December 1, 2010

• Reflections: end of semester

  [Class edition]

  It's almost exam time again! 

  -Stress level sky-rocketing-
  {good luck ♥ to everyone else with exams too!}

  I can't wait for Winter Break to come; honestly, this semester has probably been my most exhausting semester yet.  Sadly, I was hoping to plan my next semester to be very light, but some how more and more classes piled up and now I'm probably having my heaviest semester yet, as far as credits are concerned.  I'm just really excited to finish up this semester though.  Which means I should probably be studying soon.

  I've been taking biochemistry this semester, the class I've been dreading for so long, but turns out, the class is absolutely fascinating, though definitely challenging.  One thing I appreciate about it is how it substantiates our reasons for learning some things.  (For example, I always hated glycolysis for all its intricate steps and details I felt were fairly unnecessary, but I neglected to realize things like how it can be useful in cancer detection because of the higher rates of glycolysis/glucose consumption prior to angiogenesis in cancer cells due to the lack of oxygen/lower efficiency...[I'm probably oversimplifying it :] but now I don't feel like learning glycolysis is a waste of time!  Though it is still kind of grueling...).

  I'm also taking a biophysics-y class, which is interesting but not as exciting as I was expecting...it probably would have been a nice class to take prior to my MCAT since it pretty much has been reviewing all those physics concepts; but I think my main issue with it is how simplified our models end up being.  So it seems like physics under the disguise of life-applications (like walking or falling), and not actually biophysics.  Maybe I'm being nit-picky.  But I guess it is hard not to oversimplify things...otherwise we might need computers to calculate everything for us.  o____o. 
  An interesting thing that one of our models suggested was that bugs/fairly small organisms can fall from any height and survive the fall!!  I might elaborate on this later.  =)

  One of my for-fun classes this semester has been Greek mythology...which has been quite interesting, albeit much more sexual than I was expecting.

  {Quote from my professor regarding Odysseus & Circe: "He threatened her with his sword...and then threatened her with his other sword"...--> awkward laughter in class.  I'm not used to having older women talk about raunchy things, which are rampant in mythology, or perhaps I'm too conservative/awkward in mindset?  }

  Definitely am enjoying it though.  In class we started watching The Road Warrior, today...it is so strange.  Somehow we're supposed to relate it to a specific myth.  Its weirdness is hard to look past though. O_O (!)

   

  As a side note, I'm going to be in Europe this winter! I'm going to start off in Madrid with my sister (3 days) and then later Lyon (3 days also).  The other days we will be with the rest of our family in Switzerland briefly and then Italy.  I'm pretty excited about that.  (Any recommendations??)

  I'm hoping to be there also during the summer...I'm trying to figure out what to do for the study abroad program.  I'm leaning towards Greece or Italy, though I'll be in Italy this winter, and I have already been to Greece.  But those places are so rich that I honestly think it would be great to stay there longer.

  • 12:51 am
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