Over the years, I’ve had so many people ask me what it’s like to be at Princeton. That’s a huge question, and a terribly complex one, but oftentimes it’s followed up with things like: “Is everyone busy all the time?” "Are the classes super hard?" “Do you ever get time to relax?”

My answer has always been, "Princeton is what you make of it”. I don’t think there is any one typical experience at Princeton; it really is unique for every individual, and you have a lot of say in how your day-to-day life will look. And it is very likely that your Princeton experience will look very different from semester to semester and year to year. 

So what is it like to be at Princeton? I won’t get into any of the complexities and intricacies of being a student here, but I can provide you with a quick overview of what my daily life here on campus has been via quick descriptions of my weekly schedule over the last four spring semesters.

Freshman year: 

I took four classes: Gen Chem, an introductory molecular biology class, microeconomics, and French. I had two to three weekly lectures and a precept per class, plus a lab for mol bio and chem. It made for a busy semester, but one that is pretty typical for a freshman pre-med. I also was on the lightweight crew team, so would have practices from 4:30-6:30 every day. Thankfully, Princeton blocks out that time period for athletic practices so no student-athlete should ever have to choose between attending class or attending practice; unfortunately, many interesting guest speakers and other activities fall during that time period, too. On a typical day, I would wake up around 8 or 9 a.m., grab breakfast with my other pre-med roommates before our classes, attend class or work during the day, eat dinner with teammates after practice, and spend the evenings finishing up homework. I always set aside Friday evenings for something more fun and relaxing; Saturdays I often had races, and Sundays I spent doing work (although my residential college adviser always held a Sunday night study break to look forward to!) 

Sophomore year: 

This was probably my easiest semester, although I was finishing up organic chemistry, probably the most dreaded pre-med class of all. There's a big difference between sophomore and freshman year, I think, in that you finally feel as though you really understand how Princeton works. Sophomore spring is that perfect time where you've really gotten the hang of things, but you haven't yet started your independent work. I took my first departmental that semester, "Animal Behavior," and decided that I loved the quirky and fun ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) department. I also took a theology class (REL 263), which I elected to PDF (this just means that I took it with the pass/D/fail option) because it was such a new, but super interesting, topic to me. I also worked as an EMT during this semester after completing the New Jersey certification course in the fall, so I spent around 30 hours every month volunteering for Princeton First Aid and Rescue. I also had just gotten into my eating club, Cap and Gown, so was getting to know a bunch of new faces and form wonderful new friendships. 

Junior year: 

Junior year I was studying abroad in Kenya with the EEB department, so my day-to-day life looked completely different from any other semester. I took a series of four three-week long classes on topics ranging from African mammals to the conservation of African landscapes to tropical agriculture. We'd wake up at around 7 a.m. every day with the sun, spend the day doing field studies or traveling, and come home in the evenings to relax and hang out. I had maybe 20 hours of lectures in total over the entire semester, instead of 20 hours of lectures every week. I climbed Mt. Kenya over spring break, met some of the most wonderful people, and got a glimpse into a land and culture I never thought I would see. It was an incredible (and surreal) experience. 

Senior year: 

While the majority of my friends are in just two classes, I'm currently enrolled in three to finish up pre-med and global health and health policy requirements. I'm taking the second semester of introductory physics, a graduate-level seminar in epidemiology, and a MOL class called "Infection: Biology, Burden, and Disease." In addition to this, I also work as an intramural supervisor and as a residential college adviser, which takes up around 4-6 hours over the course of two or three weeknights. My biggest worry besides classes right now is the thesis. As one of my good friends keeps reminding me, we have less than 50 days to go....! And, of course, figuring out the next steps beyond Princeton. 

 

As I fell into the rhythm of Princeton life and the trees bloomed, so did my love for photography.

I realized that on this blog, I've talked about many, many fun extracurricular things I've experienced since starting college. And I realized that for all the blog-reading world knows, Aliisa might as well just be over at Princeton having a party all the day. Well, I'm here to let you know that in fact, Aliisa goes to class! As Spring 2015 charges forward, I thought I'd give you a little rundown this semester's courses.

Here we are, a few weeks into the spring semester. Each semester has a rhythm of its own, and it always takes a few weeks to figure out how to dance to the new beat. I love this time because classes are still new (but not brand new), and I am settling into my new routine.

The first two weeks of classes are deemed the “add-drop period” because you can do just that—try new classes that you hear about, sample different section times, and drop other classes that you originally wanted to take. So it’s after those first couple of weeks that we are settling into the groove, and this is my favorite time for two reasons: a) I’m a total routine person, and b) I have a great schedule this semester. More than a few people have told me they thought they had a good schedule until they heard mine! I’m taking four classes this semester, the typical Princeton workload. Two are for my French major, and two are for the certificate that I am earning in the Program in Urban Studies. Perhaps what I love the most is that I only have classes Monday through Wednesday, and then I work quite a bit on campus on Thursdays and Fridays. Now you’re starting to understand the envy of my friends.

Here is a typical Monday:

6:08 a.m. Good morning!

6:30 a.m. Dillon Gym. I think that this is the best way to start the day, and I’m here nearly every morning!

8:10 a.m. Breakfast.

8:45 a.m. Work at Firestone Library. It’s perfect for me to work on Monday mornings since I’m all caught up with homework from the weekend.

11 a.m. “The Making of Modern France: French Literature, Culture, and Society from 1789 to the Present.” A wonderful class with a great professor. It’s a lot like a book club with only 13 of us students and lots of group discussion.

12:30 p.m. “Architecture, Globalization, and the Environment.” This is a fairly large lecture, and it works well for me to sit back, take notes, and munch on dark chocolate and nuts since I don’t have a break for lunch today.

1:30 p.m. “Advanced French Language and Style.” This is another small and fun class, and right now we’re studying the narration of French fiction and fairy tales.

3 p.m. Whew! Time for a break. I head back to my room, respond to several emails, and start some homework. I also check my mailbox at the Frist Campus Center.

5 p.m. I have dinner with my friend. We talk about our summer internship plans and exchange stories about what we did over the weekend.

6 p.m. I talk to my mom on the phone and catch up with her, and then I take a look at my homework for the week.

7:30 p.m. It’s time for our weekly Student Health Advisory Board meeting.

8:30 p.m. I finish up my last edits on my French essay for Wednesday and complete this week’s reading for “Introduction to Urban Studies.”

10:45 p.m. It has been a busy day. Good night!

The exact form of the thesis and the time frame in which students complete it vary a lot between departments, but in physics the process starts in the summer before senior year when students decide what topic they want to work on; whether they want to do computational, theoretical, or experimental physics; and who they want to advise them.

As we venture into the third week of the spring semester, students have finally settled on their classes, their weekly routines, and the most efficient shortcuts through the cold winter weather. Some things, though, were settled long before now. When most people were constructing their New Year's resolutions, we were a bit preoccupied with other things.

But like each new year, each new semester brings the opportunity to improve upon the previous one (or two, or few). It's not rare, in fact, to start declaring your resolutions for next semester while still navigating the trenches of another. Personally, I tend to land on my resolutions in this exact way—applying the lessons I learn in the middle of one semester to the start of the next in order to avoid similar "woes."

For me, this semester is all about finding ways to better manage my stress and curb it before it overwhelms me. To this end, I've made a handful of mini-resolutions.

First, I plan to embrace creativity as an outlet, namely by experimenting with my DSLR camera more often. I also want to commit to exercising regularly (realistically, once a week). I resolve to work more consistently on weekdays, doing a few hours each weeknight rather than concentrating it on the weekends. Last, I want to finish three books by the end of the semester. It's not often that I find time to read for fun, but it's very relaxing when I do.

With that said, no two resolutions are alike. So instead of simply detailing my personal goals, I thought I would reach out to my fellow bloggers and ask about their plans for this semester. Below are the resolutions they shared with me!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much to my amazing fellow bloggers for contributing to this post!

Indeed, the experience of changing concentrations at Princeton is a remarkably common one: Students frequently joke that your anticipated major will have almost no real bearing on what you will ultimately end up studying.

Many of you may recall my mentioning that I serve as a student tour guide at the Princeton University Art Museum. I may not have mentioned, though, that I have zero art history background outside of the student tour guide training course.

This course gives a general background to the museum. It was from this course that I learned how old the museum is (opened 1882), how many pieces it houses (more than 72,000, not all on display at once), and the collections it is most known for (photography and Asian calligraphy).

In addition to these tidbits about museum history, all of the guides were given a binder with extensive information about objects in the museum intended for a student-run tour. One such object, an Olmec figurine entitled “Kneeling lord with incised toad on his head”  enchanted me. I loved its intricacy, especially in spite of the limited tools available to its crafters (metal tools didn’t exist); I loved its personality, with the face seeming to stare right through you. It is rumored that the eye sockets once held semiprecious stones... creepy. But most of all, I loved its mystery. The Olmec culture, an enigmatic pre-Mayan civilization (1200-400 B.C.), is my favorite thing to talk about on tours. Since so little is known definitively, I can engage the tour group in a dialogue as to what they think may be the meaning behind the object.

Luckily, this year I noticed a course offered in Olmec art and decided to use my fascination with my favorite Kneeling Lord as the window through which to enter the world of art history. I quickly and excitedly enrolled. 

The class has only seven students and is run by the curator of the Ancient Americas gallery in the museum. Cool! I thought this would be the most exciting part, but on the first day of classes, the professor told us that he hoped to make the class time more “hands on."  He then proceeded to hand out gloves and place several really, really old artifacts on the table, artifacts we were invited to touch and hold.

Carefully. 

I am now working on a project researching a specific object and am invited to make an appointment with museum staff at any point to take a closer look at the object itself, alongside my research in the art library, which, by the way, is in the same building as the museum. My object is called "Vessel in the form of an opossum eating a squash" and kind of looks like a pig with a baby bottle if you look at it at the right angle, or maybe that's just me.

I feel like some kind of detective uncovering mysteries of the past. Or maybe a better way to put it is that I feel like a really clean archaeologist, handling ancient artifacts from the comfort of my seminar room as though I just discovered them myself. And the best part is I'm no longer terrified of breaking everything that I touch. I feel like a true art historian.  

 

 

 

Before coming to Princeton, I received an unassuming message asking me to consider a so-called Intergrated Science Curriculum (ISC). The program offered to teach physics, chemistry, biology and computer ccience together, and included a very heavy experimental component. I had recently started considering exploring the sciences, and after looking at length over the syllabus, I signed up.

Now, the first part of ISC is an intensive one-year four-course sequence that covers the typical first-year physics and chemistry curriculum, and one semester each of molecular biology and computer science. That's the equivalent of six courses in four, which should give you an idea of the expected intensity of the course.

It was one of the most academically challenging endeavors I have ever undertaken, but at the same time, it was extremely rewarding. It was also an experience unique to Princeton, made possible by the heavy focus on undergraduates, and the large amount of resources dedicated to underclassmen. We had over 20 instructors teaching the course, including a Nobel Prize winner, several members of the National Academy of Sciences, Princeton's dean of research and winners of Princeton's Distinguished Teaching Award. We even had a fully equipped laboratory exclusively for us. All for a class of about 30 people.

I am often asked if the intensity and rigor of the course was worth it, and I have always responded in the affirmative. Apart from a strong theoretical basis in all the sciences, the heavy experimental component exposed me to scientific investigation beyond the textbook. In our labs, we built our own solar cell and photometer, and even designed and executed our own experiment independently with guidance from our instructors.

Also, much of the course was focused on studying the intersection of the individual sciences, where most emerging modern research is happening. We were applying physics to biology, computation to chemistry and so on, breaking traditional boundaries followed by most freshman textbooks. In fall semester of sophomore year, I took a course on biophysics, taught by one of my instructors from ISC, to continue exploring these frontier areas, and I remain fascinated by life ever since. I may not end up studying more of biological physics, but it has redefined how I look at physics, not just as the formulation of a set of laws governing the universe, but as theories for explaining natural phenomena happening around us every day.

This semester, my friend Anna and I took ART 212: Neoclassicism through Impressionism with Professor Bridget Alsdorf. It was a great class; we learned about paintings full of prostitutes and ragamuffins and women with the longest backs in the world.

But little did we know that we would soon be tested on what we had learned. Every intersession, my improv group Quipfire! goes on tour to a different big improv city (you can read more about that here). This year we went to NYC! And one day, after a quick trip to Serendipity for frozen hot chocolates...

... Quipfire! ended up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met has a huge collection of 19th century art, and suddenly the rest of Quipfire! wanted us to interpret it for them. Anna and I decided to embrace our inner docent and give everyone a little tour.

We were able to find quite a few paintings that we discussed in ART 212. We told Quipfire! about everything from Cezanne's modernist legacy to Degas's alleged feminism.

It was incredible seeing pieces from our ART 212 lectures up close and in person. Anna and I would literally run across the galleries to paintings we recognized. It was a great reminder that the lessons we learn on campus aren't confined to the lecture hall; they apply to real people, objects, and events that we will encounter for the rest of our lives. Plus, this Met visit was a great chance for us to share our knowledge with our friends. They were extremely invested and attentive.

Well, most of the time.