Moving On Up!

Hello Readers!

It's been some time since I last posted, but I just wanted to report back with what's been going on with me lately. I've just started my junior year here at Hopkins, which means I've moved on up, out of university housing and into my own apartment close by! I'm getting settled in for what will be my new home for the next two years, and getting accustomed to my new schedule of pretty small classes. This semester, I'm taking a variety of classes like Youth and Youth Movements in 19th and 20th Century and Early Modern China in the History department, Housing and Homelessness in the United States in the Sociology department, and Fundamentals of Epidemiology and Foundations of Healthcare Management and Leadership in the Public Health Studies program. I'm really looking forward to learning a lot from my incredibly knowledgeable professors.

Some of you might have noticed that I wasn't at Homewood this past Summer. I was actually not too far away, in Washington, DC doing a congressional internship. While I missed the Charm City a lot while I was gone, I got to meet a lot of cool people and see the inner workings of Congress for 8 weeks, which is pretty exciting (I was actually walking a few feet behind John McCain once when I was on the Senate side of the Capitol). Here's a quick shoutout to the awesome program that placed me in my internship, the Taiwanese American Citizens League(TACL) - Political Internship Program. It's an awesome program that places interns in the office of an elected official for 8 weeks, teaches about the legislative process through an advocacy project, and provides much needed mentorship. I even got to talk about my experience at the TACL National Convention over Labor Day weekend. I'm so glad I got to be a part of this, even though I missed out on some of Baltimore's summer festivities.

Nevertheless, now that I'm back, I'm looking forward to another great year of learning, laughing, and excitement here at Homewood. This year I'm serving as the Executive President of the Inter-Asian Council, the Chief Advisor of Taiwanese American Students Association, and the National Programs Director of the Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association (ITASA). When I find some free time, I'm definitely going to check out the great lineup of speakers hosted by the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium and the Foreign Affairs Symposium, and other fun events put on by The HOP or SGA. I'll try to post a little bit every now and then, I'd like to introduce a new contributor to our Hopkins Summer Blog, Sherry! Sherry is also a Pre-College alumnus, so stay tuned for updates from her!

Getting Around Baltimore

Part of the Johns Hopkins experience is the chance to really explore Baltimore and branch out from the small Charles Village community. There are many ways to get around the city and today I'll talk about some of the most important ones that you can utilize.

JHMI/Peabody/Homewood Shuttle
The JHMI Shuttle is a big white bus (the one that says Johns Hopkins) that transports students between the East Baltimore Medical Campus, Peabody Institute, and the Homewood campus for free with Homewood's J-Card or the JHMI Badge. The full route takes 25 minutes from Homewood to East Baltimore and there's also express service at certain times.
Going Southbound, the JHMI Shuttle originates at the Interfaith Center, Barnes and Noble, and makes a few local stops before reaching Penn Station Baltimore. You can get off at Penn Station for other connecting services or stay on to get to Peabody/Mt. Vernon or the Medical Campus.
Going Northbound, the shuttle departs from the Med Campus at the same place as the drop off point and stops at Penn Station on the other side of Penn Station on Charles St. The closests stops to the Homewood campus are at Union Memorial Hospital (1 block from Barnes and Noble) and across the street from the Interfaith Center.

Find more info at http://parking.jhu.edu/
www.nextbus.com for estimated arrival times

It's pretty hard to miss, shuttles come close to every 5 or 10 minutes during rush hour.

Charm City Circulator
This is a free bus service provided for everyone in Baltimore. The circulator is how most Hopkins students get to the Inner Harbor. When you get off the JHMI shuttle at Penn Station, you can transfer onto the Circulator's Purple Route which brings you through Mt. Vernon and then Downtown/Inner Harbor. There are many routes that can bring you all over Baltimore. Circulator stops are located at the JHMI Campus, Little Italy, Harbor East, Fell's Point, Camden Yards, and many other places.

For complete info about services and destinations: http://www.charmcitycirculator.com/

The CCC has routes all over Downtown Baltimore and is sure to get you where you need to go! There's even a mobile app equipped with NextBus for time predictions.

MTA Buses
MTA operates the public bus service in the Baltimore region and is really inexpensive at $1.60 per ride. MTA buses take exact change payments, or you can just tap the MTA Charm Card or your WMATA Smartrip Card from DC. Both cards work in both cities which is really convenient for travelling between here and DC. One of the most common destinations that Hopkins students use MTA buses for is the Towson Town Center. This is a really large shopping mall in Baltimore County, about 4 stories tall. It's also close to other stores and restaurant in the Towson area. The closest stop to the Homewood Campus is at Union Memorial Hospital.

For more info: http://mta.maryland.gov/local-bus

Having a CharmCard is really great because it works alongside the Smartrip Card in Washington, DC as well.

Happy exploring and always remember to be safe when going off campus!

Trips with DH: Abnormal Psych

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Hopefully everyone's weeks have been off to a good start and DH students are enjoying their field trips. The trips are an integral part of Discover Hopkins courses and were some of my most memorable experiences from my time in DH.
This summer, I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to be a field trip TA for Abnormal Psych in Forensic Cases (I really wanted to take this class too, back in the day). So far, the class has gotten to go to a lot of interesting places, meeting many intelligent people of different fields. Yesterday, the students were able to meet with a psychiatrist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry. We kept up a really good discussion about the various effects of mental illness on different aspects on a person's life.

Today, students were able to visit the Maryland State Police Forensic Science Lab and go own a tour of the facilities and hear about many different cases that the State Police has handled. The lab has many experts in chemistry, biology, firearms, and trace evidence like fingerprints.

Aftee taking a quick lunch break, we headed right over to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's Sleep Disorders to learn more about how sleeping really affects humans. Dr. Schwartz who spoke to us also gave the class a a quick tour of the center as well as the observation rooms. They're pretty much like hotel rooms where you have wires hooked up and have to go to sleep by around 9!

So how does sleep really affect us?

Some students ready to learn about sleep disorders!

I'm excited for the rest of the trips, some of them include sitting in on Drug Court and Juvenille Court in Carroll County, MD and I'm expecting good things.

Welcome DH Session 1!

I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the Discover Hopkins Session 1 students who moved into their dorms yesterday. To the SU students, the OSIP staff and I hope you're having a good start to your second week of classes. Hopefully everyone is enjoying dorm life and all the activities that are being offered! Be sure to get to know your RCs, they are valuable mentors and are there to help you if there is ever anything wrong duing your stay here.

Discover Hopkins students are in for an exciting two weeks, exploring the Baltimore area on field trips that allow for a hands-on approach to learning. Term 1 Discover Hopkins classes include, Abnormal Psych in Forensic Cases, The Hospital, Intro to Lab Research, Nanoparticles in Drug Delivery, and Fostering Healthy Communities. Students in the last two classes get to have their lectures in the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus! Enjoy your trips and maybe you'll see me and the other OSIP workers tagging along.