2016
Well. It's been a year. And although there's been all kinds of turmoil in the world and I don't want to gloss over the fact that 2016 was not a great year for many people, in true Emily fashion, I'm going to focus on the positives of this year. Fair Warning: This might be a little bit all over the place.
I don't really know where to start when talking about the past 12 months. It's been a whirlwind and I feel like I haven't gotten more than a week or so of being lazy at a time since the start of spring semester. I don't regret any of it though. Everything I have done has been in pursuit of the goals that I have and I think that I have made significant progress towards the goals.
Thinking back on spring semester, everything kind of seems like a blur. While I can look back at my first semester of college and pinpoint some great moments, I having a really hard time doing that for February - April. It's not that I didn't have moments of enjoying myself, though, it's just that nothing stands out. While living on the Honors Floor was incredible for me, towards the end of the year everyone was continuously getting more and more annoyed with each other, and that threw some interesting wrenches into living together. I'm not blaming anyone for anything that happened, but it's worth noting. Honestly, the only class I took spring semester that seems of important at all is 202. History and English were good classes and I'm proud of my final papers for both classes (I need to post my English one somewhere eventually), but they are really irrelevant to the rest of the classes I will be taking in college. 202 though, that's a different story. I had breezed through 201 and nobody had told me that 202 would be a lot harder, but that it was. I'm so glad that I had Dr. Gibson for that class, because I wouldn't have had nearly much fun otherwise. As much as 202 projects were super annoying, I'm glad that I had so many people I knew taking the class because we could all just sit in the lounge and struggle together. Also, Alex basically lived in my room for an entire semester...so that was super fun!
Moving on, summer 2016 was different from any summer than any other previous summers I've experienced. For the first time, I had a full time job and was behind a desk 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. While the work I did at NIST was not the most interesting thing in the world, I still learned a lot from my experience about what kind of things I could do with the degree I hope to get and what kind of work I would want to do after I graduate. I also met some really cool people at NIST and felt very adult the whole time I was there :) But yeah, that was basically all of my summer. After my internship ended, I was able to fly down to Tampa and spend a couple days with my cousins down there which was super fun and we did a bunch of cool things like ride these water bikes and go mini-golfing, which I missed because I was working during my family's beach trip. After I got home from that, I was quickly back on the road again with my family to upstate New York. This vacation was a ton of fun because I hadn't spent more than a couple of days with my family at a time since spring break and although my siblings almost drove me crazy, we had a good time. Everything we went to see was so pretty as well. We saw some incredible waterfalls (and swam under one), visited Lake Ontario (I had never seen a Great Lake before so this was cool) and played a really cool mini-golf course. All in all, it was a good trip although Curt did lose my favorite beach towel.
I think that the best single moment of the summer was that I finally got to see Cimorelli live in concert. I don't go to concerts much, and for my favorite band to finally be coming to my area was so cool, especially after they had just released their first album. I don't think I can put into words how much some of Cimorelli's songs can convey exactly what I'm feeling but the last couple weeks of the semester were emotionally charged for me and I think that I need an outlet to just scream the lyrics to my favorite songs. The actually concert itself was incredible. I was probably the oldest person there besides parents, but the venue was really small and there was only ~50 people total which was so cool! I remember not expecting them to open with "Up At Night" because they hadn't at their previous shows and because that song is probably my favorite of theirs, when the music started and Dani started her verse I actually teared up a bit. I also started crying at the first note of "You're Worth It", which I honestly wasn't surprised about. I have no words to describe how fun it was though and I can't wait to see Cimorelli again as soon as I possibly can.
Fall semester was, interesting, to say the least. I was definitely in a better emotional state than I was spring semester, so that at least was good. Academically though, I was hit by a typhoon of challenging course and worked myself into a panic so many times during the course of three months. I can easily say that the classes I took were the hardest class I have ever taken, but I am so glad that I took them because although 301 and 341 were challenging, they were so interesting and I learned so much by the end of the semester. Anyway, I had so many near meltdowns about classes this semester I stopped counting. But, I survived and that's the important thing. Real Analysis (MATH 301) was the first time I've ever struggled in a math class, but it taught me so much about how to study and learn upper level math and I'm really really proud of myself and felt like I recovered nicely from the mid-semester homework debacle. Data Structures (CMSC 341) was a beast, but I am so pleased with how I did, because even after all the brick walls I had to force myself through, I got every project to behave properly and somehow only lost 1 point the whole semester on memory leaks even though I had them initially in every project. CMSC 331 was a really interesting class too, and I think I learned a lot about the wide range of functions that different languages. Plus, after an "interesting" experience with my first group, I had a really great time working on the final project with an awesome group! And...I never have to take a Spanish class again!!!! 201 was not that hard for me, but it was also the least of my priorities so I didn't do as well as I hoped I did on some things.
This semester was probably my favorite semester of college yet, and I think that it's because I expanded my circle of people I talked to so much more. I met so many cool people through TAing and Intervarsity that I would have never met if I just spent time with old Honors Floor people. TAing for 201 was the best choice I made all semester. I had so much fun helping people discover the joy of computer science, some for the first time. I also had a really great discussion section, which definitely helps. I can't wait to do it all again in the Spring and hopefully for many more semesters to come. Getting involved with IV was also great because so many of the people I met there have very similar personalities and approaches to faith that I do and I was able to find another spiritual home on campus. I can't wait to finally be able to go to a retreat with these wonderful people!
I think what really made this year for me were the people that I met and interacted with along the way. So, all of you reading this, thank you for that! I had a great year with all of you and can't wait to see what adventures await us in 2017!
Until next time (and next year),
-Emily
I don't really know where to start when talking about the past 12 months. It's been a whirlwind and I feel like I haven't gotten more than a week or so of being lazy at a time since the start of spring semester. I don't regret any of it though. Everything I have done has been in pursuit of the goals that I have and I think that I have made significant progress towards the goals.
Thinking back on spring semester, everything kind of seems like a blur. While I can look back at my first semester of college and pinpoint some great moments, I having a really hard time doing that for February - April. It's not that I didn't have moments of enjoying myself, though, it's just that nothing stands out. While living on the Honors Floor was incredible for me, towards the end of the year everyone was continuously getting more and more annoyed with each other, and that threw some interesting wrenches into living together. I'm not blaming anyone for anything that happened, but it's worth noting. Honestly, the only class I took spring semester that seems of important at all is 202. History and English were good classes and I'm proud of my final papers for both classes (I need to post my English one somewhere eventually), but they are really irrelevant to the rest of the classes I will be taking in college. 202 though, that's a different story. I had breezed through 201 and nobody had told me that 202 would be a lot harder, but that it was. I'm so glad that I had Dr. Gibson for that class, because I wouldn't have had nearly much fun otherwise. As much as 202 projects were super annoying, I'm glad that I had so many people I knew taking the class because we could all just sit in the lounge and struggle together. Also, Alex basically lived in my room for an entire semester...so that was super fun!
Moving on, summer 2016 was different from any summer than any other previous summers I've experienced. For the first time, I had a full time job and was behind a desk 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. While the work I did at NIST was not the most interesting thing in the world, I still learned a lot from my experience about what kind of things I could do with the degree I hope to get and what kind of work I would want to do after I graduate. I also met some really cool people at NIST and felt very adult the whole time I was there :) But yeah, that was basically all of my summer. After my internship ended, I was able to fly down to Tampa and spend a couple days with my cousins down there which was super fun and we did a bunch of cool things like ride these water bikes and go mini-golfing, which I missed because I was working during my family's beach trip. After I got home from that, I was quickly back on the road again with my family to upstate New York. This vacation was a ton of fun because I hadn't spent more than a couple of days with my family at a time since spring break and although my siblings almost drove me crazy, we had a good time. Everything we went to see was so pretty as well. We saw some incredible waterfalls (and swam under one), visited Lake Ontario (I had never seen a Great Lake before so this was cool) and played a really cool mini-golf course. All in all, it was a good trip although Curt did lose my favorite beach towel.
I think that the best single moment of the summer was that I finally got to see Cimorelli live in concert. I don't go to concerts much, and for my favorite band to finally be coming to my area was so cool, especially after they had just released their first album. I don't think I can put into words how much some of Cimorelli's songs can convey exactly what I'm feeling but the last couple weeks of the semester were emotionally charged for me and I think that I need an outlet to just scream the lyrics to my favorite songs. The actually concert itself was incredible. I was probably the oldest person there besides parents, but the venue was really small and there was only ~50 people total which was so cool! I remember not expecting them to open with "Up At Night" because they hadn't at their previous shows and because that song is probably my favorite of theirs, when the music started and Dani started her verse I actually teared up a bit. I also started crying at the first note of "You're Worth It", which I honestly wasn't surprised about. I have no words to describe how fun it was though and I can't wait to see Cimorelli again as soon as I possibly can.
Fall semester was, interesting, to say the least. I was definitely in a better emotional state than I was spring semester, so that at least was good. Academically though, I was hit by a typhoon of challenging course and worked myself into a panic so many times during the course of three months. I can easily say that the classes I took were the hardest class I have ever taken, but I am so glad that I took them because although 301 and 341 were challenging, they were so interesting and I learned so much by the end of the semester. Anyway, I had so many near meltdowns about classes this semester I stopped counting. But, I survived and that's the important thing. Real Analysis (MATH 301) was the first time I've ever struggled in a math class, but it taught me so much about how to study and learn upper level math and I'm really really proud of myself and felt like I recovered nicely from the mid-semester homework debacle. Data Structures (CMSC 341) was a beast, but I am so pleased with how I did, because even after all the brick walls I had to force myself through, I got every project to behave properly and somehow only lost 1 point the whole semester on memory leaks even though I had them initially in every project. CMSC 331 was a really interesting class too, and I think I learned a lot about the wide range of functions that different languages. Plus, after an "interesting" experience with my first group, I had a really great time working on the final project with an awesome group! And...I never have to take a Spanish class again!!!! 201 was not that hard for me, but it was also the least of my priorities so I didn't do as well as I hoped I did on some things.
This semester was probably my favorite semester of college yet, and I think that it's because I expanded my circle of people I talked to so much more. I met so many cool people through TAing and Intervarsity that I would have never met if I just spent time with old Honors Floor people. TAing for 201 was the best choice I made all semester. I had so much fun helping people discover the joy of computer science, some for the first time. I also had a really great discussion section, which definitely helps. I can't wait to do it all again in the Spring and hopefully for many more semesters to come. Getting involved with IV was also great because so many of the people I met there have very similar personalities and approaches to faith that I do and I was able to find another spiritual home on campus. I can't wait to finally be able to go to a retreat with these wonderful people!
I think what really made this year for me were the people that I met and interacted with along the way. So, all of you reading this, thank you for that! I had a great year with all of you and can't wait to see what adventures await us in 2017!
Until next time (and next year),
-Emily
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