Ivy League Connection Columbia University 2009

Hello! Pictures!

2009-08-16T23:58:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I've finally gotten all my pictures online for you viewing pleasure. My photos are separated into different albums by date. Please enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/btrthnnothing

Julie

Summer at Columbia 2009

2009-08-15T17:51:00.000-07:00

Even though a picture means a thousand words, these photos only show a glimpse of everything we have done, seen, and learned in the three weeks at Columbia University.

Thank you to Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Kronenburg, Ms. Lilhanand, Don, and all the Ivy League Connection supporters!

Issues In Biological Conservation 2009 Photos

2009-08-15T14:30:00.001-07:00

I had an amazing experience! Thank you!

Incredible

2009-07-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

I'm truly sorry for blogging this late once again. Last night I encountered what would be my last dilemma in the fifth floor of John Jay in Columbia -- getting locked out. It was around two o'clock in the morning when a floormate of mine knocked on my door and asked me a question. I got out without noticing that my key was still in the room. It was only about an hour ago that I was unlocked, and at that time I had yet to prepare my luggage. Luckily I traveled light, making my packing easier.

I believe that this experience in Columbia had an immense change in my life. It was my breathe of the college life, a life where I make the calls, a life where my parents were a thousand miles away from me, unable to tell me what to do. My life was mine for three weeks. I did whatever I pleased. While this was a sigh of relief from all the burdens everyone has placed upon me back home, it was also a slap on the face of reality. Before this trip, I had never done my laundry by myself, for the most part or had someone call to wake me up for class. These were changes I had to adapt to, or else I never consider myself capable of being independent. These changes were difficult, but I knew I could do it.

Aside from this, the Ivy League Connection has done a great of altering my views of college. To tell everyone the truth, the main reason I applied to this program was for the opportunity to live in New York City. Opening myself to different colleges must have been the least on my list of priorities. This whole perception changed once I arrived to Columbia. During my stay here, I have fallen in love with Columbia. This college is, in my opinion, the best location ever -- New York City. Not only that, the college provides an unlikely strong sense of community deep within an urban campus as well as an intense core curriculum that intrigues me. Columbia is one of the other schools I am now considering to apply to, along with NYU and UPenn. If it weren't for this trip, I would have never considered looking at these colleges.

Another topic I have decided to broaden my horizons is my major. Just like the college I have decided to attend for the next four years, I decided that science would be my field of study. Although I do take some interest in some fields of science, this is what my mom wants me to do. I never really took the chance to consider any other field in fear of disappointing my mother, but I've learned over this course of three weeks, from various people who have stated the same thing, that you have to enjoy what you do. You will never be successful if you are not happy. These are phrases that resonated through my head. Will I be happy becoming a scientist? Is this the right thing for me? These re-concurring questions will remain in my head until further notice, but right now, I'm content. I'm giving myself the chance to consider other options than science. Anyways, I do it to myself.

As of now, I feel like I've entered the ILC sure of what my future would appear as, but am leaving confused and flustered. I have no clue what I shall do in the future, but at the same time, I'm happy. I'm glad that the ILC exposed me to things that I would never take view and consider. Once again, I would like to give my upmost gratitude to everyone who made this possible. Mrs. Kronenberg and Mr. Ramsey, I am enamored with your hard work and dedication to have us students expand our views on college, and to the sponsors, your graciousness has given unforgettable memories and help for the future; none of this would happen if it weren't for you guys.

This confusion is only temporary; I know with the knowledge I have retained in this program, I will be sure to make a decision on the step of my life -- the right decision for me.

The Journey

2009-07-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

Well, today, we leave for home. It's been such an amazing three weeks. I can't believe this journey is done already.

I remember when I first heard about the opportunity, I really thought nothing about it. None of the other kids were very interested in a chemistry class, even if it was at Columbia. My principal called all of us and went one by one around the room asking us what we wanted to do with our future. I heard some say "graphic design" or "law," and by the time she came to me I said I was interested. Essentially, I was kind of scared of her, so I told her that I would write that personal statement. It only made sense that, of course, I was interested in health science and after all, "chemistry is the building block of all science." It also didn't hurt that some of my friends decided to write the personal statement, too.

My first rough draft was extremely rough. One of the assistant principals, Ms. Kaplan, said that it lacked depth, and that I only wrote about my accomplishments. My second draft was a lot better, with more included about myself, but it just had some grammatical mistakes that my English teacher, Mr. Wade corrected. My third draft was the best so far, and I turned it in the day it would be taken down to the district's office.

I waited a couple of days and I really thought I didn't receive the offer to go to Columbia. To my surprise after a visit to Ms. Kahn's office, and a congratulatory visit from Mr. Ramsey, Gabe and I were allowed to fill out the actual application for Columbia. After filling out a long application, getting recommendations, and waiting for transcripts to be mailed, Columbia accepted us.

Along with being accepted as an individual, I had to represent my school, my district, and the Ivy League Connection itself. I had no idea what the Ivy League Connection would do for me. I had to introduce myself to the city council and the board members of education. Just being picked out of a pool of four schools made me confident, but I thought it was just the extent of it.

Arriving at Columbia, I was so nervous. Thankfully, there were five other people who I sort of knew along with me. Meeting my suite was very nerve-wracking, about ten other girls. Everyone ended up very nice and friendly. I can now say I don't sweat it when meeting a new group of people. I made some really awesome friends, who I know I'll stay in touch with for years to come.

Class was a different story. The first day of class, I was already lost. It seemed that everyone knew so much more than me. I finally got tired of not knowing what was going on, and I just asked my lab group. I realized that there was no way I was going to succeed in class if I just sat there. They were willing to explain the material, most of time. I became comfortable in asking them questions and using lab equipment I never even heard of.

Going on the college visits really opened my eyes to what other choices I have. I know for sure that I will apply to some colleges on the East Coast, and I know that if I work hard I can definitely get into some.

Living in a dorm has made me more independent. I could go out for food at ten o'clock at night, as long as I made it back by curfew. I saw my friends whenever I wanted. I also tackled the hard task of laundry, by myself.

This trip to Columbia has been successful for me in a lot of ways. I grew more as a person. I am now more confident, more open, and can express myself easier. I hope that when I get back home, my peers can notice this change, and maybe, just maybe, it will rub off on them.

I just want to thank all of the sponsors for providing for this wonderful opportunity. I want to also thank Mr. Ramsey, Mrs. Kronenberg, and Mr. Gosney for all the hard work they've put into such an amazing program. Mrs. Lilhanand took such great care of us, thank you! The Ivy League Connection made the wheels in my head start turning about who I am as a person and what I want in life.

From Beginning To End

2009-07-18T04:46:00.001-07:00

To be honest, I didn't know what to expect before I came to Columbia. I kind of worried that I was not going to like living at Columbia, I didn't know if I was going to have a roommate or if my possible roommate would become a friend or foe, I worried about my time management, I worried about waking up on time and not being late for class, and I was incredibly worried about being able to keep up in class. No matter how much you hear from a person or learn from a website or etc., you can never be fully prepared. Even though you may get advice from a primary source, it's still difficult to predict anything because you have never actually been there yourself. Or, at least, that is how I feel. So although I was excited for Columbia, and although I had no qualms about generally having to be responsible because I'm living away from my parents, I was still very worried about a lot of things.

When I came to Columbia, I discovered I had a single room, which alleviated some worry. I wouldn't have to be super conscious in my own room, because it wouldn't actually be my own room. Then I got to meet most of my suitemates, and we all got along pretty well. Now, I realize I was incredibly lucky to live with this group of people. There are other suites in which the girls are not as friendly or kind to one another as we are. Class started, and I became intimidated by all the terms and concepts I had never heard. But as time went on, I became more comfortable in class. I spoke out more, and I began to have an easier time grasping the concepts -- to a certain extent (I could never fully grasp it with my basic background in chemistry). I faltered a few times on waking up on time, but I was never late! I admit I also had some time management obstacles. When your two weekends are taken up already, you want to spend time with your friends and do all the stuff after class that you'd normally do on weekends. But I also knew that if I indulged myself, I would get nothing done and I would mess up my time here. So although I was enticed by all the invitations to places or events I wanted to go to, I refrained because I didn't want to burn myself out.

In these three weeks, I picked up a daily routine. But even though I generally did the same things every day, there were also new or random aspects to each day. Some days I spontaneously went places, or I relaxed outside, or I did this or I did that. I'm going to miss seeing my friends every day, and hanging out with them whenever and wherever. I'm going to miss walking into the Havemeyer building and down the stairs, feeling like it was my class building. I'm going to miss conducting lab experiments, getting to know my fellow classmates as well as my wonderful mentors. I'm going to miss pulling my lanyard out of my bag and unlocking my suite door in that special way which makes the small process easier. I'm going to miss greeting people in my suite when I come in, and unlocking my door, and walking into a cooled room from the hot day. Essentially, I'm going to miss feeling so at home and comfortable here. I'm going to miss being able to say "I'm going back home now," referring to Suite 6A in Hartley.

I feel like I'm coming away from this experience as a changed girl. No, a changed young adult. I now generally know what it is like to go to college. After senior year, living in dorms won't be such a shock for me, therefore I will have an easier transition and adjustment, and thus an easier time focusing on my academics. I now generally know what I should do in class as a better method of improving my performance, and when I get to college it won't take me weeks to utilize my drive and get enough courage to do it. But most importantly, I have gained insight into what I want from a college. I think that is the best gift that this program has given me. Before, I was so incredibly lost when it came to choosing colleges. I ran on general information, prestige, and parent's choices, but now I have become more solid and thoughtful in my consideration of colleges. Even though I still have questions and am still indecisive about particular aspects, I have a better handle on what I want when I get out of high school.

Thank you, sponsors. Without you, none of us would have had such a wonderful experience. I promise that when I come back, I will make the most of my experience by trying to carry on the things I have learned to the students in our district. Thank, Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Kronenberg, for creating this program in the first place. I know of no other program like this, making it unique and a very valuable asset to the students in our district. One summer at a time, you are helping kids and changing lives -- which I think, is a fabulous affair.

A Bitter Sweet Farewell

2009-07-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

My final day in class consisted of presentations. Working in pairs or individually, everyone taught their project to the class through PowerPoint. During lunch, there was a mandatory college presentation, which was led by the assistant director of undergraduate admissions for Columbia. She stressed, "Do your research" and ways of doing so would be college visits or tours, research through the Web, live on the college campus, and talk to others. She touched on the meaning of Ivy League, Columbia's core curriculum, class sizes, what the admission office is looking for, importance of scores, number of recommendations, decision types, and financial aid. I think that though I knew some facts already, there was a lot of gaps that were filled in for me. It proved to be useful overall.

I cannot believe that it has already been three weeks! My experience at Columbia has been so amazing and indescribable. Though I was kept constantly on my toes, it felt good to be on the fast pace track. I enjoyed being able to do school work, but at the same time know that there was always some other activity I could do. I loved the laid out campus and being able to show others direction on the very first day. I found it interesting that the weather would be 73 degrees with sunny skies one day, but then 73 degrees with thunderstorms and lightning on another. I never got to try out all the food on Broadway, but it was great being able to see the different cultures. I will miss my class and suite mates greatly, for these three weeks with them seems more like 3 months!

From all the little details to broader ones, Columbia's impact gave me both similar and different insights than Brown. I am leaving this campus with a similar sense of independence and stronger leadership. I am walking out with knowledge not only my class, but from the general day to day activities. I have gained a taste of the New York experience. I only met residential students at Brown, but now I know and understand some of the ways of commuter students. I went to colleges, fairs, and presentations, which gives me a step up in figuring out what I want for my future. I am not as afraid and worried about what will happen. I have learned to take deep breaths, pace myself, and take charge of what I want from life.

I left Brown thinking that nothing can beat the experience, but Columbia has blown me away. I normally do not prefer big cities like Manhattan, but by attending Columbia, it has expanded my options. One can never really understand how they actually feel about a certain location unless they stay for a duration of time. Columbia is an amazing college and I am not saying so because it is an Ivy League. Many students tell me that there will be an attachment to a certain college and that is when you know it is a good choice. Three weeks ago I would have said that Columbia is not the college for me, but now I am sure that it will be on my college list.

The quote by Les Brown, "Shoot for the moon and even if you miss, you will land among the stars" can be applied to my experience in the East Coast. I took this wonderful opportunity and chance to first go to one of the smallest state and then to one of the largest cities. I went through stress, laughter, pain, and joy, but new doors are opening.

Thank you so much to all the Ivy League sponsors and supporters! Thank you to Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Kronenburg, Ms. O'Brian, Ms. Lihanand, and all who have helped me along my journey through the ILC. Once more you have provided me with an unforgettable experience that will forever impact my future. I am grateful for everything you have done and I hope that the ILC will flourish and pave new and wondrous opportunities for new generations of students.

*I will try to create a slideshow in the next few days, showing the Summer Columbia 2009 students from start to finish

Goodbye

2009-07-17T22:32:00.001-07:00

Hello!

It is about 1:30 AM here at Columbia and I am still packing. It's very hard for me to believe that it's already been 3 weeks. It sounds cliche, but it really does feel like we've arrived just yesterday and now we're leaving! I must say that I've learned a lot from being in the Ivy League Connection and coming to Columbia University.

The ILC has really boosted me on my college search. I came in knowing that I would go to college, but had no idea what I would do. I'm leaving with a new goal of going to an Engineering school. Since I was able to find my focus in life, I'm able to narrow down my college search. I feel that the ILC helped me find my future.

The ILC also taught me to expand my horizons. I'm sure I mentioned it before, but I never thought of looking outside California for college before joining the ILC. When we get back home, I want to be able to show others that there are many more colleges than what it just inside California. We shouldn't limit ourselves so easily based on geography. I hope that I can help spread the message that it's good to think outside our comfort zone and explore other options.

I don't want to sound overly cheesy, but I've also become better as a person. I was put against many new situations that I've never had to face before (a roommate, an uncooperative group member, etc.) and each time I was able to push past it and learn to live with it or deal with it in a productive way.

Our last day was a gallery style presentation of our group projects. Columbia students (mostly from the Chem department) would walk around and look at the boards. We would explain our project and answer any questions that they had. At first, it was a little difficult for me to try to explain what we did because I hadn't put it into words yet. But the more I explained our project, the better more I felt I understood it. Although I was nervous at first, I felt more comfortable as time passed.

My group's project

This is also very similar to when we first started class. At the time, I didn't know the professor or the mentors so I was sometimes too shy to speak. However, as the class progress, I got to know my professor and mentors better and by the end of the class, I felt very comfortable around them. I think this is true for most classes. Since I'm a rising senior, I know most of the teachers in my school. Most of the time, I've already met my teachers before the class starts. It was refreshing to meet a completely new professor without any prior knowledge of what type of person he was other than that he teaches chemistry.

Me with Prof. Avila

Thanks for all the support from everybody! Especially Mr. Ramsey, Mrs. Kronenberg, Mr. Don Gosney, and our chaperon Mrs. Lilhanand who worked hard to plan everything and all the paperwork, etc. to allow us to go all the way to New York. Also, a thanks to all the sponsors who helped pay for everything! I would probably still be lost about colleges without you.

Julie

Bye Bye Columbia

2009-07-17T21:58:00.000-07:00

Columbia's summer session has come to an end. I am both sad and happy to go back home. I am happy to be able to return to my family after being away from them for three whole weeks. Also, I will get to sleep in my own bed once again and enjoy real home cooked meals. However, I an also sad because after being at Columbia for three week we now have to say our good byes. I have come accustomed to the college life and the people that surround me on a daily bases and its devastating to know that I won't probably see them ever again in my life.

Spending three long weeks away from home has definitely pushed me beyond my comfort zone and because of that I have become a better person. As most people know, when I first arrived at Columbia I wasn't all that great in Chemistry but I stuck through the course and made the best of it. I definitely had it rough but I never gave up and actually learned plenty of chemistry during these three weeks. ("Making mistakes is what makes a person stronger") Also being in a community where people come from all over the world was something I really enjoyed being a part of because you get to learn all the different cultures and languages.

The ILC has helped greatly in making me realize that not to limit myself and look beyond the horizon. Now that I have gone through this whole experience, visiting colleges and actually living in New York City , I now highly consider applying to colleges outside California and the UC system. Before the ILC, I feared the idea of even thinking about college at a much higher level but now I am no longer afraid to think about my future.

I personally want to think Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Godsney, Mrs. Kronenberg, and especially all the sponsors whole made this whole experience possible and who without their generous support we wouldn't be part of this wonderful experience.

THANK YOU!!!

The College Fair

2009-07-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today was the college fair and it was VERY crowded. I think the college fair was open to everybody, not just the Columbia students. I was able to find two of the six schools I mentioned yesterday, Carnegie Mellon and Tufts. I signed up on their mailing list and some other schools that looked interesting. I can't wait to find out more about them. A lot of the tables only had mailing sign-ups, not brochures and pamphlets so it was hard to tell what was offered at the schools. I'm really happy that I was able to go to a college fair here because I would never have heard of a lot of schools in the East Coast. I wish there could be more college fairs in the Bay Area that had representatives from many different schools on the East Coast and other parts of the U.s. come over and present rather than just the top colleges (Ivy Leagues, etc.) because everyone's already heard of those schools.

In class, we worked more on the final project. As I've mentioned before, I have always been able to choose my project group so I've been able to choose people that I work well with. This time however, I have someone in the group that is very hard for me to work with. It's a new experience for me and I knew it would come eventually. I'm glad it's come while I'm still in high school so I can learn how to deal with it. It's just a small step in my path towards college and beyond. I'm adjusting the way I interact to better smooth out the rough edges and avoid head-on conflicts. I've also learned that I do not have to like the person I'm working with as long as we can finish the work. I've also learned that interacting with people in a relaxed setting is a lot different than working in a group with them. I'm sure that once we aren't working together in a project, it will be much easier to be around the person.

Tomorrow is our last day in class. I can't believe 3 weeks have gone by so quickly! On our last day, we're going to be presenting our final project to the chemistry department. I wonder how it'll go.

Julie

It's Great to Be Back

2009-07-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

I had a superb time at Black Rock Forest, which is only 50 miles away from the city; however I must say that it is great to be back to Columbia! Here are parts of my reflective essay which gives a very good summary of my experiences:

Black Rock Forest: Reflective Essay

I thought that I had experienced camping before, but this trip to Black Rock Forest has definitely given me a sense of "extreme" camping. I could not believe that there were no showers or toilets (there were porta potties); however it was not that bad in the end. I have gotten closer to my fellow classmates, the RAs, the TA, and the Professor, and I have learned so much in these three days. I had an amazing time from start to finish.

Even though there was a lot of mud involved with the painted turtles I was able to learn about their nature and structure type as well as how to catch them. I can now identify the gender and age of a turtle too, just by looking at the claws, tail, and shell. (I shall go back home and identify my turtle too!) I thought that it was really fun to be able to set the traps and then see very good results, (the net caught 5 turtles and 2 fish). I also hope that our results will be very useful to the research project that we helped.

In terms of working with the brook trout, they were slimy, but still I felt that I was helping to create biodiversity and actually impacting the environment in a better way. I loved being able to release the trout back into their natural habitat and now I hope that they will thrive! I also do not think that I can look at another pond again without considering whether or not it would be suitable for some species to live in it!

One of the prettiest sights that I witnessed on this trip was during the hike to Eagle Rock. I must admit that I was really afraid of venturing out into a dark forest in the middle of the night, but with my peers around I think that it eased my fears. I do not have the greatest sense of direction, nevertheless I found myself actually helping others get through the trail. I was one of the last people to arrive at the top of the rock, and the sight that I saw seemed like a photograph. Millions of stars were scattered throughout the black sky, the mountains formed dark silhouettes, and a glimpse of the city lights could be seen 50 miles away. I had to tell myself over and over again that I was still in New York! It is surprising that there could be such a serene forest right next to one of the largest cities. Another great surprise that I was thrilled to have been able to witness was the lunar eclipse. I actually learned a few facts of how the eclipse happens and the orange glow was simply amazing to see. It really made a great end to the day.

Another site that I cannot forget was at the top of the lightning rod tower. It is so tall, and I really thought that it would break if we all stood on it. Luckily it was sturdy and the sun was bright in the sky, allowing everyone to walk all the way to the top. I was stunned beyond words at the sight; it just looked so peaceful and empowering. I could not imagine that we were walking among all the trees and by the waters. At the distance one could see the city, but I could barely tell. I loved it so much that I even went twice! I normally feel dizzy at high heights, but this time I felt totally relaxed gazing at the forest.

Around the campsite, I enjoyed doing multiple things. I was able to start examining new species that I never saw before, such as birds, bats, plants, and especially bugs. It was also relaxing to be able to take a swim and I am still surprised at how clear and clean the water is. The breakfasts, lunches and dinners were fun to make and the water pump for the well made things more interesting. Of course the classic campfire and s'mores were a highlight of the nights. It was a great success to make the tents and sad to break it down, but it was funny during the stay inside. There was a lot of bonding time, and I feel that everyone has gotten so much closer in these 3 days compared to the 2 weeks before.
Overall I think that this camping trip was very useful in helping me understand everything we have been learning in class. The first hand experiences gives a bigger impact to me and I know that if I can help out at Black Rock Forest, then I should also be able to do similar activities and research back in California. I am so glad that I took this course and I will surely spread my new knowledge back home. I entered this class thinking that I would only learn about the cons of our world, but instead I walked out with many possibilities of how to fix it. I know that I am only one individual, but Black Rock Forest has opened my eyes to chances and change.

___

During lunch there was a college fair and I attended it expecting small bunches of people. I was really wrong! I had to wait in line for about 10 minutes before they would let me into the hall. Once I was actually in, there were a lot of colleges and their representatives, but it was so hard to actually go and talk to them. Too many people were just pushing and shoving here and there. I must say that this summer group shows a lot of enthusiasm for college!

I was slightly disappointed when I found out a lot of the colleges did not have a program or major for architecture. That however made me realize that if I were to apply to a college, I would like them to have at least most of my key interests listed. I have heard from so many people that they changed their majors at least 3 times in college! I just want to be sure that if a certain field is not right for me, then I will be able to have the option of another of my own interests. I got a lot of information packets, and I hope that after some time looking over them I will be able to narrow down my possibilities.

Projects are Finished!

2009-07-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day to work on our final projects. Luckily, the only thing my group had to do was to run about three test on the final product to be able to determine it's purity. Gabe and I were actually in charge of the TLC testing for caffeine. So the purpose of this specific test was to use store bought pure caffeine, our crude solution, and the final caffeine product to compare the their appearances on the TLC paper and if our product appeared similar to the the pure caffeine spot then that would tell us that we did a great job in terms of the purity of the caffeine.

First thing was first, we had to dissolve a small portion of our crude product, the store bought pure caffeine, and our final product with a mixture of two chemicals into different test tubes. Then what we did was to use a capillary tube to leave a small spot of each dissolved solution onto the TLC paper and labeled each spot. Next, we poured some of the solution of mixed chemicals we used to to dissolve the caffeine into a beaker along with a filter paper. Then we placed the TLC paper with the different solution spots into the beaker and let it rest for ten minutes. Then when we placed the TLC paper into the beaker, the chemicals slowly rose but we had to take the TLC paper out before it reached the top otherwise we would have to restart the whole process. After we removed the paper from the beaker and drew a line where the solution of mixed chemicals had stopped we then used a UV light to determine where the spots managed to move and compared all three spots. It so happened to be that our final product clearly matched the spot of the pure caffeine which meant we did an excellent job of extracting pure caffeine from the Black Tea Leaves.

Once we collected our data and made our observations, we then went to meet the rest of our group members to inform them about our results and also help them work on the poster. It turned out that we didn't manage our time very well and ended up staying one hour and a half in the computer lab to finish organizing our poster for tomorrow's " Science Fair". However, we did do an awesome job and managed to get everything done today. So tomorrow, Professor Avila will have people come over to observe our posters and ask questions about our specific group projects.

College Fair

2009-07-16T18:13:00.000-07:00

So, let me first say how many people were at the college fair. Beforehand, I walked across the street with a friend for a quick lunch. Through the window, we could see Columbia and Alfred Learner Hall, where the College Fair was being held. The doors didn't open until a little bit after 12:30, and line stretched almost across the entire block on which Columbia University sat. Inside, it took my friend and I at least three full minutes just to get around a corner of tables. There was a ridiculous amount of people packed into that auditorium. So with this in mind, imagine how difficult it was for me approach the different tables. Usually, the most I could do was squeeze an arm through and grab brochures and such. Every now and then I got lucky and was able to have a fewe words with an admissions officer, but soon after, another flow of students would push through. And keep in mind that I'm five feet tall, while the majority of kids were at least maybe 5'3". Other times if I was lucky enough to squeeze through but the admissions officer(s) was/were already speaking with another student, I would stand there for a few minutes and listen to the conversation.

I think I was lucky to have gone with the friend that I went with. Almost all of the colleges at the fair were on the east coast, so I only knew some of the more prestigious ones. She, on the other hand, knew a lot of them and was able to give me some general information on them. If it wasn't for her, I probably would have bypassed several colleges that I ended up taking information from. I avoided getting information from the more prestigious universities that I have already researched, like Columbia and Harvard. I wanted to expand my spectrum of choices and instead pinpointed colleges I have not heard anything about, like Clark University, Williams, Marist, etc. In skimming through the different brochures I procured, I selected a few which I read in detail first. Williams sounds like a really good college -- apparently it is ranked #1 in the nation as a liberal arts college. I got a brochure for Boston College, which I have yet to look over -- best for last! The University of Massachusetts Amherst is interesting -- it actually reminds me of UPenn, because of the different colleges within the undergrad program. However, its educational structure has a General Education Requirements component, which seems like a core curriculum. But my favorite college out of the pile I just went over might be Haverford. It is a small liberal arts college just outside of Philadelphia. The student-teacher ratio is 8:1, and 100% of the classes are taught by professors. Their classes are small: maybe thirty-five students at the most. But one of the aspects that struck me in particular was the Haverford values. "...the values of individual dignity, intellectual vitality, and tolerance are central to its character. Students are sel-governing and work to upgold the ideals of Haverford's Honor Code, a philosophy of conduct that strengthens the climate of trust, concern, and respect." This is one of the schools that I will definitely do more research on.

In this search for the right college fit for me, I have realized that I might just be too flexible to pinpoint a particular type of college. For example: I like the smaller classes, and especially because the professors are the sole teachers, and the classes are usually in a discussion setting. However, I still like larger classes as well, and through this Columbia program I have had no problem with being taught mostly by mentors/TAs. In another example, let's talk about the campus. Although I may sometimes seem repulsed by a campus that is in "the middle of nowhere," in reality I probably wouldn't mind. So yes, my flexibility is both a blessing and a curse in this type of situation.

Not As Bad As I Thought

2009-07-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

When the program started and I looked at my class schedule details for the entire three weeks, I was horrified to learn I had to do an independent project for the final. Of course, now that I think about it, I shouldn't have been shocked at all because I was already expecting something of the sort. But imagining having to create my own experiment when I still was so lost in class? Terrified!

Thankfully, it is not as bad as I believed. We were able to pick from five different experiment choices, which purposely reflected some of our previous labs. This way, we knew enough to do more and do better in conducting the experiment, but we still retained the essence of a scientific experiment, in which one must use the results to determine something else. In this case, we used the results to determine the products, and even the reaction, of a mixture our mentor gave us. The method we have been using is chromatography, in which one can identify and even separate compounds in a mixture by their polarities. I really like what we're doing, because I've been able to participate a lot, and I've actually been learning more about it.

Well, two more days!

The Polar Bears Are Decieving

2009-07-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Today, we worked on our final project in the lab all day. My feet hurt from standing for awhile and I have a mark on my cheeks from the goggles, but we don't have to go into the lab tomorrow to finish up.

My group, which contains four others, has to find the concentration of phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola. Coke is something I drink at least once a week, and I had no idea that is was so acidic. Its pH is around 2.6, and after reading the ingredients label, I found out it was actually listed as an ingredient.

First, we had to flatten out the Cola, so I purchased a bottle and left it open overnight in my room. I brought it to the lab the next morning, and it was pretty flat. Then, we prepared three samples of KHP between .2 and .25 grams to put into distilled water. We added three drops of phenolphthalein to each sample. Then, we prepared a solution of NaOH and distilled water and we titrated the KHP mixture to find out the concentration of the NaOH solution.

The first time we did, two out of three of our samples were over-titrated, and the mixture turned purple instead of a pale, clear pink. We restarted the process again, and our three samples turned out great. We found the concentration of our NaOH and then we calibrated the pH meter of the MicroLab program.

Next, we measured out one hundred milliliters of Coca-Cola, both fizzy and flat, and added the NaOH using a burette and a drop counter, which told us the volume of the NaOH solution used. The fizzy Coca-Cola's titration curve looked a bit off, so from then on we just stuck to flat Coca-Cola because the titration curve looked almost the same as one from a previous experiment. We did the flat Coca-Cola test twice.

Then, our mentor, Mike, decided to give us phosphoric acid so we could compare it to the Coca-Cola results. We didn't have enough NaOH solution, so we had to prepare the three samples of KHP and phenolphthalein with distilled water mixture and titrate it three times. We were much quicker this time, and we did find out that there was a small difference between the concentration of the previous NaOH solution. At first, we diluted .01 molar phosphoric acid, but that took too long, and we were running out of NaOH solution, so we switched to .04 molar phosphoric acid and that worked faster. The titration curve looked great.

We cleaned up for the day, and tomorrow we'll be working on our poster. Our previous day's research told us that phosphoric acid is linked to cancer in rats, erosion of teeth, bone loss, and had an effect on the oral mucosa of rats. Those Coca-Cola polar bears probably don't know the effect of phosphoric acid on them. Smelling that cola the whole day did make me want to drink some at lunch, though.

After class, we had our daily meeting with Mrs. Lilhanand. She just visited Swarthmore, and she said it had really beautiful scenery. From one of the brochures, it says that 88% of all applicants get admitted into medical school. I was excited, and I will see if Swarthmore is going to be at the college fair tomorrow at lunch.

In other news, my time management is pretty horrible. I find myself taking naps, and telling myself to wake up after two hours to get my work done, but I just ignore my alarm, continue to sleep, and rush it in the morning. I've got two more days of classes, so I better get rid of this habit fast, especially since our project is due on Friday morning and we have to present to the chemistry department and graduate students.

FAAS

2009-07-15T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today we continued to work our final projects for our chemistry class. One of the methods we're using to test our water samples is Flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS). My group takes samples and feed it into a machine that vaporizes and then atomizes it with a flame. As the sample is atomized, a light is shown through the flame and the machine reads the amount of light that passes through. The machine has to be tuned to a certain element that it's looking for and the amount of light that passes through the flame depends on the concentration of that element. From that, we can learn how much of one type of element there is in the sample and then compare the number we get to the "normal" amount that the water should have. It was actually really simple once we got the hang of it. We're also measuring pH, conductivity and dissolved oxygen using MicroLab.

Tomorrow there's a college fair during mid-day. I'm really excited because it'll give me more exposure to different colleges on the East Coast. I actually remember reading on last year's blog about it and I can't wait to go. I've made a small list of schools (M.I.T., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, John Hopkins U, Carnegie Mellon, R.I.T., & Tufts) on the East Coast that I want to look at, I hope that the schools will be at the college fair.

Julie

Caffeine Extraction

2009-07-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Although I ended up being in a group full of guys, I do feel we do a great job of communicating and dividing the work evenly between the five of us. Tea time!! So what we basically did today was to make tea using four tea bags of Trader Joe's Irish Breakfast black tea and then extracting the caffeine from the solution using Methylene chloride. Then the caffeine solution was isolated using a rodovap, and pure caffeine was then obtained in a powder form. I would say today was a success and tomorrow we will run different test methods to check the purity of the caffeine we have extracted today.

As for the Ivy League Connection, I feel that it has helped me come to my senses and realize there is more to the whole applying to college process. I mean there is a lot to think about before actually applying to a certain college. I have to think about if the college has what I am looking for in terms of the class I would like to take. Also, I would have to think about what colleges offer programs that will help me on the long run both financially and academically. Another thing the ILC has provided for me is the extra push to think about applying to colleges outside of California and the whole UC system.

It is funny how most of the students enrolled in the summer program have an idea of what college they want to attend and what they're going to major in. When I first arrived at Columbia hearing kids talk about their future with so much confidence had me a little frightened. I came to Columbia having no idea what school to go to or what to major in. In school and during college tours people always say that its okay to not know what you want to pursue because most people end up changing their majors at least once and it is why I never bothered to really think about what I want to study in college.

However, the ILC has made it clear that the purpose of this whole experience is to start thinking about what colleges to apply to and what to pursue once in college. Being in this class surrounded by people who already have an idea what to do after high school helped me come to a decision of pursuing something within the science field. ( Maybe Biology of Biochemistry!)

The beginning of the end

2009-07-14T23:49:00.000-07:00

Today marked the beginning of our final lab project in class. Our professor, Mr. Avila, assigned each member of the class to a specific group dedicated on working on a specific lab experiment. This will be our final lab project, as we have to design a poster board presenting the results and purpose of the lab to show to not only our Chemistry class, but as well as Mr. Avila, our mentors, and most importantly, some of Columbia's graduate students. Luckily, I was given the experiment I had as my first choice -- the extraction of caffeine from black tea leaves. Although we haven't done any lab work just yet, this seems like it'll be a lot of fun. In order to prepare for our independent lab, our group worked together distributing certain jobs to one another. I believe our group got a lot of done today and is on the right track to conducting a successful experiment.

After class, Mrs. Lilhanand had a brief talk with us to discuss the importance of being a part of the Ivy League Connection. Although I am having so much fun meeting new people from all over the world, adapting to the New York City lifestyle, and engaging myself in intriguing experiments, I've come here for one large reason -- the future. Mostly my future, but I'm here for the future of others as well, including my classmates back home, my parents, the district, the continuation of the ILC. This is a great opportunity for me to expand my horizons regarding my future, pushing my normal train of thought out of the box. With all this new information in my mind, I shall be able to bring it back to the community, where hopefully I will enlighten the minds of the students in Pinole Valley and also withing the district, persuading them to seek opportunities outside of their normal thinking process as well. The Ivy Leage Connection is so much bigger than conducting these lab experiments, no matter how fun they are, but for hope of increasing the knowledge of both myself and the students around me.

Working in a Group

2009-07-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Today we started our final project. I happen to not have anyone that I normally talk to in the group I'm in but it's still going very well. Normally I've been able to choose my group mates for projects in my previous classes so having completely different people is something that I'm not very used to. However, I think that it's beneficial for me to work with people I don't normally talk to because it'll be necessary for the future when I go into college and into the work world.

My group's project is on water analysis and using varying methods of testing water samples for different components. We then compare the water we tested to what "should" be in the water. I'm very excited for this project because it's split into separate parts and combines a lot of what we've learned so far in the class.

As for what the Ivy League Connection has done for me, I want to save that for my very last post. One thing I will mention though is that coming to the East Coast and visiting all these colleges has really helped me focus on what I want to do for my future. It's interesting because about 2.5 weeks ago before coming to Columbia, I still had no plan for what I wanted to study in college. All I really knew was that I would go to college. But now I know that I want to do engineering and possibly do a dual degree program and earn a B.A. degree in something else.

I also want to mention that I do think that the Ivy League Connection is something that I'll bring back to the WCCUSD. Not just about the ILC but also that it is completely possible to expand one's college horizons to outside California borders. Before hearing about the ILC, I felt that I would just apply to schools in California and that would be that. But now I know that there are so many other equally good schools, if not better, in other states too, and I shouldn't limit myself to only California.

Now, if this is how I felt before, it's entirely plausible that many other students feel this way. Even if someone doesn't apply to schools outside California, I want to be sure that they KNOW that many opportunities do exist for him/her. I'd rather someone be informed of everything that's out there and still limit themselves (although I do hope that this won't be the case) rather than someone not knowing at all and limit themselves.

Julie

Ivy League Connection

2009-07-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

The concept of this program is truly remarkable. It provides such a wonderful opportunity for the students of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. It sends students to prestigious schools across the country -- all expenses paid. It is meant to help those students experience the college life, help them grow up a little faster, and stretch their skills and selves. Furthermore, it is meant to provide a medium for such experiences to the other students in the district. In that way, not only do they learn more about life after high school, but their eyes are also opened to the possibilities. I understand that these college tours we have been doing were meant to open our own eyes to the different types of colleges out there, and we have to integrate the information not only for ourselves but for others in the district. Many students have a limited view on college choices, whether it is because they think themselves less capable than they are, or because they never thought about leaving home, or even because they only paid attention to the prestige, and thought less about their own personal fits.
This experience in Columbia has helped me loads in trying to determine what I want. Major-wise, I'm still struggling. I find myself very much interested whenever we encounter biology concepts in class, but then I have been told that to be a chemist would make life as a biologist much easier. And even then, I'm not even sure I would want to be in science. Maybe math? I enjoy it, and I seem to do well in it, actually past my own expectations. Then for the last year or so, I've been leaning towards business and/or communications and/or writing. But with media's obstacles nowadays, do I want to be in journalism? And then Columbia University doesn't even offer a business major, despite the Columbia School of Business. So if I wanted to pursue business, how would I even go about a major my last two years in Columbia? And I like the core curriculum here, but do I like it enough for my undergrad education? And I love living here, but would I get tired of it? And just how accurate am I in thinking this is the best fit for me? What if it is because it is the only college I have actually been able to experience beforehand? Would Bard's educational system be best for me, and would I sacrifice the city for it? Would UPenn be a better fit for me? And I can't even begin to contemplate about UCB, UCLA, USC, Harvard, Boston College, Occidental, and some other schools I can't think of right now -- mostly because I don't even know enough about them. Oh, and I also have to take into account the music program at these schools, because no matter what I will be at least minoring in music, but possibly even double majoring with music.
And not being picky about some things makes choices even more difficult for me. In some cases I like big classes, but the small discussion type classes appeal to me as well. I love New York City and after Columbia I can't imagine attending a school in the middle of nowhere like Bard, but when I think about it, I have gone my entire life not living in a big city and not needing the 'urbanicity,' so maybe it wouldn't horrible for me if I went to a college like Bard. And so on and so forth.
Sure, I still have numerous questions to be answered. It may even seem like this program didn't even help me at all. But in fact, it did. My questions have become more specific, because the bigger/broader questions have been answered. Most or half of my questions are actually already half-answered. Furthermore, this program helped me on a personal level. I experienced independence, and having to make sure I am on top of things. For example, it has been a struggle with my time management skills, but I am sure that I can take this experience with me and continue to develop such skills even when I return home. Another example is my determination to do well in class, so I have been trying to ask questions whenever I can. This is significant because usually when I don't understand something, I automatically let it go and wait, because I have been under the belief that if I sat quietly and continued to listen patiently, maybe something said later will clear it up. Lately, I have been forcing myself to acknowledge the questions that rise within me, and make myself actually voice them.
In reality, this program has done so much for me, and for my fellow Ivy Leage Connection students as well. I look forward to bringing my experience home and sharing it with others, hoping to maybe make their own pre-college experiences a little more secure.

Final Projects Have Come

2009-07-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

Well It's our last week at Columbia. Yes I know it so sad knowing that on Saturday we would have to say our good byes to the beautiful campus of Columbia and all of the great friends we accomplished to make in these past three weeks.

It so happens that for the remaining days we have left, we are bound to do a final project. Today the class was separated into five equal groups and each group was assigned an experiment needed to be done. The experiments were Caffeine Extraction, Water Chemistry, Coca Cola Analysis, Chromatography, and Spectroscopy of an Unknown subject. My group's experiment was on Caffeine Extraction and the purpose of this lab is to extract caffeine from black tea leaves. First of all, I didn't know tea contained caffeine which made this experiment even more interesting.

The first thing we had to do was to research possible procedures, background and history about Caffeine. The reason why we had to get started right away was because we don't have timer to lose knowing that all of these experiments require plenty of time to actually get everything done on time. Fortunately my group was very successful in finding a procedure that contains the materials and chemicals we will be using in this lab. We were able to finish our research and full written procedure in less then three hours! . ( I am so excited!!)

I was actually surprised that we had finished everything that needed to be done because if I were to doing an experiment in a regular high school chemistry class it would probably take a least two days before every one would have finished all their research. This actually allows me to better understand that in college you have to be more productive and have to get things done as soon as possible because nobody is going to be there to tell you when your project is due or how many days you have left to complete the assignment. It's always better to get things done as soon as possible in order to have enough time to take care of the small details at the end.

Tomorrow morning we will actually be starting setting up our experiment and lets hope everything goes according to plan. Wish me luck. Bye

Admission Q & A

2009-07-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon we went to the office of undergraduate admissions at Columbia University. There, we met Mr. David Buckwald. Primarily, he takes care of applications coming from the West Coast. He was very energetic and chock full of answers to all the questions hurled at him.

One thing I did learn was that at Columbia is that one can double major. He specifically used the example of someone who wanted to be pre-med, but also had a love for music. He also said that there was a program to become pre-med at Columbia, and that the students that do it have a high acceptance rate.

He told us a little bit of financial aid and early decision. Columbia has a need-blind admissions process. He said to finish part one of the application as soon as possible because alumni would interview people around their area. Interviews can only help, not hurt. Last year, Columbia had about 25,000 applicants, and about 2,500 we admitted -- about 10%.

After the meeting, I realized that I would have to work extremely hard if I wanted to get accepted to Columbia. I better not procrastinate on my applications, and I better get started on them as soon as I get home.

One Post Late

2009-07-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

My apologies for missing a blog last night, I was once again extremely exhausted from all the events the group and I attended. I guess I'll just have to make it up with one concise blog.

Yesterday was exhausting. After a long trip to Pennsylvania the other day, we were confronted with our last college tour -- Bard. We hopped on the train at about 8:20AM, and took the same route going towards Vassar, except a bit farther. Once we arrived, a majestic view of a lake graced us, along with vivid green pastures and flora.

As for the college itself, a wonderful tour guide named Katie was presented the college in its finest way possible. Although the school didn't fit my criteria, it earned my respect. Katie was able to expose Bard for its unique traits. After this, I now see the big importance of having a guide take its prospective students through a tour. Compared to Vassar, I enjoyed Bard more, probably because a tour guide was present, giving us details and facts about the college.

After, Mrs. Lilhanand had the group and I in for a treat; we were to have a fine dinner at one of New York City's finest restaurants -- the Porter House. The restaurant was so elegant; there aren't many times when I get to see such lavish places like this. I've been so accustomed to the high school diet, eating off the value menu in every fast food restaurant. The food, like the restaurant, was exquisite as well. I ordered a delicious filet mignon, and I was astounded at how the chefs got the meat to be so juicy. During dinner, Mrs. Lilhanand and us students had a discussion about ways to help improve the ILC; Mr. Ramsey and Mrs. Kronenberg, I hope for us to share our thoughts with you guys when we come back!

Today, after class, David Buckwald, Senior Officer of Admissions in charge of us students in California and other parts of the west, graced us with our presence. Mr. Buckwald was kind enough to elaborate on Columbia's core curriculum, doing a fine job explain its importance and meaning to the Columbia undergraduates, as well as answering some questions regarding the application process. This was truly helpful for me since Columbia is high on my list of colleges, as of now, standing nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with UCLA. I recently heard from one of my Chemistry mentors that the Universities of California will be facing a huge budget cut, affecting class sizes and such. Hopefully Columbia may give me the opportunity to escape these recession-effected schools.

The 5-year program

2009-07-13T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today we met with David Buckwald, one of the admission officers of Columbia University. He was very welcoming and told us about the core curriculum at Columbia U and about student life. I really admire the core curriculum as it allows students to meet and interact with others with different interests whereas they might never do so if the students had only taken classes that matched their goals. It really ties in with connecting with one another and I think that community is really a big part of Columbia U. I love how there's something for everyone to be able to talk about with each other because of the core curriculum.

Mr. Buckwald also answered all of our questions completely and gave us information pamphlets about Columbia U. He even went out of his way to give me an engineering pamphlet as I had displayed interest. I'm very happy that I was able to talk to him and it was a very pleasant meeting. He invited us to e-mail him with any questions that we'd get later and talked with us for about one and a half hours! That's one hour more than we expected! I'd originally felt really nervous about applying to colleges because I had always imagined admission officers to be faceless cold scary people and they'd reject me without a thought but it turns out that they're actually really nice people (based on meeting Mr. Buckwald). I'd like to thank the Ivy League Connection and Mr. Ramsey for setting up the meeting with the admission officer because it really gave me a confidence boost about what I can accomplish.

I was also pleased to learn that Columbia U offers a Combined Plan Program (a dual-degree program). This is basically a 5-year program where a student can earn both a B.A. and a B.S. degree in 5 years. It's structured in two different ways, the 3-2 program where one 3 years at Columbia College (Columbia's undergraduate school) and 2 years at The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science or the 4-1 program where one takes 4 years at The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and 1 year at Columbia College. It means one more year of undergraduate studies than other students but it really is a viable option for someone like me who's considering doing something in both an engineering field and in an arts and sciences field. One down-side is that Columbia U doesn't have a business school so I won't be able to receive a B.A. degree in business which was my original plan. However, Columbia U does offer many other subjects so this is something that I really have to consider.

Julie

Bard and Dinner

2009-07-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Our day started out extremely early yesterday (which is why this post is late).
We rode the subway to Penn Station, where we took the train to Rhinecliff. Mrs. Lilhanand was very surprised that there weren't any taxis to take us to to Bard college, so we had to make two trips to get us all. While half four of us were waiting in front of the admissions building of Bard, Katie, a senior at Bard and our wonderful tour guide started telling us all about what Bard has to offer.

Her tour was fabulous, and it made me more excited about the school itself. The scenery at Bard was wonderful and most of the buildings looked relatively new.
Katie told us how you get to know the faculty and the students at Bard because it is small. She told us that before the school year starts, the freshmen all get to know each other through two of the graduation requirement classes. The third requirement is declaring a major, and getting three faculty members to approve, and the fourth requirement is the senior project. She told us that the average class size is about fifteen people, which blew my mind.

Overall, I think I really enjoyed Bard, and I am thinking about if I should apply. I think a tour guide made it really enjoyable because we got to hear the passion behind a student, as opposed to Vassar.

After Katie and her friend dropped us off at the train station, we took the one hour and forty minute train ride back to the city. After a quick nap, we all got ready to head out for our dinner. We went on the subway to 59th street and Columbus Circle. All of us were looking pretty spiffy.

Dinner was REALLY good. The food was great, the conversation was great, and it helps that you like the people you're eating with too. I just want to say thank you to all the sponsors for everything. I'm having a really good time, and I really can't believe that we have a little less than a week left.

During the 2nd Sunday

2009-07-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

[A lot of trees and grass around the campus. The dorms are the white buildings]

Back to back college visits are pretty tiring; first Penn and now Bard College. There was a big difference compared to the city. For one, there were no taxis when we came off Amtrak! It may have just been some weird schedule, but it was really quiet and empty when we went to the small parking lot. One could hear birds chirping clearly, and it reminded me of Vassar. Though Bard is located about 10 minutes away from Vassar, the location felt very isolated. When trying to get to the college, all I could see were green trees, grass, and plants. The sun was out and a nice cool breeze could be felt. The air is hardly humid at all! (This could be due to the fact that there are a lot of plants.)

[A very interesting fountain that we saw during our guided tour]

When everyone was at Bard, we were introduced to Katie, a senior and tour guide at Bard College. For every location we went to, she would evaluate and add general details about the school structure as well as her experiences. I thought she did a great job in showing us around and the information was very useful. One could get the feel of the school life at Bard. She went into housing, classes, extracurricular activities, food, music, programs, financial aid, building types (we got to see the new science building), and many more. Like Vassar, I like the Bard College, but I do not know if I can see myself there for four years.

Nevertheless, I really believe that the college tours are very helpful in understanding at least the basic structure of the colleges. During both Vassar and NYU, we did a self guided tour and I found it hard to actually feel attached to the schools. However, with both Penn and Bard, as well as Brown and Columbia, I think that I am able to get a better sense of what kind of college I prefer as well as what makes me excited about a certain college.

For dinner, we went to Porter's Steakhouse. This fancy restaurant was very delicious and fulfilling. All these tours and visits are such a memorable experience, and it would be impossible without all the supporters of the Ivy League Connection. Thank you all so much for everything!

I also would like to say that my class has a hands-on activity through Black Rock Forest for 3 days. I will unfortunately be unable to blog, but I shall give my updates when I return! Thank you once more!

UPenn vs. Bard

2009-07-12T20:04:00.001-07:00

This weekend, our group visited both University of Pennsylvania and Bard College. UPenn is located right in Philadelphia, so students have easy access to urban opportunities. After living in Columbia for two weeks, I think I would enjoy what UPenn's location has to offer. Bard, however, is very much on its own. Neighboring towns have been described as farming towns or summer towns. Neither of these schools are scattered throughout a city, but while I can say that UPenn is an enclosed school, I can't quite say the same for Bard. Bard is like a large park, with its buildings spread out on a large expanse of land. It is surrounded by nature, while UPenn is surrounded by city. I think Bard's campus itself is wonderful -- it provides for a nice break from the big city. The dorm buildings look interesting, and I absolutely love the science building. But I'm not sure if I would be able to handle being far from modernized towns. Oh, and I also love UPenn's buildings -- they are absolutely gorgeous. The theater hall was so large and ornate -- it made Bard's movie theater look scrawny. But the main dorm quads in both UPenn and Bard impressed me. I felt like I would love to live in either one.
UPenn's undergraduate system consists of separate colleges, which is perfect for those who already know what they want to major in. For students like me, who have yet to make such a decision, it may seem unappealing. However, Andrew (one of June Chu's students who came to speak with us) enlightened me and said that it was actually easy to transfer between the schools, since the university knows that students rarely know what they truly want to study right from the beginning of college. Bard makes it simpler and requires students only to declare their majors by junior year. Before then, they have what are called distribution requirements, in which students have to take one class from each of the nine distributions, which are general subjects. But, for example, if a student is focusing on history and dislikes math, he or she can take a History of Math course as an alternative. I find this system to be very appealing, because I feel less restrained in choosing classes, and I think it provides a better tactic for learning about one's self and what I would want to major in.
I didn't learn much about UPenn's faculty, but Bard seems to have an outstanding system. First of all, there are no TAs. All classes are taught by professors. Whereas in some of the more prestigious colleges, professors leave their TAs to teach the class. Actually, my Chemistry class here in Columbia is taught more by the mentors than Professor Avila himself. Moving on, the classes at Bard usually range from about 12 to 28 students. Personally, I don't have a specific affinity for larger or smaller classes, but the concept of a smaller class allows for a more involved experience in class, especially since most of Bard's classes are more discussion than lecture. Furthermore, students and professors get to know each other better. All this appeals to me very much, because I like participating and I like to have friendships with my teachers, rather than distant professor-student relationships. And although my Chemistry class at Columbia is taught more by the mentors, Professor Avila tries to be as involved with us as his available time permits. I also know that not all the Columbia classes are like this - others are taught specifically by the professor.
I think the one aspect that made me more excited about Bard than anything else I heard that day was its Bard Conservatory of Music program. Apparently, when in that program, the student will be earning a double degree - one from the Conservatory, and one in another subject. I have always planned to minor in music, but a double major with music would make me just as happy, I think. But even so, I also considered double majoring in other subjects, and I also considered whether or not I would be able to handle the workload. So...we'll see.
Wow, I found that I have ended up talking about Bard more than UPenn. But both made a really good impression on me, and I am thankful I got to experience both.

Visiting Bard

2009-07-12T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today was very informative about Bard College. I think it was really great to have a personal tour of the campus from a student's point of view. I ended up really liking Bard College for it's huge campus (600 acres!) but not liking that it's in the middle of nowhere. There's only about 7 houses in the town of Annandale-on-Hudson according to the tour guide. The surrounding area is completely woodsy and foresty. We have to drive about 15 minutes before we get to the train station. Anywhere before that is mostly flat land and a house every 2 minutes. That's definitely too rustic for me. But the fact that the professors really know the students and that none of the classes are taught by TAs really puts Bard College to the top. But there's no engineering program, so I won't be applying to Bard. As much as I like the school itself, the location and the absence of an engineering program makes it very difficult for me to want to go there for college.

Afterward, we returned to Columbia University until the evening when we went to Columbus Circle for our fancy dinner. It was at a steakhouse and the view was so pretty at the top floor of Columbus Circle. The steak was delicious but it was very out of my element to be eating at such a fancy place. I've never had more than one fork for a meal but for dinner there were two forks. One fork was for the salad and the second was for the steak. Apparently the silverware works in a right to left order that corresponds to each course. This was definitely a very unforgettable experience for me thanks to the sponsors who support the Ivy League connection.

Julie

At Bard College!!!!

2009-07-12T19:25:00.000-07:00

Although the trip to Bard College was pretty exhausting but it was well worth the time and effort. I personally feel that having a guide to show you around is much better then just going to visit the campus because otherwise we would just be looking at the buildings and not gaining any information in return.

Anyways what I liked about Bard was it's beautiful buildings that at about 100 years old or older! In addition to their original buildings Bard had a new building dedicated mainly to the science department which include Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Studies and much more. Talking about buildings, let me talk about Bard housing. So what Bard offers to all of it's students is four years of housing if the students prefer to live on campus for their whole four years at Bard. Something unique about Bard's housing system is that there is no typical dorm because bard has all types of housing including suite type dorms, doubles, singles, triples, and even the more traditional dorms where rooms are located on either side of a hallway with the bathroom at the end. Also what I like about the housing system is that they do their best job in pairing you with a roommate that they think will be a best fit for you in terms of personality and habits. For example, when applying for housing you have to go through the process of filling out a survey that include questions like- Do you mind if your roommate brings a music listening device? or Are you an early riser or a late riser? I think Bard's housing system is a smart way of finding people that will be able to get along and live together as roommates.

However,although Bard is a pretty neat school I did not like the fact that it's location is in the middle of nowhere and the buildings where very separated from each other. In addition to the location, I would think Bard is not the school for me because I got the impression that Bard is more of an Art school then anything else. Bard provides programs in art, music, and photography more then anything else and I'm just not into the arts. Nonetheless Bard College is a beautiful college and I am glad I had the opportunity to check it out for myself. I had a great time!

In Historical Philadelphia

2009-07-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Add Another College to My List

2009-07-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

I like UPenn, probably being the biggest surprises throughout this whole trip. I always thought that there was only one Ivy League for me, and that was Columbia, but I was wrong.

UPenn really impressed me with its hardcore academics. These people seem to take their higher education to an even high level, if at all possible. After the tour of UPenn, the group and I met up with some UPenn students involved in the college's very own Asian organization. These people were warm, inviting -- but most important, informative. They told me that UPenn's academics seemed to be difficult, extremely difficult at times. This is a challenge that, with the right mindset, can be easily accomplished. They three students also informed of the Filipino presence within the campus and the Asian organization. Joanna, one of the students who spoke to us about UPenn, told us that the Filipino group within the Asian organization was fantastic and was named best group, completely shocking me. I would have never thought of being so many Filipinos in the college. I believe this means so much to me because I feel that the transition from the west coast lifestyle to life in the east coast would be much easier with guidance of people of my own race -- people that make me feel at home because I've grown with the same mannerisms.

Aside from that, UPenn is the most prestigious school I've heard of in the United States that offers a 4-year degree in nursing. This astounded me. As I've mentioned before, I enjoy health science, and if you may have not known, I love social interaction. I believe that life in the laboratory is unsuited for me because I believe I would lose my mind being within the confines of a laboratory all day. I need to get up, walk around, talk to people in order to keep my sanity. Nursing definitely fulfills my desires of being social while under the field of a health science. Once I heard this in a brief overview one of the students presented to us before the tour, I took this school under consideration.

The only discerning thing about the school is its location -- Philadelphia. New York City is surely incomparable, and to me, puts to shame most of the other big cities in the United States. I've pictured myself living in a big city after college, but Philadelphia was never one of them; it just lacks the vibrance that I've seen in other cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and of course, New York City. Maybe it's just me; we only spent more or less than seven hours in Philadlphia. Hopefully I'll be able to see the city's greatness the next time I return.

Engineering for sure

2009-07-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today of course we went to the University of Pennsylvania! The campus is really amazing and there are four separate schools inside UPenn that are separate from each other. However, I learned from the information session that we have to choose the school we want to enter in when we apply so we have to make a decision right away. We also went on a tour of the campus after the information session and I learned a lot about undergraduate life. I can definitely see what's so amazing about UPenn. The atmosphere of the school feels very welcoming and friendly. There's a place for everyone to be, except for maybe extreme athletes. What's also nice is that there's so many people compared to other Ivy Leagues and there's a bigger variety of student organizations because of it. UPenn is definitely going to be one of the college I apply to next year.

Benjamin Franklin, founder of UPenn

The lunch with June Chu and the undergraduates was very enlightening. I was able to talk to a engineering major and have a lot of my questions answered. Even though he's majoring in Digital Media Design (DMD) that's more art based than most other engineering majors, I really learned a lot about UPenn's engineering programs and engineering in general. After talking to the undergraduate, I realized that I definitely want to do something in the engineering field but I am unsure of whether I should major in something chemistry related or computer related or both. But going to UPenn, listening to the information session about the engineering school, and talking to UPENN undergraduates really confirmed to me that I want to do something in engineering.

After going to UPenn, we were also able to go to the historical part of Philadelphia. The best part to me was seeing the actors that were set up to portray the life of someone living in Philadelphia around the time period of ~1770-1820. I even got to meet Thomas Paine and I took a picture with him. That was the most exciting part

Me with Thomas Paine!

Also, we passed through Drexel University when we were walking over to UPenn. I can't really say what I feel about it since I don't know anything about Drexel U. But I can say the the campus is very structured and clean and orderly. There was a walkthrough water fountain in the middle of the campus as well and a dragon statue in the front. I can't judge the university by the campus though but I thought I should mention that we saw it.

Julie

Visiting Penn and History

2009-07-11T20:38:00.001-07:00

Today was a very long day, but it was definitely worth it. Waking up early and sleeping late seems may be a problem, but I guess that is all part of the college experience. Anyways, we headed to Philadelphia and walked towards Penn. Along the way, I got to see Drexel University! The campus seems very nice, but it is very similar to NYU due to the fact that the buildings seem to be all across the city. I do not think that I feel as comfortable in a dispersed campus compared to an enclosed one.

Once reaching Penn, I remembered one critique about the school: there are a lot of bugs. This became apparent throughout our tour, but that did not deter my reaction to the beautiful campus. There was an orientation before the tour that gave a general breakdown of the college's schools. I learned about the School of Engineering and their Robot Contests, about Wharton School of Business, a bit about Penn Nursing and the College of Arts and science. There are about 1500 students per class, but the campus seems like it could hold a lot more! I got to hear more about the dual degree programs at Penn, which I found very interesting. The speaker also gave a very useful breakdown of the application process: Transcripts, Testing, Recommendation, 2 Essays (Why Penn, and a creative one), Activities, and their need blind institution. I believe that this will greatly help me throughout my application process!

The tour of the campus was very efficient as well. The weather was nice, the tour guide was very informative, the campus was very pretty, and the bugs were out to celebrate! I thought the campus was a suitable fit for me, but I think that after meeting with June Chu, Andrew Zheng, Carlin Yuen, and Joanna Wu, I really would like to apply to Penn now. Penn has a program known as Digital Media Design (DMD), which I find very fascinating and I will look more into it. It also has an architecture major, great buildings, many opportunities in research, and a whole bunch of student run activities. Brian Mertens says that Penn favors Early Decision, however I like to be able to see my choices and then make a decision. I am pretty sure that Penn will be on the list.

With a bit of time left, our group visited Independence Hall and Washington Square. I find it amazing to think that our history and independence emerged from this one area. Taking U.S. history recently, it was great to be able to stand on top of everything I basically learned!

Philadelphia is Pleasing

2009-07-11T19:45:00.000-07:00

This morning, we took a train to Philadelphia so we could visit the University of Pennsylvania. We took a short walk from the train station to UPenn, and on the way, we passed Drexel University. The campus seemed very new. There mascot is a dragon named Marvin the Magnificent.

After we passed Drexel, we went to College Hall of UPenn so we could to the informational session. The speaker was very thorough in explaining the different undergraduate schools of Penn (business, arts and sciences, nursing, and engineering). She explained the social life at Penn, and the application process. After we took a tour of the campus, and it was awesome. There were trees and grass everywhere, surrounding the old buildings.

Afterward, we met up with June Chu, the director of PAACH (Pan-Asian American Community House), where she introduced us to two students of Penn, Andrew (a rising senior) and Joanna (a rising junior). We walked to a restaurant for lunch, and asked them questions along the way. We sat down to eat our cheesesteaks (per Gabe's request) and they told us all about life at Penn. Andrew said that he was a biology major, and that he wanted to go to medical school at Penn, since it is one of the best in the country. Another student, Carlin joined us for lunch to also tell us about his experience at Penn.

After lunch, they walked us to the bookstore. We said our goodbyes and thank yous, then purchased our souvenirs. Then, we took a subway to the historic part of Philadelphia.
It was nice to see history in real life, and not just in text books. Afterward, we took the subway back to the train station, enjoyed some ice cream, and went back to New York.

While waiting for the train, I starting contemplating if I wanted to apply to Penn. Andrew convinced me by saying that Penn has a lot of lab opportunities and that it really helped him during the MCAT. Then, I saw this, and although it is part of the medical school, I do want to apply to Penn so I can pursue my career.

UPENN

2009-07-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

As most of you may already, know today we went to visit UPENN!!

First of all I would like to take the time to say how much I appreciate being given this opportunity of coming to Columbia for the summer. I would like to thank all the sponsors, Mr. Ramsey, Ms. kronenberg, and Mr. Gosney for all the support they have given to the students within the Ivy League Connection. Thank you.

What I really loved about about UPENN was it's beautiful campus. Pennsylvania University is located right in the middle of the city but the school's environment had a calming feeling to it. ( Did you know Transformers was filmed on campus!!! That is amazing!) UPENN has what they call schools within the University which include The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, The School of Nursing, The Wharton School, The College of Arts and Sciences, and then there is the Dual-Degree and Accelererated Programs. When applying to UPENN ,it is required to apply to one of the schools and if undecided there is also the Dual-Degree program which allow students to double major. Also if you decide that the school that you are in is not for you, UPENN allows you to transfer to a different school after your freshmen year. so you don't have to be stuck in a class that is not within your interests. What I find interesting about UPENN is that everyone has the opportunity to begin research as of their freshmen year.

When it comes to socializing , UPENN provides over twelve college houses and three hundred different clubs and activities. So no matter what people are going to be able to make new friends and find a home away from home. It so happens to be that students at UPENN do a lot of community service of activities involving their community which is something I really want to look into.All in all, I had a great time and during this trip and all is left to say is that I loved UPENN.

P.S. I was excited to have eaten my first Cheese steak Sandwich.

Chinese Food and the Joys of Laundry

2009-07-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

This morning we had an awesome field trip to Westchester Research Labs. My favorite part of the whole day was the one hour bus ride both ways because I could get some shut eye since we had to wake up about an hour earlier. Just kidding, my favorite part of the day was the very first lab we visited, Virology. It is split up into two parts: Diagnostic Immunology and Tissue Culture. Diagnostic Immunology deals with diagnosing what is wrong with the patient. Samples are given to the lab and used to screen for HIV, syphilis, chlamydia, mono, and transplant complications. Some of the tests used are used to detect the presence of certain antibodies (such as IgG or IgM). Western blotting is used to confirm that the patient has HIV, even if they have a positive rapid test or ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays). Tissue Cultures deals with taking a sample from a patient and growing whatever virus they may have (influenza, varicella, and adenovirus, just to name a few). Ever since I learned about viruses in biology, I was interested in their life cycles and the potential threat they caused to humans. Immunology and virus epidemiology has always interested me, and it might be something I want to pursue.

We got back a little earlier to campus than we expected, so Jackie came into my room to watch some YouTube videos for about half an hour before our daily meeting with Mrs. Lilhanand. After that meeting, Sofia and I decided to go out to dinner. We really wanted Chinese food, and I found a place on Yelp, called Columbia Cottage. As I was on the elevator, some girls were talking about how John Jay's cafeteria was serving Mexican food. Last time they did, we all did not have a very good experience with the taste of it. After walking the wrong way for about a street, we finally found the place on Amsterdam. The food was okayish, and I put it on my list of restaurants to never visit again. Sweet and Sour Chicken is my absolute favorite, so I always order it, but it seems in New York instead of the chicken being battered in flavorful sauce, the chicken is just fried with watery sauce put over it. They forgot to put shrimp in Sofia's Lo Mein, too.

Afterward, we wanted to go Rite Aid so I could get my candy fix and Sofia could get some flip-flops. I got us a little bit lost again, but we passed through a Puerto Rican neighborhood (I think that was what the flag was) and it was interesting looking at people just chilling out on their stoops with their families and friends, just talking about life. We made it to Rite Aid, bought our necessary items, and decided that the night was still young, so we decided to do some laundry. On our way back to campus, we saw a lot of trailers, for movie production. We wondered who was there, and Sofia got really excited.

We got back to campus and noticed that barely anyone was doing laundry, so we got our clothes and headed to the basement of John Jay. We washed our clothes more quickly since we could use more machines. It was obnoxiously hot down there, so we decided to go to Pinkberry while our clothes were in the dryer. It was such perfect T-shirt weather outside. On our way back, we passed by the movie trailers again, but we didn't see anyone. We picked up our clothes and went back to our rooms.

I think I'm getting used to becoming independent and the college life. I can't believe we have only one more week left.

Westchester Research Lab

2009-07-10T21:31:00.000-07:00

Today was a very informative experience. Our class took a trip to the Westchester research lab, where we were exposed to many different types of science.

The short presentations in the morning were probably my most favorite ones out of the whole day. These people were scientists in the field of tissue culture, immunology, bacteriology, tuberculosis who explained the many tasks and experiments they run each day. Of all the fields in science, I find health-related science to be the most fascinating. I love the study of the complex human body, and how it allows to function as we are every day. Despite my mom's condescending push for me to major in science, I actually am considering this as one of my prospective majors in college. I feel as if that this morning in Westchester was a reminder to myself of my intrigue in a biological science, and specifically a biological science.

The rest of the day was interesting as well. My most favorite presentation during the afternoon was the lecture on radiology. This guy explained to us that decaying particles surrounded us, and were easily to pick up with the use of fine machinery. I was amazed with the man tracking so many of the decaying particles either by use of the machines which pick up either alpha or gamma rays, or by placing it in a machine where it was expose the object's decaying areas.

Afterwards, we returned early from the field trip, earlier than the time our class usually gets out, and went out with some of my classmates. I really feel a strong friendship growing between my classmates and I. These are locals whose culture I have been soaking in for the past two weeks, enjoying every minute of it. I find my stay in New York almost exactly as I hoped it would be. I believe that one hasn't really immersed oneself in a city's culture if he or she doesn't live like the locals. During my stay, I feel as if I've adapted to the local culture, slowly assimilating to it as the days progress. I feel extremely grateful to be able to experience such an opportunity.

Westchester Lab and MoMA

2009-07-10T20:37:00.002-07:00

Hello!

As Sofia said, today we went on a field trip to Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research and I made a new discovery. Actually, thinking back on it, I feel like I really had a closed mind about what I could do with a BA degree in science. I originally had the idea that by having any one specific major would limit my job opportunities to a job directly related to the degree. However, today I learned that to work at the Westchester Country Department of Lab and Research, all they require is at least a BA in a biology/chemistry background. This meant that I could have a BA in chemistry and still have an opportunity to work in a biology based job according to experience. I assume that I can associate this to most other science fields and I don't feel as stressed now about my major because I know that I won't have to be completely restricted in what I can do.

The Lab and Research facility was amazing, we were able to see so many aspects of what people did in the labs and again see what we can do with a biology/chemistry background. To name just a couple, we toured the microbiology lab, the radiology lab, the virology lab, etc. I'm very happy that our professor was able to set up a tour of the lab because I doubt I'd ever be able to see an actual government laboratory on my own. Everybody at the lab was very welcoming and glad to introduce us to what they did and why (like why the lab has to test water, etc.).

I really like the class we're taking because we are constantly shown what we could do in the future. Instead of just teaching out of a book, we're learning practical uses of chemistry and getting hands-on experience with success and failure.

In the evening, I was able to go to MoMA with an RA group and Jessica Tran. Apparently it's free every Friday from 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM sponsored by Target. I don't really understand what modern art is but the museum was really fascinating. However, after going to the museum, it seems modern art can be anything as long as we call it that... One really big project caught my eye though, the "Waste Not" exhibit. The artist and his mom worked together to consolidate and display all the things that the family has hoarded over a period of ~30 years in China following the Cultural Revolution. It was interesting to see the exhibit because it reminded me of the grandma and my mom who happen to have the same tendencies to hoard things like clothing and old newspapers.

Julie

Here and There

2009-07-10T20:37:00.001-07:00

My class today learned about green roofs, basically plants on the rooftops. My T.A. made a presentation about the benefits of this type of roof and then we headed to the Bronx. There I went to the Fieldstone Green Roof, located on top of a private middle school. The location looked pretty much like a garden, and it was hard to believe that we were standing on a roof! There are a lot of benefits to having a green roof, some which are: cooler air, prevention of pollution, better aesthetics to the area, save money, and more. It helps keep biodiversity and it can provide habitats to endangered species too. Imagining NY with all green roofs would be a pretty amazing site from above. Dr. Gaffin, who works with my T.A. Laura, is trying to work with the city major in hopes to start major green roof projects across the city. Many volunteers come to help maintain the plantations and I think that it would be a nice project back home too. It is definitely a consideration.
Another exciting event that I had went to was the Harry Potter Premiere. It was really exciting even though the group that I went with was a bit far from the red carpet. Still, it was packed with people, and I was squished between three or four people, plus the rail for about 2 hours. This was another big eye opener to the large numbers of NY! The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) was another location that I was able to go to. Along with Julie, the RA, and other group members, we all headed down to the museum near Times Square. The first exhibit that I saw was huge. I did not really think that it could be an artwork! Items after items were displayed across the floor and a wooden frame of a house sat in the center. The materials were collections of the artist and mother who tried to relieve the grief of losing the father through art. It was called "Waste Not" by Song Dong. It was really a sight to see.
Another interesting aspect of the museum was the "Universe Wall" where people were able to get their height measured and then names written on the wall. Julie and I had to wait a bit in line, but were eventually got our names placed in history!

We walked around the museum looking at pictures and paintings, listening to music, as well as designs. On the fifth floor, there was an architecture and design section that I found very fascinating. Every time I become unsure of what I'm interested in for the future, I always find something that draws me back to architecture. The projects seem very hard and long to create, but the outcome seems flawless and worth the time. I had previously did not want to go see the MoMA, but overall I am glad I went. Though my feet hurt from walking around, the experience was worth it.

Field Trip!!!!!

2009-07-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

Today was certainly an exciting day! We have our first and last field trip with our chemistry class. We actually had the opportunity to visit the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research thanks to professor Avila who arranged this whole trip for us.

This trip was very helpful in allowing me to explore other careers along the science path.
I personally enjoyed the Microbiological Services department especially because it involved more biology then chemistry. What a Microbiologist does is that they test samples that come from hospitals all over Westchester County to provide identification of infectious pathogenic bacteria. So to sum it all up what they basically do is that they receive samples from patients to to confirm if that certain patient has the bacteria they are looking for. Then there was Parasitology which mainly identifies parasites from clinical specimens. One type of Parasite that live in the human body and actually got the chance to see today was a tapeworm which was collected from an actual patient.(It was so cool and disturbing at the same time, but I still liked the demonstration.)

As the day went by I realized that most of the presentations somehow involved the water supply of New York City. So when water samples are taken from rivers, lakes, and even from people's homes they are taken to the laboratory to be tested tested for bacteria, lead, and other harmful organisms that might harm the environment and human health. If something is found in the water sample, the laboratory immediately inform the people who need to be informed to solve the problem. Being able to work in the field of biology that doesn't involve hard core chemistry and helps improve the environment and public health seems like the perfect job for me.

Well I am off to bed because tomorrow we are off to UPENN!!

My Reflection

2009-07-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

Oh my, it's so late! I woke up just a while ago from a nap I took earlier. Playing basketball at the Columbia gym got me extremely tired!

After class, I had a one-on-one talk with Mrs. Lilhanand. We talked about many things like how I was doing, the people I was meeting, how I was enjoying my stay, etc., for a short amount of time. In this talk, I was able to tell her how I was enjoying Columbia so much; I love meeting fascinating people who offer so much diversity to New York City, and that this college was high on my list for prospective undergraduate universities. On the other hand, I explained that my course in Chemistry created new thoughts in my mind.

Once we finished our short talk, I went over to the library Mrs. Lilhanand assigned to us as homework to visit. Here, I reflected upon my future. For as long as I can remember, my mom has pushed her field of science into my head. She wanted me to be just like her; she wanted me to go to a prestigious college like UC Berkeley, get a BS in science, and go off into the medical field. Maybe, just maybe, my mom thought, through the course of my studies, I would consider going to medical school to become a doctor. Engineering was also something she was alright with me taking. Anything outside of this, however, would concern her. Jobs such as a businessman or interpreter were mere dream jobs. Her intentions are good; I understand that she just wants me to have a secure job to support my own family in the future, but I'm not sure if this is what I want. This program has shown me that chemistry is not my strongest field, nor is it my most interested course, although I do find some things fascinating.

During my reflection, I figured that I expand my horizons, just as I expanded my horizons for college, and look at all the other majors I could take in the future. There is so much that I have yet to see, and now's my chance, before it's too late.

Better Every Day

2009-07-09T20:40:00.001-07:00

Well there's not too much to say about today, but I do feel like things are getting better every day. I have become more comfortable in both the lab portion and the discussion portion of the class. For much of the lab portion, I really have Mr. Hudson and his AP Biology class to thank. In addition, when we visited one of the professional labs, which focused on biophysics, I actually understood almost everything the lady was explaining. They currently are working on an experiment which involves E. coli and protein, and I was familiar with a lot of what she was saying because of a lab project concerning E. coli I did in AP Bio.

I think the best part of today was bonding with Julie, Sofia, Cristina, our classmates Matthew (from Southern California) and Corrie (from Beijing), and our new friend Jared (from Texas). We literally spent almost five hours together. We conversed about a variety of frivolous topics, as well as school, tests, and college. Anyways, I'm sure I will have much more to talk about tomorrow, so au revoir!

Goals for the next week:

Read Crime & Punishment in Butler Library.
Check out the practice rooms or the piano in Learner Hall, and practice.
Work out in the gym.
Go to Pinkberry during the time when customers get discounts on their orders.
Financial aid stuff about Columbia.

My Mind Has Changed

2009-07-09T20:04:00.000-07:00

In my previous blog, I said that I would explain why I have decided to apply to Columbia University. Like I said, I'm not a very big on the idea of ginormous cities. Yesterday evening, I went to Butler library and it was gorgeous. It had six floors -- full of lots of books that were tattered because of so much use. People were in them and there were various sections dedicated to a specific topic. There were staircases in the same room that led to more books in the same room. Here's an example of a hallway. From the medieval studies part of the library, on the sixth floor, there was an awesome view of Low library across campus.

After thinking and walking around the library for awhile, Jackie and I met up to walk up on the steps of Low Library. It was the perfect weather to just sit back and relax. We talked to each other about our future plans, sitting on those steps was so nice. A lot of other people were just sitting too. We decided to lie down and just stare up at the blue sky. It was nice and the buildings of Columbia looked so perfect against the sky.

It was then that I realized that although Columbia was in the middle of the city, it was more enclosed, and it has its quiet moments. I love New York City, but I'm glad that Columbia is not so spread out, such as NYU.

After class today, we met with the Columbia University Summer Program for High School Students, Darlene Giraitis. She took time out of her busy schedule just to meet with us Ivy League Connection kids. She asked us how we were doing and took a photo with us. Overall, she was very friendly and welcoming.

During our daily meeting with Mrs. Lilhanand, she told us how Mr. Ramsey arranged a meeting with one of Columbia's admissions officers on Monday. She wanted to make sure that some of us were interested in applying to Columbia before we would take up his time. Only Gabe and Jackie were really sure, but I when I think back to that amazing view last night, I think I'm sure about applying to Columbia.

During Class

2009-07-09T19:40:00.001-07:00

I went to the High Line for a class trip! It is a public park built across and incorporated with an old railroad in the West Side of Manhattan. There are a lot of native plants there, and some parts are also still under construction. These are some pictures:

I also did a presentation based on captive breeding. My group and I had to create a facility to hold and breed pandas for conservation purposes. I thought that it was a really good way to expose how certain types of organizations have to start. It is a lot harder than it seems, for there are a lot of different types of considerations such as staff, location, cost, research, structure, design, and the list continues. This not only applies to conservation of biodiversity, but I think that it can be related to other issues in society as well. I am definitely more aware to different possibilities and looking at everything in more than one angle.

Just a Regular Day

2009-07-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up at the same time to go to eat at John Jay Hall with the rest of the group. As soon as we were finished eating our breakfast we headed towards Havemeyer for another day of chemistry class.

As you might already know, our mornings start with a lab followed with a Seminar right after lunch. Anyways as I was saying, the purpose of today's lab was to analyze the purity of the aspirin we have synthesized in the previous labs. The way we found out the purity of the aspirin using Thin Layer Chromatography and Column Chromatography. My group was fairly successful in today's lab and I have to say that I personally enjoyed this lab because it was something I could understand. In my AP Biology class we did a lab on Chromatography with Spinach and what the purpose of this experiment was to determine the different pigments within a spinach leaf. What the Chromatography paper allows you to do is to be able to see the the different pigment within the spinach leaf.

In addition to the the lab I also enjoyed today's seminar as we. Today's lesson focused on the nature of glass. What seemed to capture my interest was the idea that glass has the mechanical structure of a liquid but looks and feels like a solid. It is interesting how the arrangements of the the molecules in glass can't be distinguishing from that of a liquid. So is Glass a liquid, a solid, or both? ( Now there is something to think about.)

The Past, the Present, and the Future

2009-07-09T05:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, after class, we visited NYU. We got off the subway at the Lesbian and Gay district and we took picctures at the beautiful Washington Square Park. Jackie told me this is where the movie "August Rush" was filmed and I was blown away. There was a fountain that people went inside and a huge arch. We sat at the chess tables while Mrs. Lilhanand passed out brochures about NYU. We walked across the park, and there was the library. It was very spacious inside. After we stepped outside and I looked around. The buildings were very spread out and NYU really was in the middle of the city.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I would not like to attend school at big cities, especially one of the biggest, New York. I like the quiet, more secluded areas. I think that I'm just a small town girl who could tolerate the city, but could never be quite happy. I also think I would like a campus in the suburbs. I'm not hating on all cities, it's just that I think I would be more comfortable in a smaller setting. The College MatchMaker gave me results that I didn't expect and it didn't list any of the colleges that I was thinking about applying to. I'll have to do more research to find out what would suit my needs best.

Our "homework" was to make up a list of five colleges we would like to apply to/attend. It's kind of contradictory that three of them are considered "urban." All of these universities are what I consider "out of my neighborhood," and they are put in no particular order.

1) McGill University - Located in Montreal, Canada, it is considered to be a "Canadian" Ivy. I would like to go here because I absolutely love Montreal (I spent many summers there), and I was always amazed when I passed by McGill. It has a bacteriology major, which seems like what I would like to do. The only problem is that I would have to learn some French, even though it is an English school.

2) University of Chicago - Ever since I heard the presentation from the college fair, I was interested. It is an urban campus, but I visited Chicago before, and it is my second favorite city. Since it is a research school, I would like to take biology or biochemistry.

3) Rice University - Once again, after I heard the presentation from the representative, I was wondering how I never heard about this place. I liked that it was research school and it was kind of small. Even though it is urban, the campus seems that it isn't very spread out. They also have a program with Baylor Medical School, and they have a 90% admissions rate to other medical schools.

4) UC San Diego - I would love to go a bit south in my home state. The campus is suburban which I think fits me. They also have a bacteriology as a major, but as a graduate they have an oncology course, which is what I ultimately want to learn about.

5) Columbia University - I will post more about this later. But yesterday, my mind was changed.

These are the schools that I want to attend, and I know if I work hard, I can get there. These schools are prestigious, but I always think it's better to shoot for the stars than stay on the ground.

Reflection and Progress

2009-07-09T01:00:00.000-07:00

In response to what Mr. Gosney said, I do believe students should be fully aware of what they would be getting theirselves into when applying through this Ivy League Connection program. Then the ones who do apply for the program will be the students who are willing to go through the struggle and learn, even though they may be going into fields which they may not know much about. And like Julie has said before, it's not like they're expecting us to know what they are teaching already. I don't know about other classes, but in our Chemistry class it doesn't seem like a student necessarily has to be brilliant to succeed in class. Professor Luis Avila seems like he cares more about the students making progress and learning, no matter if they still don't understand certain concepts by the end. He wants us to ask questions all the time, because asking questions helps a person to learn. The mentors are also very helpful. They know that a lot of the concepts they present can or do go over our heads, and they are willing to sit down with us and help sort out our confusion to their best abilities.

Today, I felt like I made so much progress in class. I never really feel lost when we do our labs (thanks to AP Bio), but during the second part of class, in which we have a post-lab discussion, a seminar, and a post-seminar discussion, I am usually really quiet. It is difficult for me to ask questions when I am not familiar with certain concepts and such. However, today I was able to grasp the concepts enough to be able to ask questions. I became very involved in the discussion, and was actually able to answer some questions by myself. Furthermore, after Mike (my group's mentor) did a quick summary of the seminar afterwards to help us understand better, I was able to ask some questions and share my views. I learned so much today, more than I have on any other day yet. I also participated in discussions more today than on any other day, and I am truly proud of myself for that.

On a completely different note, I think I fell in love today. Therefore, I find it depressing that I only have a week and a half left. There is not enough time for me to visit my love enough -- to experience every part of my love's being. Truly truly truly, I will never be the same because of this experience. I will be heartbroken in a week and a half, when I have to leave Columbia....and Butler Library. I can honestly say that I truly fell in love with the place. Ask Cristina -- I kept saying it over and over as we walked through the different floors. I want to be able to spend time reading or doing homework in so many different rooms, but it would probably require me to go every single day for at least two weeks. Butler Library fills me with so much comfort and peace. I literally stood in front of a window for five to ten minutes, just gazing at the amazing view of Columbia University. I really just sat in certain places, to feel the different atmospheres of the library. As Mrs. Lilhanand suggested, I took some time to reflect upon myself. However, it was slightly difficult because I could only think about how much I want to attend Columbia for college. I have seriously fallen in love with this university, and I feel so comfortable here. To be honest, at first I wasn't sure I would enjoy living here. My first impression of Columbia, during Spring Break, did not do it any justice. I enjoy just walking in the university, sitting on the steps, gazing at the view, watching all the different types of people, and so on and so forth. I used to say that my dream college was one that had the Columbia education, the Yale buildings, and the location in Boston, but I am more than satisfied with what Columbia has to offer by itself.

Seminar in homochirality

2009-07-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I walked around Columbia University today and explored Alfred Lerner Hall and Butler Library. Previously, I've only been in Lerner Hall once for orientation. One whole side of the building is completely made of windows and the staircase spirals up the middle of the building and the rooms are on the edges. It was a little terrifying because I'm afraid of heights and I could also see the bottom floor from the top floor. However, the view from the top is amazing. There's also a grand piano in the lounge space but I didn't take a picture because someone was practicing on it.

Main entrance of Lerner Hall

The view from the top floor of Lerner Hall

Inside Lerner Hall

Butler Library was also spectacular. I won't go into detail about the architecture since Andrew H. already did on last year's blog, so I will talk about the atmosphere a little. The library is very peaceful and well lit but not overly bright. Everything has a sort of orange tinge from the lights so it feels like one of those old libraries we see on TV. The books are all either reference books or non-fiction/biography books. I guess all the fiction is at the Barnes and Noble/Columbia Campus Bookstore. I really like the library as there are so many places to sit down and study or read a book. I also like that Columbia University hasn't removed the old manual catalog system when they put in the computer system although I'm not sure how up to date the manual system is or if the computer system is actually missing something the manual system has. Either way, it looks really neat and it takes up a whole room, all along the wall and down the aisles. The library serves as a great place to study.

Our lecture today was something completely new to me. The idea that amino acids and sugars have a right and left side to them and that our bodies only use "left-handed" amino acids but not "right-handed" ones was really mind-blowing. The presenter was Professor Ron Breslow, practically the demigod of Chemistry. His presentation was like a mini-history lesson about homochirality and the theory of why it occurs. It's great that each seminar is presented by a professor at Columbia University or someone who actively works in a chemistry related field. It shows me the possibilities of what I could do with a chemistry background.

The lab today was more titrations. What set today apart from what I've done in AP Chem though is that we calculated the molar mass of our aspirin through titrating it. Since aspirin is a weak acid, we were able to dissolve it in water and titrate it with NaOH, which we already know is a strong base. I won't go into too much detail about it, but basically, by knowing how much NaOH it took to neutralize the aspirin, we can figure out how many moles of aspirin we started with. Since we already recorded the mass of the aspirin before dissolving it, we just divide that by the number of moles we used to get the molar mass. It wasn't complicated but it was a new method for calculating molar mass that I never used before, it was really fun.

Julie

Just another day in New York

2009-07-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Today, out of all days, I felt the most comfortable around New York City. Before going out, our class consisted of us running a final lab with the use of the aspirin we created last week. This time, we titrated our aspirin, a simple process where the aspirin -- a weak acid -- would have a base added to it in order to cause a change of pH, with the use of sodium hydroxide. This lab also had my group and I find the concentration and molarity of our product, which showed the many things a scientist could use with the help of titration.

After class, the local students in my class took me out to hang out with them around the city. It was great just being able to relax and talk with these people; they've informed so much about New York's people, its culture, its slang, etc, giving me a taste of what it's really like to live in the Big Apple. I really do enjoy this way of life, which is really pushing my excitement to apply such colleges set in urban campuses!

Progress!!!!

2009-07-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

Although I do love participating in the labs we do everyday, today in particular I was upset because of the fact that I didn't understand the purpose of today's lab. Luckily Julie came to the rescue and really took the time to explain what is it that we where supposed to find in today's lab. She explained everything in depth and when asked a question she explained it in a way I would understand. It feels good to finally understand how things work.( I'm getting it!)I have a good feeling that I will also understand tomorrows lab because I have already done something similar in my Biology class.

Understanding the lab was not my only success but also I got thinking of my future as a college student. As I was sitting in one of the many reading rooms the library contains, I got to thinking that in a few months I will have to think about the colleges I will to apply to. Who knows maybe I will end up in a University like Columbia. Anyways as I was sitting in the reading room I did not help but notice the college students who were in there studying and I could do is to imagine how my life will change as I become a college student. I tried to put myself in their shoes and tried to imagine that what they could be working on could be something I will soon have to work on as well.

Changing the subject, I would like to say that Columbia's Library is absolutely beautifully! As I walked in, the first thing I saw was the dome like ceiling and the marble floors. Further into the Library I saw there were many rooms in which you could read and rooms in which you could use the computers. The library has six floors filled with more than two million volumes.

A Week And A Half In

2009-07-08T18:45:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Ms. Lilhanand brought the group to see New York University (NYU). I was very surprised to find out that we were basically on the campus though it was connected to a park! The college was not what I expected and there were a lot of pros and cons flowing through my head as we explored the area. I am really glad we got to see NYU for it really helped me understand the type of surrounding I prefer. Though I find it very unique to be so connected to the community, I feel that I like the enclosed settings better. I won’t throw away the option of NYU for I still need to look deeper into what it can offer.

Using the College MatchMaker: This really is a convenient way to quickly look up some details about any college. For most of the results that popped up, I had no clue they ever existed. Since there were a lot of choices, I skimmed through each college and mainly focused on the provided majors. I tried to narrow down the results by putting some current interests of mine: architecture, civil engineering, animation and graphic design. I did not limit myself to only private schools, and thus I was given about 35 colleges to look at. Of course there were a few art schools such as Rhode Island School of Design, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Parsons The New School for Design. There was also City University of New York: City College, Arizona State University, Cal Poly, New York Institute of Technology, Columbia, Drexel and many more. (A lot of my friends were talking about Drexel, and it has caught my eye through MatchMaker as well. Maybe after going to Philadelphia, I will get a better feel of the area! )

As I walked across Columbia campus, I really enjoyed the atmosphere. I explored the gym (finally) and got to see the indoor track and pool. I later went to Butler Library. The first time I went in, it was for quick research; I did not pay a lot of attention to my surroundings. This time, I walked along the marbled floor halls, and explored 6 different levels. Each location was so quiet and there was always at least one studious student. When you first enter the building, there is a very big and interesting mural with Athena. There is then a double staircase leading to the 3rd floor (one starts on the 2nd floor). To the left as well as right halls upon entering, there are reading rooms and a computer lab. Upstairs, there are references, catalogs, books, names, and just so many resources! There are rooms for group studies as well as personal studies. I loved the structure and designs of each room. It also really is a good place to get work done!

Other Information: Today I learned a couple of things about the tests my friends take at their schools. In California we have the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE), while in Pennsylvania it is called the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). I also think that New York does not have exit exams, but they have a state test known as the Regent exams. Teachers base their curriculum off of this exam, which students take at the end of the year. If they fail the test, they must take it again. If they are unable to pass the tests, then they must retake the class.

An Update Will Come

2009-07-08T05:45:00.001-07:00

I am so sorry that I was unable to blog last night; my homework assignment took longer than expected. I was attempting to blog this morning, but after being more general on the College MatchMaker, I received a lot more colleges than the other day. I am still trying to go through them, so I will post an update. I have to prepare for my class now, but I will share my opinion on NYU and other activities and facts I learned throughout yesterday and later on today.

College selections and our visit to NYU

2009-07-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today I started looking more in-depth on Ivy League schools. It's true that at first I was only thinking of applying to schools in California, but that was only until I joined of the Ivy League Connection. The Ivy League Connection has really opened my eyes to show me there are more options available for me. We haven't gone to the University of Pennsylvania yet, but I look forward to seeing the campus and city environment along with the different buildings and departments that UPenn has. Since I have no idea what the cities are like in the East Coast, I actually don't know how big Philadelphia is and what the city is like.

Anyways, back to the Ivy Leagues. I checked out all of them and narrowed the list down to the schools that had programs I'm interested in. The Ivies that I think match me are Columbia University, Harvard College, University of Pennsylvania, Yale, and maybe Brown. I'm actually looking at it now and it's a pretty big stretch; I ended up narrowing it down to the most selective Ivy League Schools. But I still need to study more on them. I also haven't been looking at private schools outside of the Ivy Leagues. The only ones I've thought of are Caltech and MIT but I don't know of any others. The list I have from my College MatchMaker has Carnegie Mellon, Rice University, Stanford University, Yonsei University (in Korea!), and others.

As for class today, our lab was a simple titration of a weak acid with a strong base. We also derived the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and did had a brief introduction on equilibrium problems. I found the lab simple because it's a concept that is covered in AP Chemistry. Actually, everything we did today was something that I had done already in AP Chemistry (except for the lecture, of course). I wouldn't say that this is a bad thing because it's a nice review and how the idea was approached was different than in class. Also since the titration was part 1 of 3 in the lab, there's still 2 parts of the lab that I haven't done yet and probably have never done before. I will tell more about the lab tomorrow as we finish it then.

After class, we visited New York University. The campus is really not a campus as all the buildings are separated on different streets. It's a really interesting experience as it's different from most universities where there is a one big campus and all the buildings reside on it and there's a central quad. However, NYU isn't very science based (although there's many business options!) as I'd want in a college. I'll have better luck when we go visit UPenn.

On another note, I'm up with my roommate who's doing Collaborative Theatre. That class has to write scripts, edit, direct, and act it out. Her class sounds more stressful than mine! I noticed that she has to rely on other people as well since it's a collaborative effort. It's structured very differently from the Chemistry class as we haven't really had the need to meet anyone outside the class to finish a project yet whereas she has to stay up late at night waiting on someone else to finish editing a script and send it to her.

Julie

My future colleges

2009-07-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

After another long day of class, Mrs. Lilhanand took the group and I down to NYU, where we got to see a different type of campus setting. NYU, unlike traditional colleges such as Columbia or most four-year colleges, is set deep within an urban setting, making the school have a lack of campus. Aside from that, I thought the college was beautiful. A typical NYU building could be spotted from anywhere -- its buildings are gorgeous. These brick buildings that tower along with the rest of the New York skyline radiate a distinct, beautiful color that attracts my eyes so much. Aside from the aesthetics, the campus is located in the heart of downtown New York -- a perfect setting for me, yet at the same time, a setback to the college. Although I do love its location, I'm not sure if I would give up the atmosphere of a traditional campus for an urban setting. Colleges like Columbia and UCLA seem to get the best of both worlds; both of them hold a small campus yet are close to all the hustle of a big city.

Yesterday, Mrs. Lilhanand also stressed the importance of deciding which types of colleges would fit our personalities, and had us create a list of our top five colleges. As of now, mine stand as such:

1. University of California, Los Angeles: This college has been in my heart ever since I've visited it. The location is perfect: it's inside of the biggest city -- also one of my favorites -- in California. Los Angeles is only a six hour drive back home; visiting friends and family would be painless. It's also near Santa Monica Pier, which excites me every time I think of going to a college close to a beach, especially since a beach similar to Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, is quite far from Pinole. Other than that, I'm really starting to like small, enclosed campuses; the buildings are more accessible this way.

2. Columbia University: This school has really made a lasting impression on me. During my past week and a half, I've fallen in love with both the school and the city in which it resides. I now feel the need to experience my college endeavors within an urban campus, and Columbia fulfills my necessity. Aside from that, Columbia is known for its incredible academic programs. It is an Ivy League School.

3. New York University: Like I've said before, New York City has made a lasting impression on me. I could really see myself spending the next four years of my life in such a vivacious city. Although the school lacks a traditional campus, their scattered buildings would allow me to venture throughout downtown New York, truly giving me the sense of living in a city.

4. University of California, Berkeley: This school's the best public college in the United States -- and it's only ten minutes away from Pinole. It would be wrong to ignore such a fine institution in such a relative location. This is a great plus, as many of my friends have planned to attend college in the Bay Area. Going to school in the Bay Area would also be great, as I do have a lot of love for the rich diversity it has to offer. My only concern is that the college may be a little too close to home; my parents have been nagging me to attend UC Berkeley so that I could live at home and save them a tremendous amount of money. I really do not want to have to struggle for my freedom.

5. Dominican University: Nestled within the San Rafael county, this college campus fails to fit my criteria of an urban campus -- but that's okay. Dominican is only a few minute's drive from the wonderful San Francisco, and a little bit longer going back home to Pinole. The campus is still located in the Bay Area, which, as I've said earlier, is satisfactory. My main interests in the school are its nursing program and the amount of money it gives to students as a merit scholarship. While I'm not completely sure, nursing is something that I may want to enter as my profession; it combines two things that I show interest: socializing with and helping people, and health science. Aside from this, Dominican hands scholarships to students based on merit. A friend of mine who plans on attending Dominican for the Fall 2009 semester said that they gave her about $13,000-15,000 scholarship for maintaing an GPA of about 3.7; weighted, my GPA amounts to about 4.2. Just think of all the money I could earn!

The Future Calls

2009-07-07T20:11:00.000-07:00

I think today was my favorite day in class, to date. First of all, my lab group did very well on our experiment today. After a week of struggling in labs and horrible experimental errors, we finally seem to be getting the hang of it. See? I told them we would get better. And even in the pre-lab lecture and the post-lab discussion, I didn't have to struggle as much as before in order to follow along.

Secondly, I found the seminar to be very interesting. It incorporated a lot of biology, yet retained some form of chemistry. It is more interesting and easier to follow a lecture when you actually understand the terminology and the basic concepts. Our speaker's lab group is currently researching the ATP synthase functions in a cell's intermembrane, and I found the speech about it to be quite interesting. After class, because I didn't get a chance to ask her, I approached my professor, Luis Avila, and asked him about the specific area of science she is in. Apparently, she counts as both a biophysicist and a biochemist. He explained a bit more of her work to me, and how she got to her currtn are of expertise.

In all honesty, if I had not taken AP Bio, I would not have been able to take as much out of the seminar as I did. Actually, at one point I wished that Mr. Hudson was in the room with us and asking questions and discussing more. By listening to a discussion by two such people, I know I would have learned loads more.

Thanks, Mrs. Kronenberg, for the collegematch site. I've actually completed it a few times before, but it has been a while and I was sure that some aspects of the survey would have changed for me. Looking through the final list, I became excited because there were several colleges that I have arleady been thinking of applying to. I found Boston College, Columbia University, and Harvard, just to name a few. I don't know too much about Boston College, so I still need to do research on that, but I visited Harvard and now I'm living in Columbia. Those are actually at the top of my list of desired colleges, and I'm really glad they showed up in my search. At first I wasn't sure I would like to live in Columbia, for a number of undeveloped reasons, but after a week and a half, I know for sure that I would be so happy to attend college here. In addition, I love their pedagogical approach, which is called global perspective. I discussed this in one of my first posts on this blog, actually. And Harvard is right there with Columbia at the top. I fell in love with Boston the minute I stepped foot there, and I fell in love with Harvard as well. It's actually a bit funny, because beforehand I wasn't particularly interested in Harvard, despite it's prestige. But learning about it through a student-led tour and through a discussion with two current students and an entertaining professor really opened up my eyes and my heart.

New York University

2009-07-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!!!

Today was like every other day except that today Mrs. L took the liberty of taking the time to take us to see NYU.

The campus is very cool in the way in which all the building that belong to NYU surround the Square Park. The way in which you are able to distinct the building that belong to NYU is by the purple and white flags that hang from the walls. Also NYU seems to be located right in the city which give the students a more independent feeling. One thing that I thought was very awesome about the University is that they actually stress about the environment and what they are usually doing now is to do everything by Internet. Even today when Mrs. L went to get information booklets, she really had to beg because of the same reason that everything is done by Internet. ( Did I mention that their library is gigantic! Its about six to seven floors filled with lots of books.)

However, although NYU impressed me I still didn't like the idea that the buildings where scattered all over the place. Also, I don't like the fact that the university is located in the city which could be very distracting for me. I rather stick with Columbia or Vassar which are both closed campus and are not located in the city but are not too far away for the city that I couldn't be able to go if I decided to. I find closed campuses to be better because it provides a better learning environment then those who are not. With a closed campus one is able to concentrate on their studies and be able to experience a college life.

Lab and College

2009-07-07T04:55:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry this blog is a bit late. I wanted to take a nap after reading the lab procedure, but it ended up being a really long one.

Well, yesterday, we had to see if our aspirin that was made on Thursday was pure. Our NMR showed that it was about 82% pure, the phenol test showed that alcohol was not present, and our melting point (128 degrees Celsius) showed that our aspirin was a bit far from the average (134-136 degrees Celsius). During the lab, it seemed like most of the class was stuck during the explanation of how to read an NMR. It took about an hour to understand it.

After lunch, we went to the lecture hall and discussed the results of our aspirin. They gave us sample NMRs and sample molecules, and told us to match them together. I had some trouble with it, but my lab partners explaining it to me until the quizzical look was off of my face. After, we had a lecture from Dr. Dalia who works at ExxonMobil. She told us about research in the business world. She combines soot and lubricants to help soot from forming on surfaces. One question that was asked by Professor Avila was "What is it like to be a woman in science?" She told us she was married and had four young children. She said that although it is a challenge, it works out best if you can find something you really love to do.

Afterward, we had our meeting with Mrs. Lilhanand and she told us about our homework assignment to use the College MatchMaker. I did try if after our trip to SoHo with Yohanna (I'll miss her!) and I still don't know exactly what I'm looking for. I found myself checking the "No Preference" boxes a lot. When I did complete it, it gave me about eight colleges. One school that came up as a result was Chico. I always used to dismiss Chico because of it's "party" school status, but I think I will look more into it. Today we're going to NYU, and I would love to see how another campus in the city looks like.

P.S. Have a picture of Gabe and Yohanna when we got lost trying to look for the 1 train back to Columbia.

Colleges and AMNH

2009-07-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

I have realized that there is a big difference between my Columbia friends and myself. Some of my friends seem to be confidant in where they want to go for college, but I can't seem to find a solid location. Why is that? I have been putting off college research for so long now, that I did not see the creeping applications. I think that most of my peers not only go on multiple college tours, but they also do personal research on some colleges. I feel that actually attending places like Brown or Columbia is a good start, but I need to push myself to actually pinpoint the right place. I did not start earlier, but I would recommend to the future underclassmen that it is never to early to start thinking about where one wants to go for college.

I did use the College Matchmaker, but I do not think any of the results really made me think, "Oh, this is it!" I will try again tomorrow, for I think I might have clicked something wrong, which caused my Internet to freeze. I will try to put some of my time looking up a specific colleges, for I feel that is the best way to get to know the educational aspects of a college. I believe the tours or visits are vital to see if one likes the atmosphere of the location, which of course is a key factor in choosing which place one wants to stay for at least a couple of years.

Today for my class, I went to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Professor Olival works at AMNH and my classmates and I were able to explore the taxonomy (class) of species as well as current ways to help conserve biodiversity. We got to visit the Dinosaur exhibit (some scenes from Night at the Museum was shot there), the Frogs, the Biodiversity Wall, the Marine and also a peek at the offices of where the research is done! I really enjoyed being at the museum, but I was more truly shocked to see rows and rows of cabinets. Though I could not see inside, the thought that every cabinet held a type of species both extinct and alive, was astonishing (there were a LOT). I would have never thought that there could be 4 stories of offices above the museum itself.

We also said good-bye to Yohanna today! It was very fun to get to know her. It's great how the ILC not only helps to make connections with people in the East Coast, but also those within our very own district!

After a hard day of class

2009-07-06T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today our class learned some really hard material to grasp. In the morning, we first began class by obtaining the aspirin we made last Thursday and ran a few tests to check its impurity. My group's aspirin was truly a complete success. Our first test, a melting point test, was conducted using a a machine that hastily raised the temperature of our product. The average melting point of aspirin is between 134-136 degrees Celsius, and our aspirin melted at 134 degrees. The next text conducted was a phenol test, where we would check to see if there were any impurities within our sample. Once the aspirin was mixed with the solution, it was change color; black would signify any impurities the sample would have -- and our sample failed to have any. The third test was required more technological one, as we placed the samples inside a computer and compared the graph with commercial aspirin; the similarity was 87%.

After, the students and I learned a complex lesson in Organic Chemistry -- the NMR. The NMR is a machine that determines the resistance of the electrons within the atoms of the molecule, and would thus display them in spikes on a graph. While the concept of this machine was hard to grasp, interpreting the graphs was even harder.

The discussion was centered on interpreting these graphs. It was hard, and I was only able to understand the bare minimum of the concept, which to me was remarkable; I thought I wouldn't understand a single thing. Later, the my mentor explained to the group and I that this lab experiment was not intended for the students to fully comprehend, but more of an exposure so that the students will have a little understanding and upper hand of the material that us prospective college students will experience.

After class, Cristina, Jessica, Jackie, and I took Yohanna out for her last full day in New York City. It was really great to relax after such a stressful day in class. My past few days in New York have consisted of this schedule -- I would start with class then end it off with a nice day out in the city -- and I'm coming to love this type of life. This is almost everything I've seen myself in the future doing, and is greatly strengthening my love for living the city-life as a college student.

My experience with the College MatchMaker

2009-07-06T17:38:00.000-07:00

Hello!

So today I did used the College MatchMaker that Mrs. Kronenberg linked us. I had actually used it once before back in freshman year but I had threw too wide a net and got back about 500 colleges. Luckily, I know a little more about what I'm looking for in a college now than I did in freshman year. I know that I want a college with a good engineering/chemistry program and preferably also one with a business program available. I also checked the option for a medium/large school and medium/large city. Along with a few other options, I was able to narrow down the ~3,500 colleges to 40 colleges. What I like especially about the College Board website is that if there's a college I like, there's an option I can use to find similar colleges.

It's interesting that I got a lot of New York's public city universities. I didn't think about it before, but I've realized that if I'm going to go to a public university, it will be in California. I don't really see the point in attending a public university outside of California as there are perfectly fine public universities inside California. So now I'm looking at the colleges that the College Board narrowed down for me.

As for today in class, we tested the purity of the aspirin we made on Thursday. We didn't dry it very well so the melting point was much much lower than it should have been. We also had a small (very small) amount of salicylic acid left. The phenol test showed up negative but our NMR scan showed positive for salicylic acid. Although it was slightly discouraging, I'm not too bothered as I was able to learn from the lab and learn what caused the mistakes.

The lecture today was also very insightful. We had Dr. Dalia Yablon from ExxonMobil came to give a presentation about her as a research and developer (R&D) in ExxonMobil, an industrial setting. She analyzes lubricants in very microscopic scales to see how and why lubricants don't work well in soot filled environments. A lot of the science involved was over my head but I was able to understand the gist of what she does and the significance of having R&D department in industries. She really inspires others, especially women, to pursue a job in the field of engineering and chemistry.

Julie

Chemistry Class and Vassar College

2009-07-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

The intensive seminar modern chemistry class has definitely exceeded my expectation. The students in my class are absolutely brilliant when it comes to chemistry. Although I do not fully understand most of the material I am definitely learning more concepts and have an understanding of how things work as we go along. I just feel that I wasn't well prepared as the rest of the kids who seem to understand what we do in class. However I am doing everything possible to get a better understanding of the material in which we are working on. I often ask the other students to help me understand the way in which a certain molecule reacts with another and other things relating with our labs. I constantly ask Julie for help because I find it easier to understand when she takes the time to explain everything to me. I am really glad Julie is here to help or otherwise I would be totally lost.

Also I meet with my tutors one in a while to ask them any questions I have in mind. In addition to asking other students for help and getting help from tutors I have also taken the liberty yo do my own research of the terms I do not understand. Being in this program is an eye opener of how a college life is really like and teaches me that when having difficulties all you can do is give it all your best.

Well enough talk of class troubles. Changing the subject, I want say how much I enjoyed the trip to Vassar College. I absolutely loved the setting in which Vassar is located in. At first I thought Vassar might be a too quit college for me but then I realized that ti might seem quit because of the fact that it is summer and the majority of the students are on vacation. What I loved about the college was the amazing lake and the building which are a little over a hundred years old. I like the idea of Vassar being a closed campus because I personally like the buildings to be together very much like the buildings at Columbia. I can definitely see myself attending Vassar College but I still deciding what I want in a college.

Seems like much longer than one week

2009-07-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hello to all from the Big Apple.

It is extremely hard to believe that we have only been here a little over one week. We have been busy, to say the least. Let's see, there was Rockefeller Square, Times Square (2 times so far), St. Patrick's Cathedral, Trump Tower (with the waterfall), the Gay parade, Columbia University, Bay Cruise at sunset, the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Wall Street with the bull, Ground Zero, fireworks over Hudson River, train ride to Vassar College, and Vanderbilt mansion. Whew!

The students have settled in well. Yesterday at Vassar I reminded them that they need to really think about what they want to major in and what type of school they want to apply to: big city vs. rural, big school vs. small private school, etc. In fact, Madeline, your web site regarding the college matchmaker is perfect timing after our discussions yesterday at Vassar. Yes, that will be a homework assignment for them this week. It will be very helpful for them to better define what type of school they are looking for before the large college fair at the end of next week at Columbia.

Last Thursday Madeline and I had a one on one meeting with Darlene Giraitis, the director of the high school program at Columbia. She reminded us that not only does she oversee this summer program with two sessions at Columbia, she also has a program for students to study abroad in Spain as well as Jordan. In the current session at Columbia there are about 1000 students, about one third are international. However, because some students live in the local area, in the dorms the percentage of international students is about 50 percent. During our meeting I set up a time for our students to meet Ms. Giraitis this coming Thursday.

With the exception of the 4th of July, I meet with the students every day after class on campus, around 4:30. We debrief how their day went and now I am starting to meet individually with one at a time each day after our group debrief. At the group meeting we also discuss what they are going to blog about that day. They have been very good about calling me if they want to go off campus with either their RA or another group of students. I feel more reassured that they know their way around better now that we have gone on the subway a number of times. That in itself is an experience of this fast paced city. As Jessica pointed out in her blog, the doors close very fast on the subway unlike the slower paced BART doors.

I am pleased with the students' progress so far. They all seem to take the fast paced city life here in NYC in stride. Although it rained almost on a daily basis the first week or so, when it rains, the rain is short lived and we now are used to it. The last few days have been absolutely fabulous, no rain, sunshine with a slight breeze.

It will be interesting to see two more colleges this weekend, UPENN and Bard. I do feel visiting as many campuses as possible is extremely helpful to the students. It opens their eyes to the possibilities and does give them a chance to start doing more self reflections in looking ahead for the college application process. Before they know it they will have to make some major decisions as to which schools to apply to and then complete their essay and applications. Later, either this week or next I will take them down to NYU for another perspective.

Vasser and My First Success

2009-07-06T05:32:00.000-07:00

Oh my, I'm sorry! It seems that I have forgotten to blog last night. Yesterday was incredibly exhausting, and as soon as I finished my laundry, I went to lie down on my bed, where I accidentally fell asleep, only to wake up around the time I usually get up for class.

Going to Vassar was a scenic experience. While arrive to the Poughkeepsie train station, we passed by a wonderful view of a lake, forests, and other natural beauties. The area was so relaxing, so peaceful, in contrast to the daily bustle that the Columbia students and I have been living.

Vassar was a beautiful campus; gorgeous flowers, trees, and p;ants surround the more than a hundred year old buildings, and the weather was not as humid as in New York City. The group and I took a trip to Shakespeare's garden, another vivid attraction full of vibrant flowers. Overall, the campus is perfect for the prospective college student who like to immerse oneself within nature and amazing natural wonders -- however, I don't find this college to fit my desires. For the longest time, I have wanted to leave my small town of Pinole and live in a big urban setting. I figured that my college education would be my reason to venture off into a big city. This is something that I've always wanted, and it has yet to change. I only believe that my stay in Columbia has strengthened my desire. Living near hundreds of thousands of people, surrounded by many cultures, being accessible to anything in the city -- these are the wonderful attractions a big city offers, and I love it.

After we returned from Vasser, it was time for me to do something I have never done: my own laundry. Luckily, I had the help of all the other girls to guide my through this painless task. At first, I was terrified; I was afraid that my amateur laundry skills would make all of my t-shirts smaller or ruin their color. Cristina and Julie were right by my side, making sure I didn't do it. After two long hours or so of waiting, my laundry turned out fine -- and I could now say that I have done my own laundry!

Epiphany at Vassar College

2009-07-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

This morning, we woke up really early to catch the subway to get to Penn Station. Our AMTRAK train ride to Poughkeepsie, New York to Vassar College lasted a little bit more than an hour. Most of us tried to catch up on sleep during the scenic ride. When we arrived at Poughkeepsie, it was perfect weather -- sunny with a slight breeze. We walked out of the train station to find a place for breakfast. That is when Gabe came to the realization that "We're in the middle of nowhere." We ate in a small coffee shop that was next to a row of local businesses. Mrs. Lilhanand called a taxi, and we walked back to the train station so we could get to Vassar.

Once inside the taxi, all of us realized that we weren't in the city anymore. The roads only had two lanes -- one going in either direction. We passed a lot of greenery and wide open spaces. Mrs. Lilhanand asked the taxi driver what there was to do around Vassar and he said "Well, there's a bowling alley and lots of restaurants." During the ride, I did see a lot of local businesses and red brick buildings that were really pretty.

We arrived at Vassar, and the taxi driver took us to the visitor center. I thought that the college appeared small with all of it's brick buildings and Gothic architecture. We picked up some information on Vassar and Mrs. Lilhanand gave us a meaningful talk about the college application process. I realized that I still did not know what type of universities I would attend regarding the environment. I didn't know if I liked cities or small towns.

We weaved around the buildings, trying to find the admissions office. We met a student who was studying outside, and he said that Vassar had really good scenery (lakes) and that he was going there during the summer, even though he was a community college student. The program was designed to help people get ahead and experience what it is like to attend a four year university. We finally found the admissions office, where a stack of self-guided tours were in a box on the porch.

We followed the instructions on the tour guide. The more we walked around, the more I could see myself attending Vassar. It was really quiet and as Julie put it, "serene." There were trees everywhere and lots of patches of grass. We saw one of the lakes (it has a goose-chasing dog named Ben) briefly. The buildings looked very old, which added some beauty.

We were all tired, so we stopped about halfway during the tour so we could see Vanderbilt Mansion. On the taxi ride there, we drove down the main road and saw a lot of shops along both sides of the road. We saw a museum for Franklin D. Roosevelt, Marist College, and even the Culinary Institute of America. The more we kept driving, the more I loved the small town. I realized that I was not much of a big city person, and that I loved the more secluded areas. It was very peaceful and beautiful.

Matthew Vassar, the founder of Vassar College

Shakespeare Garden

Learn from Experience

2009-07-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

Explore, learn, and find a connection; I think that is the goal of the ILC. Attending Brown not only allowed me to become a better leader, but I went back home knowing that there are such things as East Coast colleges. I was given the opportunity to choose another school this summer, and I made the daring leap of applying for Leadership in the Business World at the University of Pennsylvania. I must admit that I had made plans for the summer if I did not make it into UPENN, but instead I was so fortunate to be given another chance. I must say that I did not automatically jump onto this opportunity, but I think that my decision was made due to the fact that I really wanted to see what it would be like in a big city. I wanted to find out what location would fit my personality best. Though it has only been a week, I seem to be getting the hang of the bustling action. I was reminded of Brown once more though when we visited Vassar College today.

Vassar as well as it's location in Poughkeepsie, was not what I expected from a place like New York. It's red brick walls seemed to be more faded than both Brown and Columbia. The campus had a lot of trees and grass, and you could hear the birds chirping loud and clear. It was very quite and empty, probably since it was the summer. Gabe and I really wanted to just sleep in the shade under the tree. It seems more tranquil than Brown! I really had no clue where or what Vassar College was before this tour, and I think that I would consider applying. I am still tentative though, since I do not feel strongly connected.

We had a bit of time left after the tour so we headed to see Vanderbilt Mansion, which was previously built up by Frederick William Vanderbilt in 1895. It was later a home to Franklin D. Roosevelt! Our tour guide was very good as he lead us through the history and structure of the mansion. We could not take pictures inside, but there was a large guest room as one walks in and to the sides were different types of room for leisurely chats. It was amazing to see the items, which were from different parts of the world, especially Europe. I remember that the only American purchased item was the piano in the living room. Also having a particular interest in architecture and art, I especially loved the design of the exterior and interior. The colors and locations of all the items seemed to make the room glow. I really wished that there was more time to see the rest of the mansion, but we had a train to catch and the city cannot wait!

I think that going to the East Coast has allowed me to open my eyes to more styles and creativity. I have always thought that New York would hold a lot of fashions and designs, and currently it has not disappointed me. Looking at the variety of bridges, building structures and society, I know that I can use these sights to my advantage in the future.

Vassar Images

2009-07-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Taylor Hall
Vassar College Chapel

Inside the ChapelThe Main Building
Checking out Shakespeare Garden

Shakespeare Garden

Columbia in the GardenSkinner Hall

Waiting to leave Poughkeepsie

Vassar, Vanderbilt Mansion and University

2009-07-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Even though today was a Sunday, it was still jam-packed with activities. Although our plan originally was to only go to Vassar College and then head back to Columbia U, we decided to stop by Vanderbilt Mansion by recommendation of the local cafe. The campus of Vassar College was stunning. Where Columbia U is all buildings, stone, and big city life, Vassar College is grass, trees, and a small town. The campus is lush with green plants everywhere! It's such a contrast from Columbia U.

I do like the greenery of Vassar College, but for me it is a bit overwhelming. Even compared to home, Vassar feels less hustle and bustle then what I'm used to. Vassar also happens to be have more strengths in programs such as the arts, English, History, etc. However, I'm more interested in a school with a strong Engineering or Chemistry background so although Vassar's campus is very nice, the school doesn't appeal to me as much as Columbia U or UCB does.

After visiting Vassar, we stopped by the Vanderbilt Mansion. It was originally built for Frederick William Vanderbilt as his fall/spring home but has since been turned into a National Historic Site. We were only there for the first half of the tour, but the house was so breathtaking. Frederick Vanderbilt wanted to have a state-of-the-art house at the time so it's wired with electricity, has indoor plumbing, and has hot and cold running water. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about the time period and the Vanderbilt family that listening to him was actually very exciting. Sadly we couldn't take any pictures inside the mansion, but we could take as many as we wanted of the outside. Although going to Vanderbilt Mansion cut into the time at Vassar, I think it was well worth the trip. It was surprising how modern the mansion looked with electric lights and indoor piping.

Mentioning Vanderbilt happens to remind me of Vanderbilt University, located in Tennessee. It's actually also very green and spacious, similar to Vassar. Although Vassar has a wide range of departments and programs it is known for, Vanderbilt University is mostly known for its humanities. What is especially interesting about Vanderbilt is that it houses the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. There happen to be nursing and medical schools in the Medical Center which I think it great for anyone who is looking into the medical field. However, this is not for me so Vanderbilt doesn't appeal to me very much either.

Julie

Adjusting to a College Life

2009-07-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Having the opportunity to attend Columbia University for the summer has definitely opened my eyes in terms of the responsibility one must have to be able to succeed. Here we don't have our parents to wake us up when it is time to go to class, they are not here to tell us whats good or bad for us, they are not here to make decisions for us and they aren't certainly here to do our laundry.

Although I already know how to do my laundry I still have to know how to manage my time to fit in studies and other things that need to be done. I need to make sure I have enough time to eat, study, and get important errands done to be able to sleep early to get a good night's sleep to wake in enough time to get to class. Time has to be managed correctly in order to get the best out of it and not just waste time fooling around. For example, I have to manage my time to get to class on time, eat lunch, go back to class, eat dinner, meet with my Joy or Zack, my chemistry tutors, and have enough time to do the rest of my homework.

I personally haven't had any problem with having to take care of myself since I have been doing it for my whole teenage life. I know how to cook, do laundry, and manage my time responsibly. However, it is fine if most students don't know how to take care of themselves because people in college are more than happy to help each other through the transition of leaving home. No matter what what the student's situation is I am sure they are going to figure thing out either alone or with the help of friends and classmates who are also new to the experience.

Peace & Quiet

2009-07-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

Today marked our very first college tour since we stepped into New York. By Amtrack, the ride to Poughkeepsie lasted about an hour, which was fortunate for many of us. We had a late night last night, due to the Fourth of July celebrations.

The very first impression that hit me when we first stepped into Poughkeepsie, was 'quiet'. We walked out of the station to find a wide expanse of area, occupied by just a few buildings. One of us mentioned that it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere. It turned out that we had actually exited through the back of the station.

After breakfast, we found a taxi to bring us to Vassar. As we drove through the town, I saw old types of houses, weed lawns, and scenes that reminded me of either a haunted country town, or Gilmore Girls (tv show).

Vassar is full of large green lawns/fields, trees, red brick buildings, gothic-type structures, and beautiful gardens. I found it to be one of the most peaceful places I have ever been to in my life, and I absolutely loved walking through the campus -- minus the heat. If this campus was closer or maybe even in the city, I would most definitely love to go here. But from what I saw today, I didn't find the surroundings too appealing. After dorming smack dab in the middle of New York and having access to city aspects, Poughkeepsie was quaint and cute but maybe not someplace I would like to live in for four years. Oh, which reminds me: Vassar has no graduate schools. Although it has been around since the 1800s, they have not established a graduate education. And on another note, but another interesting fact about the college, the dorms are coed.

I still consider the college though. The campus itself was very much appealing, and the educational spectrum seems wide enough for a student like me to appreciate it. I am also very pleased with the fact that Skinner Hall has 20 practice rooms, each with its own Steinway grand piano! The thought was too enticing -- I wanted to sneak into one of the practice rooms right then and there and just play. Thankfully, I was distracted by the gorgeous and meditative Shakespeare garden. It actually reminded me of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Overall, I enjoyed exploring the campus. If I hadn't visited, I probably would never have discovered what other options I could be missing.

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

All the way from New York City. This was my first time spending Fourth of July in New York, and it was truly magnificent. This was just a day that allowed me to bond even more with my fellow floormates.

The day started off as an immediate waste of time. As my group and I have planned, we were to leave for Long Island Beach at around 7:45 AM. That didn't turn out so well, as many of the girls were still asleep and had not prepared for the beach. Anyways, the the group of guys and girls, along with I, resumed our plans and went off to the subway. There, most of the guys were cranky and still sleepy. It was also there that we noticed that because we waited for others to prepare, we had delayed our trip. Our train going to Long Island was to leave at 8:45 AM, and we had just arrived to the station at the time. It was then that the cranky guys and I decided to return to Columbia and go back to sleep.

Later, when waking up at around noontime, some guys invited me to play some football in Central Park. I agreed and went on my first visit to the grand park. The weather was the most beautiful weather that I had yet to experience in my one week in New York City. The temperature was about 80 degrees Celsius, and the sun stayed out longer than usual; it was perfect timing to go out and play football with the others.

After the exhausting game, some other guys and I returned to Columbia, where we ordered humongous pizzas at pizzeria close to campus, the Coronet. I then took a nap and woke up in time to leave to watch the fireworks at Riverside Park. The night was perfect as well; our relative location to water made for a windy ambiance, along with a cool night temperature -- reminding me of my sweet home back in California.

The fireworks display was stunning; I truly admired the array of color bursting from the harbor. The entire day was fun -- really fun. This was a day that I fully spent hanging out with my floormates as well as other people within the program. I feel like I've been in New York City for so long now, but I know the remainder of my time here will be fun due to the great times I spend with my roommates.

Pictures From the Day with Brown

2009-07-04T22:00:00.001-07:00

Sun & Sparks

2009-07-04T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today, my suite joined a number of other groups in taking a trip to Long Beach. I found it to be one of the cleanest beaches I've ever been to. Usually, I try to keep my shoes on, because there always seems to be soemthing on the beach that can hurt my foot. But today, The minute I stepped onto the beach, the flip flops came off and I walked confidently down towards the rest of the groups.

After a rest at Columbia, my suite walked to a nearby grocery store with a few other people. There, we bought food which we brought back to campus and ate on the grass, like a little picnic. The weather during our picnic was actually my favorite kind of weather -- windy, but not too windy; cool, but not cold; sunny, but not boiling. Afterwards, we took the subway to 72nd street, at which we walked to a freeway specifically closed off for people to watch fireworks. It was an interesting notion to be walking along a freeway.

Oh, and today I had my first experience on a New York subway that was LITERALLY packed with people coming back from the fireworks celebration. AND the air conditioning wasn't even on.

Independence Day

2009-07-04T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Saturday fourth of July and we are headed towards Long Beach. Apparently every suite is going to the beach and afterwards to see the amazing fireworks!

I started the day by arising at 8A.M to meet the rest of the girls from my suite to go to Long Beach.I was thrilled to have a day to bond and meet new people while enjoying the sun at the beautiful beach. Unfortunately I didn't pack a swimsuit and so I didn't get to swim but I did wet my feet for a good ten minutes. Everyone seemed to be enjoying the day on the sand. We spent about four hours at the beach before heading back to Columbia.

After we arrived on campus I quickly got dressed and ready to once again head out to see the fireworks. This time I decided tag along with Cristina and her Group to be able to meet new people. Before going to the park the group decided to get a bite to eat since the fireworks didn't start until 9P.M. We actually ended up eating dinner at a restaurant near the University. After everyone was finished eating and chitchatting we went for a bathroom stop before going to the park. Then when we finally made it to the park the fireworks started about ten minutes after our arrival. The day ended with pretty lights and celebration.

Today's trip definitely helped me with the friend making situation kind of thing. I met a girl from Colombia, Asia, and Brazil who seem to be very nice and overall very smart. In trips like these we, the student, have the opportunity to make new acquaintances in order to share each other's points of view on this whole college experience.

Light by Day and Night

2009-07-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day! It is July 4th, and I expected nothing less than crowds of people. I went to Long Beach with my one of my RA's and a few of my suite mates. It was very relaxing as I got to have some bonding time with my friends and it was also fun to meet new ones once again. The beach was very long and pretty too! The water was freezing! Though I wanted to go to the canceled Coney Island trip, I am still very happy to have gotten to enjoy the sun, ride the train and get used to the subway systems better.

Abound 9pm, everyone basically went to different areas to find a good spot to see fireworks. My group went to 72nd street along with hundreds of others. At first everyone assumed the fireworks were showing at the far end, however there were actually 5 sections that were up close. It was amazing! The array of colors, shapes and sizes were very entertaining to watch. When it was over, a flood of people tried to rush home. I joined a few people on the 40 block walk back to Columbia (it was further than I thought.)

Just a few thoughts: I think the city is a place that one must get used to. I have always preferred the quiet and smaller location; however the city life seems to just gradually pull me in. I love to explore and this city has so much to offer. However, my greatest fear to be in New York is to get lost. There are so many places, so many directions, and just so many people that I feel like walking in a maze. It really is a daring adventure.

The fireworks had different shapes!

It was very pretty as the crowds cheered!

Long Beach and Fireworks

2009-07-04T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today, my day started around seven o'clock. I got ready really quick to meet my suite mates by the gazebo so we could go to the beach before watching the fireworks at night. This was the first time I would be interacting with most of my suite for most of the day. We left the campus around 8 o'clock and walked to the nearest subway station. We took the express to Penn Station and we arrived at 8:43, so we just missed the 8:45 train. We waited about an hour and just bought our round trip tickets, a beach pass, and some breakfast. As soon as the train was ready to be boarded, people literally ran down the stairs to the track. The train ride was pretty comfortable and was about an hour long. It reminded me about a more comfortable subway since there were stops.

Once we got off, it was a short walk to Long Beach. The sand was fine and soft without dirty. For awhile, I just took pictures and enjoyed the wonderful weather (lots of sun and breeze) and then Sophia, Jessica, and I decided to dip our feet into the water.

It was such a nice day to be outside. After, we got lunch with my suite, and I got to know one of my suite mates, Arielle, better. She said that she goes to a public school and she lives in Long Island. After, we went back to the beach and I decided to go to the bathroom, but the line was incredibly long (I would say about 40 people). Afterwards, we just plopped down on the sand for about half an hour more and decided to go back home around 3:30. I fell asleep on the train ride (the seats are really comfy).

We took the subway back to Columbia, and I realized that I could actually stand on the subway without falling all over the place. I think I am becoming very accustomed to this integral part of the city. We took a two hour break after we decided that we would get dinner together as a suite, then watch the fireworks.

We walked around Broadway looking for a restaurant to eat because all of us didn't know what we wanted. We passed by a Amir's, a Lebanese restaurant, and my suite mate Nour convinced us to eat there, as she is from Lebanon (she promised that she would pay for all our food if we didn't like it). Dinner was delicious and we had really good conversation. I was talking to my other suite mate, Marina, and she told me that although she if from Brazil, she visits Miami often. She said that she goes to a private British school there because the public schools are mostly for the homeless. This got me thinking that the although the US schooling system has it's flaws, at least everyone has the chance to go to school.

Afterward, we walked back to out housing building for a quick bathroom break and walked onward toward Riverside Park. At first, we could not see the fireworks, but we could hear them. We hopped over a tiny fence (my foot got stuck in a hole) and walked to the edge of a highway. The fireworks were spectacular, but I could not get any decent pictures of them because the cars' headlights kept getting in the way. During the show, Nour was explaining how she says that she is from Lebanon because both her parents are Lebanese although she hasn't lived there. She explained that she lived in a one of the seven cities of the United Arab Emirates, but says she lives in Dubai because everyone has heard of that city. I was amazed that I didn't know anything about Middle Eastern geography and there was a whole side of the world waiting for me to learn about. I really enjoyed talking to my suite mates more and I hope to do it again soon!

4th of July at Jones Beach

2009-07-04T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Happy 4th of July! Today I went to the beach with my suite and some other people from other suites. It turns out that there were two beaches that people were going to, either Jones Beach or Long Beach. I went to Jones beach with my suite whereas everyone else who went to the beach (Cristina, Sofia, etc.) went to Long Beach so I didn't see them today. I actually had a lot of fun; Jones Beach is on Long Island so we had to take the subway to Penn Station, the train to Freeport Train Station, and then a bus to the beach.

Even though I live near the coast, I rarely ever go to the beach back home, so this was a pleasant change and the beach was BEAUTIFUL! Although the water was kind of murky, the actual beach had NO trash and the sand was very fine and not painful to walk on (although this should probably be common to most beaches). I also was able to bond with my suite mates some more. Also, arriving at Long Island from New York City was a very dramatic change in the landscape, the tall buildings and narrow streets were replaced with one-story buildings and open space. It felt like Hayward without the car dealers.

In front of Freeport Station

Jones Beach

I also have more things to add about my thoughts on the chemistry class that I didn't mention yesterday. I actually feel rather prepared for the class. Even if I didn't take AP Chemistry and took the class only on what I learned from regular chemistry, I think I would be able to understand a lot of the class. The professor and the TAs are really good at explaining everything and take the time to walk students through each step so we know what to do. I know that if there was something I didn't understand, I could ask them and have them explain it to me. It's true that a lot of the course material is over the level of chemistry in high school, but the professor and the TAs know that it is so they take the time to explain everything in detail. So although I believe that taking AP chemistry would be beneficial, the class is manageable without it.

As for the students that are taking the class, it seems that only a couple of student have taken AP Chem, whereas the rest have only took regular chemistry. The students knowledge of chemistry ranges a lot but everyone seems to be absorbed into the class and like it. There are a couple people that are totally into the class and are asking questions everyday and there are students that aren't. So although I can't say that every single person in the class happens to raise their hand at every opportunity they get, no one is uninterested in the class.

I still cannot say how I feel about coming to Columbia University for college. The city environment is different from the Bay Area for sure, but I still need to be here a little longer before I can decide whether it's a place where I'd like to go to college. I look forward to the visit to UPenn so I can compare and contrast it with Columbia U.

Julie

The End of the Beginning

2009-07-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

Now at the end of the first week, everything feels so familiar to me. It feels normal to wake up and cross a common room to get to a bathroom. It feels normal to walk in and around the campus as I please -- with respect to curfew and such. So on and so forth. I was talking to Jessica about it, and we both already became so accustomed to this lifestyle within the first few days. Actually, to us the first few days seemed like several days already. We've been really getting the hang of life as a college student.

In terms of education, I think I'm progressing. Like I said in an earlier post, I felt at least somewhat familiar with the lab portion at the start, and by Thursday I had become even more used to experimentation and laboratory tools. The lectures/seminars are a different story, though. My responses to them have varied, mostly because information often went over my head. I have never learned some of these concepts. But I feel that as the course goes on, I'll become more comfortable with the discussions and such. It wasn't until Thursday that I was able to actually participate in discussions with our mentors and professor. I'm trying to work my way so that I'll pick up enough information to start really delving into discussions.

Well, I'd share more, but I think being on a rocking boat two days in a row has gone to my head -- I still feel the ground moving beneath me. Off to bed, and then out to a day of socializing with my fellow Columbians tomorrow! Good night.

Columbia and New York City so far

2009-07-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

This past day, as well as this past week has been one big rush of excitement. Today was fun; the Brown kids paid a visit to the lovely New York City, where the first toured Columbia University and met up with us as the dock departing to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

After waiting quite a while to progress further in the line, and for the Brown students, everyone boarded a ship going to the Ellis Island. Our time spent on the ferry was quite a while, and it's taken an effect on me. As of right now, I still feel as if I were on that boat, swaying back and forth from the Atlantic Ocean waves.

Then, we finally arrived to the Ellis Island. This wasn't my first time going to the historic site, but this trip definitely added to my current knowledge of the location .In the center of the first floor, there was a huge screen displaying a map of the United States. On the bottom laid a touch-screen panel, where visitors can choose a certain race and identify the amount of that specific ethnicity in each country. Here, I looked up the number of Filipinos living in the United States, and discovered that Filipinos are highly populated in three states: California, with a population of a little over nine-hundred thousand -- the state I assumed had the highest amount -- Hawaii as the second most populated, and Illinois as the third.

Once our visit was over, we headed to visit a few other sites, such as the bull in Wall Street and Ground Zero. After, we said our goodbyes to our fellow Brown companions as they boarded a train returning to Providence.

After this, I bumped into some of my floormates and decided to hang out with them. So far, I've met many people in the program who have broadened the types of people I currently know. Before this program, I didn't ever think I would befriend anyone from places such as Texas, England, or even Turkey. Aside from this, I've met a few local New York City residents who have enlightened my knowledge of the life of an average New Yorker. These are people who I would have never met if it weren't for this program. I know that through the course of the remaining two weeks I will get to learn even more about my freidns' cultures, and even those of ones I have yet to meet!

Friends, Comparisons, and Fun

2009-07-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

There was no school today and still what a long day! We went to Ellis Island, saw the Statue of Liberty, walked to Wall Street, and saw the 9/11 Reconstruction zone. It was very amazing and fun, especially since the Brown University students joined us! It was a great way to meet up with friends both new and old as well as share our insights and views of the two Ivy Leagues.

Two very great colleges are right in front of our eyes; however they cannot be more different. Going around my peers I noticed that Brown seems to have a more mellow atmosphere. There are not as much activities one can do compared to being at Columbia! It would seem that being in New York City will always keep you busy and one just cannot be bored! Plus at Brown, the buildings all are in different areas and streets, making it slightly harder to find the place one wants to go. On the other hand, Columbia is like an enclosed section and everything is set in place so that it's easier to find. Nevertheless, walking around Brown used to give me a relax feeling whereas I feel that I should always be doing something when I'm at Columbia. In terms of school structure, I feel that it would be nice to have some sort of chart that could show the differences and similarities of classes, financial aid, or just any information laid out on one whole piece of paper. I need to personally push to research more, but I think the best way to see if a school is right for you is when one experiences it first hand.

I really loved seeing my friends from El Cerrito and Richmond. It was also great to meet the students from Hercules and Pinole! I wish that we could have a chance to visit them in Brown, but they are leaving this week. I think this type of event was useful and I hope it will happen for ILC members in the future.

When the Columbia group went back to the school, we had yummy pizza with Yohanna. I was also able to get my New York Cheesecake! It tastes very creamy! After our dinner, Julie, Jackie, Cristina and I went to shop for our laundry supplies. We visited the laundry room, which I found very scary to go alone. Then I got to hear Jackie's wonderful piano playing on a grand piano within John Jay's Lounge. When I got to my room I met up with some friends, and one of them led me to her friend's suite. It is still a small world in New York, since I had already met with 2 of the 4 girls in the room. It was fun simply chatting about our lives as we nibbled on a late night snack.

Tomorrow is going to be July 4th, and I wonder what wonders New York City will have for me then!

The end of the first week!

2009-07-03T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Yesterday was the end of our first week at Columbia University, class-wise. The class overall is loaded with information. Everyday is a new lecture and sometimes I might understand what's going on and sometimes I might not. The labs are also becoming steadily more complex as we delve deeper into the class. In the beginning, it was a simply placing a test tube of ethanol into ice water and recording the temperature. Now we're synthesizing aspirin! The actual lab itself wasn't very hard, but it was tedious as there was a lot of standing and waiting. If we weren't patient, our aspirin wouldn't be pure or our aspirin crystals wouldn't form and we would have bad aspirin or very little of it. What I found most confusing was how the functional groups break and reform bonds in order to get aspirin.

Although I only understood a little of how the electrons orient themselves to form bonds, I doubt I would have had any idea what was going on when the mentors were explaining how and why the salicylic acid and acetic anhydride reacted with each other if I hadn't taken AP Chemistry. My group had a 72.2% yield when we finished our lab and on Monday we will be doing tests on the aspirin to test its purity. Although I did this lab before when I took chemistry, the way we approached the lab was totally different. When I did this lab for regular chemistry, the class was looking at the reaction overall; what are the reactants and what are the products? But when I did aspirin synthesis here at Columbia U, we were looking at what specifically reacts with what and how it reacts and why it reacts. It's like we're going more in-depth about what is happening on a microscopic level. I like how the things we learn are starting out simple but then as we progress, we elaborate on the topics that before had to be dumbed down for us to understand it.

Today though, we were able to meet up with the Ivy League Connection group at Brown University. After meeting up with them, we headed for Ellis Island. It was actually really fun to be able to meet up with another ILC group while at Columbia and exciting because I know some of the people at Brown. It was nice being able to hang out with friends even though we're so far away from home.

One thing I noticed about New York since getting here, it seems that everyone is always in a hurry or rush. The subway trains don't stop or wait for anybody unlike BART trains back at home, so there's this feeling like people are less patient (or more efficient!) in New York than in the Bay Area. I'm not sure if this is true, but it's what I'm getting so far from New York.

Julie

Marvelous Morning

2009-07-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

This morning, we got to sleep in for a bit. I woke up a bit later than I wanted to, and there was already someone in the bathroom. I got everything I needed for later ready, and then I quickly hopped in the shower. I took one of my fastest showers ever (10 minutes!) and I had about 20 minutes to get ready. Sophia called me and said that everyone was meeting at the gazebo. I quickly rushed and got everything ready, and I ran out of the door, but as soon as I was almost out of the suite, I remembered that I forgot to lock my room door. I went back and locked it, and waiting for the elevator to come. It came more quickly than usual (thank goodness time was one my side!). As the elevator was making its way down the seven floors, it was 9:29, and everyone was waiting for me at the gazebo, so I ran to them.

Then, we walked to our meeting place to have breakfast with Mrs. Lilhanand. We all ate a quick breakfast and broke down our day. Sophia, Julie, and Jessica would meet with Mrs. Kronenberg at the Columbia bookstore to meet up with the Brown students, while Jackie, Gabe, Mrs. Lilhanand, and I would go wait in line for the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. After breakfast, we broke up into our groups. My group went to the subway station to buy an all day unlimited pass. We rode until the end of the line, and we got off.

The area near the ferry was full of tables that consisted of posters and artwork (such as caricatures). Many of the tables seemed to be the same, and it was a very touristy area because everyone was selling umbrellas and ponchos. We also got to see some pillars that were erected in memory of those who served in the armed forces during World War II. There were so many names, telling where each person came from and what position they had. When we got there, Mrs. Lilhanand told us to walk really fast so we could get in line faster. She left us kids in line to board the boat, while she waited in a pretty long line herself just to get tickets. We waited in line for well over an hour with Mrs. Lilhanand coming back after she got the tickets. When she saw what place we had in line, she said that it went a lot faster than last year. In line, we heard a lot of great street music.

We ended up being so in front of the line, that we sat down until everyone (including the Brown kids) came from Columbia. We watched the pigeons walk around and the waves go up and down for awhile. After our hard task of waiting in line, we finally saw everyone. It was so nice to see some familiar faces and have a big group of people to hang out with, and I hope that we could do it again.

Exciting Moments

2009-07-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

Today was an exciting day for me because today was the day we had the chance to meet up with the students from Brown University. I personally enjoyed seeing Mercedes and Carla again because they are two of my best friend with whom I hang out at school and seeing them in New York made my day.

Once we welcomed the students from Brown Julie, Cristina and myself gave a breif tour of the university including where we eat, where we live, where we go to class, and other important bulding on campus. We showed them the Library, the book store, the Chemistry building and the dorm buildings in which we stay in.

After we had given them a tour of Columbia I was suprised to hear how different the setting of the universities really are. I learned that the students in the summer program at Brown have to share a room where as the students in Columbia have their own rooms. I also found out that the food at Brown isn't that great compared to Columbia. The difference between the food is that at Brown they always the have same selections of food while at Columbia we get something different everyday with the exception of salad. The thing is that each University has it's cons and pros and the best thing to do to end up in a college that best suits you is to know what you want and don't want in a college.

sofia

Fun with Aspirin

2009-07-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

Today was just another fun at the lab. For our experiment, the class was given the meticulous task of making aspirin. Before the lab begun, our mentors gave us as brief of an explanation to the theory of the lab, although it did take a while -- more normal than usual. The material was hard stuff; sure, I understood the basic concepts that they taught, but the rest of the lecture on organic chemistry blew my mind.

Thus, the lab begun. Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, a combination of acetic anhydride and salicylic acid. The lab required multiple steps. First, salicylic had to carefully be measured out of a protectively covered weigher while water was boiled at a constant temperature of 80-90 degrees Celsius. Once the water reached the perfect temperature, the salicylic acide would be mixed with other very acidic acids only to be heated over the hot water and after placed into an ice bath. Here, white crystals began to form from the reaction, and were then later scraped, mixed with water, and dried. Then, the crystallization process begun. The formed crystals were placed in boiling ethanol, where the crystals began to melt and return to a liquid state. The process where the solution was placed into an ice bath and sucked was then repeated.

Once all the drying was finished, the finished aspirin crystals were placed in an oven for a final drying, weighed in a scale, and packed in a vile. Upon returning from lunch, our groups had to find the molar mass of the lab experiment if it went perfect, meaning that there were no mistakes such as dropping a few amounts of the aspirin crystals. Of course, this is impossible, so we calculated and compared the molar masses of both the experiment conducted without any flaws and our own. It turns out that we had a 98% yield -- what a success!

Lecture and Lab scheduling

2009-07-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hi again!

Today I learned something new, actually two things. The first is how Columbia schedules its science classes. As I was talking to a Columbia student who was taking General Chemistry Lab over the summer, I found out that Columbia U doesn't normally schedule the lecture and lab concurrently. So a student would take a science class lecture one semester and then the lab the next semester. The lab would normally be an overview of everything learned in lecture but would not be directly correlated to any one thing. This is just completely different from what I've known before because I know for UC Berkeley, there is one lecture and then ten lab classes to choose from. The lecture and lab are scheduled concurrently and the lab would tie into the lecture. Then this is completely different from Contra Costa Community College that has lab directly after lecture. This really has me thinking a lot more about how class schedules at different colleges are structured because if classes a structured in a way that doesn't suit the way I learn, I'm not going to enjoy it. I also never thought that a science class could be scheduled this way. But as this Columbia student said to me, "It works!"

The second observation I made is also surprising. After talking to my suite mates, I feel really isolated by being an American. As I've said before, the majority of my suite mates are international students and so earlier today, they were talking about the different diplomas that their high school offered. Everybody's school offered an American diploma along with their country's diploma. Most of their schools also offered International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. I never heard of IB programs until I came to Columbia and met all these international students. It feels like America is out of the loop because there are all these different countries doing American standardized tests like the SAT and AP but we don't know anything at all about education in countries outside the U.S.

On a completely unrelated note, while on our cruise around New York, we passed by the Watchtower Buildings in New York City. The headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Julie

New York Lessons

2009-07-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

I came into the Biological Conservation class thinking that it would be more hands on with very little reading material. My thoughts seemed to be confirmed when I found out that there were no textbooks needed for my class. I was however proved wrong when I received packets of papers these past two days and on top if it, questions based on the readings. I stayed up to about 1:30AM trying to finish my homework! It reminds me a bit of my hectic junior year when I had loads of work and other activities that kept on piling. I am always reminded though that this is just ONE class! I feel that the 2 hour long lectures are not as bad as it sounds since block schedules require me to be in a single class about the same length of day; however there is so much information packed into a session which makes it a challenge. I know that it's not impossible, more so one just has to prioritize.

The leadership course at Brown presented itself with more talking and interaction among those in the class. It was the students who led the discussions. In contrast, taking an actually science class is similar to being in regular school where the students listens and ask questions to the teacher. At Brown I was able to sit in on a college class and I remember the teacher just kept on talking, while students took notes. I feel a similar atmosphere in my class, for there is a big projector screen and students are multitasking! I for one am trying to copy down the PowerPoint notes and at the same time listen to what my professor is saying. I am glad that I had practice with abbreviations! I am really sure that I shall walk out of this class knowing more than scientific facts!

Once class was all over, everyone met with Ms. Lilhanand, Ms. Kronenburg, Yohanna, and her family. We took the New York subway towards Time Square, and I assume we were lucky for there was not a crowd (we actually had seats.) From there we walked to a harbor for a boat cruise! The water was beautiful and the cities were amazing as always! I loved the breeze of the wind and the different sections of New York. One of the highlights of this ride was getting to see the Statue of Liberty! I did not think it was real, when our guide told us to look to the right. I must really agree with Ms. Kronenburg who told me, "Once you live in NYC everywhere else will seem small."

I still felt really energetic after getting off the boat. I guess it was the liveliness of the city that acted like a caffeine for I jumped at every chance I could to take a picture. Gradually as we headed back to the subway station, I could feel the slumber seeping in. There was not much talking during the ride back as we all sat with heavy eyes. I did not want to move once we arrived at our stop on 116th Broadway. Our group filed out and I was the last to leave the train. Suddenly the doors closed on me right when I was about to step out! It was like a wake-up shock as they loosened the door and I slightly stumbled out. The station here in NY is definitely NOT like our Bart station back home. I forgot that this place is like a city that never sleeps. One must rush around and time is of the essence. For me, I felt that Providence had a more relaxed and laid back feeling, which is easy to adjust to. On the other hand, I will have to pick up my pace to match the life in the Big Apple! I would make this my New York lesson of the day.

Responsibility

2009-07-02T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today I experienced one particular aspect of being in college. At the end of my lunch break, I discovered some shocking news from home. Needless to say, I became half a wreck for a good twenty minutes at least, and I had a heavy feeling that came back frequently throughout the rest of the day. With this program being only three weeks, I didn't believe I'd have too many homesick moments. This wasn't a homesick moment, but I realized how difficult it is to be away from home in a different way. When important events occur, you wish you could be there for it. However, you may be all the way across the nation, and you can't just drop everything to fly back home. Neither can you let yourself get carried away and neglect your studies. I was given my time to gather myself and calm down, but as soon as I was collected I returned to the classroom and delved into the topic at hand. As a college student, you can't let your studies be interrupted. You have to be even more responsible, because no one will tell you to 'suck it up' and get on track. It is the real life.

On a lighter note, I found class to be more interesting today. I enjoyed the lab very much, and I was actually able to understand at least the concept part of the seminar. I became lost when real numbers and graphs came in, but I remind myself that I will eventually learn, and that it is okay if I don't understand quite everything because this is a course far beyond the level of chemistry that I studied in sophomore year. I feel the progress!

Subway vs. Bart

2009-07-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

After having our long day of class we in front of the book store to takes of to a crouse. Unfortunitly we had no other option but to take the Subway in order to get to our destination.

Unlike the Bart, all subway sytems run underground. So when you think of it, when you are riding the subway you are right below the streets of New York City. Amazing! Also, the subway station is always hot and I'm guessing its hot because of the fact that its underground. People in New York don't seem to have respect for the public suvices, the Subway station reeks of urine from the people who have urinated on the walls. Also, one impotant thing to remember when riding the subway is that you need to rush in and out of the train or else you will either miss your train os stop. Jessica had to learn it the hard way when the doors closed on her as we were getting of the train to go back to Columbia.

On the other hand, I think Bart is much better in terms of waiting for people to board and get of the train. Also, the Bart system is not all built ungerground and have stations that are atually located above the city instead of being under it. For example, El Cerrito Plaza Bart station is at a higher altitude then the actual city itself. Adding to the benifits to riding the Bart, the Bart wins the metal when it comes to being the cleanest and coolest form of transportation in the Bay Area. Why? Because when using the Bart you don't go underground as much as you do using the Subway and if you do happen to go underground to use the Bart there will be air conditioning so it will always be cool. ( Thank god for AC!!)

P.S Subway is way more confusing to take then Bart! So I guess Bart wins in this round! Yey BART!!!

Times Square, Once Again

2009-07-02T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today, we (including Mrs. Kronenberg and Yohanna Pepa(my bffl)) got on the warm subway (my first time riding it!) and we got off at Times Square. I had no idea we were at Times Square until someone mentioned it. I saw the giant Target advertisement again, and the ESPN Zone. Then, we took a fifteen minute trek through the streets to get to the pier for our boat cruise.

We arrived at the pier and waiting for about fifteen minutes to board the boat. Before we got on, we got our picture taken (with Gabe in the middle because he was the only guy). We got on the top floor of the boat on the sunroom, and settled down. Mrs. Kronenberg was kind enough to watch our belongings while we went downstairs with Mrs. Lilhanand to purchase dinner. While we were ordering, it started to downpour and thunder a little. But, in true New York fashion, the rainy weather went away after about twenty minutes. The tour guide took us around New York City, showing us four out of the five boroughs. It was really nice to watch, especially from the bow of the boat.

After our cruise, we walked back to Times Square. It was dark, and all the lights were very visible. While walking, we passed by a huge Michael Jackson mosaic poster that was made up of tiny pictures of people. We also saw a giant Sprint phone that was like a billboard/television. We discussed how McDonald's is the same everywhere, except for a couple of local foods. We also saw policemen on horses. Then, after our little stop at Times Square, we all went back to the subway and headed back home. We have a long day tomorrow, and apparently I'll be waiting in line for a couple of hours. See you tomorrow, Brown kids!

P.S.

With the locals

2009-07-01T20:38:00.001-07:00

As much as I enjoy the labs we do in the morning during the Chemistry class, what I've liked best in class is meeting my classmates. A good amount of the people in my class are commuters; some are from Queens, Brooklyn, and even just Uptown Manhattan.

During the past three days of class, I've gotten close to a few of the guys from Uptown and Brooklyn. Today, I eagerly wanted to see all the nice shoppes New York City had to offer. Thankfully, the guys whom I've bonded with seemed to share many of the same interests that I have. I really felt like I was at home talking to them, with a little differences such as their own New York lingo and accents. I found it very interesting to meet people with such strong accents. I didn't really think that people would actually speak like that, but their voices proved me wrong.

Thankfully, these guys were headed off to Soho, a district in New York City serving the public's taste for high, limited, fashion -- a place that I planned on visiting when I first found out that I was coming. These were naturals in the subway; they understood every train and route, getting to our destination in the fastest way possible. There were a lot of quaint little stores that reminded of the ones that we have back in San Francisco, as well as the architecture of the buildings. The only thing that I disliked -- and have disliked ever since I left California -- was the weather. It was extrememly hot, and the sunny unexpectedly shined down upon us while we made our way to different stores. I just hate it how it's so hot here yet so cloudy -- it just doesn't make sense!

After our excursion through the beautiful Soho, the locals and I called it a day and headed back to Uptown, where they first dropped me off to the Colunbia station. I really like meeting locals, because it gives me an opening to actually live like a local, Although it's nice to see all the sites and attractions of a place, I feel that in order to experience the city, one must live like a local, and today, I did just that.

At John Jay Cafeteria

2009-07-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Food Galore

2009-07-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today, Cristina, Sofia, Julie, and I ate lunch at John Jay. When we were almost done, I suddenly had a craving for Pinkberry, a type of frozen yogurt. I invited three of our classmates from Chem, and two of them joined us on our escapade. This was the second time in my life I ate Pinkberry, and it was still absolute heaven. There aren't many in Northern California, so I deemed it another New York experience, even though there are Pinkberrys in Southern California. On the way back, I and one of our classmates discussed the differences between New York and California because he is from SoCal (Southern California). One of the things we discussed was actually how we had yet to see a gas station in New York. You would think, that with the massive number of automobiles here in NY, there would be gas stations maybe every several or couple blocks. Cristina actually claimed to have seen one gas station -- on the way from the airport.

Later on, I joined Cristina and Julie for dinner. Cristina and I waited at the table for Julie to get her food, and when she returned we discovered it to be "un-delicious." We made Julie try it, and from her facial expression we immediately decided to go out to eat. After Julie finished her food, we dragged her to Ollie's, which is right across Broadway from the College Walk. It was actually the place we planned to take Sofia to for her birthday dinner. We tried to keep it a surprise, and since she didn't know, she agreed to go to Greenwich Village with her suite for dinner. This is what we call "Fail." However, we realized it was for the better, since Ollie's didn't turn out to taste as good as we expected.

Oh, and Mrs. Lilhanand bought us some "famous" cupcakes to celebrate Sofia's birthday! They were huge, and they were ridiculously sweet.

Only in New York City

2009-07-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Ms Lilhanand: Scientists are using calculations to give an estimate of the biodiversity in the world. There are about 1.75 million species identified or named, but they say that there are still approximately 3 to 117 million species that are still unidentified.

I think my morning routine is showing a similar pattern; wake up, eat breakfast, and go to class. I will have to try to get up from bed earlier and see if Columbia is still quiet during the daytime.My morning lecture was a continuation of yesterday's Power Point, which was based on Threats to Biodiversity. We went over invasive species and their impact on ecosystems and the economy. I am always learning something new that catches my eye. I found out that 137 billion dollars a year is used from the US to cover the losses and problems caused by invasive species! I also learned that endocrine disruptor ("synthetic chemicals that disrupt hormones in animals and humans") can cause fishes to change gender! Also, one discussion we had was how many Earths would be needed if everyone lived our life. The site that Professor Olival recommended to see was www.myfootprint.org and all you have to do is take the quiz. Near the end of class, we watched a very interesting film filled with many little animated characters, called "The Story of Stuff" with Annie Leonard. It went into reasons of how our products can be so cheap, but the prices to actually make them is way more than the cost. It reflects our society of producer and consumer, but it adds in the effects on our ecological systems. The link to watch it is http://www.storyofstuff.com/!

I had my lunch and then attended the 2nd part of class. First we got into groups and were suppose to list 10 reasons as to why biodiversity is important. This proved to be hard for everyone! Eventually all the ideas were combined and it turns out biodiversity impacts the field of medicine, aesthetics, education, evolution, food, shelter and many features that attribute to our daily lives. I dived into the ways of categorizing values of biodiversity, which were direct use value (goods) and indirect use values (services.) It would appear that we take a lot of things for granted, for many would probably not associate things like industrial products or cosmetics to be part of this type of science. 57% of 150 prescribed drugs have origin in biodiversity! I for one am now seeing things a bit differently than before and more aware of the resources the world is using.

Once class was over my friend invited me to go kayaking. Though I could not meet up with Ms. Lilhanand, I must say going to Pier 96 Boathouse was great! I got to be on top of the Hudson River! It was so beautiful as I gazed upon the city from the water. I also got to see a bit of New Jersey! I think I must have brought back a bit of the river with me when I came back since I got wet. One of the workers at the pier was a tour guide and he gave my group some places to go and there is no charge too! He mentioned that on the eighth floor of the Marriott Hotel, there is a great view of Manhatten at night. I remember Ms. Lilhanand say something about it also, so I hope that I can return to see it!

I think that it is only in NYC where you can get pizza at Koronet Pizza on Broadway near 110th Street. Their pizza, the jumbo size, is definitely HUGE! For the price of $3.25, one can get a slice about 14 inches long! Their whole pie was really amazing to see too! I shall upload the picture once my friend sends it to me. That was the end of my day though, and now I must continue on with more reading!

Lab #2: Distillation

2009-07-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today's lab was about distillation. We split up into our element groups and then we split into two groups. The other half of my group did the simple distillation of an water and ethanol mixture.

Simple distillation is used when the two liquids have a boiling point difference of about 50 degrees Celsius. Simple distillation occurs when "all hot vapors produced are immediately channeled into a condenser which cools and condenses the vapors." My group got to do fractional distillation which is the "separation of a mixture into its component parts, or fractions." It is used when the liquids have closer boiling points. The difference is though both setups are the same, with an round bottom flask, a variac under that, a distillation head, a thermistor, a condenser, water tubing, an adapter, a drop counter, a funnel, and a graduated cylinder, fractional distillation has glass wool put in its distillation head. The glass wool gives more surface area, which makes the lower boiling-point liquid time to re-evaporate and go through the whole column, while the faster boiling-point liquid are condensed on the glass wool. We used the MicroLab program once again but this time used a drop counter to find out the number of drops of the distilled solution versus temperature.

First, all of us had to assemble the distillation apparatus, which took us some time because we had to make sure we weren't missing a part. We clamped all the glass together, stuck our glass wool into the distillation head with a spatula, and the thermistor was also inserted into the distillation head. We attached a tube to the water source, and we attached another tube to the condenser to get rid of the water. We got a solution of ethanol and water, poured it on the round bottom flask, added a magnetic stir bar, and clamped it to the fractionating column. Then, we started the variac and watched the temperature climb to about 90 degrees, after putting some insulation (aluminum foil) around flask to the beginning of the condenser.

We waited patiently, I would say about an hour, until our drop counter started counting drops of ethanol. My group's patience finally paid off! We got about 600 drops of distilled ethanol, but we had to stop because we had to clean up. But while we were waiting, Professor Avila took another group's distilled ethanol. He lit it on fire and said that it would be pure if the flame didn't have any traces of yellow. Because of our time constraints, the flame had traces of yellow, but it was mostly blue. After lunch, we had a little discussion on distillation and how temperature and pressure affect it.

A Trip to Columbia University's Gym

2009-07-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Today after class I went to the Gym building with Jackie. The gym is right next to the Havemeyer building and goes underground. We enter the building on the 4th floor and there are 5 floors in total. From the entrance, the fourth floor leads to a oval indoor running track. This was really surprising because I've never seen an indoor track. Half the inside of the track was actually fenced off because there was no floor. It was more of a balcony and I could see the 3rd floor from the 4th floor. The other inside half of the track had a stairway that went through the buidling.

The track was really cool though, it was lined with carpet and there were three different colors. The inside lane was for walking, the middle lane was for jogging and the outside lane was for running. I didn't run on the track because I was carrying a backpack, but Jackie jogged around the track once while I walked. The track ran through a narrow hallway and on the outside of the track were rooms with weight-lifting equipment and workout equipment like treadmills and exercise bikes.

After going around the track once (twice for Jackie), we made our way downstairs in search for the swimming pool. We went to the first floor and started looking. However, unknown to me, the gym is secretly a maze and we couldn't find the swimming pool! We did find several sport lounge rooms and two dead ends. We would've kept looking except that it was 5:20 and almost time for us to meet up with Mrs. Lilhanand so we took the elevator back up. This was when we found out that we entered on the fourth floor because we originally took the elevator to the 2nd floor as there was a start next to the 2nd floor button on the elevator. But we couldn't find the exit when we reached the 2nd floor. While on the second floor though, we found a balcony that overlooked the swimming pool. As we looked for the exit, a kind passerby told us that the exit was on the fourth floor.

When we met up with Mrs. Lilhanand, she had cupcakes for Sofia's birthday! The cupcakes were from Crumbs and looked very extravagant.

Julie

Lab Time Baby!

2009-06-30T22:33:00.000-07:00

Today was our first time in the lab. It was incredible. This wasn't your average high school experiment, in fact, it was far from that. When we first arrived to the Havemayer Building, we were told to wait outside the laboratory. Finally Professor Avila arrived with a handful of laboratory lab coats and goggles for our protection during the experiment. After we were ready to enter the lab.

The laboratory was extraordinary. The lab was so clean, so organized, so equipped. These were labs I would never imagine myself being inside working. The labs at Pinole Valley cannot even compare to the facilities in Columbia. There, we conduced a lab determining the freezing point of acetic acid. At first, I was completely confused. I had no idea what we were doing. On top of that, I was paired with only one person, while everyone else was placed into groups of three or four, making the experiment a bit more difficult.

Eventually, my lab partner and I understood the lab and were successful enough to finish what was needed to be done. I really did learn a lot from all that we did today. Later during our discussion, I was able to answer questions our mentor asked us such as the definition of supercool, which is when the temperature of liquids are below the freezing point but soon become frozen, resulting in the temperature from rapidly rising.

During lunch, Professor Avila treated us to lunch, along with brining a couple of graduate students at Columbia University, each one having a specialty in a single subject. There were students in physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and theoretical chemistry. I, interested in the field of health science, went along with an organic chemistry student. The student was very informative in giving us the depth of his specific field. He told us that organic chemistry was based on making the various pills and drugs that help people overcome symptoms and diseases. Right now, the student along with his follow researchers, are working on finding a cure for cancer. After lunch, the student brought me to his laboratory, where he gave us a in-depth look on his occupation.

After lunch, we were graced with the presence of the famous Columbia Professor, Gerard Parkins. He went on into a deep seminar telling us where he found a flow in a the structure of a molecule. I believe the main point he wanted to get out of us was the fact that he didn't settle for the current molecule that the current scientists had. I believe he tried to show us that hard work, perseverance, and and a little faith go a long way -- going as far as to prove everyone wrong.

The Five Ls

2009-06-30T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today's day started a bit later and breakfast was not as crowded. Our class is one of the earliest classes, so we left the dining room at about 8:45 to make it to the lab at 9. We were early, and we got our own lab coats and protective eye wear. Then, we split into four groups among the four mentors. I am part of the Nitrogen group with Dr. Subir as my mentor.

Lab: First, half the class got a demonstration from the Michael the mentor. Then we switched with the other half of the class for a lab safety lecture from Aaron. After we split up into our groups which split into smaller groups. My lab partners are Zach, who is from New Jersey, and Vlad, who is from Romania. The mentors said that the point of the lab was just to learn how to use the program MicroLab, which measures temperature, time, and all sorts of measurements. Both of my partners were hard and efficient workers. The lab consisted of finding the freezing point of glacial acetic acid (it smelled like really strong vinegar)by putting a tube of it in another tube of water, and that tube was in a beaker of ice-water slurry. First we calibrated MicroLab's thermocouple using a thermometer and ice, room temperature, and warm water. The program crashed, but luckily it was right before our first trial. For trials one through three, we did not stir the acetic acid, and our first trial showed a really impressive supercooling curve. For trials four through six, we each took turns stirring the acetic acid. We finished about ten minutes early, so we did another trial to show a student who was late.

Lunch: Professor Avila arranged for the class to eat with some graduate students and ask them questions about chemistry. It was about two or three people for every graduate student, but I got lucky because I was the only one paired up with my graduate student. Teresa said she was entering her fourth year as a graduate student and she organic chemistry with a little bit of biology, which I was really interested in. She told me that she enjoyed attending a smaller university after high school because all the faculty in her department knew her and supported her, whereas she only sees her adviser once a month at Columbia. She told me that science was a good choice because the university gives you a stipend, so it's kind of like getting paid to go to school. Afterward, she told me about her latest research project. She said that she was working with cancer cells and a protein linked to many mental health conditions. She said that hopefully she would find out how to prevent that protein decreasing to prevent those diseases from occurring. When I went down to her lab, she gave a tour of her lab. She feeds the brain cancer cells with some nutrient broth (it looked a lot like Hawaiian Punch). Then, she showed some of her samples under the microscope. I really enjoyed talking to her, because biochemistry is something I am interested in as a possible major.

Lecture: After lunch, we met in our lab groups again and discussed the data and some questions. Then, Professor Gerard Parkin came in to give us lecture. Before that, Professor Avila, being the jokester he is, told us to take notes on a short biography of Professor Parkin, so we could bombard him with specifics about his life. It was pretty funny, but Professor Parkin did not seem fazed at all. His lecture was a bit difficult to grasp because I didn't know what he was talking about until the end. But then, he did a magic trick, so that fixed that.

Lousy Weather and Mrs. Lilhanand: After the lecture, we were allowed to leave class about five minutes early. We had been in the building the whole day, so I was really surprised to see these dark gray clouds and big gusts of wind. It wasn't unbearably hot anymore, and I knew that meant one thing -- a storm was a-brewin'. Now, I've been on the East Coast before, and I did check the weather this morning and it said that there would be thunderstorms. I'm not a big fan of thunderstorms, I'm actually pretty terrified of them. I was getting more scared by the minute while waiting for our daily meeting with Mrs. Lilhanand. All of did see and hear the lightning and thunder, but thankfully Jessica protected me. We went inside because it was starting to sprinkle, and then it poured. Julie finally got Mrs. Lilhanand to be a contributor to our blog! After, we ate dinner, and I went back to my room to write down the procedure for tomorrow's lab. I fell accidentally fell asleep for about two hours, and I just finished summarizing the procedure. I think it's best that I go to sleep now. Goodnight!

Presentation by Garard Parkin

2009-06-30T21:02:00.001-07:00

Hi!

Today for our first lab, we were supercooling acetic acid (95%). It was very exciting because we used this temperature gauge called a thermocouple that senses the temperature and sends it into a program called MicroLab. Microlab then reads the data and plots the points on a graph versus time. It sounds confusing, but it's actually really simple. The lab was especially invigorating because we cooled acetic acid to below freezing point and then watched the temperature shoot back up to freezing temperature (a liquid's temperature rises back up to the freezing temperature before it starts to solidify) on the graph that MicroLab plotted. I had used LoggerPro before for data collection, but it is nowhere near as sophisticated as MicroLab. The MicroLab interface has ports for everything: pH, temperature, pressure, light, etc. It was a brand new experience.

After our lab, Professor Avila had planned a luncheon where we would meet and talk to a graduate student. Every graduate student was working in a lab and had specialized in a certain type of chemistry. The graduate student that I had lunch with specialized in organic chemistry and even took us down to the lab where she worked! We were also able to go down to Columbia University's server room. I had never seen a server room before; it was just shelves and shelves of servers with wires everywhere. It was also very hot.

When we returned to the Lecture Hall, we had post-lab discussion about what we did in the lab earlier. Following that, there was a presentation from Professor Gerard Parkin. He's currently doing research at Columbia University and his presentation was about his discovery involving Bond Stretch Isomerism. Bond Stretch Isomerism is the idea that a compound can exist as the exact same structure except that the length between the bonds of the atoms/molecules differ. I actually found this to be immensely fascinating.

Even though I knew nothing about the topic when Professor Parkin started his presentation, I learned a lot when he finished. It felt like an adventure because Professor Parkin started with a very simple introduction about bond stretch isomerism and from there moved on to history and the concept behind it. However, Professor Parkin ultimately disproved the theory of bond stretch isomerism at the end of his presentation! He basically spent an hour teaching us something completely new and then told us it was wrong! I was astonished.

Although there's a lot of theory behind what Professor Parkin had just presented, I really enjoyed the fact that he was able to simplify a complex idea to allow us to understand it. I really learned a lot in only an hour!

Julie

Lab # 1

2009-06-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Hello

Saecond day of Chemistry class!!

Today's class was slightly different from yesterdays session. Yesterday was a day of introductions and class rules. Today's excitment was our fist lab. What made this lab seem professional was the lab coats and protective glasses given to us before starting the lab. Before getting started we had to cover basic safty and lab rules in case of an emergancy. The perpose of the lab was to indicate the freezing point of a Glacial Acentric Acid. In order to measure the freezing point of an organic conpound you need to slowly cool the liquid to a point where it will eventually cool below it's freezing temerature and then finally crystalize. This lab was the best lab I've ever done in my life and clearly its not going to be the last one.

In addition to having done our first lab today we also had the opportunity of having lunch with about eleven chemistry graduates. Most of these chemists if not all of them now work in the Columbia laboratories. Our professor wanted for us to engage a conversation with one of the many chemist who volunteered to spend their lunch with us. We were to ask plenty of question to sort of have an idea of how they became interested in chemistry and much more. Each chemist majored in a special field in chemistry such as an organic, physical, and biochemistry.

I had the opportunity to meet Dan who actuallt majored in Organic C hemistry. Dan now is working in the Chemistry building at Columbia University. Did i mention that he is currently working on recieving his Ph.D and getting paid. ( I wish I could get paid for going to school ) Some advantages of being an organic Chemist is that Dan has flexible working hours which means he can go on and off campus. He also has the liberty to choose what he wants to research. being an Organic chemist means that you have to work with alot of materials that are natural and can be found in our enviorment. Organic Chemistry sounds like a fun carrer to look into.

For the second half of today's session we had the honor to meet and be lectured by well known Gerard Parkin. Gerard Parkin assisted Queens College of Oxford University then in 1988 joined the faculty at Columbia University. Did I mention he is a MAGICIAN!!!!!!!

Well I guess thats it for today. NIGHT.

Out Exploring

2009-06-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday's class was pretty standard. It was full of introductions, and some teaser experiments for the days to come. At one point, I went to the bathroom, and when I came back everyone exclaimed that I missed the exploding gummy bear. That was slightly disappointing.

For dinner, my RAs brought our suite group (minus three girls) out to dinner at Katz's Deli downtown. It was there that I experienced my first true New York Deli food and rush. We stood in long lines, just to discover we had to go to a different line. We eyed the numerous, and famous, pastrami sandwiches make their way around the deli or out onto the street. We sat admist chattering people -- of numerous languages, by the way -- and surrounded by the wonderful smells of a deli.

Today was the second day of classes, and it was much better. In the morning, we conducted our first lab experiment. Its purpose was to determine the freezing point of acetic acid with and without stirring, and also to compare them. Of course, there were several errors -- enough for our mentors to cancel the lab report that was to be due tomorrow. Yay! But later on we segregated into our groups and discussed our results.

For lunch, our professor brought in several Columbian graduate students to speak with us about various areas in chemistry. I joined someone involved in both organic chemistry and biochemistry, and after we ate lunch, he brought me and another student to see the Chandler Labs, where we learned about many different tools and learned about the different projects he worked on. It's actually amazing, because he just recently created a compound that can be put into neurons and make them glow. Thus, they can follow the cells in the brain, and specifically determine the functions of the brain. He's got three patents on it already.

After lunch, the students congregated in the seminar room and split up into groups to discuss their experiments before the guest speaker came. Today, our speaker was Professor Ged Parkin, and he lectured about his discovery that the theory about bond-stretch isomers is actually false. That which people assume to be bond-stretch isomers are, in reality, a mixture of two compounds -- the power of both average into the same power of the original. It's difficult to explain because I don't have a solid grasp on the concept, but I can say that it really was fascinating. Plus, he had a sense of humor -- and some magic tricks! This lecture made me more interested in chemistry, actually.

Oh, and I'd like to note that walking around the immediate campus at night with the cool air and peaceful atmosphere is really calming. The campus is really pretty at night.

PS: Sponsors, thank you so much for giving us this opportunity. I am having such a wonderful time, learning new things, experiencing life as a college student, and creating close bonds with other people. I am sure I won't regret these coming weeks.

It Ends in Rain

2009-06-30T16:00:00.000-07:00

The sound of the alarm rang across my floor this morning. My schedule is still being adjusted here and there, but I am pretty sure it will find a balance. I went to breakfast with a couple of friends from my suite and then headed to class after we ate.

Today my agenda was slightly altered since the class needed to use a computer lab. For the first hour and half of the morning, I worked in a group of four to classify spider communities. Thankfully, they were not real araneaes! Our objective was to use the concept of biological diversity through the classification of life forms, in this case spiders. The groups were given packets and in it were pictures with "sites" of little spiders with different shapes, patterns, and sizes. Our task was to make a chart of each different species, use the Simpson's Diversity Index formula to find diversity range, and create a collective curve graph. The task seemed simple enough, however it was actually hard to use the morphological species concept (when organisms look alike then they must belong to the same species) to determine number of species. The different phenotypes (appearances) were not always clearly defined and thus there was a lot of mistakes. My group and I were able to get the job done after splitting up the work and we had to write about which site we would save based on our data. I headed to lunch soon after.

Since my agenda was altered, I only had about an hour of lunchtime. I wanted to see the mid-day activities, so I rushed over to Lerner Hall. I was able to take a small dance lesson taught by one of the RAs. I learned a bit of the "Thriller" dance, by Michael Jackson. It was very enjoyable since I have seen the video many times. Sadly, I could not learn all the steps for class would begin soon.

My class went into the computer lab and since there was only 3 rows of 4 computers, everyone worked with a partner. This time in the lab, our objective was to look at threats to biodiversity. Using The Wold Conservation Union list of species from the Red List of Threatened Species (www.redlist.org) my partner and I searched Turkey and looked up from 12 types of threats to see which one was the greatest. We found that the highest percentage was 74% from "Natural System Modifications". Everyone was required to look up the threats globally too and the highest percentage was 64% from "Biological Resource Use". Other groups did different countries and I will see the comparisons later on.

My afternoon class began at the normal time and we had a lecture based on "threats to biodiversity". One of the interesting estimates that I learned was that approximately 50-150 species are going extinct per day! It is assumed that some have not been identified by scientists. HIPPO G.= Habitat destruction, Invasive species, pollution, poaching,overpopulation, and global climate change. This was one of the ways I was taught to remember types of threats to biodiversity. The lecture went on to go more in depth with each of the topics. I found out that the class will have a final presentation with partners during the last day of school where I shall be the teacher! It will be an interesting day. I left with more homework in hand too.

I met up with the rest of the ILC group and talked to Ms. Lilhanand about the day, which I personally enjoyed more than yesterday's 2 straight lectures. Rain, lightning, and thunder greeted us, but it did not stop me from getting to my dinner! The weather still felt pretty warm too, until it picked up. Later on tonight I shall be taking my suite picture and working on the homework before it grows!