"There's Libraries In The Computers!"

The title of this post was a gem uttered by my friend Molly this morning. She meant to say that there are computers in the libraries but I suppose insane amounts of time spent on our presentation for Biochem fried her brain. ;) About half the Honors Lounge burst out laughing when she uttered that this morning.

Speaking of which, the Honors Lounge just got renovated and it looks super-spiffy in here! It's amazing what a new coat of paint and some new furniture will do for a room. The place actually looks bigger and everything seems spacier and brighter. Next week the Lounge is getting a new printer which is blessed news for all Honors students because the old one is wheezing it's way to a slow death. For those of you who don't know, if you are a member of the Honors College you get free printing in the Honors lounge...it comes in handy especially when you need to print out lecture notes, papers, or other stuff for class. I tend to live in the Lounge these days since going home in between classes is rather pointless for me since I live off campus. It's a happy place (most of the time at least) and when you've been around as long as I have, chances are you'll always bump into someone you know when you walk into it. When it was closed for renovations we were all kinda at a loss for where we should go. Plus you're guaranteed to hear the most random conversations in here. Right now I'm accidentally-on-purpose eavesdropping on a conversation between two guys who are criticizing Postmodernist thinkers. Go figure.

Today I'm doing a phone interview with a professor at Drexel's College of Medicine (DUCoM) for an article I'm writing for The Triangle. He pioneered this new laprascopic surgical technique in which he goes through the bellybutton to remove the person's gallbladder. It pretty much leaves no scar at all. Pretty nifty I'd like to think, although I'm not entirely sure how one can remove a gallbladder through a belly button. So that's in about a half hour and I have to stop by the office and grab a tape recorder for the conversation. I'm kinda nervous because it's the first time I've done a phone interview but hopefully it'll turn out okay.

Until next time...

Med School?

So today marked the day that I officially began the whole applying to medical school process. Tom Coyne, who is the pre-med advisor held an info session for all the kids who are planning on applying for admission to the Fall 2008 class. It was a bit overwhelming...there's a lot of stuff that needs to be done like filling out the AMCAS application, writing my personal statement, lining up recommendations, volunteering, shadowing physicians, etc. Thankfully we're pretty much told exactly what we need to and when it needs to be done by so it takes a bit of the burden off of us. The Steinbright Career Development Center (SCDC) provides a lot of resources for people who are looking to find jobs after graduation or need guidance in terms of applying to graduate and professional schools. If you're going to be doing a co-op while you're at Drexel, you'll be in close contact with the SCDC as you go through the co-op search and interview process.

Like many schools, Drexel doesn't have an official pre-med major. While it's true that most pre-meds are Bio majors you can pretty much choose to study anything and apply to med school as long as you have the pre-reqs, a year of Bio, a year of Physics, a year of Chem, a year of O-Chem, and a year of Humanities. In fact, there was one kid at the info session tonight who happened to be a Marketing major. You don't usually get a lot of business kids going into medicine, but to each his own I suppose.

In the end, it's crazy to think that this is all actually happening. College FLEW by. Junior year ends in about 3.5 weeks and then I'll have my last summer of "freedom" which is a very relative term before I dive headfirst into my senior year of COLLEGE. And then it's off into the real world and one step closer to what I'll be doing for the rest of my life. I can still remember my senior year of high school...in fact prom was exactly three years ago this Sunday. The juxtaposition is all too bizarre for me.

But stepping away from the growing up bit for a second, I'm going to the Jersey Shore for the first time EVER this weekend! I cannot begin to explain how excited I am about this. A bunch of us (mainly Brothers) are driving down to Wildwood for the day on Sunday morning. I can't wait to get on the Boardwalk and stick my feet in the ocean (even though Weather.com says it's only going to be seventy degrees). It's gonna be awesomeeeee!

Until next time...

Allelu!

The Brother Auction went really well. Even though attendance was sparse we ended up raising somewhere around $600 for the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation. I ended up buying my own roommate which she yelled at me for (I paid $51) but whatever. My grandmother died of breast cancer when I was 10 and so this was the least I could do. We all spend money on ourselves all the time for the most ridiculous things...it doesn't hurt to think about others for once.

Spring Jam was yesterday! I didn't get to go see Jack's Mannequin myself because I had a prior commitment but the Armory was teeming with bands and Drexel kids all day long. You could probably hear the music for a couple of blocks in every direction of the Armory. It almost made me glad that I live a mile off of campus ;)

It's 11 a.m. so I should probably go make my day a productive one. Gonna shower, grab some lunch, and then head down to the Honors Lounge to study and then meet with my group to work on our presentation about hemophilia. And then PSP meetings tonight. It's slightly funny how I spend almost as much time on campus on the weekends as I do during the week. Or maybe that's just sad? Depends on your vantage point I suppose. Oh wellp.

Until next time...

And Another Crazy Week Comes To An End...

Three more weeks left to spring quarter! I'm half excited/half sad about it. But at least it's Friday which is always an awesome occasion. Tonight is the Frat's Brother Auction. Brothers are going to be auctioning off their services (cooking, cleaning, driving, etc.) so that we can raise money for the Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation. I haven't actually been very involved in the whole planning behind this since I've had my plate full with Initiate stuff so I'm looking forward to see how it turns out. Hopefully it'll be a good night and a great success.

Monday, is Tri-Beta's first annual GALA! It's a pretty swanky, formal affair that's going to be held in our Grand Hall. We pulled it together in an impressively short amount of time so it should be bangin'. I'm excited for our centerpieces..keeping in mind that we are a Biological Honors Society, it's going to be a glass vase full of water with riverstones and sand at the bottom with a bamboo stick extending upwards and one little BETA fish floating around. How very appropriate right? I'm definitely going to snag one of those to take home. The only thing I'm not fond of is that I have to get dressed up for this shindig...I'm just not good at it! Heels and makeup and contacts..they all drive me batty. Fortunately there should be enough girls around who know what they're doing to save me from my fashion-reject self ;)

Have a good weekend!

Until next time...

Water=Best Stuff on Earth

So the quarter has been progressing at a fairly rapid pace. It certainly seems like my Junior year has flown by which is utterly bizzarre to me. But yes, we're now coming up on the halfway point of Week 7 which means I've got about 3.5 weeks of class left and then a week of Finals and then I head back home to New York for the summer. And then I get to take my MCATs and begin the Med School application process. Fun times. It's funny because Freshman year all I wanted to do was go home for the summer and now I almost wish I was staying in Philly because everyone I know is hanging out here. It'll definitely be fun to come back and visit though.

Some of the PSP Bros have a Jersey Shore trip in the works for Memorial Day weekend and that should pan out assuming that we get enough drivers. I really hope it does since I've never actually been down to the Shore before. When you're from NYC the only shore you need is Jones Beach or Coney Island. But it's great that Philly is in such a central location. Places like Ocean City and Wildwood are like two hours away. And then cities like NY and D.C. are also two hours in either direction. Pretty awesome I'd like to think.

Anyway, I've got 2 midterms to go study for so I'm off to do that. =[

Until next time...

Holiday from Real

Back home in Long Island today. It's a temporary respite from all the stresses and hassles of academia. The express trains were awesome today so it only took me a little over three hours to get back, most of which I spent napping. My pseudo all-nighters seem to be taking over my life. I study until about 2 or 3 a.m., give in to sleep, and then wake up at 5 to start all over again. Whatever does the trick I guess.

Today in Nutrition Lab, we made steak! There were a bunch of different kinds and they were all prepared in different ways and then we got to taste everything. Pretty awesome actually. Ahmed and I had to cook a London Broil and we were looking for differences between a thin piece of L.B. and a thick piece of L.B. So basically we took a gigantic rolling pin and smashed a piece of L.B. until it was quite thin. Awesome stress reliever! Kidding. I really do love that class though...it's definitely unlike any other Bio lab I've had at Drexel. After all, we couldn't exactly eat the glowing Vibrio fischeri bacterial clones that we made in Molecular Bio lab. ;)

Until next time...

Sharpies Are Awesome

Wow, this week has been crazy, just like the five weeks before it. But like I've mentioned before, I don't mind being busy. I do, however, not mind sleeping. That part is not cool at all.

So yesterday, Michelle informed me that CAB is doing a trip to New York to see Chicago! I got completely amped for it before I realized that it was the same as the CPR/First Aid Certification event that the Frat is doing. And as much as I want to see Chicago on Broadway, I've been wanting to get certified for an even longer time (it's a valuable skill to have) so something's gotta go. But in any event the Broadway trips are awesome. For $25 (at max $30), you get to see the show and you get a free roundtrip to NYC. The buses leave campus around 10 in the morning, and get to New York in time for the show. Once the show's over you can do whatever you want for the rest of the day until the buses head back to Philly around 6 or 7. You can't beat that deal at all! My sophomore year I think they sponsored a trip to go see The Producers. I didn't go on that one but I did go on the trip to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. Let's just say that we took a RIDICULOUS amount of pictures there.

In other news, it's positively BALMY in Philly. I think I might've got a tan just by walking home in the sun. I love this kind of weather though..you can sleep with your windows open and without covers on. Summer = the greatest season EVER. And Grey's is on tonight! Thursday could not get any better.

Until next time...

Gone Missing

Wow. Four days. That may be my longest absence from Blogger yet. Craziness!

In my defense, the last few days have been kinda hectic and my biggest concern has been finding the time to SLEEP. Sleep is definitely on my list of my top four favorite things to do. The others being eating, hugging, and showering (in no particular order).

But I digress. Friday night was the Frat's Ethnic Dinner, which was actually quite awesome and ridiculously filling. There was a TON of food and I ate until I couldn't move. Which is no small feat for someone my size. Saturday I did a bunch of school work and MCAT studying and met one of my old roommates for lunch. I sadly, did not celebrate Cinco de Mayo. My "academic conscience" got in the way. I suppose I should thank it in the long-run. Sunday was another Frat event, basically one large field day, after which point about 20 of us went down to New Deck Tavern for lunch. New Deck has the BEST cheese fries ever and it's a really short walk from campus so I highly recommend that everyone go. Plus, during Happy Hour, all appetizers are 50% off. So even if you don't drink, you can still go to get good food.

In other news, JACK'S MANNEQUIN is playing at this year's Spring Jam!!! I'm not entirely sure if I'm going to get to see them but the fact that they're coming is super-exciting to me. I've been in love with Something Corporate since high school so I'm all for Andrew's side project.

That said, I've got MCAT class tonight which I'm not really looking forward to and then an Anthropology exam to study for. So the daily grind continues but the silver lining is that I'll be done with my Junior year in roughly five weeks!

I Need To Resume My Normal Sleep Cycle

Seriously..for the past four days I've gotten in to the habit of going to bed at 3 and waking up at 6, all to study. And I've been crazy power-napping in between. Unfortunately some of those naps have inadvertently taken place during class WHICH IS NOT COOL AT ALL! So if anything, I need to resume my normal sleep cycle so that I can actually go to class to learn and not catch up on lost sleep. Because that's what the weekends are for.

I discovered an Indian grocery store in University City today! PSP is having an Ethnic Dinner tomorrow evening and we basically have to prepare a dish from our ethnicity/culture. Being Indian, I was in no shortage of food ideas but I had absolutely ZILCH supplies. Fortunately someone tipped me off to this little place on 42nd and Walnut and so that's where I headed to after my midterm was over. Well actually, before that I got sidetracked at Penn's bookstore. I initially went in there intending to pick up a copy of Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut because I get up to 10 points extra credit in my Evolution class if I read it and write a 3-5 page paper. Score! Anyway I found the Vonnegut book easily enough and then I got completely stopped in my tracks by their new fiction display. Ugh. Books, and especially new books, are one of my hugest weaknesses. Last year, whenever I had the time I'd go to our bookstore in between classes and just plop down and read whatever I could get my hands on. This year I haven't had the free time do that and so now when I do get chance to step into a bookstore, I lose track of time. It's insane! So what I thought would be a 15 minute browsing session turned into two hours of reading a book called Girl Most Likely To by Poonam Sharma. It was definitely what could be termed "chick lit" but I always find it super amusing to read about the Indian-American diaspora. It's both rare and refreshing that you find Indian writers expounding on it with minimal restraint.

So two hours delayed, I made my way over to the store. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day and everyone was out in full force in their flip flops and shades. There were a lot of wiffle bats out. A couple of frisbees, some footballs. Kids working on their tan. The entire scene just screamed college at me. Made me glad to be where I was. Anyway, yeah the store was awesome..I stepped in and I swear it smelled like the stores back home. I definitely breathed in a sigh of relief because I was back around food that I had grown up with. I realize that sounds utterly stupid but I'm in Indian food withdrawal. I just hope that this dish turns out well. We'll have to see how it goes!

Until next time...

In-Flight Radio

I pulled my second all-nighter in three days last night/this morning. Not enjoyable. As much as I make myself stay on top of my readings and my classwork, I have a bit of tendency to panic come midterm time so I stay up and I read everything over and over again until it stops making sense. Kinda counterproductive? Most people chalk it up to me being a nerd..which I guess is partially true.

I graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in '04 which just happened to be one of the most insanely competitive and top ranked high schools in New York City. You LEARNED to be nerdy there or else the competition would floor you. I took more honors classes than I can remember and 6 AP Classes but I know for a fact that there were people that did more. I remember how I used to get upset over 88s and 92s on my tests. Our senior year they couldn't even rank us because too many Seniors all had around the same G.P.A. So basically whatever work ethic I had in high school I carried over to college. It's helped to a certain extent but clearly I've had to become a lot more intense about my study habits in order to do well.

That said, I have an Evolution Midterm tomorrow that I ought to go study for. Shooting for that 4.0 this term but it's not gonna happen without putting my nose to the grindstone. (What does that saying mean anyway???)

D-Day!

It's May 1st kids!
Get those matriculation forms postmarked today!!
Hopefully your form is headed towards Drexel!

And now I have to rush off to the most boring class in the world-Evolution. I'm firmly convinced that not even the most interesting person in the world could make Evolution interesting to me. It's just tooo BLAH for my liking. Oh well. College wouldn't be college if there wasn't at least one class that didn't hold your fancy. Fortunately for me I've enjoyed the rest of the Bio classes I've taken so we'll just chalk this one up to experience and move on.

Until next time...