31 days

Just one month until I'll be home! I can't wait. I figure that I owe you all a summary of my semester so far, so here ya go!

Classes are amazing. In bio, we've focused on sea urchin development, fern development, angiosperm (flowering plant) development, and now some genetics thrown in. Currently I'm going an independent experiment on the effects of red and far-red light on pea plant development, and soon we'll be working with baby chickens! It's a fantastic class. Spanish is fine, as usual, but a lot of work. Luckily this is my last semester of Spanish I'm required to take. American Foreign Policy is fascinating - it's an "easy class" (just online readings and two papers), but I love listening to two incredibly brilliant minds (Vinnie Ferraro and Joe Ellis) argue about big-picture problems in our world today. Environmental Ethics is also really interesting. I love learning about the different philosophers - Aldo Leopold is a new favorite of mine. The class itself isn't too thrilling, but I'm enjoying the material. For an independent project in that class I also volunteer for a few hours a week at the Kestrel Trust, a land conservation organization based in the town of Amherst. I am also taking yoga class twice a week, and it is SO relaxing - the poses are somewhat challenging, since it's an intermediate level, but there is quite a bit of relaxation and meditation worked in, so I always feel refreshed after class.

I didn't go home for Spring Break - instead, my friend Cait's family invited me to spend it at their house in Pennsylvania with them. It was quite lovely and relaxing - much time was spent watching movies/TV, eating amazing home-cooked food, visiting Cait's friends, and exploring the Lehigh Valley. Cait's mom, who happens to be a MoHo alum, took us to Philly one day, where we visited the Barnes Foundation (amazing art!) and saw Cait's friend who goes to Bryn Mawr. It was a lovely break overall. :)

Another exciting thing occurred - I got a paid internship with NOAA (the National Atmospheric & Oceanic Administration) this summer, through the 5 College Coastal & Marine Science program! I will be spending the summer living on the beach in Maine, doing research at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve. I'll be there for 10 weeks, so hopefully I'll be home for about 2 weeks in May, and for most of August before I have to return to Massachusetts.

My days are busy, but not totally overwhelming. The good news is that my roommate and I get a long really really well, and there's never a dull moment in Porter basement. I've made a tons of new friends this semester, and have been loving the social aspects of Mount Holyoke as well as the academic. Every weekend there are lectures or concerts or parties to attend, and I love the Pioneer Valley/Five College consortium, since there are so many things going on all the time. For example, in the past week I went out to dinner with my friend Cait's family who came up to visit for her birthday - we went to Spoleto, a delicious Italian restaurant in Northampton, and got ice cream from the famous Herrell's. The next night we had a (slightly less classy) party for her birthday, and the next day I collected Easter eggs around campus. I studied a lot for my Spanish midterm, wrote an Environmental Ethics paper, and had a Bio exam. I went to a concert by the Palestinian hiphop group DAM (Da Arabian MC's) at Amherst College. I stayed in and watched movies with Kelsey Friday night, and did homework for a few hours on Saturday. I went to a friend's party last night, and helped plan a surprise birthday party for another friend this afternoon.

I am currently sitting in the Info Commons of our amazing library. It has lots of comfy couches, computers, and people doing group projects - a dull level of noise that's nicer than complete silence. I've got a delicious mocha from Rao's, the local coffee chain that has a shop in the atrium of the library, and I've got my feet up on the table while listening to music and working on a Spanish composition. My friends Kelsey and Ebie are coming to meet me here after their Arabic language review. Hopefully I'll finish all my work before closing time (2am). Wish me luck!