Today we got scheduling materials for next semester. This is always an exciting time of year, because you can almost see winter break and usually, no matter how much you like your classes, you are ready for a change. For some people, it is time to start thinking about what they want/need to take next semester. For others, like myself, it is time to try and find something to fit into a schedule where you already know most of your classes. The sciences are really good about putting up the schedule somewhere in the science building for people to see soon after they submit class lists to the registrars office, so I knew three out of the four classes I would be taking next semester about two months ago. but it is nice to think about what next semester may bring.

I spent this morning printing out a huge poster for the Undergraduate Research Symposium in Biological Sciences this weekend. There are six of us going. Basically, we get to hang out in a hotel for a weekend with other undergraduates who did research over the summer and present our work. I am a little nervous, as with all public speaking things, but also kind of excited. though I think it will be a great experience, I can't pretend I am not sad about missing the Halloween things going on this weekend. Tomorrow evening they have a live action Rocky Horror show put on by students, and many other fun party things planned. It is also Get Out The Vote weekend.

Hope you all have a great weekend/ Halloween

This weekend was very fun, despite the massive amounts of homework I had to do.

Saturday I took the whole day off went to Madison with the Department of Student Activities to see Avenue Q. The college bought 50 tickets at a discounted price,. For the coast of the discounted ticket, we got a Ticket to Avenue Q and a ride to Madison on the bus they hired, what a deal! It was also nice because we got to Madison around 11:30 and the show did not start until 2, which meant we had a few hours to hang out. I went with one of my friends to have breakfast at Sun Print Cafe off the square, and then became a real madisonian again and sat in Michelangelo's (a cafe on State street) and read The Isthmus and did the crossword. what a great day!

Avenue Q was also great! I saw so many people that I knew there (aside from the 49 other Beloiters). The show was HILARIOUS, as expected. In the beginning, it was weird to see the people with the puppets, but as the show progressed you kind of forgot about the people and focused on the puppets.

This week and next week are going to be crazy. Between school and homework and the election, it is going to a few weeks of little sleep. Luckily, I already voted, so I don't have to worry about actually going to the polls among the slew of other activities I have going on.

Have a great week everyone!

Phew, feels like I haven't blogged in ages!

Fall break was wonderful! I got to go home and chill out, though I wasn't doing much relaxing. I worked for the Obama campaign in Madison every day; I entered so much data I thought my eyeballs were going to fall out and made so many phone calls I thought my ears were going to fall off.

In addition to that, I hung out with friends, watched a lot of movies/TV, and drunk lots of tea. One night, my friends and I watched "Edward Scissorhands" and "Sweeney Todd"...I never realized how alike those movies are. I also avoiding doing any kind of homework. In retrospect, this was probably not the best idea, but I am all caught up now.

Tuesday, the people running for congress had a debate at the college...again. They also had one when I was a freshman here. I was kind of sad to miss it, but I had to do the aforementioned homework. One of the candidates used to be a professor at Beloit! I am not going to vote for him, but it is cool.

Have a wonderful weekend!

It has been a pretty hectic week. I missed two days of school for Rosh Hashana and was working like crazy to make it up. The professors are always very understanding about religious holidays that interfere with school, but I still wanted to be on top of things when I got back.

Yesterday was one of my favorite annual events at Beloit. Many of the staff brought their pets to the wall (a meeting place on residential side of campus) and we got to have some fuzz therapy. Nothing quite like taking a break from genetics work to hang out with a group of happy dogs. Last year there was a cat, but it did not make an appearance this year.

Can't wait for fall break! Only one more week and I will be in Madison wolfing down homemade food and volunteering like crazy for the presidential election! I will hopefully have some time to veg out on the couch watching Lord of the Rings (I watch the entire series in its extended edition format almost every break) and cuddling with my cats.

Don't forget to watch the second presidential debate on Tuesday!

This weekend was really busy. Most of it was spent in the French House training to be a sexual assault recovery advocate. Basically, this means that I spend at least three 12 hour shifts a month on call for SARP (Sexual Assault Recovery Program). Whenever someone is admitted to the hospital for assault, we get called. we have to be there with in 30 minutes and help the person make decisions such as whether they want to report the assault to the police, if they want just a pelvic exam or to complete the entire rape kit, etc. There are programs all over the US like this one, but we will only be working in Rock County, which means we will only be called to go to the hospital in Beloit or the hospital in Janesville. It was a hard 16 hours of training, but I think will be a very rewarding experience.

Besides training for SARP, I had a wonderful weekend. It started with a presidential debate watching party Friday night in the Java Joint. Because it is a major election and this weekend was homecoming, we had over 150 people (current students and alumni) packed into the java joint! All of the political groups on campus were there too. The dems and republicans were signing people up to volunteer, and the non-partisan Beloit College Voter Registration project (of which I am a member) was registering voters. All and all it was a great success, and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

If you can vote in the US, or are otherwise interested in US politics, don't forget to watch the vice presidential debate this Thursday! Be an informed voter!

We had a very interesting speaker this week for the "Moral Values Lectures" series. The series basically brings in a lot of off campus speakers on a lot of issues. This week Susan Wood, former FDA insider,who resigned over the delay of a ruling that would make "morning after" pills accessible to the public. Though I could not go to her actual lecture (I had to characterize fruit flies for genetics on that particular night), I did go to a more informal forum with only 7 or so other students. We had a great discussion on the subject of Women's health and other science related decisions that have been based on politics and not science.

In other news, what do you all think about McCain's plans to suspend his campaign until a decision about the financial crisis is reached? This has been/ is going to be a very interesting election cycle.

So it occurs to me that I have not talked about any of the classes I am taking this semester. I suppose this should be done...

Beloit's credit system is a little unusual. Basically, each class is worth one credit no mater the time requirement. There are a few exceptions; your FYI (freshman seminar class) is worth 1.5 credits and things like music lessons, some dance classes, and a few other classes are worth a little less (like 0.25 or 0.5 credits). A normal course load for a Beloiter is 4 credits (4 classes). This semester I am only taking 3.5 credits because one of my classes is really time consuming. so here is my class list:

Genetics (biology): This is supposed to be the "hardest" class in the biology department. I have found it pretty time consuming, stressful, and frustrating, but I think that its reputation is a little harsh. For me, the learning style is a lot more like my alternative high school, but a little more intense. The professor wants you to learn how to learn on your own, and therefore will not answer questions without making you think. Every time you ask him a question, he asks you five. There is a ton of group work, which is sometimes frustrating just because coordinating three people is harder than just looking after yourself.

Memory and Cognition (Psychology): I am actually really enjoying the content of this class, but find it to be a lot more reading than I expected. It is mostly a lecture style class, which is not necessarily the style I would choose to learn in. It is kind of funny, because one would assume the science classes are more lecture while social science would be more discussion based and group work, but in my experience this has not been the case. We have to do a major paper about a subject we choose and how it pertains to cognitive psychology, and I have already found some really interesting sources.

Creative Writing (English): This is my "take it easy" class. I took it the same semester as genetics because I knew it would force me to relax and sit down and write a bit each day. We are actually doing less writing than I would like, but It has started to pick up in the last week or so. It is such a relaxing class! Fran (the professor) is really laid back, and we have a lot of small group discussions where we go outside for.

Chemistry seminar (Chemistry): this class only meets on Fridays for one hour. we usually have pizza or some other snack/lunch food and discuss "Science" magazine. We have also been having a lot of Beloit Alumni who majored in chemistry or biochemistry come and talk to us about what they do now. It is really comforting to have some one come in and tell you that what they are doing has nothing to do with their major but they would never have fallen into it had it not been for Beloit, or that it has everything to do with their major and they are still loving it.

So those are my classes, they keep me really busy. But then again....that is what I am here for :)