Photo Booth Diaries

First photo on my new Macbook Pro, a few weeks before graduating high school!

Hipster Olive is Hipster.

Guess who has two thumbs and a driver's license...?

At the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia National Forest with my brother. Our last family vacation before I left for college.

A week or so after I moved into college, eating left over seaweed salad from lunch with my local family.

This class took over my life. 

Magic chemistry! Those are cherry tomatoes in graduated cylinders.

My freshman dorm room.

My favorite treat from the on-campus convenience store... mochi!

My feature in the school newspaper!

After apple picking with friends!

Owl hat my mom sent me for halloween.

Home for Thanksgiving with my brother and little cousin!

My cousin discovered photobooth...

My friend studying and snuggling her penguin, Sweets.

My clan symbols.

Decorated mug and free pinkberry in the student center. 

Me kissing Sweets!

Sunrise in the lounge.

Spring break at home! I made coconut macaroons.

In my summer apartment, drinking a smoothie.

California antics with my brother.

My favorite breakfast in the apartment.

Attempting to make mochi.

Illustrating Simon and Garfunkel lyrics.

Listening to simon and garfunkel. 

Back home after a summer in Boston, reunited with my vampire domo.

First night back in Boston. Resting up before moving in!

My bio lab partner and I mutating crystallin!

Studying for Japanese exam.

Package of candies from Finland! See my taste video here!

Autumn trees through the Mandel Center window.

Texting my way through Hurricane Sandy. 

xxolivexx

Brandeis Glow Party!

Sooo, about this!

My friend Kait and I went a paint party on campus before school started. It was awesome!

 It was held in a fenced-in area on the great lawn. At each of the four corners, there were platforms where orientation leaders stood with bottles of paint. The music was blasting and we danced for a while. Then when the paint started, we ran like madwomen to be drenched by various colors.

At one point, determined to be thoroughly soaked, we wormed our way into the crowd. It was packed - everyone was jumping up and down and as soon as the paint started they pressed in. It was worth it, though. As you can the splattering was awesome. It was everywhere. In our mouths, eyes, nose... I still have paint in my glasses.

What a great way to start the school year!

xxolivexx

Selecting College Courses

Image from MSUapartmentsblog

This morning I finally finished selecting which courses I will take this fall semester. Registration at my college is rather odd. It opens for a week in early July, closes, and then opened again today. I'm not sure why this is, but it is a bit inconvenient.

I am taking courses in the following subjects: chemistry, neuroscience, Chinese, and philosophy. Choosing courses was daunting at first, but now that I am done, the process makes more sense. I recommend using an excel sheet to plot out your classes so it's easier to see if there are any time conflicts. At first I tried to do it in my head, but needless to say that did not work so well!

I need to take a chemistry course in order to fulfill a prerequisite for the sciences. I'm still not entirely sure if I will create my own major in cognitive science or double major in neuroscience and philosophy, but I wanted to leave my options open. If I choose to go into science, I'll need chemistry. Best to get it out of the way earlier than later.

I signed up for the neuroscience course because I have a genuine interest in the subject. 

For a while, I was not sure whether or not I continue with Chinese (which I studied for three years in high school) or switch to Hebrew. Because of my interest in business, I decided to continue Chinese since it will probably be more useful than Hebrew. Plus I can always pick up Hebrew in the future.

The philosophy course is partly for fun, partly for my potential major. I am very excited to take philosophy and I heard wonderful remarks about the professor from current students.

xxOlivexx

Advising Fellow, Choosing Classes

More updates!

On July 1st, my fellow (an older student who advises younger students) emailed me to introduce himself! He is going into business, which is perfect because I'm considering going to business school after college. I peppered him with questions about registering for classes, languages, and best places to study.

The past few days (mostly today, though) I have been corresponding with various professors and academic advisors. Choosing classes is daunting, but I finally decided to stick with my cognitive science/philosophy bent. I emailed a philosophy teacher and got the prerequisite for an ethics course waived because of my unusually large high school philosophy background. YAY! Also, I emailed the instructor for honors chemistry labs to figure out if there is an advantage to doing the lab on a specific weekday. There isn't. So I'll probably sign up for the Tuesday lab, since most of my classes are on a MWTh schedule.

I'm currently reading the book 300 A+ Students, which contains compiled tips on how to conduct your academic life in order to receive an A+. Some students recommend talking to the professor about if it is possible to earn an A+, how to earn it, etc. I emailed the chemistry professor with a bunch of questions to get more information. I will probably do the same for all my other teachers.

So, this upcoming semester I will take a philosophy course, chemistry, a university writing seminar, and a language. I'm still trying to decide between Hebrew and Chinese...

Hope your summer is going well!
xxOlivexx

Academic Advising Services

The past couple weeks has been exciting. I'm beginning to receive the specifics of what my life college will be like.

I know who my academic advisor is - he sent numerous emails (though not from his personal address, which I find a bit odd) regarding various topics, such as AP credit, balancing classes, etc. In the email is a hotline number for academic advising services. I called this past week to ask about whether I should take Chemistry 11a or 15a (regular or honors). In the past, I took chemistry two times - once in middle school and once in high school. I also took calculus through AP Calc C. So I felt I'm pretty well-equipped to handle honors chemistry, but I wanted to clarify and also find out if I need to take a placement test.

The person who answered the phone told me to sign up for 11a because that is what most students do. Also, the guidelines for placements tests are confusing. It ends up I don't need to take a placement test. After I was done with the phone call, I decided to email one of the chemistry professors and ask for his opinion. I don't completely trust the advising hotline, because I read that there is a mixture of professors and students who answer calls. My guess is more students than professors. So, the chemistry professor recommended that I sign up for honors chemistry. Also, there are about 30 students in honors, versus 200 in regular chemistry, so that's a nice bonus.

I also found out who is my faculty advisor. I have yet to contact this person, who is in the psychology department, but I should soon.

Finally, I discovered that I made it into my first choice for the Writing Seminar. I will be taking a comedy class!

More to come!

xxOlivexx

Vicious Brandeis Hawk!

Ahhh! It's been way too long! Hi everyone!!

Here's a quick video of extra footage I got while in Boston and Brandeis with my dad. Check out the hawk devouring the squirrel!

More to come later. Stay tuned!

Olive

Brandeis Admitted Students Day!!

Wow, I had such a great time! Here are more details that I didn't talk about in the video.

I made a list of specific questions before I went to the event. Here are the questions and the what I found out.

• How easy is it to travel to Boston? Is the BranVan reliable? 
• It's pretty easy to travel to Boston. There are other shuttles available because the BranVan, being student run, is often unreliable. Also, there are so many methods of public transportation (trains, buses) that it's usually never an issue. There is a train stop literally next-door to the campus that is easy to walk to. 
• Is there a pharmacy near-by?
• There is a Walgreens located in walking distance.
• Do the dorms smell like drugs? Are drugs an issue?
• No. Drugs are there if you want them, mostly unnoticeable if you don't.
• As a non-Orthodox Jew, will I feel socially isolated or pressured?
• No, Judaism is there if you want it and there is no pressure to be any certain way, whether religious, sexual, etc.
• Will the cafeteria be able to accommodate my food allergies?
• Yes, they do not use nuts or sunflower.

Overall, I love Brandeis. It's at the top of my list right now. Soon I will visit University of Wisconsin, but it will have to really impress me to change my mind...

This Weekend: Brandeis Admitted Students Day

This weekend I'm going to Brandeis University's Admitted Students Day! I will be taking some videos of the event, so when I get back I will put them together and tell all of you what that experience is like.