sirens. Now I lie awake and I swear I can almost hear my heart beating. Ridiculous! I still need to get used to this place. We moved in October but since I've mostly been at school I think I've lived in this house for a grand total of a month.

That's why I'm glad that I ended up in Philly for school. Having lived in an urban setting for most of my life (let's not forget that I went to high school in the boogie down Bronx), I probably would've been severely unhappy anywhere else. Drexel is far enough away from New York that I need to live in Philly but close enough so that I can go home on a whim if I want to. Like today, I ambled over to 30th Street Station after class, hopped the R7 to Trenton, caught the EXPRESS NJ Transit (for the first time EVER) to Penn Station and then took the LIRR to Long Island. All in all about a 3.5 hour ride for a decent price. Easy schmeasy. And it gave me time to catch up on my sleep.

I'm pretty sure you can get anywhere in the world from 30th Street...Amtrak runs out of there, all the regional rail lines go to the PA suburbs, and there's even one that goes down to Delaware. Plus the R5 heads straight to the Philly airport so what more do you need?? Public transportation= a Godsend. And if you've ever lived in New York, it's a necessity. I didn't bother getting my license until a month before I went off to college but I've been riding the subways and the buses by myself since I was 9.

Until next time...

Shooter!

I seriously need to go see the movie Shooter ASAP. Michelle, Jess and I were extras in it when they filmed it in Philly and we've been dying to go ever since we saw the actual previews for the movie. It came out like two weeks ago but in between spring break and all of our other commitments the three of us can't seem to find the time to go. I doubt we'll even see ourselves since we were a part of the gigantic crowd scene that they shot in front of Independence Hall. But it's still massively exciting! I mean, how many other people can say that they were in a movie with Mark Wahlberg. Well not with him per se, but still, it's pretty sweet. And we got paid 75 bucks for a day's worth of standing around and then intermittently ducking for cover. Good times!

And now I've got to run off to Nutrition Lab. Apparently we get to make candy in two weeks. Loving that class already. =P

Until next time...

Dinner Choices

Wow, I just had the worst time of my life trying to log back into this thing. Not cool Blogger. ::shrugs:: Maybe I'm just technically impaired.

The Honors Lounge is quiet for once. Kinda scary because this place is always full of people, which is usually a good thing. Now that I live off campus I pretty much live in the Lounge in between and after classes. You can't beat free printing. And good friends of course.

I should probably get home and make dinner. That might be kinda hard to do considering the fact that we haven't gone grocery shopping since we got back from spring break. Not to mention it's Passover which means that Michelle can't eat like 90% of life. I feel like if you can live through Passover a low carb diet wouldn't be a problem at all. I could never do it though. I scarf down rice like it's my job. Which technically, it is, considering that I'm Indian and all that good stuff.

I was actually surfing around an Indian archaeology website yesterday (for class) and I discovered some pretty nifty things. Like the first school of medicine was founded in India. And so were some of the first surgical techniques. And we were the richest civilization in the world until the British felt the need to invade. We also calculated the value of pi, invented the zero, and determined how long it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun. How's THAT for impressive?


Hah, Michelle just called and told me that it was 50 cent ice-cream cone night at Ross Commons today. So maybe we'll just eat ice cream for dinner. I <3 being a college kid.

Until next time...

There's So Much Sun Where I'm From..

...actually, no there isn't. It's a cloudy, rainy day here in Philly..So I guess my title is just a bunch of wishful thinking. And a little bit of Jack's Mannequin. They're flippin' amazing.

Today was a "running around like a chicken with its head cut off" kinda day. We FINALLY got the charter for our Chapter of the Tri-Beta National Biological Honors Society--the first of its kind at DU. We're such dorks but I love it! I'm pretty psyched about this because we've been working on this since last Fall. Anyway, the Induction ceremony is next Friday and there are about a million things to take care of like the room reservations, food delivery, making sure that all the necessary faculty members are going to be there and all that jazz. I don't mind it so much, I just want it to be done so I don't have to worry about it.

I put down my deposit for the Phillies-Yankees game in two weeks! I'm wayyyy too excited for that. Not only are the teams from my two hometowns playing each other but it's totally FREE! I <3 the Honors College...so much free stuff. I'm working on convincing Michelle to come with me but she said she'd only go if I went to the ballet with her. I need to think about this...

Classes have been pretty routine so far. It's only Day 3 of Spring quarter so my stress levels are pretty low. For now at least. I've got Genetically Modified Foods, Metabolism, Evolution, Nutrition, Developmental Psychology and Archaeology on my plate. It actually seems kinda scary when I write it out like that, but oh well. It seems doable for sure, provided I manage my time right. I actually have to go to Penn's Anthropology museum next week for my Arch class so that I can start my paper about Amarna and Egypt. It's about time I went--between having an Anthropology major for a roommate and having a good friend who is all about Egyptian pride I need to go see for myself what all the fuss is about.

Until next time...