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Allie's blog Allie Sibole '14 is a sophomore blogger from Eugene, OR, who is majoring in Bioengineering. She runs track and cross country for SCU and hopes to someday invent medical devices.
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Monday, May. 21, 2012
As I’ve mentioned countless times, I wholeheartedly believe that I live in the best residence hall on campus. Not only does Casa Italiana have kitchens, air conditioning, all-expense paid trips to San Francisco, and hilarious, quirky residents, but now, because of our total domination over the other RLCs, we also have community bikes.
Every winter quarter, an epic challenge takes place among the residence halls to see which dorm can conserve the most energy. To make this fair, each dorm’s energy usage is compared to historic data for that residence hall. The school makes a big deal out of the Energy Challenge by heavily promoting it in the RLCs and posting the standings in the newspaper each week. Right from the beginning, Casa took the lead and held onto it for ten weeks to emerge victorious. I’m proud to say that my suite contributed by turning off lights, unplugging appliances, and refusing to run our dishwasher until it reached maximum capacity. This final energy-saving strategy may have resulted from our collective laziness and unwillingness to clean, but I prefer to call it “living sustainably.”
Our grand prize for being so awesome arrived a week ago. All Casa residents can now rent one of five refurbished bikes, complete with U-locks and helmets, for whatever reason they desire. I tested out the system with two of my friends a few days ago. I was prepared to have to give a detailed reason for my bike rental and sign my life away, but all I had to do was provide ID and sign a waiver.
We proceeded to navigate the streets of San Jose until we found the start of the Los Gatos Creek Trail less than four miles from campus. The wide trail was extremely biker-friendly and surprisingly pretty for being in the middle of the city. As we biked over bridges and passed flowers, trees, and streams, we couldn’t stop saying, “How did we not know this was here?” Our biking adventure only left us wanting more, but thanks to the community bikes, I know I’ll have more chances to explore before the end of the year.
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Monday, May. 14, 2012
On Thursday, I had the opportunity to watch three inventors unveil their plans for an innovative medical device. They designed their pulmonary embolectomy catheter to break up damaging blood clots that affect over 600,000 people per year. It goes above and beyond existing techniques to offer a safe, comprehensive, and minimally invasive way to treat pulmonary embolisms. The best part? The inventors are only two years older than I am.
Their presentation was just one of the highlights of the 42nd Annual Senior Design Conference. All seniors in the Santa Clara School of Engineering work on a yearlong project in their field of study before presenting their results to judges who have extensive engineering experience in that field. Underclassmen are allowed and encouraged to sit in on the presentations, so for the second year in a row, I had to make a tough choice about which sessions to watch.
First up, I listened to one of my teammates present a plan to implement a gas station, minimart, and car wash in a land parcel right off of Highway 101. There had been numerous requests to put a gas station in that spot, but until now, nobody had taken the time to research the feasibility of such a plan. What I love about the design projects is that they address problems that really matter. The presentations also include discussions of non-technical issues, which in this case included things like zoning permits and economic viability. Their presentation made me realize how much careful planning goes into every single building I take for granted.
For the next session, I watched two bioengineers present their interactive model of particle flow through brain tissue. They collaborated with the computer engineering department to design a MATLAB simulation to help neurosurgeons “see” how injected drugs travel through the brain. Something that struck me about their presentation was how open they were about the difficulties they had faced and the goals they had failed to meet. One thing I learned in my statics class last quarter was that real engineers are constantly revising and improving designs, and that in the end, perseverance matters just as much as creativity.
Later in the engineering quad, some of the groups showcased their inventions, like a solar-powered incubator and an elaborate steel bridge. That was followed by a dinner and post-conference celebration for the seniors, who definitely deserved free food after months of hard work. If the micropumps, water purification systems, robotic kayaks, and nanosatellites they’ve already invented are any indication of future greatness, I’m confident that the engineering class of 2012 will have an impact that extends far beyond the SCU campus.
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Monday, May. 7, 2012
How to Cook Like a College Kid
It’s amazing how many people blog about food. Lately, there has been an explosion in the number of people who post absolutely stunning pictures of their baked goods and entrees online, along with directions that should lead their readers to the same results.
I’ve decided that most of these blogs must be photoshopped lies. No matter how hard I try, my food never looks as good as it does in the pictures, and the directions are never as easy to follow as the authors claim.
What follows is my own realistic cooking blog, designed for people who don’t know the difference between fondant and fondue and whose kitchen gadgets consist of a burned cookie sheet and a fork. That’s right; this is cooking for college kids. Bon appétit!
So you want to be a collegiate cooking pro? Let’s start with the essentials. All college kids need to become acquainted with the two most important appliances in their kitchen: the microwave and the smoke detector.
The microwave is a deceptively complex machine. It’s not simply a matter of punching the buttons; it’s about understanding the subtle nuances and quirks that cause half your quesadilla to vaporize while leaving the rest unmelted. Understanding your microwave means knowing which plates are microwave-safe and which plates will overheat/melt/emit carcinogenic fumes. Lastly, it is vitally important to know how to microwave popcorn without burning down your building. Nearly every week, the Campus Safety report in the newspaper mentions another incident of burnt popcorn causing a dorm evacuation. Don’t be that kid.
That brings up the second important appliance, the smoke detector. Stop denying it; you will set it off much more often than you would expect. I suggest having a detailed plan to prevent yours from going off and deactivating it quickly when it does. My suite’s plan involves cracking a window, opening the door, turning on two fans, and keeping a chair directly underneath the alarm so we can reach the button to turn it off. Of course, that’s only the most basic plan, reserved for when we’re boiling water or making toast.
Once you know how to use a microwave and how not to set off the smoke alarm, it’s time to build your cooking repertoire. By the time you graduate, you should know how to make at least one food for each meal that doesn’t already come in a convenient microwaveable package. It’s best to work your way up slowly and simply. I eventually arrived at the amazing pasta casserole in the picture below by starting with EasyMac, then progressing through boxed mac and cheese, spaghetti, and egg noodles.
It’s also a good idea to cook with someone who knows what they’re doing. My friend Maya collaborated with me to make the pasta casserole, and she was full of helpful advice, like suggesting we pre-cook the onions and use a hot water maker to help the pasta water boil faster. It’s always nice to have a cooking buddy around for company and to make sure that you don’t eat an entire batch of cookie dough on your own.
Finally, use common sense. Milk that expired yesterday is probably fine, but the onions that you chopped a month ago are probably not. Don’t set plastic bowls on top of warm burners unless you really want your kitchen to smell like burning rubber for a week. If the package says to cook the brownies for 22 minutes but there is already smoke pouring out of the oven with three minutes to go, please take them out early.
Cooking is always an adventure in my suite, and although it’s a little less convenient than Benson food, the satisfaction of making something from scratch- even if it’s just pasta- is always worth it.
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Monday, Apr. 30, 2012
College students are forced to confront many important questions during their time in school, such as “What do I want to do with my life,” “What kind of person am I becoming," and “Is this color blue, green, or blue-green?”
The final question may not seem quite as significant, but for those of us in General Chemistry III, it feels like our lives depend on it. Future bioengineers, chemists, biologists, and environmental scientists have ten weeks to analyze five unknown chemical compounds and report the results with infuriating accuracy if they hope to move on to Organic Chemistry.
Every Tuesday, I arrive at the Daly Science building at 1:00 pm and prepare to don my super-attractive lab coat and goggles. I try to think inspiring and motivating thoughts, because I know that breakable glassware, toxic chemicals, and dangerous burners await. (After an unfortunate incident in high school involving a burner and a poorly placed paper towel, I don’t trust myself around open flames any more.) Luckily, my lab instructor also awaits, and she is by far the highlight of chem lab. She has this fantastic French accent and manages to remain genuinely cheerful despite the fact that she has to spend four hours a day watching students suffer as they complete titration after titration.
The stated goal of the lab is to teach us proper lab technique so that we can complete experiments with accuracy and precision. The unspoken goal of the lab is to test how frustrated we can become before we toss our super-attractive lab coats to the ground in utter despair. We spent the first few weeks of the lab adding acid to a flask with our unknown compound until the color in the flask changed from blue to blue-green. This seems simple enough, but after four hours of repeating this process over and over again, the psychological torment caused by trying to distinguish the two colors was too much to bear. Of course, the minute I started to join my classmates in complaining, the kid across the table raised his hand sheepishly and said, “Professor, I’m color blind.”
Moments like that remind me that it could be much, much worse. Another student completed the correct analysis, but for the wrong compound. One girl spent twenty minutes cleaning up before realizing she had an hour left in lab and had to set everything up again. Another boy managed to turn all of his flasks yellow instead of blue-green. The work is definitely tedious, but I know that at the end of the quarter, I’ll be extremely well-prepared to take on lab work. Just don’t ask me to work with any blue-green solutions.
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Monday, Apr. 23, 2012
There are some movies where you only need to watch the trailer to understand the film. Take Twilight, for example. Just from the previews, any reasonably astute observer can guess that that the mumbling girl will fall in love with the pale, sparkly guy and that they will face obstacles because he happens to be a vampire, but they will eventually mumble their way to happily ever after.
Last weekend featured Santa Clara’s own previews, cleverly titled Preview Days. The purpose is for admitted students to come and get a series of short glimpses of what life is like at SCU. Students and their parents tour the campus and the RLCs. They attend information sessions about different majors and programs like pre-law and study abroad. They also walk around the Malley Center, where dozens of clubs set up tables to start recruiting next year’s freshmen.
I helped out with the club tabling and once again felt old as it hit me that it had been a full two years since I was in the same stressful situation as the admitted students who walked by. I was impressed with what I saw of the program, but at the same time, I kept thinking that this was only a narrow preview of SCU life. Sure, going to school here does mean signing up for clubs and walking around campus in the sunshine, but honestly, those aren’t the main reasons why I love SCU. The connections I have with people on campus, including my classmates, suitemates, and professors, are what make going to school here so great.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to capture that in one jam-packed weekend, so Santa Clara does an admirable job showing off everything else. One other highlight of Preview Days was Global Village. Different on-campus organizations joined together in one street fair to sell food and crafts and provide entertainment inspired by different cultures. One of my friends offered to surprise me with face paint, and she did such a fantastic job that I left it on the rest of the day (see picture). It’s little things like that that make my SCU experience fun- and unlike Twilight, even better than the previews.
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Thursday, Apr. 19, 2012
College kids will find a way to complain about anything. Consider the issue of the dining hall, for example. We complain about eating Benson food. We complain when Benson is closed. We complain when we have to eat waffles for dinner because there were no other appetizing options, when really, we secretly wanted waffles all along.
My latest reason to complain is that my track coach switched our weekday practice time from 3:30 pm to 7:00 am. During this transition, my teammates and I have had to adjust to less sleep, weird eating schedules, and an unprecedented amount of free time in the afternoons that we don’t quite know how to handle. Still, when I get out of complaining mode, there actually have been some benefits to early morning practice.
First, it gets my day started off right. I have to remind myself of this whenever I want to throw my alarm clock out the window, but it really is true. I feel so much better after I run, especially after I tackle a hard workout. There’s something about running up a mountain while most of my friends are sleeping that makes me feel like I live a secret agent double life, or something like that. The picture this week is from a morning run in the rain that turned into a full rainbow as soon as we finished.
Early practice has also made me appreciate how awesome my friends are. One of the challenges this quarter has been getting to my class directly following practice. Most days, I don’t have time to shower, but for some reason, my friends still choose to sit by me and even kindly tell me that I don’t smell all that bad. They respect my early bedtime, even though it tends to correspond with the time that they start their homework. They also offer an almost excessive level of sympathy that makes me feel like I’ve gone through a major life tragedy (“Are you okay? Let me know if you need anything!”).
Honestly, it could be much worse. I could be on the crew team, and have to wake up for 5:30 am practice. I could live anywhere but here, and have to run in torrential downpours or hurricane-force winds instead of warm weather and beautiful sunrises. I could be getting up for an early morning chemistry lab, which would really make me want to throw my alarm clock out the window, along with my lab coat and goggles. Instead, I get to start off each day with some of my best friends, doing what I love. Don’t tell my coach, but maybe that’s not so bad after all.
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Monday, Apr. 9, 2012
My weekend started off with something I’d never done before and ended with something I’ve done every year for as long as I can remember.
My brand-new experience was actually quite monumental: I survived my first time driving in California. My skeptical friends have told me this is not a big deal, because driving is driving no matter where you do it. However, I must point out that in the wonderful land of Oregon, we use our turn signals, rarely exceed 65 miles per hour, and have few highways with more than four lanes total. I managed to drive my friend’s car all the way back from Palo Alto without any major mishaps, and although it may take me a few more months to find the courage to actually get on the highway, I’m confident I’m taking steps in the right direction.
Friday, one of my track teammates took the driver’s seat to take us to San Francisco State University to compete at what proved to be our best track meet of the year so far. The weather was perfect for racing, and many athletes set lifetime bests. I ran my fastest-ever 1500 meter race, and the best part was that my family drove all the way down from Eugene to cheer me on. I spent the rest of Friday and Saturday spending time with them before they began their long trek back to Oregon.
Around 11:30 pm Saturday night, my friend and I began to bake. I gave up desserts for Lent this year, so as soon as our cookie bars came out of the oven shortly after midnight, I began a sugar-eating craze that continued for the rest of Easter. I went to the Easter service at my church in Palo Alto and then went to a brunch for the college students and young adults at the church. It was great to be surrounded by a big happy community at Easter, and I was thrilled that I got to hunt for Easter eggs again, just like I have every year for as long as I can remember. It was the perfect weekend to kick off what looks like it should be a fun (and sunny!) spring quarter. Happy Easter!
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Monday, Apr. 2, 2012
Cookies and hugs really do make everything better.
For the past three quarters, I’ve helped Core Christian Fellowship provide free baked goods and finals week encouragement in the midst of exams. We set up a table in the Benson Memorial Center and give out cookies, scantrons, and encouraging notecards.
Many people initially didn’t believe us when we told them that everything was free. One girl stared us down accusingly for several minutes, demanding, “What’s the catch?” When we finally convinced her she didn’t need to sign up for anything, she cautiously took a cookie and bolted off the other direction. In a way, this is understandable, because most of the clubs that table in Benson want to add people to their email list or get donations. What makes the Core table different, and awesome, is that we’re just there to show love to our campus when it needs it most.
My favorite story from this round of tabling reminded me of the profound importance of little acts of kindness. One day while I was handing out cookies, two of the other people in Core held up signs that said, “Free hugs!” One of the workers in Benson walked by and eyed us suspiciously. I had ordered food from her quite a bit earlier, and she had always seemed unhappy. That day, she declined a cookie, but turned to one of the boys holding the signs, and said, “Can I have a hug?” He gladly obliged, and she got the biggest smile on her face. We all started clapping, and in her newfound enthusiasm, she even gave a hug to a random girl who happened to be walking by at that moment. The next time she took my order, I made sure to give her a big smile.
We also had a lot of fun storming the library Sunday night before finals. Dressed up in winter gear so we’d stand out, a group of us passed out homemade baked goodies to students cramming for their exams. We got a lot of strange looks, but also a lot of genuine gratitude. I loved hearing people say, “Yes! This was exactly what I needed!”
In a way, this was exactly what I needed, too. I had four very stressful exams to take this term, but tabling and sharing joy with others gave me dozens of reasons to smile throughout the week. As I stayed up late baking Oreo chocolate chip cookies, took part in an impromptu dance party at the Benson table, and wrote out little messages of encouragement to the people who walked by, I was reminded that the best kind of happiness really is free.
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Sunday, Mar. 18, 2012
Traditionally, the week preceding final exams has been known as “Dead Week.” According to legend, this moniker originated in schools where professors stopped teaching new material and spent the week in low-key review.
Clearly, this tradition did not start at a quarter system school. We only have ten weeks of classes per term, so for us, Dead Week usually means cramming in last-minute material, turning in projects, writing papers, and even taking some exams early.
My friends and I all agree that it makes little sense to keep referring to week 10 as Dead Week, so I decided to take the initiative and come up with some nicknames of my own.
- Nostalgia Week: Week 10 is a time to look back on the quarter and reminisce about the highs and lows. It’s funny how much can happen in such a short time span. There are so many things I did for the first time this quarter, like going to a concert with thousands of people, visiting Lake Tahoe in the winter, and working on a real-world engineering project. I also got to know a lot of really amazing people, ranging from a man who once had his picture featured on milk cartons across the country, to a remarkably humble girl who used to play soccer internationally, to a nine-year-old who gets up at 5:00 am to practice violin and study Latin.
- Epic Procrastination Week: This is the time when students who are already expert procrastinators really step up their game. After all, who has time to study when there are so many other important things to do, like watch Shrek, bake four batches of granola bars, and plan out wedding guest lists for you and your single friends?
- “How is your finals week looking?” Week: This becomes the dominant small-talk question for those awkward moments when you end up walking to class with someone you barely know. Secretly, I think we’re all glad to have something to talk about besides the weather.
- Weird Eating Habits Week: With the extra stress and pressure to study, study, study, the already questionable college diet tends to turn a bit unhealthier. One of the highlights of this strange week is the free Midnight Breakfast, open to all SCU students. After waiting in line with hundreds of other people, I was welcomed into Benson by guys dressed like leprechauns giving out “study packs” with essay booklets and coffee energy drinks. Then, we were treated to a full breakfast of tater tots, eggs, bacon, and pancakes.
- Leaves You Dead Week: The pessimists on campus tend to call this week variations of the Dead Week theme, like I Am Dead Week and Death Week. Personally, I prefer something a bit more optimistic, such as…
- Almost There Week: Last year, one of my friends received a cake from her parents that simply said, “Almost there.” We laughed about it at the time, but it really is a good thing to keep in mind. Although these three-hour exams and ten-page papers seem to loom over us like the gray clouds that suddenly appeared over Santa Clara this week, in a few short days, we will experience the glorious freedom of spring break. Look alive, SCU!
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Sunday, Mar. 11, 2012
I am proud to say that I don’t have a Twitter account. I just don’t think my life is fascinating enough to send out updates multiple times a day. They would likely turn out something like, “The water pressure in the shower was FABULOUS today!” or maybe, “Bought more cereal- got to love those Safeway deals! #OatSquaresForLife.”
Still, this doesn’t mean I’m isolated from the Twitter universe. One recent Twitter trend is an account called (in my PG-world) Stuff Girls Say, and it includes feeds like “Can I steal a fry?” and “Take these chips away from me!” that make fun of the slightly ridiculous things that girls say more often than we’d like to admit.
Since I live with seven awesome girls, I thought I’d try my hand at this tweeting thing and offer up some real-life quotes from my suite. Enjoy this glimpse into the Adele-singing, ever-baking lives of college girls!
“Want to try the cookies I made?”
“I was going to do homework, but then I decided that decorating the suite was much more important. Hence, the twenty snowflakes on the door.”
“I made brownies!”
“Can I show you a funny video?”...(two hours later)…”Oh wait, just one more!”
“Why do we have six pints of Ben and Jerry’s in our freezer?”
“Aren’t our fish just adorable?”
“Never mind, I’ll find, someone like youuuuuuu….”
“HOMEWORK PARTY!”
“It’s Friday night- you know what that means? Say Yes to the Dress!”
“Who wants a cupcake?”
“Girls shed too much.”
“I’m so glad it’s finally March. I really hated the February picture on your calendar.”
“Why are you Facebooking me while we’re sitting in the same room?”
“I set fiiiiiiire- to the rain!”
“Is it cold outside? I’m too lazy to open the window and check.”
“MY LIFE IS SO AWKWARD.”
“Be sure to try our gingersnaps!”
“The hair clog in our drain looks like a dying rodent.”
“I’m boiling water…I hope the fire alarm doesn’t go off.”
“What homework are you working on?” “Oh, just Facebook stalking.” “Hey, me too!”
“I’m procrastinating by straightening my hair.” “You already have straight hair.”
“We have eight jars of jelly and five jars of peanut butter, but no, we do not have bread.”
“Our fish is looking better today, but why is its color so different?” “Oh, that fish died…we got another one.”
“Don’t you just love life?”
“Smile- because you are AMAZING.”
Honestly, with these girls, I rarely need to be reminded to smile. #BestSuiteEver
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