Potential Spring2011 Schedule

This schedule is like empty. Of course, I haven't added independent research course times yet, or volunteering times, or tutoring times yet, but this is just classes without research. All the linguistics classes I'm taking are just for fun. This will be an awesome semester.\

Fall 2010 Schedule - Updated

So I realized I forgot to post up the actual updated version of my Fall 2010 schedule. Green is class, red is volunteering, yellow is badminton, and light blue is tutoring. Tutoring times aren't really set, so I just found three random hour slots and added those.

Linguistics- field work

So I'm in linguistics class right now making this post on my iPod touch. Paauw was talking about how field linguists, when aliens come to the world, will be extremely important for determining if aliens speak, what they use to speak and their language. That got me thinking about communication between animals (since I'm studying for the animal behavior test next Friday). Then I thought "Aren't behavioral ecologists in a sense, field linguists?"

He's talking about a really good scientific short story written by Ted Chiang (omg azn!) and he said the author is the only science fiction author he's seen that knows linguistics. I'm looking forward to reading the short story, since I'm a fan of both made-up languages and science fiction. I kind of want to write my own short story... maybe for NaNoWriMo lol though I don't know if I'll have the patience to do that or to make up my own language.

Interview-ish

I went to talk to Doctor today [not going to mention any names, just in case so the doctor's name will be Doctor] at 8:00am. I was afraid I was going to be late, so I left my room at 7:20, knowing it'd only take me around 10-15mins to walk there. I didn't know where her office was, so I had to ask the service desk in the main lobby of the hospital. Her office was on the top floor and it was kinda creepy because the when the elevator opened, it was all dark. She was talking to someone when I first got there at around 7:40 and I didn't want to disturb her, so I waited outside. After they left, I walked into her office and she called her student over, the student whose job I'll be taking over if I decide to take the offer. She told me a bit about the job, but it was mostly the student talking. He graduated last year and is applying to medical school this year. He basically said he was Doctor's assistant and does both administrative and research work. Apparently, you need to pass a test to conduct research on humans. They're into web design, and Doctor is in charge of their residency program, so I may get to interview residents, which would be lots of fun. They also said they just came up with a new idea called the Confession Box, which started with the residents writing confessions and them reading and analyzing them. Then it turned into a hospital thing, so now there are confession boxes around the hospital. This jobs seems like lots of fun because it's a bunch of little projects, so I won't get bored, and research with human interaction.

I'm actually really interested in this job right now, but I've also emailed that surgeon that my dad's friend's friends with and am still waiting to hear back from him. I'm leaning more towards this job though because it's a job I've found on my own, or at least did the networking myself to get it. A lot of people tell me how lucky I am because my parents are in the field and that I can only get a job because of connections. It's pretty embarrassing to only be able to get a summer intern position because my mom is there or because my dad knows someone, because then it's not because they think I'm qualified, it's because they can't say no. This job, I can proudly say, I got myself, and no one can say anything about connections. Doctor said to keep in touch and of course I'm going to email her tonight and say how thankful I am for her giving me this opportunity. I probably didn't seem impressive in today's interview because I was kind of nervous and sick. I'm starting to think my coughs are stress-induced because I couldn't stop coughing during the interview and she kept asking me if I needed something to drink. Doctor seems like a really nice and cool person and the student said the environment is pretty relaxed, but lots of work.

Another reason I'm leaning towards this job is because I want to stay in Rochester and near University of Rochester. The people here are all really nice and I like this environment, despite the cold, which reminds me... I wore like 3layers of jackets and 2layers of pants today because it was freezing cold when I was walking there. It was still dark when I was walking. I also want to stay because I don't want to leave all my friends here yet. I also want to play in the Rochester Open again next year and I don't want to leave Badminton Club yet either. I'll see what the other doctor says and decide from there, but I really am leaning towards this job right now after hearing her and the student talk about it so enthusiastically.

Reclassification

I got the letter I've been waiting for Friday Nov. 29, 2010.

Dear Ms. Wang:

I am pleased to inform you that the Administrative Committee has approved your request to be reclassified from the Class of 2010 to the Class of 2011. All appropriate offices will be notified of this decision.

Yep, I am now a senior :D. Maybe I should make a new word for people graduating early, but like... you can't really mix junior and senior... it'd be like... jenior or sunior... jusenior...? Yeah that fails... so I'll just be "graduating early". It actually took me a while to come to this decision. Sure maybe if I can stay I can get a leadership position in Badminton, and maybe I'll get research, but like what classes would I take? My counselor recommended me to get a bunch of minors, but that's just a waste of time and I really don't see the point in getting minors, or even another major. So basically, I tried to think of reasons for me to stay and found that the benefits of graduating early succeeded the benefits of staying, and thus I decided to appeal to graduate a year early. What am I going to do that year? I'm looking for clinical research right now and if I can't find any, I'll hopefully get to volunteer for a nonprofit organization of some sort.

I have an "interview" tomorrow, which I was very lucky to get. I went to the alum networking night and waited like an hour or two for a one doctor in anesthesiology who said was going to show up. After a really long time, he finally showed up and by that time, most of the premeds probably left already because it was all engineering, business, and public health. Anyways, so I basically got to talk to him by myself for a long period of time. As I was telling him/asking him to reaffirm my graduating early plans, I was hinting that I wanted clinical research. I asked him whether he did research himself and he said he didn't. By the end of the conversation, he basically said "email me and I'll recommend you to some people I know who does research". At that time, I didn't let myself get too excited because I wasn't expecting anything. I wasn't expecting him to actually try to find me a position, but I emailed him anyways because I had nothing to lose. About three days later, another doctor of anesthesiology emailed me and said she might have a position open and wanted to talk to me. It was scheduled for last Thursday, but she said she needed to be in the OR all morning, and was rescheduled for tomorrow. My dad's coworker apparently is a good friend of a surgeon here in Rochester and I need to email him (the surgeon) really soon to ask for a position too.

I actually have a music quiz in 15mins, so I'm going to start walking towards Todd Union now. Bye~