check out: http://tuftsblogs.com/alexa/

I remember when I was in your shoes last year and I really had NO idea of where I wanted to go to school. But after I went to the Tufts April Open House and contacted some peope I knew at Tufts I started to gain a better sense of Tufts philosophy. Tufts is an extremely open environment – receptive to any idea. Every single student I have met is passionate about something – or many things – and let their interests shine. So, if you love to volunteer, dance, write, read, or even mime, Tufts is an excellent option.

In hindsight, I really had no idea what I wanted in a school. But, now at Tufts, I know that it has a wonderful undergraduate environment.

My advice: Come visit. Contact people you know from Tufts and ask them questions. and COME to Tufts!

While I did not do anything spectacular over my vacation, there are lots of different programs that students can take advantage of. There were numerous service/research trips ranging in places from Guatemala to the UAE. There are really lots of options. Next year, I’m planning on doing some traveling but this break I read lots of books (The Nine, Dan Brown’s new book, and some others). While I love reading I never seem to have enough time to sit down and read a book on campus; there is always so much else to do…

SO back to school. I must admit that I am extremely happy with this semester’s sceduele, classes, and professors. I’m taking Intro to International Relations, which I’m excited about. My professor is J. Talliafero and he is a total character. He has a loud, booming voice and pretty much typifies my imagination’s “college professor” ideal. The class takes place in the Fletcher Graduate School, which is really inspiring because the graduate school is flooded with brilliant/worldly students that are ready to solve the world’s problems after graduation..

Tonight I’m going to see a lecture by Phillip Bobbit @ Tufts. He’s suppose to be a brilliant foreign policy advisor…and it going to talk on the future of the war in Afganistan. Look for another post later this week

ALSO for you prospective stuents: The days are getting longer in Boston; don’t fear the dreaded New England winter!

But….finals are quickly approaching! This is the last week of classes and then the following week is finals and then it’s holiday break. I’m incredulous at the fact that the semester is so close to being over.

Yesterday I went into Boston! Even though it was a little rainy – pre snowfall – it didn’t really matter because I was inside the Museum of Fine Arts. I’m so glad that I finally made it over to the museum because I get in for FREE as a Tufts student and the museum has a great collection of artwork. Hopefully I’ll be back soon.

Tufts is definitely starting to get in the holiday spirit!

I had a great Thanksgiving break. I went home to New Jersey and had a very simple thanksgiving dinner with my parents and younger brother. It was super nice to sleep in my bed and eat homecooked food! However, at the same time, I kind of missed the independence that college allows. You don’t really realize how cool it is that you can go to random lectures or movies on odd nights of the week….

Tuesdays are my super-busy days. At least compared to the rest of my week Tuesdays are the most jam-packed! I have two classes in the morning, I rush over to Central Square, Cambridge for LIFT, come back to Tufts for a yoga class, and then finnish off the night with an econ recitation. Tonight, after my recitation, I went to Hotung cafe to watch President Obama’s speech about the deployment of more troops. I thought it was a great speech and the President really spoke to all types of Americans. After the speech there was a debate/discussion about Obama’s speech that was sponsored by the IGL (Institute for Global Leadership). A lot of the students there were fairly critical of the speech and it was very interesting/educating to hear about their opinions of the war overseas and what Obama failed to mention in his address. There always seems to be something to learn!

To be honest, the beginning of this week was stressful. I had two midterms (English and Econ) and a Community Health paper due. While in high school tests were important they didn’t hold the same significance as midterms hold in college where one test is 25-30% of a final grade. It can begin to be unnerving, and a little scary.

As someone who is very conscience of grades, I have had a difficult transition coming from a high school environment where getting good grades is substantially easier. In college, and especially at Tufts, everyone is smart. Everyone works hard and wants the better grade. While Tufts is definitely not a cut-throat atmosphere, there is certainly competition. I’ve recently been reminded of a short story/essay by Anna Quindlen called “Being Perfect.” She says something along the lines of that trying to be perfect and do everything is analogous to carrying a backpack filled with bricks day after day. In short, “perfection” is a silly goal. In college, I have felt some pressure to do everything and live up to my own expectations for myself. But, I have realized that college is about a lot more than good grades it’s completely ok to mess up sometimes.

So, to balance the bursts midterm stress, I have been doing two yoga classes a week and a Pilates class. They are excellent and a great release from school work. I paid $35 for a semester of yoga and I think it was money well spent. The instructor is very chill and always says really calming, and almost corny, things like “you are your own pillar while your daily stresses are just oscillating winds.” I definitely recommend the class if you’re up for trying something new/you’re into yoga at Tufts.

Now that the semester is drawing to a close, I’ve been trying to select my favorite activities at Tufts and what clubs/extracurriculars I really want to get involved in during my next 3.5 years here. At the end of September, I began volunteering for this non-profit organization called LIFT. For this non-profit, I’ve been taking the T(the Boston subway) into Central Square, Cambridge every week to meet with various individuals across the Boston area who have recently been evicted, fired, or simply need help applying for health car. I go in to the office for 3 hours and have already met with a wide range of clients. This volunteer work has been so interesting and really has forced me to get into Boston. Not only do I feel like I am helping others improve their livelihood somewhat but I am also slowly learning about the complexities of insurance, taxes, and resume writing! This experience is a great non-academic education that I have been able to take advantage of

Also, I successfully registered for classes next semester!! Even though my registration was an ok-time (12:15pm) it right, smack in the middle of my Econ midterm. Great timing, right? But, nevertheless, I ended up getting most of the classes I wanted. I wrote this in my previous post but I’m taking Reinaissance and Reformation (I’m taking this because I heard the professor is excellent and I wanted to take a history class this semester), Jane Austin Novels and Films (I heard we read all of Austin’s novels and then watch Clueless and Pride and Prejuduce. I’m very excited), Intro to International Relations (I’m excited to take this class because I’m thinking of majoring in IR but I’ve heard very mixed reviews about the professor. Apparently he gives out a lot of sub-satisfactory grades), Spanish 22 (Another good teacher and I’ll get 3/4 of the IR language requirement done after this class), and then a class called Engagement for Active Citizenship (or E4AC; it’s a program through the Tisch College and meets for 3 hours on Fridays…this will be a change from no-class fridays this semester).

Lastly, somewhat shamefully, I went to the midnight screening of New Moon last night with two friends. While I do confess to reading all the books and seeing the first movie, I would not classify the Twilight series as “literature” However, it was great fun going to the midnight screening at the Boston Commons with low expecations for the quality of the acting/screenplay. It was also entertaining to see the HOARDS of adolescent girls who made the pilgrimage from all locals of Boston to congregate for this pop-culture sensation. Midnight movies are a freshman-year must. To read more about the screening, check out Carolyn Pruitt’s blog called “The Freshman Perspective.”

I have some work to get done this weekend so I can enjoy Thanksgiving at home next week!!! Happy Weekend!

A

This Tuesday I’m going to be registering for my spring semester classes! I’m so excited to start thinking about new topics. But I still need to finalize and prioritize my class list – I think I’m down to 10 classes that I’m consdering?Right now I’m considering Intro to International Relations, Western Political Thought, Spanish 22 (the class I dropped this semester), Jane Austin Novels & Film, American Fiction since 1900, The French Revolution, Modern China, Community Health 2, Nutrition, AND Creative Writing. As I said before, I need to figure out what I’m going to do!! But I’m pretty confident that all the classes would be great. There are just too many choices!

Last weekend I went to this really cool symposium at Boston College called Soldiers and Citizens with some other freshman. We went as members of the IGL’s ALLIES club that deals with civil-military relations. The symposium lasted for about 4 hours on Saturday and the day was broken down into three different series of panels. The panels dealt with issues ranging from diversity in the military to civilian involvment/awareness of military issues. One of the most interesting members on the panels was a man from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. He spoke all about the current problem concerning the lack of religious freedom in the military and he breifly mentioned the recent shooting at Fort Hood/the backlash that a lot of Muslims have received. I truly doubt that I would have given religious freedom in the military much thought otherwise…not for a lack of interest but just that I live a life so disconnected from military life. So, I really enjoyed spending a whole day becoming enlightened on a new subject! It sounds a little cliche to say, but it was truly one of the “college experiences” where I was interested in a completely random topic that I never would have really contemplated before. Also, on a bit of a side note, we managed to fit in a celebrity sighting as Rachel Maddow (the news show host) sat right in front of our Tufts group!

Last night I went to a dinner with some friends called “Another Option” at the campus center which brought a bunch of students together for some delicious Greek food to have “another option” on a weekend instead of to a Frat House. Afterwards, we went to go see Children of Men that the Tufts Film Series was showing. It was one of the most intense/emotionally draining movies I have ever seen but it was super facsinating and very well done.

It’s very rainy today in Somerville so I’m trying to encourage myself to stay inside and get some work done!

Last night I got to go into Boston! It was really great to escape into the “real world” for a night. My friend’s dad was visiting Boston and took some of us out to a comedy show (it was the two guys from Who’s Line is it Anyway, Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood). It was really entertaining and cool to see another part of Boston. Afterwards, we went to an AMAZING dessert place called Finale. I think I may have to go back there to reward myself after finals Anyway, after going it inspired me to try and go into Boston a bit more because it’s so easy to forget that there’s a city right there!

This morning I had a yoga class. I do love yoga on Saturday mornings because it is SUCH a great way to start the weekend. It always puts me in a positive mindset. Right near the yoga studio (which is on the Tufts campus in the fitness center) there is a coffee place called the Danish Pastry House. So I found a comfy chair there and  had some coffee while making a dent in my English readings…

I must admit that my readings/work have piled up over the past few weeks. All of my professors will assign me a substantial amount of reading that we are supposed to have read for that day of the class, but the problem is that it’s almost too easy to tell yourself you’ll do it later, and then never actually get to it. So, as a result, I now have a lot of textbook reading to catch up in! I’m going to need to force myself to become more diligent with readings because the work is SO independent and there are so many other activities going on that it’s often I do less work than I should! However, college is about finding the right balance between everything and developing sustainable study habits. Overall, for me, managing productive study time (not procrastinating) is probably the most difficult aspect about college.

On another note…

What’s really cool about living in Metcalf Hall (besides the ideal proximity to everything and midhill – you’ll understand once you live at Tufts) is that there are a lot of dorm social activities. This afternoon, the RAs baked some pumpkin baked goods and we all got to carve pumpkins! The pumpkins are now decorating the outside the building. I’ll try to take a picture when it’s not downpouring rain…Although I haven’t carved a pumpkin in a good number of years, it was a great festive/New England/relaxing activity for the afternoon.

My dormmate and I decided that we wanted some variety from Dewick dinners tonight so we headed down to Davis (before the rain) to get some Sushi. We went to a restaurant called Snappy Sushi and it was great sushi, I was really impressed with my edamame & salmon roll. But what would a dinner in Davis Square be without some JP Licks Ice Cream?

Tomorrow is my study day! That’s all for now!