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The start of what looks to be a good week...
Since last time I wrote to all of you, not a whole lot has happened. I took my exam last Thursday in my Medical Biotechnology class. The exam didn't appear to be as difficult as I expected it to be, but I'll just have to wait and see how I did. In my Epidemiology class we just started getting into the concept of outbreak. To help emphasize this subject my professor, Dr. Kristi Lewis, will be assigning us a Outbreak Case Study. I'm actually kind of interested in how this will turn out because it might be an area in which I choose to pursue as a career. As of right now, it looks like my work load for this upcoming week shouldn't be that bad, but of course that could all change.
One thing this weekend that was kind of exciting was I got to see my brother. He was visiting some friends down at Virginia Tech and stopped by to say hi. It was great seeing him since I haven't really hung out with him since August when I moved back down to JMU. Since I've been in college, my brother and I have become a lot closer to one another than when we were in high school. That might sound a little weird, but it's true.
This weekend in football JMU had a by, but the Philadelphia Eagles played Oakland Raiders. The game came down to the last seconds of play when the Eagles made a field goal to beat the Raiders 23-20. This was definitely one exciting game. Due to all the excitement of the weekend (seeing my brother, football) I didn't have any time to do any of my homework for the week so tonight (Sunday) should be full.
During this upcoming week, JMU will be holding one of its annual job fairs. Different companies and organizations can register and allow a representative to come to JMU to promote their company and look for prospective employees. I plan on attending the job fair and hope to give out a couple of my resumes. Since I am still indecisive as to whether I want to go to grad school or get a job, I feel that it doesn't hurt to do both. Hopefully as a result from this I will have some different options for what I could potentially do after I graduate, whether it's pursing more education or starting my life as a career woman.
Posted by Kristen on September 26, 2005 09:24 AM | Link | Email Kristen
Long Days @ ISAT
This week has definitely been busy for me. As I told you before I have an exam tomorrow (Thursday) in my Medical Biotech class. Since the beginning of the semester, my professor has covered so much information that it is hard to determine what "he considers to be important". So most of today was spent @ ISAT just going over the powerpoint presentations as well as the notes from class. I will be much happier when this is all over!
Besides this exam, my other classes are going well. In my HTH 450 (Epidimieology) we are starting to discuss how outbreaks occur and the different calculations that epidemiologists actually use in the field to determine the necessary statistics. So far this is one of my favorite classes that I am taking this semester because I hope to continue my studies in Homeland Security after I leave JMU and this class directly relates to everything that I hope to do in the future.
Another one of my favorite classes this semester is MUS 204 (History of RocknRoll). I took this class to help give myself a break during the week. Here I can actually go to class, listen to the lectures, and not be stressed about understanding the information. My roommate is also in the class with me which makes it fun!
I kind of lucked out this week, in that I do not have a lot of stuff due in my classes which made it a lot easier to focus on my exam. Hopefully all of this time and effort has paid off — I'll be sure to find out tomorrow.
Posted by Kristen on September 22, 2005 10:32 AM | Link | Email Kristen
Football Extravaganza
This past weekend was AWESOME!!! On Saturday, the JMU Dukes played Delaware State winning 65–7. The game was unbelievable! Here are some pictures from the pre-game show as well as the post game fireworks:
It was also a huge weekend for the EAGLES! On Sunday, we beat the 49ers 42–3. So as you can tell, most of my weekend was spent watching football. Now I'm sort of regretting watching so much football because I neglected to do all my homework. So due to this I had a long night on Sunday trying to catch up on my work for this upcoming week.
This is going to be one of my harder weeks because I have a huge exam on Thursday in ISAT452: Medical Biotechnology. I have already begun studying for it and I tried to complete all of my work for this upcoming week so I do not have any other distractions to deal with. So far my class has focused on angiogenesis, which is when new blood vessels form by sprouting from pre-existing vessels. We then took this idea and related it to cancer by showing how angiogenesis basically feeds tumors the nutrients they need in order to proliferate. The other components of my exam that I still have to study deal with the different parts of the immune system: how they function, their purpose, how it produces antigens to fight against antibodies, etc. The exam covers pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics as well, and also basic information about genetics. One of the major differences from high school and college is exams. I remember when I was a freshman this was a major obstacle that I had to overcome. You may ask, "How do you go about preparing for an exam that covers multiple chapters of material?" In high school, exams normally took place at the completion of a book chapter, whereas in college professors normally have exams at the end of every 5 chapters, etc. What I have learned from this is that you need to learn to manage your time! You can leave all of your studying until the night before, but I do not recommend it and I can guarantee you will not be a happy person the night before. Well I should be getting back to my studying! Feel free to email me with any questions you might have.
Posted by Kristen on September 20, 2005 09:17 AM | Link | Email Kristen
Busy Times in ISAT!
In the past week, I feel a lot has happened. All of my classes are in full gear. In this upcoming week I have 3 quizzes and next week starts the beginning of my exams. So the work load is definitely starting to pick up. This week I have a quiz in my general education Literature class on the stories we have been working on, a quiz in Health Administration class focusing on management and how it is carried out within health care systems and organizations, and lastly I have a quiz in my Epidemiology class which is basically the study of diseases. Soon I will have to start preparing for my Medical Biotech exam which is next Thursday because I’ve heard from many people that the exams are not exactly the easiest.
This week I have also spent some time on figuring out what I will be doing next year after I graduate. Until this year, my life has already been planned out for me, but next year it is a totally different story. I met with my professor Dr. Raab (the same professor that I completed my internship this summer) to discuss what my possible options would be. I had no idea that this was going to be such a huge decision and how difficult it would really be. Of course this will not be a decision that I can make overnight. I need to weigh out all my options of possible employers as well as possible grad schools I would like to attend. JMU will be holding a couple of job fairs as well as, so hopefully I will get some good information from that.
On to other news... not related to class. If you did not already know, last year James Madison Football won its first NCAA Division I-AA championship. So far this year we’ve had 2 games. Currently we're 1-1, but hopefully we'll be able to make it back to the championship this year! Since I’m from the Philadelphia region, I am also a HUGE Eagles Fan. Unfortunately last night did not go too well for us, but I have confidence that it will change for the better for us! Well, I guess that is all for now. Have a great rest of the week!
Posted by Kristen on September 14, 2005 11:32 AM | Link | Email Kristen
Labor Day!
Well, it's September 5, 2005, and we're in school! JMU is probably one of the few schools that have classes on today. Some professors acknowledge the holiday and cancel class such as my literature professor, but for the most part all classes are held. So far my classes do not seem like they should be all that bad, but that could very easily change. The only assignments that I've had so far are basically reading my text books. Some of the classes that I am taking this semester are: Epidemiology, Health Administration, Medical Biotechnology, Biotechnology in Agriculture & Industry, literature, and the History of Rock-n-Roll. For the most part all my classes have been really interesting, and my professors all seem very interesting and helpful.
As you know I was here at JMU for the summer completing my Senior Project as well as working on an internship. You have no idea how much pressure this brings off my shoulders. Now the only thing left to do between my lab partner and I is to write our thesis. Our goal is to hopefully have that done by Thanksgiving. If we would be able to do this, our second semester of senior year would almost be completely stress-free. I've been talking to my professor who I worked with this summer, Dr. Raab, and hopefully within the next few weeks my lab partner and I will be able to get back into the Biotech Lab and conduct more research experiments similar to those done over the summer. So as you can see, lots of planning will be done over the next couple of weeks.
The next big decision that I will be faced with will be what I decide to do after JMU. This may seem far away, but in actuality it's not. I still have not figured out whether I wish to go into the job field or apply for grad schools. This will be a huge decision that I make. The past few weeks I have been talking to JMU students who have already graduated and finding out what they recommend, seeing if there is anything different they would have done, and further more finding out how much JMU has prepared for them for this big step they are taking. I plan to meet with some professors over the next couple of weeks to talk about the possible options I have for when I graduate, and then hopefully I will have some idea of what I want to do. Well I guess that's all for now. Hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day!
Posted by Kristen on September 5, 2005 12:40 PM | Link | Email Kristen
