Winter Reflection

Honestly, this quarter was one of my most challenging yet. Due to a combination of academic, personal, and societal factors, plus the horrible weather and a dash of seasonal depression, winter quarter certainly dragged on, and I'm super grateful to be done with it. Academically, my struggles mainly came from chemistry (shocker). Chem lab wasn't horrible, but consumed an ungodly amount of time. Chem lecture was definitely the most challenging class I've taken so far (and earned me my lowest grade yet - but still not horrible!). My professor was fine, but not an engaging lecturer, and that fact combined with the mass amount of complex content led to one or two breakdowns and a quarter of attempting to teach myself organic chemistry. I honestly have never been challenged and frustrated so much by a class before. I learned that I need to practice active listening in class, and I learned how to tap into the outside resources available when the "inside" resources aren't doing the trick. Thank you very much to Khan Academy, Master Organic Chemistry, and Chemistry Steps...see you next quarter! Finally, Chemistry 238 taught me once again to be ok with not excelling, and to always consider context when self-evaluating: yes, I would've preferred a grade above a 3.0, and yes, I'll continue to hold myself to a high standard, but I'll also be proud that I did above average in such a difficult class and remained within my self-set goal of a 3.0 or up. If I can count on chemistry for anything, it's to keep me humble.

Personally, this quarter was also hard. Figuring out my living arrangements for next year unfortunately caused some conflicts and challenging feelings between me and some of friends, and while we're fine now, it caused a lot of stress for me and definitely put some things into perspective. It did motivate me to meet some new people and nurture some other relationships, which I was successful in, so there was a silver lining. Additionally, the general process of looking for housing and signing a lease was something I've never done before, and as someone who likes to plan and have control, it was stressful to say the least. However, it was a good learning experience for a process I'll absolutely have to go through again in the future.

Finally, this quarter was extremely stressful due to the things happening in our society and government right now. While I'm lucky enough to not be directly impacted yet, the quarter was definitely shadowed by a general feeling of danger and fear for my future. This has empowered me, however, to be active and aware, which seem like necessary attributes right now.

Even though this was an incredibly challenging quarter, there were still some good spots. Academically, I ended up doing pretty well overall, earning a spot on Dean's List again for this quarter, which has become somewhat of an unofficial goal for myself. I made some new friends and continued to build my relationships at Hillel as I took a Jewish Foundations class for my B' Mitzvah cohort, which I really enjoyed. I also took a field trip with the cohort to Shabbat services, something I'd never done before, and it was a really wonderful experience. I continued to learn and grow in my job, and started working with actual data on an experiment. I attended the March for Science to stand up against the political actions being taken against the scientific field. And most importantly, I survived! Yay! I look forward to next quarter with apprehension (it's going to be hard) but hope that it will be a bit more enjoyable. Onto the next!

Beautiful view from my apartment next year

Measuring parasitemia at work

Spending time with friends