Orientation continues...
Baltimore's weather is even more freakish than Singapore's! Well, on Monday morning there was a clear bright sky, with not even a hint of clouds and you can basically see aeroplanes flying all above you. Then all of a sudden, after spending just 1 1/2h in my room, it was raining nuts! And today, it was raining the moment I stepped out of my hall, and it rained and rained and rained till early afternoon, and this is simply irritating and depressing...However the locals whom I chatted with told me that they have had a whole month of dry weather and basically it doesn't precipitate much in Baltimore. Hmm I'll see...
Yesterday was not exactly interesting, neither is today. There were talks all the way yesterday, from some ethical assembly in the morning, to my academic advisor meeting late morning, then some academic interest panels, which gave me some useful information though. There was a talk about sex in the evening (apparently it's quite a big thing here, I have a notice board at the lobby telling people how to avoid STDs and the medical center actually gives out free condoms like our airport immigration counters giving out candies) and a comedy show at night, but I was simply too tired to go, so I slept through the whole thing in my room...
And I did my laundry yesterday for the first time! Clothes feel so nice after they were dried by the dryer :)
And by the way, the guys at the academic advisor meeting were very surprised at our LAMINATED A-Level certificates. They were even more surprised when Sneha and me told them that it actually CAME LAMINATED... :)
Today is an early day as well; there was a Dean's assembly in the morning, then it was a series of open houses. Basically I went to 5, with only Biology and German being relevant to my interests. Apparently JHU's German department offers a very extensive programme, and they are supposed to be really very good, so I guess I should be able to pick it up well if I have the time to take it up next year? And by the way, out of the ~100 people at the Biology open house, only 6 of us indicated that we will be doing graduate school, and almost everyone else is pre-med... When I saw the amount of hands up I was freaked out... But the nice thing is, Professor Beemon told me that she might have a project for me when I told her that I was into cellular mechanisms of cancer, so that might be an opportunity :)
Later there would be a BBQ gathering for all freshmen, and I will be there getting some food then most likely I'll be back looking around for some research opportunities and some voluntary clinical work at the Hospital (I heard about it today and it really sounds like something I might want to do). Don't think I'll be going for the Aquarium, ESPN zone and Observatory Tower thing... I have to pay for that (at least $30? not too sure...) and if I go with my parents when they come to Baltimore then I don't have to :D
More photos:
Shriver Hall and the Lower Quad
The other side of the Lower Quad: the stairway at the end is a popular backdrop for a lot of films.
