Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Second Class Day

My second day of class was nice. I’m glad it didn’t rain today like it did yesterday. This morning for breakfast was the same and will be the same for a while because I want to eat healthy and start lifting weights more while I am out in Chicago. I want to be in shape for next year’s basketball season. Hopefully I have time to go to the gym from time to time because I’m going to have homework to do and I can’t fall behind in work. I will still eat other foods but eat mostly fruit, vegetables, and foods with protein.

As Alexa and I were walking to our class we talked about the pouring rain yesterday and how soaked we were. I was the lucky one because Alexa didn’t have her umbrella and so she was completely soaked while I was only partly soaked. Then we parted as she went her direction to class and I went to mine. 

While walking by myself I saw food trucks that were there for breakfast and later for lunch. What really caught my eye was the Giordano food truck because that was the place Vernon from the Northwestern dinner told me about. There is a place called Giordano in Chicago and they have deep dish pizza, which I would love to try someday. I heard it is amazing pizza there. 

This time it only took me about 10 minutes to get to my class since I know where it is now and I actually got there 20 minutes early. When I got to where my class was I sat in an area with a bench that was in front of a fish tank to look at. It reminded me of Finding Nemo, the children’s movie that I used to watch as a child.
When we finally got into the classroom we waited for the professor to come and start the lecture. The topic of her lecture was The Impact of Infectious Diseases. I learned about the three major diseases that caused millions of people to die and those three are the Black Death, 1918 Flu, and HIV. Black Death happened in the years 1347-1351 and there were 75-100 million people who died. The 1918 Flu infected 1/3 of the world's population and killed 50-100 million people. The HIV disease, since 1980, has infected 75 million and killed 36 million people. Also 1.6 million people died in 2012. 

We also discussed how the diseases spread from human to human, bodily fluids, waterborne, foodborne, and vector borne (ticks, mosquitos, and fleas). We went over the DNA and RNA structure and genes. The lecture was an hour and a half long and for the remainder of the time we went to the lab to learn about gram staining. Then we went to lunch at 12 PM and I walked with Lila on the way to the dining hall and back to class. 

When we got back we went to the classroom for a while and discussed things about the lab and then went to the lab as soon as the TA (Dawn) was there because she is the one who is in the lab teaching us how to look at bacteria and cells through a microscope. It was an interesting class and we get to do hands-on experiments and projects. My class ended at 3 PM but I actually stayed for another 20 minutes looking at the bacteria. Then Lila and I walked back to our dorm and she went to her room on the fifth floor while I went to my room on the fourth floor but I am actually going to meet her in the fifth floor lounge so we can do our homework together.
After meeting at the lounge we went to the dining hall for dinner and we also met with Dani, Kaitlyn, Alexa, and Oyin. We all ate in the dining hall that looks like the one in Harry Potter which is cool because it was my first time in there. I had to leave earlier than everybody else because I had to finish some homework from my class. My homework is a lab report where I have to answer some questions about the lab we did. I checked in for curfew early and then started a new assignment in the fifth floor lounge to do it with Lila. Now I’m ending the night with medicine and a nice shower before bed.

2 comments:

  1. I could have sworn that I offered you all umbrellas and ponchos--and you still got soaked? Well, at least you didn't wear out my gear.

    Your class sounds interesting. As a favor to me, though, please don't bring any of the bacteria back with you. Leave it in Chicago.

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  2. Wow sounds like the lab and bacteria must be pretty interesting if you wanted to stay an extra 20 min - can't wait to hear about it in person.

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