SCHOOL - SOPHOMORE YEAR
BIO 200 / 220
Oh, the Intro Bio series. These classes, I knew, would be my ticket into the Neuroscience program if I could prove to do well in them. I wanted this so badly, more than anything, but they weren't going to go down without a fight. BIO 200 was an incredibly rough class for me, and a constant source of stress and despair. I didn't know how to study for it, I was overwhelmed by the material and the unforgiving class curve, and I spent countless hours preparing for exams only to score below average. I was able to get my grade up towards the end of the quarter, only to have a panic attack during the final and leave a third of the questions blank. My final grade in the class wasn't that bad, yet it felt like the end of the world at the time because I thought I'd lost my chances of getting into Neuroscience. The following quarter, I poured every ounce of effort and energy I had into BIO 220. I made detailed study sheets every day after class and spent hours each day solidifying the new concepts and doing practice problems. I went to office hours, formed a study group and started preparing for exams much earlier than I ever had before. I made flow diagrams of everything to the point of being excessive and repeated the mechanisms to myself until I'd memorized every step. I spent more time in Odegaard library than I care to admit, but suffice it to say that the third floor silent stacks still make me shudder to look at years later. |
A few examples of the study note sheets I made every day for BIO 220. This class helped me realize what study methods were effective for me, and these detailed review sheets were incredibly helpful even if they were pretty time-consuming. This class had its ups and downs, but I really enjoyed the content overall and it taught me how to better prepare for tough exams which came in handy for my neuroscience classes.
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I worked harder for this class than just about any other class I've taken, and in the end it finally paid off. At the end of the quarter, my professor told me that I'd gotten one of the highest scores in the entire class, and I was so incredibly proud. However, when I look back on it now I realize how much I sacrificed to achieve that, including my health. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to slow down, be kinder to myself, and not miss out on so many other experiences just for a grade. I learned how hard I could push myself if I tried, but since then I've learned that there are so many other things that are much more important.
From my midterm paper, "Germany" above
From first paper, "Tolmie Peak" -- sunset view from near Tolmie Peak, Mount Rainier.
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Pilgrimages and Idle TravelsI consider this class to be one of the most important and valuable classes of my entire undergraduate education. When I first entered this class, I was pretty apprehensive about my ability to put my ideas on paper and write something worth reading. It had been a very long time since I had written anything creative, the closest being my college application essays. When I was a kid, I used to fill notebook after notebook with stories, convinced I wanted to be a writer like my mom. Then high school rolled around, and my life took a path that led me to cut out most of the creative outlets I had at the time; I stopped playing piano after almost eight years, I rarely picked up a book, and I stopped writing entirely. I got good grades in my AP Literature class and on my World History essays, so I still considered myself to be a good writer. It wasn’t until I sat down to write my first paper for Pilgrimages and Idle Travels that I realized how far I had drifted from creative writing.
My head was completely clouded with ideas of what makes “good” academic writing; rigid structure, easy to follow at all costs, and a “research-paper” tone. I had an idea of the place I wanted to write about for the first paper, but the process of getting it down on paper was laborious and slow. The story was very linear, and I refused to deviate from the original idea, which was much too long to fit into three pages but I tried to make it fit anyway. The result (see "Tolmie Peak" below) was a piece that felt rushed and aimless, and more surface-level than it should have been. I think I was initially afraid of going beyond surface-level into something more meaningful, because I didn’t think that I could pull it off. I struggled a lot with writing about myself and my own life, and I don’t think I was ready to take on that challenge or share it with others. Reading Michael Ondaatje’s memoir, "Running in the Family" in class was incredibly helpful for me in a number of ways. First, it was mostly about his family, and I found it very reassuring that a memoir/travel piece didn’t have to be all about my personal life. Writing about my family helped me relax and have more fun writing, and starting with my second paper I began to really enjoy myself. His non-linear, “collection of stories” writing style was also eye-opening, and helped bring me out of the rigid, linear-writing funk I was in. I think one of the biggest ways my writing developed in this class is that I’m not afraid of getting “stuck” anymore. When I was writing my midterm piece, whenever I got stuck on something I just switched tracks and wrote about something else, and allowed myself to let go of things that weren’t working. This really brought the fun back into writing for me, and it was so effective in moving my writing along. My writing became more creative, I started taking more risks, and the ideas and words started flowing until I reached a point where this class was consuming more of my time than any other. My midterm piece (see "Germany") centers around the German town where my mom grew up during the Cold War, and where my grandparents still live today. I've grown up visiting this town every summer, and it has a special place in my heart. I have nothing but good memories there, but for this piece I was interested exploring my mom's experience growing up there and contrasting it with my experiences. I had some very meaningful conversations with my mom in the process of writing this piece, and I learned a lot about her youth in the Stasi era. This piece not only reignited my love for creative writing, it brought me closer to my family as well. This class pushed me to make more time for creative outlets in my life, and it's a lesson I've held onto ever since. |
Community & Music
This class took me completely by surprise, and quickly became one of my favorites. It wasn't my first choice during registration that quarter, and I remember feeling doubtful that I would get much out of it. I could not possibly have been more wrong! Profesora Berrios-Miranda-- or Marisol, as most of us called her-- is an absolute ray of sunshine and her enthusiasm spread to all of us from the very first day to the last. The gloomy, rain-filled Seattle mornings never stood a chance against her energy and joy! I quickly realized that there were entire worlds of music that I knew almost nothing about even as a self-professed music lover, and I was captivated by the music and history Marisol introduced us to. As we learned about the history of Latin music, we regularly took time in class to learn how to salsa dance or play basic rhythms on percussion instruments. Throughout the quarter, we each had to engage in at least five latin music community events in Seattle, and this was by far the most challenging but rewarding part of the course. I attended a bomba dance class, a fandango guitar workshop, and multiple capoeira classes. It was pretty nerve-wracking to visit an unfamiliar place full of strangers and then jump right into music-making or dancing with no experience, but every single person I met was incredibly welcoming and supportive, and they made me feel at home in their communities. I always felt a bit nervous beforehand, but left with a huge smile on my face and a sense of pride at doing something so far out of my comfort zone. This class opened my eyes and ears to the world of Latin music and showed me an entirely new perspective on community. It was an all-around unforgettable experience, and it has continued to influence my understanding of music and culture ever since.
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For my final paper I wrote a report on my experience in the capoeira classes I attended. I knew absolutely nothing about capoeira before this course, so it was a very eye-opening experience all around.
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