I realize you are already well into your quarter, and
presumably having a blast being a TA coordinator and living The Riley Life and
in general just being a boss. I, however, am only a week into my semester, so
the phrase, “how do you like your classes?” frequently flows freely from my
lips. (Debated saying “face” instead of “lips” for purposes of alliteration,
decided would be overkill.) So, in the spirit of a new semester, here is what
life is like now that I’m back at the ol’ grindstone.
This semester I have two professors I’ve taken classes from
before. This is sort of good and bad, since I have mixed feelings about both
professors (one is a cool guy but not a great teacher, the other is a good
teacher but not always such a great guy). On the bright side, I got As in both
of their classes. Hopefully the trend continues. With these two professors I’m
analyzing separation processes, studying kinetics, and designing reactors.
Hardcore chemE stuff! Should be cool. I’m particularly interested in
separations, as those are usually the financially limiting step in any
manufacturing process and they are necessary for manufacturing almost
everything. So far the class is pretty derivation-y but the homework is more
structured toward applications, which I like, and I hope the lectures will
follow.
My other two classes have to do with controls. I’ve never
taken a class on controls before, so I’m slowly forming a definition of what it
means. So far, the gist is that you employ some sort of control system when you’re
trying to maintain something (a tank level, a room temperature, a flow rate).
It seems pretty simple at first glance, but there are a lot of things to think
about and components to add to a process in order to establish a control loop.
I don’t think controls are my calling, but it seems like thinking about
engineering from a controls mindset could be really useful, and the professors
seem good.
My last big course is biochemistry. I guess I don’t have too much to say about it,
except that I’m liking it. It’s a fairly standard chem/bio course, except that
it meets four days a week. The professor is great, the material is helping my
co-op make more sense and will hopefully make the continuation of my co-op over
the summer more enriching too. Yay biochem!
Aside from orchestra (in which I have a bassoon-playing
buddy! And a whole bunch of time off from rehearsals while there are string
sectionals, which is why I got bored tonight and decided to write a blogpost),
the only other class I’m taking is called career perspectives. People
(generally alumni) who were trained as chemEs talk to us about the job they
have and how they got there and give us advice and all that jazz. I’m hoping it
can give me a better understanding of what I might want to do once I’m “out in
the world”. We had a presentation today, which I paid amazing attention to
considering how badly I needed to pee. (It’s alright, I don’t think I want a
PhD anyway…)
Outside of school, I live in a two-bedroom apartment with
some guy who was abroad in Jordan last semester. Ordinarily I would think going
to Jordan for a semester would be a fantastic experience, but I don’t
understand why you would decide to go if you hadn’t already planned out the
classes you were going to take to still be able to graduate on time… Don’t get
me wrong, he’s a really nice kid, just maybe a little immature.
Also, he lost his pan privileges yesterday. I’m a
two-strikes-and-you’re-out kind of gal, and he used ‘em up. Here’s the
situation: he knows the two guys who lived here last semester, and accordingly
they left a whole bunch of dishes here for him to use. I have one pan and one pot.
My pan, I’ll admit, is a pretty fantastic pan. It got a little bent due to
shipping, and I don’t have a lid, but it’s a nice color and a nice weight and a
nice size and nice and non-stick. It is clearly the best pan in this joint. So,
Roommate used it. Theoretically, I don’t care if someone uses my dishes. “Oh
sure, use a butter knife, I have like 11 more of them anyway,” “Yeah, no
problem, if you use a pan or utensil and put it away before I ever have the
chance to miss it, no big deal.” In practice, I’m a lot less generous with my
kitchen supplies. But still! Use a spoon, I will learn to cope with one less
spoon. HOWEVER. I have one pan. If you use my pan, and you don’t clean it for
multiple days once, I will clean it before I need to use it. You do it twice?
No more pan for you. Pan lives in my bedroom with me now. You will never see
pan again. Pan got sick of being disrespected and violated so it got the hell
out of that unfortunate situation. Pan is in a better place now. He and printer
are from different worlds but they’re learning a lot from one another. The
separation from pot has been tough, but if pot suffers the same fate as pan in
the kitchen they will be reunited. Hear that, Roommate? Two strikes.
Just to clarify, I was serious when I said Roommate is nice.
Maybe he isn’t as neat and tidy as I am, but we’re nowhere near endangering
ourselves with filth. Also I stole two of his cookies. Pan tax.
Finally, there are three things I’ve added this semester I’ve
never had at Cornell before: a job, a car, and a boyfriend. Having a car is
pretty sweet, as I can be like, “I need to go buy X at Y,” and just do that. No
hassle of asking for a ride or trying to figure out the bus situation. Yay!
I think I already told you this, but just in case, my new
job is in the engineering advising office. So far, I am really enjoying it. I
work 10.5 hours a week answering phones, scheduling appointments, helping
students who walk in, making copies, and entering petition information
regarding courses into a database. I’m learning a lot about how the university
works, like to whom to go if you have a problem. Last week was pretty busy,
with a lot of people having beginning-of-the-semester questions, but from here
on I think I’ll have a lot of time there to work on homework. Getting paid to
do my homework? Free coffee? Sweet!
Finally, there is the boyfriend. Both of us are quite busy
this semester, and he started to have a little mini freak-out last week from
stress (he’s not the only one I know, either), so I’m trying to give him lots
of time to work on stuff when he wants to work on stuff and play videogames
when he wants to play videogames and all that jazz. The last thing I want to do
is have our relationship add undue stress for either of us. We’ve been making
solid efforts to hang out every few days, and so far I think it’s working well
for us.
I guess that pretty much sums it up! I bought and assembled
a nightstand yesterday because my friend Tyler said an inadequately sized box
is not appropriate to use as a nightstand. I also made homemade meatballs
yesterday that tasted delicious. (I may not be as Italian as my first name, but
at least I can make meatballs.) I’m also reading A Tale of Two Cities and enjoying it SO MUCH MORE than when I was
forced to read it in high school. I’m now 70% of the way through, according to
my fancy-dancy Kindle (which I love, by the way. I think I’m reading a lot more
now, since it tells me how many minutes it’ll take me to finish a chapter, and
I’m always like “that’s not that long!” and keep reading).
I hope you’re doing well and that you’ll find a little time
sometime soon to write a post!
Love,
Lola
