Holiday Weekend

Hey everyone! As I mentioned in my last post, this past weekend was Holiday Weekend on campus; and what a great weekend it was! For those of you who don't know about Holiday Weekend, it is another one of Elmira College's time-honored traditions that takes place every year on some weekend between the Thanksgiving and Holiday breaks. The weekend consists of the Holiday Banquet on Friday night and the Holiday Ball on Saturday night.

The Holiday Banquet is definitely one of my favorite EC traditions. The banquet is definitely a unique experience in that each professor and administrator at the college is offered the chance to be the head of their own table. Students can then sign up to sit with their favorite professor for the most delicious dinner of the year. The dinner consists of turkey (which the head of the table is tasks with cutting), stuffing, corn bread, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, and a dessert. In addition, the concert ensemble really sets the mood by playing holiday songs as everyone enters in the dining hall. In addition, there is a huge (I'm guessing 12 feet) Christmas tree in the front of the dining hall decorated with, you guessed it, purple and gold lights. This year I sat with Dr. Kjar, one of my favorite professors at the school, as well as his wife Maya. I have had several classes with Dr. Kjar, including a 4 week term three trip to the Bahamas last year (Maya went as well), and we get along well resulting in a very pleasant evening.

The Holiday Ball is an annual dance held in the campus center. Every year a very talented student oversees the decorations and transforms the dining hall. This year the theme was Arabian Nights and the decorations were flawless. The dance starts at 9:00pm and lasts until 11:00pm and most of the student body attends. It's a great way to cut loose and have some fun with all your friends before finals week and the end of the term. My girlfriend Emily and I both had a great time. Of course this post requires pictures:



All in all I had a great time this weekend and cannot wait until next year!

Also, for junior seminar this year we had to make professional websites. Mine isn't done yet, but I figured you might want to check it out. Let me know what you think!

Almost there

It's been awhile since my last update and as such I have quite a bit to talk about. Thanksgiving break was wonderful and much needed. There's nothing quite like 10 relaxing days at home with friends and family. One of the things that makes Thanksgiving break so great is that it's the first time all of my friends are home at the same time as me, so a large part of my break was spent catching up with friends that I haven't seen in several months. The rest of the time I spent either with my family, playing Xbox, reading, or just lounging around the house. This was the first year that we've had Thanksgiving dinner at my house and I have to say that it was a resounding success. My mother and sister cooked an excellent dinner as well as an absolutely delicious pie. The Saturday after Thanksgiving I went down to Liberty University with my dad and my friend Cameron to try out their new Snowflex Centre (http://www.liberty.edu/snowflex/). It's essentially AstroTurf that you can ski on. We all had a great time and my dad even managed to take some video of me on the jump.



All in all I had a great break and only wish that it had been longer. The only thing now standing between me and the holiday break is 2 short weeks of classes and 1 week of finals. Unfortunately these 3 weeks happen to be the hardest three weeks of the term. Luckily I have both the Holiday Banquet and Holiday Ball to look forward to this weekend. I'll let you know how they are in my next post!

The 11th hour

This morning I was fortunate enough to get out of physics lab early. On my walk back to my dorm room in Meier Hall I happened to hear the bell tower in Speidel Gymnasium play a song. Being a junior I am quite used to this as the bells ring every quarter hour and play a college song at the top of every hour. This time however, something was different. It wasn't until I began singing along that I realized the song was "God Bless America." The time was 11:11. The 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. I cannot even begin to express how much this meant to me.

I by no means come from a military family, but both of my grandfathers, two of my uncles, and my aunt have all served their country with honor and distinction. It's important in today's fast paced world to slow down and take a minute to remember and honor those who have served. From America's revolutionary beginnings to our current overseas commitments American men and women have dedicated their time, youth, devotion, and in some cases much more to their country. Whether you know them or not, whether you know anything about their service or not, and regardless of whether you agree with the reason they were called to serve, please take a moment and thank a veteran today.


To all of you have served or are serving your country, thank you so much for your sacrifice.

(image courtesy of marines.mil)

Happy November everyone!

Well it's now November and the weather is finally starting to get colder. Winter jackets, boots, and scarves are starting to become the norm on campus as everyone gets ready for winter. All of this means of course that I have skiing on the brain. In fact, Christmas came early this year as just yesterday I picked up my brand new skis from Berger's Ski Shop in Corning! Needless to say I cannot wait to get them on some snow. With all this talk of skiing, I feel like now would be as good a time as ever to tell you about the ski club here on campus.

Ski Club is one of the most laid-back clubs on campus. We only really meet for three months out of the year and the meetings aren't mandatory nor do we take attendance. The whole purpose of the club is to expose as many people as possible to just how fun skiing and snowboarding can be. This year we're even going to have some trips oriented specifically toward first-timers. Traditionally the EC ski club has gone on a weekend trip every year to a resort in Vermont. Usually the trip alternates yearly between Killington/Pico and Sugarbush. We usually stay at condos right at the bottom of the mountain which makes for a great experience. There's nothing like the feeling of getting up in the morning and being able to ski right from your door to the lift. Due to funding from finance board, the trip is always a great deal too; we can usually get the cost for a weekend of great skiing in Vermont (including everything but food) down to less than $200. I went my Freshman year, and I have to say that it is honestly one of my best memories so far of my time at Elmira. We're still waiting to hear if we've received funding from finance board this year, but if all goes according to plan we'll be traveling to Sugarbush this January. I'll keep you posted and let you know the final word for the trip. If you have any questions about ski club (or anything for that matter) don't hesitate to ask! Think snow!

Thoughts of the future

The first full week of classes after break has finally ended and life is officially back to normal. You may remember me discussing the practice MCAT last week; I did indeed end up taking it and let me tell you, it was easily the hardest test I've ever taken. My performance set the tone for the week and my feelings of worry were only made worse by my junior seminar class on Wednesday. Every biology major has to take junior seminar in the fall of their junior year. Junior sem is a class that meets once a week and is taught by all of the biology professors. We do a variety of things in class, all designed to give us guidance in planning our post-college careers as well as an advantage over biology majors graduating from other schools.

This week in bio sem we had an assignment due where we had to look at various graduate or professional schools (medical school in my case) and find out what the requirements were. We then had to analyze where we stand in relation to these requirements and begin to make a plan that we can follow to improve our standings. You can see how this can be a stressful, yet necessary, experience. In doing my assignment I found that I am actually closer than I though I was to the requirements. The areas I need the most improvement on are volunteer service as well as my internships (or lack thereof). So as of late most of my energy has been devoted to searching for internships, as well as studying for my developmental biology test earlier this week.

In happier news though, the weather is finally getting colder! Ski season is right around the corner and I couldn't be happier. In fact, I actually just ordered a new pair of skis for this season from Berger's Ski Shop in Corning! Hopefully they'll get here soon so I can stop daydreaming about them.

A much needed break

Midterm break this year was short but sweet. I was able to spend some time with my girlfriend and her family as well as catch up with one of my friends whom I haven't seen in a while. Also, I don't think I slept less than 12 hours any night, a much needed change of pace. And so, well rested and with a stomach full of home-cooked food my girlfriend and I drove back to Elmira on Tuesday, ready for a nice half week of classes to ease us back into the daily grind of college life.

Unfortunately, like all good things, break had to come to an end. So now, after writing a four page paper on the Black Death for European History, I'm currently preparing myself to take the Kaplan practice MCAT today. Every year Elmira offers two free Kaplan tests for students to take advantage of and being as how I need to take the MCATs for real this May, I figured it might be a good idea to take advantage of this and find out what the test is like. Wish me luck everyone!

Once I make it through the test though, I'll be able to unwind and hopefully watch the Phillies come back against the Giants. Also, tomorrow ACS (American Chemical Society) is holding their first ever science major volleyball tournament. The tournament is a competition between class years and naturally I will be proudly representing the 2012s who, of course, are going to emerge the victor.

Frog Development Lab

Breaks, to me, are a mixed blessing. On one hand, it's a much needed change of pace from my hectic school schedule. A chance for me to go home, relax on the couch, catch up with friends and family, and in general do a whole lot of nothing. On the other hand, it seems the weeks before breaks are the most stressful of the year. That being said, I decided that for my first post I would share with you one of the several reasons for the previous two weeks of sleep deprivation.

One of the classes I'm taking this year is developmental biology, a 3000 level lab class. The class is a challenge for sure, but at the same time I have to say that it is one of the most interesting classes that I've ever taken. Three weeks ago in lab (Thursday afternoons) we took freshly fertilized frog eggs and separated them into three groups. We incubated one group at room temperature (22 degrees Celsius), one at 26 degrees Celsius, and one at 28 degrees Celsius. Then over the next three days we came into the lab at planned intervals (3-4 hours to start and then about 8 hours once development slowed) and observed what stage the eggs were at. For you alert readers yes, that means we had to come into lab over the weekend, I was in the lab staring through a microscope at three or four in the morning more than once during my weekend.

Luckily for you, I took pictures of the eggs/embryos at their various stages of development so you can all get an idea of what it is that biology majors do here at Elmira. The pictures are in order from egg to a very early tadpole. All of the pictures were taken using a regular digital camera held up to a dissecting microscope. The magnification for every picture is somewhere around 10 times.




Well, I am officially home from break and it is now time for me to relax. Expect more posts soon! If you have any questions just let me know, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

On a completely unrelated note, let's go Phillies! First game of the NLCS tomorrow, and I finally have time to watch.