Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Here comes my graduation year...!!!

Christmas is over-- I got a brand new spankin' coat, if anyone was interested in knowing-- and now comes the new year. Even more exciting?:


HERE COMES MY GRADUATION YEAR!!!

My little sister is also graduating from 8th grade, so it's a special year for both of us. I think it's ironic that I am graduating into a year that most economists on television are predicting to be one of the worst years in history, and into a time when we have more unemployed people than the Depression. I also bought my first car when gas was $4.00 a gallon, and my computer's motherboard died right around the time when I REALLY needed to be saving money for "life after college". I really need to stop having this bad timing.

I'm home in Chicago right now, and truthfully, I'm ready to go back to Iowa. I cannot wait to start the semester only to see what it brings. My last semester.... aaaaahhhh....

Here's some goals for the next semester:

1. Get into graduate school
2. If #1 ends up not happening, find a job.
3. Go to one last drag show at Coe
4. Become successful in the start of the Flunk Day Activities Committee-- for those who don't know what it is, see post later next year in about May. 
5. Have awesome last moments and memories with friends
6. Perhaps go on a spring break trip? (for the first time ever...)
7. Enjoy every day


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Working on the Grad School Apps

Hello all!

Right now I am just working on the grad school apps and potential employment after college. I ended up passing P Chem-whew!- and did pretty well with my other grades, so I am satisfied. Now comes the hard part of trying to decide what to do with my life after.

I just spent that past few days working on my graduate school applications. I totaled how much it cost to apply to four graduate schools by itself-- this includes the application fees, transcript fees, taking the GRE, sending my GRE scores to schools I forgot in my "free" box... it's totaling more than $400. Luckily, Coe is picking up three of those grad school app fees from this program they have. If you qualify, they will pay up to three schools app fees that is on a list they provide. Well, all of my grad school potentials are on there, so....Still... that's a lot of money for just applying to grad school. So here's some advice for anyone planning on going to graduate school after college: SAVE YOUR MONEY! You will need it to apply to graduate school alone, let alone other expenses!

Other than that, I am now chilling in Chicago... things are really snowy here. Luckily, I've got books to keep me company. If there is anything that I LOVE about winter breaks, it's having the time to read books of my own choice. Being a science major, class takes up ALL my time, and by the time I finish my work, I don't even feel like looking at another book, and thus, will veg-out in front of the TV or hanging out with friends. But come winter break... bring on the books! Here's my reading list for this winter (don't laugh... i'm REALLY behind on my reading, as you will see with some books):

1. Eragon

2. Hidden Mysteries in Water (a gift from Mom)

3. Guns, Germs, and Steel

4. Eldest...maybe

I am about to finish Eragon probably tonight or tomorrow. Until then, stay warm, and I shall write again soon!!

Friday, December 12, 2008

7 down, 1 more to go

The End.


I'm beginning my post with the end of another semester. I was originally going to title this post, "1 down, 1 more to go", but then I thought about it, and realized, "Noooooo..... Actually, I've gone through seven semesters at Coe."

This is ridiculous!

When on EARTH did I go through seven semesters? It feels long enough and too short at the same time. Long enough because you feel like your whole life has been school, school, school. But short enough to realize that out of all that school, college seemed to have gone the fastest. 

So I thought I might dedicate this post to a little reflection. I am going to name the three best moments of the seventh semester, and the three worst. 

The Three BEST Moments of Sakinah's Seventh Coe Semester:

1. Interview with Iowa State Graduate College- This was extremely memorable because it occurred the day after labor day. I was definitely feeling out the college. I couldn't believe how MUCH research this college had going on that related to what I wanted to do with my life. But of course, having what you want to study is only the beginning. My mother told me from her graduate school experiences that fitting in with the right mentor and lab and school is really what counts and that visits were more important now than ever before. My interviews with Iowa State left me elated. Not only were the research prospects and the research facilities wonderful, but the PEOPLE there were exactly what I was looking for. My advisor told me that it's a good sign that when I can find a place where there is more than one person I would want to work with. It's probably an even better sign when you have no idea who you would want to work with specifically because so many of the mentors and their labs are wonderful and exciting!

2. Random Moments with the Roommates- I live in an apartment with three girls who I can officially say I love. The first roommate, Sara, was my resident when I was an RA (Resident Assistant) my sophomore year. I remember having to be the ear for her and her other roommates at the time when they got into their skirmishes. From her, I met Blondie (real name is Melissa, Blondie is a nickname) and Jeanice. Jeanice was actually in my First Year Seminar, but we never really hung out. However, I secretly remember thinking that if I were to live in an apartment, I would want to live with those three. I thought they may have had a fourth person picked out, but when they asked me, I was elated. We have our roommate moments, but there was never really any BAD moments in the apartment, and I always enjoy coming home to the randomness with the ladies!

3. Night out with the Girls I went out one night on a girls night to go dancing with some of my gal pals. It was an interesting combination of my friends who didn't really know or hang out with the others. But there were so many memorable moments that night and it was a LOT of fun!!

The Three WORST Moments of Sakinah's 7th Semester at Coe

1. My Last P Chem Quiz- This was a true bummer. I felt that I had studied my life away for this exam, and ended up doing horribly. It's a really bad feeling when you have to wonder where exactly the limitations of your understanding is... not to worry, though. I do believe it was due to high stress and feeling overwhelmed.

2. Doing about 10-15 Minutes Under my Required Senior Seminar Talk Time- Let me just put it this way: you anticipate and practice to do something nearly perfect for the longest time, and then you just talk too fast. It's a sucky feeling.

3. Being too busy to work enough to make some money- I know school is a full time job. But in the past, I was able to balance a job as well. This semester, I made the least amount of money ever because I had very little time to work due to my academic pressures. Now... I need a job.


Now I have one more semester left... my last days as a college students.... what on EARTH can I do to fill them with memorable moments???

I'm sure I could think of a few things.... snowboarding, sledding with friends, movie and hot chocolate nights, bonfires off campus, as well as a first-ever Spring Break trip and the anticipation of hearing from grad schools and finding out where I am going to end up in life! Oh wow, I'm finally going to grow up!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

It Sucks When Your Motherboard Dies

If there is any piece of advise I can give you guys about going to college, it is this: Save your money, do not spend it wildly. Because in times like this, when the motherboard of my iBook dies, it makes me grateful that I at least have the money to buy a new one. But it still sucks.



Well, two days ago my motherboard died. Luckily, I was able to extract all my documents for graduate school before things got too terrible. I thought things would calm down after senior seminar. But they didn't. Here's the basic breakdown:



After senior seminar, Friday-Sunday: I went to Ripon, Wisconsin for a weekend with my friend, Erin, to visit our friend Jon. Jon was an REU at Coe for a summer (an REU student is a student from one college to another to do research for a summer. It's like a summer exchange program. REU= Research Experience for Undergraduates). We loved seeing him! But let me tell you, that visit made me appreciate Coe...

Monday-Friday:I came back and had a busy week of attending three other senior seminars and trying to catch up in all my classes that I had gotten behind in due to senior seminar. It was ridiculous.

Friday-Sunday: 18 hours spent on a P Chem lab report. 18 hours....
Went to Iowa City to help boyfriend look at a truck he considered buying. He ended up buying it.
And I ended up with the responsibility of trying to get it back to his hometown somehow this week.

Monday Long story short, my roommate and I got bf's truck and my car to his hometown. Really, it is a long story. Sheesh.

Monday-Tuesday: Relax in Decorah.

Wednesday: Drive 6.5 hours to Chicago. Need to get home for Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving: It's thanksgiving. Eat good food, study for p chem test, read for middle eastern literature paper.

Friday and Saturday: Spend quality time with family... all the while studying for P Chem and reading for paper.

Sunday: Drive through TERRIBLE snowstorm. Get back, write middle eastern literature paper, study p chem, go to bed at 2 am
---> Sunday night: toss and turn all night over daunting final p chem test

Monday: wake up early, take p chem test, finish middle eastern literature paper, realize I forgot about Dr. Bob's project, freak out, CRASH!!!!

Rest of the week: Do random assignments in preparation for end of semester. Somehow Dr. Bob's project will get done.... Somehow.

Yep, and tomorrow's the last day of classes.

Just wait until next week when I write about me freaking out about finals!!!!!