Tuesday Speaker

Today in my sustainability class, we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us. His name was Drew Solomon and he was a volunteer for The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy on climate change. Him coming to our class today was all voluntary and he had to take off from his day job to do this.

Drew's presentation showed the reality of climate change and how it is effecting the environment and how we are all in the middle of this. He highlighted all the recent natural disasters that have occurred all over the world. Disasters like floods, hurricanes, and landslides were some that were shown in a very real way. I was aware that all of this was happening all over the world but the severity of it all didn't hit me until I saw the pictures from the places that suffered from the natural disasters. After his presentation, we compared the information that was given to us by him to the presentation that was given to us in Carbon Nation. I liked the Climate Reality Project presentation more because it made the climate issue more real and it had a lot more compelling proof.

After our Q&A with Drew, we did our presentation on alternate energy. I was very excited to do this because I feel like I have gotten better at public speaking and I wanted to see if it was good. My presentation skills have definitely improved from the first time that I presented for the class. I had all my facts together and the delivery was confident and educated. After all the presentations, we were given $10 million hypothetical dollars to invest in whatever form of alternate energy presented to us. I was really skeptical that anyone would invest in us because fracking, which was ours, isn't very regulated right now and there are a lot of risks that come from it due to this. Surprisingly, we got $13 million dollars invested in us. 

I did a lot better with speaking and asking questions in class today. I sat closer to the teacher and I put myself out there more even though there could be a slight chance that I was wrong. I feel like this made The afternoon portion of class go by much quicker and before I knew it, class was over. I went to Dani's room to work on my homework with my cohort. I wanted to get as much as I could done because we were going out later to get deep dish pizza with Alie. Once our car was outside, we got in and drove into the city to Gino's Pizza. We ordered a vegetarian pizza and a meaty pizza. The wait was kind of long but it was worth it. It felt nice to leave the campus and go out for a change.

Deep Dish Pizza

Group Project

I woke up this morning, my legs are still sore from the run on Sunday. I didn't want to wake up but I had to. I got ready and went down to the Dining Hall to eat breakfast. I finished eating my breakfast; I started walking to my class. When I got to the building of my class the doors were close so I needed to find another way to get in. There was another door in the side of the building and I went to see if it was open. Lucky I, the side door was open and I was able to get in the building and get to my class. Today Class was short we just needed to do our journal and then Achy let us out to work on the road trip project with our groups. We needed to come back at 3 PM and the project is due before 3 PM.  My group and I came to the South Residence Hall were my room is at. We went to fifth floor to work on our project. It took us about one hour and half to finish our project. It was about to be 12 PM, so I decide to go get lunch because I was getting hungry. Now, the Dining Hall gets fuller because on the weekend two other groups came to the campus. One group was teenagers and the other one were little kids. Before there wasn't any line to get inside the Dining Hall and now there’s one. I got there before the line was starting to get bigger.

The entrance of the gym

When I was finished eating I went up to my room and started working on the first assignment Pamela left me. It was to correct the assignment of the last book I read. When I was finish with that, I went to the gym to go clear my mind out. I work out from 1:30 PM to 2:25 PM. It felt good being away from work and just have time to myself and doing something I like to do. I had a sweater on, so I decided to go to my room to change because it was getting hot. I walk with a fast pace to my room, so I wouldn't be late to my class. I made it to my room and changed real fast to a T-shirt. I started walking to my class and got there on time. We started talking about our project and who was our character POV and their desires. Then Achy asked the class, what if the character desires never happens and they end up losing everything they have ever want, what would be the worst scenario, how would they react? Achy then gave us another assignment, to revise another group story and give them comments about it. Then, she let us out at 3:20 PM.

A beautiful building I saw when I was walking  back to my room

At 4 PM I went to meet up with Pamela, my tutor, she showed me ways I can organize my writing. One way is chronological, time, kind of like a recipe, it tells you want come first and what comes next. It needs to be in order by time, date, season, months, years and the list keeps on going. Next, is more direct, meaning you labeling or give it a title, such as, books are characterized by chapters and sometimes the chapter have names and their names means that’s what the author is going to talk about. The last one is evaluating, meaning you give your ideas and your own opinion. This benefit me because I kind of getting the idea of what she was talking about and it gave me a sense of structure on  how a story can be writing.

On our way to meet Alie for our deep dish.

Then, at 6 PM, my friends (cohorts) and I we were going to meet up with Alie for a deep dish at Gino’s East Pizzeria. Alie wanted to know how class is going what we have learned and if we ever need help to email her or give her a call. Oyin, Vicky and I picked the Chicago Fire pizza because I love spicy food and they like it too, but not a lot.

Foosball Table

Then, we came back to the campus and my friends and I decided to play Foosball before we start working on our homework. We played for at least half an hour. We were all having fun and everyone played at least two times. Then, we started working on our homework and that’s how we ended our night. 

Group Study

Just Another Day at School

As usual everyday I go get breakfast and walk to class at 8:45 AM. Today was a relaxed day for me in class. I went to class and we had a lecture and then went to the lab. In the lecture I learned more about the 1918 Pandemic and that 1/3 of the earth population got infected. In November 1918, the flu spread in Alaska and killed 72 people. Then we went to the lab after an hour.

The Lake Water Plates

In the lab we looked at our lake water that was plated to see if they changed color and if it was coliform or E.coli. After we made that observation we got our TSA plates and started to inoculate each plate, the coliform and E. coli plates. We used two enterotube to extract one of the colonies from each plate and then we poked holes in the last 8 compartments of the enterotube. Then we incubated them at 37 degrees. We got out 30 minutes early for lunch. I went to my room first to put my stuff down since I didn't have to be back in class until 2:00 PM. Normally we would have to come back at 1:00 PM but she let us come later because we have to do a project where we have to make a poster about  a disease we researched that we haven't already went over in class. But for lunch I had salad, fruit, pizza, and eggplant. The eggplant kind of tasted like lasagna.

Deep Dish!!!

When we got back to class we only had an hour left so we went straight to the lab. In the lab we started to record data of the Rifampicin concentration plates. We recorded the control, the mutant 1, and the mutant 2 and how high the concentration of each were. A couple of them didn't grow but the rest did. After we were done the TA dismissed us and I walked back to the dorms. When I got to the dorms I went to Dani's room. I waited there with  Oyin, Alexa, and Dani from 3:30 to 6:30 PM so that we could all go to Gino's Pizza with Alie. I had a wonderful nap before we left which was nice. When we met Alie at Gino's we waited so that they could find a place for us to sit and then we had a deep dish pizza. We ate two types, a spicy one and veggie one. It was good but I think that Giordano's is better.


The Cohort in Action

When we got back we came to one of the dorm houses and played foozeball before we got to business. We had about 10 good games where I won at least 4 and then I stopped playing to calm down because the game was so intense. After we finished we went to check-in for curfew and later started doing homework and whatever we had left to do for class. It's nice to have fun and then do our work. I think coming together helps me to be motivated to do my work and finish things that needed to be done.

Oyin and I in Deep Thought

Exam 1 and a Field Trip

The morning of an exam, I usually take a shower to clear my head and get my blood circulation going. Of course, as my luck would have it, the bathroom on the first floor was busy today! However, I was still able to get ready, grab breakfast, and make it to class on time, thankfully.

Everyone in the Biotech class was worried about the exam! Finally, at 9 AM, we all took our seats and got to work on the exams. The test was 70 questions in one and a half hours, which isn’t too bad. I managed my time wisely and was able to have around 20 minutes to go over my answers. However, there were a couple questions I wasn’t sure about, and some I just barely recognized from Dr. Bhasin’s slides. Overall, the exam wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it definitely wasn’t easy.

I talked to the other students about it afterward, and I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who felt unsure about certain questions.

Fifteen minutes after the exam, our class made a three-minute walk to the Comprehensive Cancer Center, DNA Sequencing and Genotyping Facility on the UChicago campus. They showed us their PCR machines (we’ll start working with those tomorrow in lab), sequencing equipment, and capillary arrays. It was interesting to learn about biotechnology in action (besides in lab) instead of theoretically.

I went to lunch afterwards, where we saw a group of students ranging from 8 to 17 years old in the Dining Hall. They have to sing songs during each of their meals and when they clean up after meals, which I had the privilege of listening to. It’s strange to see little kids at UChicago—living on my own truly feels like college living, so seeing younger kids walking around surprises me. I wonder if college students think that about high school students taking classes here.

After that, I attempted to take a nap in my dorm (it didn’t work out well). I went to lab, where we calculated the transformation efficiency and transformation frequency of the transformed cells. Out of the class, three pairs resulted in good cultures. April and I were one of those pairs! I’d say we’ve grown a lot since the beginning of the class (was that only a week ago?), when we were totally clueless on how to change pipette tips or work the microscope.

My jellyfish. The purple and blue barely glow!

We went directly to our dorms after lab—we were so tired! I hung out in my room with Kaitlyn, talking about Wicked songs and how great our TAs, Danny and Ciara, are. We left the room at 6:30 PM to eat and socialize. The kids from the other program were also in the Dining Hall (I was able to hear their songs again; at this rate I’ll have the songs memorized by tomorrow night).

Afterwards, I edited my essay and read a couple pages’ worth of reading material before walking to the library with Kaitlyn. Though there’s a printer in South Campus, it only lets students put in $20 for printing (not anything less or more), so we chose to walk to the library and save $19.

UChicago at around 8 PM is so pretty! I wished I had my camera with me when walking out tonight. The sky was a dusky purple-black color, and the various light poles every ten steps (if not less) and emergency blue light poles (with police officers standing near once it got too dark out) made me feel totally safe. I’m pretty sure by the end of this program, I’ll be able to confidently say I’ve never once felt unsafe on campus.

After posting this blog, finishing just a bit more of the assigned reading material, and getting ready for bed, I’ll hit the sack. I can’t wait for tomorrow. I’m happy to say that this experience, though slightly stressful, is full of fun as well. Most of the fun, I think, comes from being around the cohort and Biotech classmates (we’re all growing closer). It goes to show that what every single person at every single dinner has said—college really gives you a sense of community. It’s a great feeling.

Observations in the Park

Today, I woke up at 8:15 in a bit of a panic because my I slept through my alarm. Luckily I got ready quickly enough, and was heading out the door for class by 8:30. Fortunately for me, Oyin was kind enough to grab me an apple before we started walking to our classes. I got to my class with time to spare, like usual.

We started out our classes by talking about our plans for the afternoon. That afternoon, the plan was to go to a park and observe kids and their relationships with their peers and guardians. Cassie had previously done observations of kids and parents interactions in the zoo for research, and explained to us that if at any point a parent came up to you and asked you what you were doing, you had to have an explained response. She had ready a slip of paper explaining that she was recording conversations for a study. If the stranger did not like the fact that their conversations were being recorded, they had the right to have the tapes erased. Luckily though, Cassie said this was a rare occurrence. We still needed to practice what we’re going to say at the park, though, if there was a chance that we were going to be approached by a parent or kid.

After the discussion about our plans for the afternoon, we started to watch a video about the child's brain and how sound and language is learned. At first language does goes into the brain and connections having to do with language happen all over the brain, but as time goes on and the sounds these babies are hearing are developing into language, the connections move to the left brain. This is why if someone is hit in a certain part of their head on the side, they may not be able to speak coherently for some time.

After the video and discussion, we went to lunch in the dining hall. We were instructed that the park was a bit of a long walk and it was a hot day, so we should only bring a notebook and pen. We walked to the park together after meeting at the class room. The park was about five blocks away and very large. There were multiple playgrounds in the park, and Cassie split us up into groups of two or three to observe different playgrounds. This way it wouldn't look as obvious that we were a group observing the kids. I was paired with Bella, who is in my research group and is also from California. At first we saw two separate parties on the playground. The first was a group of seven kids (4 boys, 3 girls), Spanish speaking, who were in the age range of about 7 to 14 years. They seemed to be very good friends or even family. The older kids would push the younger kids on the swings, sometimes they would just sit and talk, and other times there would be yelling and insulting, but only teasingly and it was all taken lightly. They were on their own, there was no older figure watching them. The second party consisted of a young girl who must have been around 4 or 5 years old. She was being watched by her grandmother perhaps, or her caretaker. The caretaker was also pushing a stroller with a baby, and the young girl was playing by herself mostly, but she kept looking over at the other group of kids as if she wanted to play with them. She left soon after we arrived. We observed for about an hour, taking notes, and drawing out the scene, which Cassie said was helpful to look at. Because there were not many other kids in the park, we ended class early, at about 2:15, and all headed back to the dorms.

View of our Dorms from the Lounges

Back at the dorms, I started my chapter reading, which was also about language development. I went to the gym for about an hour to take a break from my work, and then rushed to dinner with Oyin, Dani, Victoria, Katelyn, and Esin. It was fun to talk with them for a bit. We headed back to the dorm lounges to finish our homework and to blog. 

Week Two

For the first time in a while, I woke up feeling very rested. I got more than enough hours of sleep which came in handy because I had a full day of class today. I usually eat breakfast with Alexa but for some reason she wasn't replying to me so I went down by myself. After I was done eating, I was about to start walking to class but Alexa texted me saying that she woke up late and that she needed me to bring her some fruit. When she got her food, we both went our separate ways to our classes.

Today in class we talked about climate change and the first few chapters of the book we read in Enough is Enough. We had a reading to do over the weekend which was the result of a survey about global warming that people in the US took. The survey asked questions like if they believed in global warming and who they felt that it would affect in the long run. The main issues that I had with this survey was the use of the words 'global warming.' I feel like the results would have been different if they changed it to climate change because this survey was conducted after the last crazy winter that we had. Maybe some of the people who participated in this survey took the meaning of global warming really literal and thought that the world couldn't be warming if we just had a crazy winter. When we changed subject to the book, I got slightly frustrated because I couldn't really get a word in. In the class, we usually go back and forth from a mix of raising our hands and speaking when we got an idea and this seemed to work against me because when I raised my hand someone else said something and when I would try and speak out loud, the professor would call on someone else. I won't give up however and I am planning to try a new strategy.

For the first time, my professor didn't give us an assignment to do over lunch. It felt weird having all that extra time to eat and socialize but I took full advantage of it. In the afternoon portion of class, we talked about our homework assignment. We were partnered up and given one of seven different forms of renewable energy to research. We were to put together a power point presentation and come in front of the class and present what we have. As a class, we are to decide weather we would want to invest in this form of renewable energy. We hypothetically have $10 million to invest and the team with the most money at the end wins. I was partnered with Esin and we got natural gas/fracking for our topic. We got straight to work after class and we were able to finish our presentation before dinner.

I'm excited for tomorrow because we have a speaker coming in and I am also excited to see all the presentations. My class is full of really intelligent people and I am both curious and excited to see what they have to say. As a prize, my professor agreed to buy the winning team offsets in the form of a cow. A family would get this cow and raise it and earn a profit from it and they would be able to eventually but another cow. Hopefully me and my partner do well enough to win this. 

The Beginning of the Second Week of Class

My Breakfast

I woke up today ready to go to my class and ready to learn more. I woke up at 8:25 AM, got ready and went down stairs to the Dining Hall to eat breakfast. I didn't eat a lot like always because I eat like three plates of food every time I go to the Dining Hall. I just grab some eggs with fruit and bread. When I finished eating, I started walking to class and when I got to the building where my class is at; my classmates were in the wrong classroom. I didn't want to say anything so I just went in and sat down with them. When Achy came she made us move to the other room, the first room we had in the first day of class. Then, Achy told us to start doing our journal and I was talking about what I did this past Friday. When we finishing on our journal, at 10 PM, Achy told us to finish doing the rest of the workshop that we had left. Workshop is the essay about the person that is the opposite of you. When we finish reading and giving comments to my classmate’s workshop, Achy started talking about the elements again. POV-Desire-Obstacle-Plan-Execution= Failure, and repeat it all over again. Achy started talking about a professor that teaches physics and he did a study on the human brain about how many twisted plots can a human brain can handle. The answer is 3. I think this was a really cool think to know because not a lot of people know this. Every day you learn something new. Then, Achy started talking about a journalism that is on a journey right now. His name is Paul Salopek, is a seven-year journey and it started in 2013. The journey began in Ethiopia and it will end in South America in Tierra Del Fuego. Achy told us to look and read about his journey and then we have to pick one of his journeys because our next assignment is to write about a journey of someone. Then, Achy let us out at 11:30 AM and be back at 1:30 PM.

 I came straight to my room and started searching for Paul Salopek journey walk. At 12 PM, I went to the Dining Hall to go get some to eat real quick, and come back and keep searching for a journey that I want to write about. When we went back to class and some of my classmates shared what journey they like the most, Achy gave us a project that it needs to be done with a group of three, but with different people who you haven’t worked with yet. In my group I have Evan and Lisa they are both incredible writers. Achy let us go at 2:30 PM, and then my group and went to another different room to start brainstorming. We ended up picking a teenager girl and named her Wednesday, age 16, that her parent found out that she’s a lesbian and a dad that want to reconnect with the family because of his work, he haven’t spent quality time with his family. The dad decided to take a family road trip from San Jose to Yellowstone Park. The challenging part is that we picked a teddy bear that was giving to Wednesday on her third birthday by her grandma. I like my group because they make the story more challenging and that is what will make it more fun.

My Lunch

Then, I went to meet with a tutor, Pamela Larigne, she is going to help me out on improving more on my writing skills and we will be working one on one. Pamela is a very nice, cool, and awesome woman. Pamela was living in Point Richmond before she moved to Chicago and I find that a big coincidence. We will meet every day except Sundays because it will be by break day. I just want to thank all the people that are making this possible for me it really means a lot for me. I want to thank Don too for believing in me and for keeping me motivated, I appreciate it.

Then, I came back to my room and started doing research for my group project. I’m really good at doing research, is one of my best skills I have. My group and I are working on our project on Google Docs. We putting our ideas down and we all work on it by adding or taking stuff out.

Then, I needed a break, so I went down stairs to Halperin Lounge where all my cohorts are at. We started blogging together and talking while we blog. It felt good getting out of my room, but I have a weakness of getting distracted around people and it takes me longer to do my work. That’s why I’m always in my room because it helps me concentrate more and get my work done more quickly. I just stayed with my cohorts until they were all done with their work and I came up to my room to go to sleep. 

When night comes it gets beautiful

Taking Picture of the Residence Hall Buildings