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Kelsey's Blog
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 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 2:06 PM
Halloween has just passed it seems and already Christmas is announcing its eminent arrival. Somehow Thanksgiving got completely skipped over, much to the relief of the turkeys. My mom sent me a miniature version of my homemade stocking to hang up in the room. Allie and I are going to string up Christmas lights around the room and to give it a festive atmosphere. I got SweetTarts candy canes to hang on the lights. Any bets on how long they last?
We only have a week left here at school before it’s time to fly home for Thanksgiving. After that, we have a week of classes, another of finals and then a whole month home for Christmas. This Thanksgiving, I’m going to my brother’s house in Idaho after spending a couple days at home in Indiana. I’ll be taking the train back to Santa Clara so I have to remember to pack warm clothes for the trip through the mountains. I’m looking forward to every part of the break with the possible exception of the airports I’m going to have to trek though. I’m excited to see my family, including the bun in the oven also known as my niece or nephew. I’ll eat turkey and cranberry sauce, and maybe I’ll get to see some snow on the train ride through the mountains. I love train rides; the rocking back and forth is s incredibly peaceful. Plus, I’ll get to see some weather that actually makes sense for late November/ early December. I’m going to try talk mom into making some Gingerbread cookies. Nothing says Christmas like Gingerbread cookies! I can smell the warm kitchen and fir tree now! I can’t wait to go home!
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Opossum Oh Opossum
Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 2:03 PM
I’ve gone nocturnal. Totally and completely nocturnal. Not the best sleep schedule in a non-nocturnal world, but it has its perks. Last night when I was out and about at around two AM, what I thought at first was the fattest squirrel I‘ve ever seen scared the crap out of me! When I realized there was no way a squirrel could get that big and that a cat would have been much stealthier, I took a closer look at the creature waddling away from me and I realized it was an opossum! It had a bare tail, pointy white face and curious eyes. It was absolutely adorable! I know most people don’t see an opossum and think cute and cuddly, but I’m a big fan of rodent and rodent like creatures. I saw an opossum once before when I was about twelve; it was hanging asleep upside down, asleep in an evergreen tree. It was pretty exciting to see one awake and moving around, but I feel bad that I scare it.
Opossums are my kind of animal; they prefer to kinds chill out and do their own thing, plus thy hang upside down y their tail! That’s just really cool! I really love animals as long time readers may have noticed and I was really happy to have a run in with a furry friend, especially one who doesn’t usually get to see a lot of people. At the very least, I made a new friend, one with a furry head and a naked tail. Rock on Marsupials!
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Hippo Birdie Two Ewe!
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 12:03 AM
I turned twenty on Monday. This is the second birthday I’ve spent away from home. I received a beautiful collection of birthday cards from family and friends. Mom and Dad started a tradition of sending me Baklava instead of a birthday cake; the frosting tends to smear all over the bubble wrap. My family sends me letters all the time, but I get so many around birthday; I’m always happy when I go to open my little mailbox.
My birthday was such a happy day thanks to my family and friends. All day, I was getting calls and text messages from my closest friends, parents, brother, and grandma. My suitemates gave me cards too! In the evening, they brought into the common room a wonderful chocolate birthday cake with my name written on it in yellow icing and everything! There were even birthday candles; with all twenty of them lit, it looked like the whole cake was a flame! I blew them all out with one breath!
All my birthday cards are lined up on the desk. I smile every time I look at them, especially the one sent by my parents. It’s made by the same artist that made my favorite mug. When I first opened the card, I laughed so hard, I nearly cried! It spells out the Happy Birthday song with the most adorable animals! Look at the picture of it. Aren’t the animals so cute? How can anyone look at that and not smile?
Aside from out little get together in the common room, I didn’t have a birthday party or anything. It was a Monday and I did have homework to do; our lab notebooks were due in Lab on Tuesday and I had some calculations and commentary to do before the morning. Aside from the chocolate cake and some tea, I had not eaten any dinner. At a quarter till midnight, the only place open for food was the Taco Bell across the street. The lobby had closed at eleven (apparently there are some shady characters at Taco Bell in the early hours) so I had to walk, yes walk, through the drive-thru. I walked back home with my crunch wrap supreme to labor over some Organic Chemistry work and munch away on my dinner. All together, it was a good end to a good birthday.
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RIP Flushy
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009 12:00 AM
On Saturday October 25, 2009, Flushy passed away. For those of you who haven’t heard about my little fishy, I got him last October because I needed a little friend. His bowl sat on my desk for over a year and I would chat while I did my homework. When I went home for little breaks like Thanksgiving or Spring Break, Flushy went to a babysitter and made new friends, but he was always happy to see my when I came back. When summer came, I wasn’t willing to leave my friend behind so my dad drove out to California and we packed up Flushy’s bowl in the car and drove him home across the country to Indiana. At home, he sat on the kitchen counter and the whole family came to love him. After we all drove back to California in September, my dad would call and say that he missed Flushy and kept going into the kitchen to give him a blood worm for a little treat. Flushy loved people. He would get so excited when anyone walked into the room. He was sure everyone was there to see him.
Towards the end of his life, Flushy had an injured swim bladder and he had trouble swimming. We bought him a little plant that he could sit on so it was easier for him to eat and breath. He became an old little fishy and he was happiest when he was sleeping. He was still a good fish, but he was an old fish. Beta fish only live two to three years; I’d had him for over a year and he was a year old when I got him from the pet store. His time had some and I think he passed away peacefully.
Fr. John, the resident minister that lives across the hall from me, said some prayers over flushy’s body before we laid him to rest under a tree in the rose garden. I picked out a spot that was quiet, but where people would walk by. He’s buried under the wisteria vine which is so beautiful when it blooms in the spring. I am happy flushy has such a beautiful place to rest.
I miss you flushy, but I know you’re perfectly buoyant and hunting bloodworms in that fishbowl in the sky.
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Everybody Needs People
Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 1:49 PM
It’s raining here. A lot. I’ve gone through three sets of clothes today due to excess moisture. I don’t do well when I’m wet, like cats or squirrels. Man, the squirrels are truly demoralized. Their tails are no longer fluffy; they don’t even bounce across the sidewalks anymore; the sulk under bushed clutching nuts in their little hands. I sympathized with them as I walked back from my early morning Organic Chemistry lab. Tonight I left my dorm to hit the library and finish up studying for my differential equations midterm tomorrow and was instantly enveloped in the cold, damp aftermath of today’s monsoon. I never actually made it to the library. The health center conference room has become the de facto EMT study room after hours; one of the fringe benefits of being on the squad. So here I am with a half dozen other EMTs, a couple on duty but most not, looking over flashcards and attempting to learn from my D. Eq. book via osmosis. Most EMT’s are majors in the sciences on the pre-med track meaning we have to take a lot of the same classes. That means that being on the EMT squad means I have a built in system for help in class work.
It’s very hard to survive college going it alone. When my dad was an undergrad, he joined a fraternity. My dad wasn’t even close to the stereotypical frat boy; I’m pretty sure he initially joined for access to the files on the engineering classes, but he made friends and found study buddies because of his membership in his fraternity. My roommate is on the soccer team so her teammates are constantly in out suite doing homework, watching TV, kicking around a ball and having fun together. Everyone needs a group of people to laugh with, study with, lean on when times get tough and go to Safeway with at three in the morning. Dad’s people were the guys in his fraternity; my roommate’s people are the soccer players; my people are the EMTs. We work together; we laugh together; we Google textbook authors to determine if the sexual innuendo in the text was accidental or intentional. It didn’t happen overnight, (I didn’t have my group until I became as active member of the squad this year) but I’m so glad I have people. Everything is better with people!
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So Much List, so Little Time
Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 1:44 PM
There is a lot I need to have done by three minutes ago. I need to go to Walgreens to buy batteries for my alarm clock; I’ve been using my cell phone and roommate. I still have two more midterms to study for, not to mention to take. Saturday, I’ll be taking the late shift at the Grand Reunion. Before I get to work as my alter ego, EMT Brunts, Kelsey the student has to have read and entire book for my Soviet History class and write a two page response to it. Don’t ask me when I’m going to get it done; I have no clue.
I love making lists. They calm me; assure me that everything will get done in its own time. I usually make two to three lists a day, but lately my lists have been scaring the crap out of me! There is just too much to do! The stress may very well kill me. I’ve had two professors so far give the advice “get a good night’s sleep before the exam.” I find this a little funny as it’s that stress of the coming exams that’s kept me from getting a good night’s sleep in a week. I finally got to sleep last night with the help of an over the counter sleep aid. And yes, I do see the irony of taking caffeine and sleep aids in the same twenty-four hours and you know what? I don’t care. I never thought I’d see the day when my lists would fail me. It’s quite distressing. I need a new back-up plan. Post-it notes? E-mail notifications to myself? Reminders written on the mirror in Cottage Rose lipstick? I’m at a loss without my dearly beloved and as of recently overwhelmed lists. I’m up to my neck in flashcards of organic functional groups, phospholipid-bilayer sidal differentialation contributors, and applications of Euler’s methods, and I have no way to prioritize their review. Last night my suitemate, Jenny, quizzed me a few times on Organic Chemistry to prepare me for my midterm this morning. She was a God-send! In high school, my dad and I would sit at the dining room table going over flashcards on glycolysis and derivatives. My dad did more than pay for my education; he was an active part of it. Now, 3,000 miles away, I wish I had my study buddy and a working list. I’m almost lost without them, but the midterms keep on coming! Wish me luck!
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Hey, look on the bright side!
Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 1:35 PM
Midterms are upon us! The library study rooms are completely booked; I’ve made liberal use of them myself, in fact, I’m in one right now! Sometimes between the stress of schoolwork, AMT stuff, missing family and friends, and the coming of winter, my mood and take a temporary turn for the worse. I do my best to keep from getting down, but no one is happy 100% of the time. Last night, before I went to be around midnight (early compared to most days), I was feeling a little blue, so I turned to the panacea for moodiness: pictures of baby animals! Google is a beautiful thing: there are hundreds of pictures of infants of just about any species imaginable. Maybe it was the hour of the night or the pizza rolls I had for lunch, but just looking at the cute babies wasn’t doing it for me; I needed a new desktop background. I usually default to the fur seals, or the seals of approval as they’ve been lovingly dubbed, but I needed something new and fresh to air out my mood and get rid of the grumpies. This is what I came up with: a collage of the cutest baby animals I could find including a rat, beaver, squirrel, giraffe, lemur and many more. I was totally worth the forty five minutes it took to pull together!
Stress is, well, stressful and generally bad; however, because of my moment of stress last night, one of many I might note, I now have an awesomely cute screensaver, so cute, it could cause an overdose of cuteness to those without a built up tolerance. Every bad thing in college has a silver lining. For example, my dorm room is ridiculously small; therefore, it takes mere minutes to tidy it up. The laundry room on my floor doesn’t have dryers and I have to lug my dirty clothes up to the second floor; when else will I get get to rake rides on the elevator? It’s all part of the learning experience that is college. I’m learning to take the good with the bad. I miss the Thai restaurant near my home, but I’m sure when I eat dinner over break, it will taste even better! The baby animals on my desktop all agree!
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Watch your weight
Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 10:35 PM
I am, and trust me, it’s not going anywhere. College is not good for the waist line. We have a great fitness center that is filled to capacity during the first couple of weeks. Then midterms begin to loom and time has to be budgeted between studying and… well, everything else. Working out is generally the first thing on the to-do list to go the way of the doo-doo. I am as guilty of this as anyone. Now that it’s getting colder, the cool dry air is hard on the lunch and swimming in the outdoor pool becomes an extreme sport. As a consequence, most of a student’s week is spent sitting either in class or while studying at home or in the library and very little is spent at the gym. The CDC recommends thirty minutes of exercise a day for the average adult. I’m lucky if I can get in a couple thirty minute sessions on the treadmill in a week! Not overcoming this sedimentary lifestyle can cause an expanded waist line.
To be fair, a lack of exercise is not the only contributor to college student weight gain. We eat crappy food. Most food we eat if quick (read microwavable or carryout). High fat, high sugar, high caffeine. That’s what most college students run on. My particular poison is Pepsi. I can go through two or three bottles a day easy. Add the fact that I’m a nervous eater and the scale starts working double time around midterms. There is also the fact that I’m a college aged kid. After eighteen or nineteen (I’ll be twenty in a couple weeks), a person’s metabolism starts to slow down. Eating habits are largely habitual, hence the term eating habits. It can take some time to adjust to a lower metabolism. I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is yet another opportunity for learning during this phase of my life. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get off my duff and go run.
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Midterms, Midterms, and&oh! Look at that! More midterms
Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009 10:30 PM
I have a midterm Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. I already feel tired. Monday is my Organic Chemistry exam. I have functional group flashcards, 3-4 e-mails from my professor concerning exam content and a very good text book to re-read if I feel unsure about anything. Tuesday is my Biology midterm. I have a list of “learning objectives” to study and obsess over. After the exam, I have to go to a talk on something or other and write up a report for a few measly extra credit points. Wednesday is my differential equations exam. I have about one hundred pages in my book to read and about as many problems to work through. On Friday, my professor handed out a study guide with sample problems. Monday after class, I’m going to the library with a classmate to study together. Hopefully something good will come from it. Maybe then I’ll feel less pressure from the exam. I’m looking forward to my differential equations midterm least of all my exams next meek. In fact, I will feel better when the entire class is over and done with (and I have a passing grade of course).
Study, study, study. That’s all I’ll be doing from now until Wednesday afternoon at least. I have all my study tools; I have a plan to get the most out of my study time. Do you think I’ll be able to pass all my exams? I hope I will, but only time will tell.
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A Time for Work, a Time for& More Work
Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 1:32 PM
I always look forward to the weekends. My absolute favorite thing about the weekend is that Benson served breakfast until 2pm! In love being able to sleep in, straighten up the room a little bit, shower and dress and still be able to have a made-to-order omelet for breakfast. Saturdays are my “play days.” If I’m going to hang out with my friends or go to a party or just chillax at any point during the week, it will be on my beloved Saturday, but laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping and other “domestic” tasks have to be completed between play dates. It may seem like I cram a lot of stuff into the first day of the weekend; after all, there are two days to the weekend. Sunday is my work day. In college, there is a ton of homework. It is often said that for every hour spent in class, three hours should be spent studying outsidemof class. I’m in class fifteen hours a week so I’m supposed to study at least forty-five hours a week. Sometimes I feel like class just gets in the way of studying, except on Sundays. I love my Sundays because there is no schedule I have to squeeze studies into; I don’t have to constantly check the clock so I’m not late to an appointment or class. I have the freedom to do my work at my own pace. I do work as late as I can on Sunday like I do on weeknights but at least I go to bed early on Saturdays (mom, you’d be so proud).
I think the real reason weekends are so fun is that I’m the one who determines what I do and when I do it. The work/school week much more schedules and for someone who suffers from chronic lateness, I prefer to get things done on my own time. Any working adult reading this is thinking “welcome to the real world,” but going to school is different from working because the bulk of the work is done at home, a lack of time at home causes serious anxiety buildup. For me, one of the many pressure valves necessary to maintain my sanity is a weekend spent at home getting work done and cleaning off the to-do list of my life.
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It's not ideal, but I'll take it!
Monday, Oct. 5, 2009 2:05 PM
I have achieved victory over the molecular biology software! On Tuesday during Biology discussion group, we were working on a project using 3D computer modeling of proteins. I spent all forty minutes trying to download the software and open the appropriate file and at the end of the class, I still didn’t have a 3D model. After my professor said she had no idea what was wrong, I issued a verbal warning to my computer stating that I would win eventually and that it might as well give up sooner rather than later. I’m not sure it did anything to solve the problem, but it made me feel better and when the alternative is crushing my laptop to bits, threatening inanimate objects is the cheaper solution. Last night, I pulled together the correct software, the correct file, the correct alignment of the stars and I got a 3D model of Human P-type ATPase, the protein responsible for Wilson’s disease. I get to go on with my project, which is good I suppose, but the point is I won!
Minor victories are sometimes the most important kind of victories, especially in college. My classes are kind of hard right now. I feel panic bubbling just below the surface; right now I’m choosing to ignore it. Minor victories keep my spirits up and give me a feeling that I’m making progress. In differential equations, I understand the problems in the homework; I know I’m doing them wrong, but I understand what I’m supposed to be doing and that is a step in the right direction, a small victory.
College is not supposed to be easy, especially if you’re in the engineering school like I am. I can see my freshman roommate struggling with the transition and the constant feeling of having more studying to be done. I wish I could help, but the only comfort I can give is “everyone feels like that.” That feeling of always being behind can drive a person crazy and can cause a student to either become an unhealthy workaholic or the student may give up because there is no possible way to stay on track. I try to avoid locking myself in the room or completely giving up by celebrating the small victories: not failing a quiz, beating the bio software, and understanding what my math homework is asking me to do. Let’s all raise a glass to the minor victories because sometimes they’re all ya got!
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Why am I here?
Wednesday, Sep. 30, 2009 2:25 PM
Week two has officially started. This may seem less monumental than the first week of classes which marks the beginning of classes, and in a way it is, but it does mark the beginning of normalcy and a settled pace of life all across the university. Before students had even arrived on campus, nearly everyone had scheduled classes; however, during the first week, most everyone has a schedule change of some degree or another. I added two completely new classes which caused a scrambling for books, the last of which arrived yesterday. In classes, the syllabi have all been passed out and the first quizzes are eminent if not already past. As for me, my quiz in differential equations tomorrow is looming heavily. I’ll be in the library so long tonight that I fear my roommate may forget what I look like. Work on (or procrastination of) projects have begun and the library is filling with students like me seeking a quiet place to hit the books.
The first weekend has passed; friends met and caught up from the long summer, and many students went to parties to relax from the first week of class and have some fun. Going out to parties with friends is part of the college experience. Last year, I thought there were two different college experiences one could have: a serious educational experience or the “animal house” experience. I thought the two were mutually exclusive, so being a dedicated student, I went out maybe twice the entire year. As a freshman with a lot to adjust to, that may have been a good thing, but I no longer believe I want my whole college experience to be purely academic. One part of life is about one particular goal. In high school, we pursued an education, learned to drive, started dating and wearing makeup, made friends and went to prom. In college, again we’re pursuing an education but we’re also taking the next step towards independence by making more and more decisions for our lives and welfare. Not only is it alright to have some fun, in balance, it is important to proper development. I’ve said often that “I’m a student first” when it comes to prioritizing obligations but on further reflection, I don’t think that’s completely true: I’m a person first. Learning and doing well is important to me as a person, but so is my happiness and proper development. I’m not just a student and I’m not just a partier. I’m a bit of both, each in its own proportion. It takes everyone some time to figure out what those proportions are but that’s not only alright, it’s normal. I’m still figuring it out but I now have a better idea of what my college experience can be. It won’t that of Albert Einstein or John Belushi; it will be that of Kelsey Brunts.
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House, homework, and prima note
Wednesday, Sep. 30, 2009 2:18 PM
Classes have started once again. I have a pretty tough schedule: Organic Chemistry, Molecular Biology, Differential Equations, and the history of the Soviet Union. The last two classes are upper division classes. Sunday night before classes officially started, I was already spending a couple hours reading and doing practice problems to prepare for class. There’s a lot of work and a lot of reading and not nearly enough time. I scheduled my work around the House premiere last night. I know classes are important, but I do have priorities and the House premiere trumped studying and Monday night football! The girls in my suite sat around the TV wondering if House has gone soft. We invited Fr. John, the resident minister and our neighbor, to come in and watch with us too!
Last night was also Prima Note! I wrote a bit about Prima Note last year (it takes place the first night of classes of classes every quarter) and I loved it now as much as I did then. The food was absolutely wonderful! There were four different sauces for the spaghetti, garlic bread, moist cookies and two types of pie…mmmm! Four suites worth of people were in one room and everyone was talking up and down the table, passing food, storied, jokes and advice. No one went home hungry or anything but stuffed to bursting.
Last year, getting out of my room and going to events like Prima Note and Da Vinci Day (this Saturday) was about meeting somebody,anybody, so I wouldn’t feel so lonely. This year, they’re important so I can see old friends after a long summer away and more importantly so I can have excuses to take a break from endless packets of reading and never ending practice problems. My goal is no longer socialization, its sanity! My freshmen suitemates are still in various stages of socializing and acclimating themselves to college life. My hope is that as the year goes on, the great events in out Residential Learning Community and by the University will help all of us reach our goals and have a fun and successful year.
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A year gone by
Monday, Jun. 15, 2009 12:00 AM
After a three day, three thousand mile road trip, I have arrived at home safely, along with a healthy, relatively happy fish. Within hours of getting home, an incredible thunderstorm hit and our house got struck by lightning. I received a nasty shock from standing on a metal heating vent and touching a metal window lock. Staring out my window, trying to recover feeling in my right big toe, I thought back to the view from my dorm room, the contents of which is now in various boxes scattered round my bedroom. Here in Indiana, there are no foothills to gaze at early in the morning; the closest thing to a dumpster digging squirrel is a chipmunk that has dug its burrow through our garden and under our back patio. Instead of searching for my notebooks in the morning before class, I’m searching for employment in a saturated job market. Food now costs real money, not prepaid use ‘em or lose ‘em meal points. I’ll now be driving past corn fields instead of walking through the beautiful mission gardens. I can’t leave my room and walk to the grocery store to pick up a few things. Driving across the country, I couldn’t wait to get home, to what my whole life has been normal. Having been home for less than a day, I’ve discovered that my lifestyle has completely different, not better or worse, just different. I’ve moved on to a new phase of my life. I’m starting to act, and perhaps more importantly, feel like an adult, my goals are becoming reality through hard work and perseverance. My world has expanded beyond the farmlands or the Midwest to the hills of San Francisco. I am becoming a citizen of the world.
Thursday evening, before leaving Santa Clara, I took a walk around campus; I was saying goodbye. I could almost feel the school saying “I’ll be here when you come home.” I’m slow to warm up to people and places; I have a natural adversity to change, but over the months, Santa Clara has become my second home. It’s where I have learned new skills, seen new things, made new friends, and added a new chapter to my life story. I am happy where I am in my life and I’m satisfied with my decision to go to school so far from home. After a rest (well deserved if I do say so myself) in the home I grew up in, I will return to the home I have become an adult in. Maybe I’ll take a walk in the rose garden the first day I get back just to say “hello”.
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