I finally have internet in my apartment (albeit, I'm at a friend's apartment blogging this)! I have been plugged into the wider world again, yay!! How I have missed everyone. This week has been FULL of ups and downs, but I'll share the ups first.
The roommate
So my roommate did, in fact, pull through. I haven't interacted with him much, as he wakes up and leaves early and returns late at night. So he's been an almost non-existent presence in the apartment. Which isn't so bad because I've also been a rather non-existent presence in the apartment as well.
School of Public Health
I had my orientation on Wednesday and Thursday. I met a lot of new people from all over the place and several people I haven't seen in a long time. Commuting to class isn't so bad, as I'm about 10 minutes away from a bus and the bus ride is about 20-25 minutes. Could be worse . . . there's apparently one person who's currently commuting from the other side of the state (ouch).
I'm looking forward to some of my classes. I've decided to apply for a sub-program of sorts for public health genetics, as I'm interested in genetics and have a fair amount of background and experience. There are wonderful internships and volunteer programs to help people. For example, there is a group going to China over Spring Break to work with their CDC on things such as SARS, influenza, and measles. How sweet is that?! Too bad my program is very lab-oriented, so I can't get some of the more "interesting" internships doing other things. Oh well.
At least at orientation we got TONS of free food. Lunch and dinner the first day was from Qdoba. There was so much leftover food after dinner, that they told us to take entire trays of stuff home, haha. Oh! And all the SPH students got a free 1Gb USB drive. Neat!! Apparently, about 69% of public health students are women. Usually it's about 75% women, this year just has more men than in the last decade or so. Who says women aren't dominating in some fields? Pfft.
My Cohort
I really like the people I've met so far. On Thursday night, several of us went to a local bar for a drink. It was great interacting with them, talking with them, and drinking some beer. Funnily, all the "real Chinese" people (people from China) are in the Biostatistics department. I feel so unloved in my tiny 11-12 person Hospital & Molecular Epidemiology program. Oh well, those people are great too. XD
Anyway, while we were at the bar, we talked about all sorts of things. Being the nerds that we are, we started talking about public health and the classes we were taking, to see who we shared classes with. Then we talked about sports for a while. Then we talked about Obama and how Michelle Obama will be the trend-setter for women all over the US. Because the past few first ladies dressed in suits and were old, but Michelle isn't and doesn't dress in suits. We then talked about sports, as my university is a football Big Ten school. And I thought, "Hey, I could see myself hanging out with these people on the weekend, drinking in a bar and such."
Now, I also have the strange situation of only being in public health for 1 year before going to medical school at MCW. When I told some of them this, they were all really supportive and genuinely happy. I didn't get any of the "Oh, you're one of those epidemiology students," that some people say with distaste about epidemiology students that are only doing it to get into medical school later. But it's great to get to know them, and it's also amazing to know that some of them will be public health officials one day and able to enact change in our system. And it's good to know I may one day have such contacts all over the US, and indeed, likely all over the world.
The roommate
So my roommate did, in fact, pull through. I haven't interacted with him much, as he wakes up and leaves early and returns late at night. So he's been an almost non-existent presence in the apartment. Which isn't so bad because I've also been a rather non-existent presence in the apartment as well.
School of Public Health
I had my orientation on Wednesday and Thursday. I met a lot of new people from all over the place and several people I haven't seen in a long time. Commuting to class isn't so bad, as I'm about 10 minutes away from a bus and the bus ride is about 20-25 minutes. Could be worse . . . there's apparently one person who's currently commuting from the other side of the state (ouch).
I'm looking forward to some of my classes. I've decided to apply for a sub-program of sorts for public health genetics, as I'm interested in genetics and have a fair amount of background and experience. There are wonderful internships and volunteer programs to help people. For example, there is a group going to China over Spring Break to work with their CDC on things such as SARS, influenza, and measles. How sweet is that?! Too bad my program is very lab-oriented, so I can't get some of the more "interesting" internships doing other things. Oh well.
At least at orientation we got TONS of free food. Lunch and dinner the first day was from Qdoba. There was so much leftover food after dinner, that they told us to take entire trays of stuff home, haha. Oh! And all the SPH students got a free 1Gb USB drive. Neat!! Apparently, about 69% of public health students are women. Usually it's about 75% women, this year just has more men than in the last decade or so. Who says women aren't dominating in some fields? Pfft.
My Cohort
I really like the people I've met so far. On Thursday night, several of us went to a local bar for a drink. It was great interacting with them, talking with them, and drinking some beer. Funnily, all the "real Chinese" people (people from China) are in the Biostatistics department. I feel so unloved in my tiny 11-12 person Hospital & Molecular Epidemiology program. Oh well, those people are great too. XD
Anyway, while we were at the bar, we talked about all sorts of things. Being the nerds that we are, we started talking about public health and the classes we were taking, to see who we shared classes with. Then we talked about sports for a while. Then we talked about Obama and how Michelle Obama will be the trend-setter for women all over the US. Because the past few first ladies dressed in suits and were old, but Michelle isn't and doesn't dress in suits. We then talked about sports, as my university is a football Big Ten school. And I thought, "Hey, I could see myself hanging out with these people on the weekend, drinking in a bar and such."
Now, I also have the strange situation of only being in public health for 1 year before going to medical school at MCW. When I told some of them this, they were all really supportive and genuinely happy. I didn't get any of the "Oh, you're one of those epidemiology students," that some people say with distaste about epidemiology students that are only doing it to get into medical school later. But it's great to get to know them, and it's also amazing to know that some of them will be public health officials one day and able to enact change in our system. And it's good to know I may one day have such contacts all over the US, and indeed, likely all over the world.
3 comments:
Sounds like you had a fun week ! Good on ya
lol, not so fast. Not until you hear about "the bad." Coming soon, I promise, now that I have internet. XD
...having done lots of renting in my time, u r very unlikely to get people fired over this.
I'd focus on solutions not vengeance. Be practical. It may be at a point that yer place is still a pit because u made such a scene. If the cleaners are behind it's not too difficult to put your name last on the list.
rots o ruck
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