Twitter

I got a twitter. It will be so much easier to follow me there :)
Love, Applebaumnicole

Ni(neteen)cole

I just got a knock on my door because it's my birthday!!!
Yay!

Love,
Ni(neteen)cole

Today in St. Louis

Today. Whoa! So crazy.
Started my morning with math class. Then I was in a photo shoot for admissions. Then I had a quiz in chem and an exam in physics, among other things. I also found keys on the library floor between my quiz and exam, and found the owner. Yay for good deeds! I missed Jonathan Safran Foer since his talk was during my test. Oh well. I saw pictures. Apparently he is young and good looking. I went to the EnCouncil meeting and did some spinning afterward.
Long, good day. Stressing so so weird. I stress even though I know things will work out in the end. But I can't skip the stressing part. Ever. I have decreased the magnitude of my stress, but it's still present.
TBC,
ATT

PS. Next week is going to be nuts!
Tuesday: Chem test and physics lab;
Wednesday BME test and 100 other activities
Thursday: Birthday and chem lab!
Saturday: WILD (the concert)!
Sunday: The home plate, PLTL, PST!

Update on Life

I am doing well! Sorry for the super, super, way too long gap of not writing. There have been ups and downs here, but I love it. Nothing about my life is the same, but I am still me. More average than before, working harder than ever. I am proud to be here as me. There is so much to update, I can't even begin to start. I can't even SAY half of what I want to on the internet. I've met so many people. Some look like people I knew in VP, some have similar personalities to people I've met before... Some are way smarter than I can ever hope to be... Some must have slipped in. I used to resent those people who got into schools above their capability level. Now I pity them more than anything else (until they end up in my study group circle. Then it's another story).

I dream of driving off of campus, being on Lemon Street in Villa Park, and going to Rubios. All the time. I take morning showers. I exercise by "spinning." I need tutors for almost everything. Or at the very least, I talk to other people about my problem sets so much more. I am accountable for everything I do. I am in a campus bubble 98% of the time. Even on weekends. I am nervous I won't be able to get to Target before I start running out of stuff. This week, I have no class on Tuesday's after 10 AM, so I guess if I don't have too much homework, I will go to Target.

I am quieter in class. I listen more. I have to. I have much less to contribute academically anymore... Or maybe I have relatively less because everyone else has more. And that, well... That's just fine by me. I was tired of discussing things in class by myself anyway. Here, people discuss in class and out. It's novel. And while partying happens, and people get smashed and break glasses wearing tin foil masks and bright pink spandex shorts, life is filled with the rich promise that I, too, can do whatever I so choose. Last night I did multivariable calculus and partied. I went to bed this morning at 2:30 AM and woke back up at 7:30 AM to go share my love of engineering with young girls in my SWE shirt and green WUSTL hard hat. I haven't gained a pound since I've been here. It's all on me. I am owning up to my shortcomings, learning to cope, becoming an independent adult.

I love. I think I would love anyone who came within 10 feet of me right now. To those of you who are not able to come within 10 feet of me (my family), I have gained a new perspective on just how precious you are. Even the members who sometimes annoy me or yell at me for no good reason or make a point to bring me down. I have also gained a deep appreciation for snail mail. It's such a beautiful thing. I hope they keep it around forever.

TBC (sooner, hopefully, rather than later),
Nicole, who is almost nineteen(!?!?!)

Post 67 on Route 66

Orientation has been great. Yesterday after listening to Dr. Loomis and Dr. Quatrano (and other various planned seminars), I helped make the banner for the WashU Ultimate Floor Challenge (WUFC). Lien 2's flag looks bomb! I also bonded a lot with people and went out to dinner with them. Then we went to this floor meeting where we were directed to Graham Chapel to see a play about date rape. Girls and guys separated into separate discussion groups where we talked about the situation.

Then I got inducted as an Wash U Engineer! I am not sure if I am allowed to say what I did there, so I will just say I now own an Engineering Creed card and a brand new Wash U green hard hat (The engineering school is under a lot of construction!)! Then I went to bed. Yesterday was awesome in general. I met people and actually talked to and learned about them, so instead of "Speed Dating" for people's names, (Name? Major? Hometown? Dorm? NEXT PERSON!) like everyone was earlier, I am actually getting to know people. That is preferable, of course. Today is going to be crazy busy. I am always running around and rarely home.

Today my parents leave. Bye, Mom and Dad!

Love,
ATT

Getting Oriented.

Yesterday I moved in and was convocated. I met a million people. It was like speed dating for friends. Name, hometown, major, NEXT! It was a blast though! Light sticks, Ted Drewes frozen custard for free, etc. I like my dorm a lot. So neat and lush! I have had to make a few adjustments, but I like it overall. Today was fun. 8:30 AM engineering dean's mtg, peer advising/advising with faculty, overview of BME, etc. Then I met a nice girl who loves art as much as I do, and we went through the on-campus Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, which is a must-see in my opinion. I fixed my tech problems, too! Now I am still working on my printer/a few other lesser evils! Good times!

TBC! Love, ATT

Here!

Today was awesome! I woke up at 4:00 AM Pacific, headed to the airport, took a very short flight (or it seemed so) to STL, went to Panera in our rental car (or should I say Bread Co.), and went to the Knight Center. It is like, a 4 star hotel. So cool. Then we went to Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond for some stuff. Then we went to the Delmar Loop for dinner. Fitz's has great fries and chili. MMMMMhhhhh yum. I went on a WUSTL walk with my mom. Tomorrow is move in. : ) So exciting.


And here I am... MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS!!!

I officially call it my home. : D

(Shocker!)

Today I made a big long list of things to do. I actually did most of them. That includes writing my friend a thank you note, grouting the frame of my mosaic into place (which wasn't as terrible as I anticipated and only took a half hour), swam in my own pool (shocker!), rode my bike to mail the thank you note and buy stamps, stretched, tracked my shipments to Wash U. Very productive. Read my sister's birthday blog.

Here's a shocker: It's her birthday today. Happy Birthday to the coolest 24 year old in existence!

Countdown to the 25th... Well come on, it's the 20th. You do the math! I've got to get packing soon!

Love to all,
Nicole AppleBirthday!

Hunger games and beach day!

I stayed up until 2:00 to finish the hunger games. I read 3 hours on Sunday and 4 hours on Monday. It was amazing and addictive. I could write a review on it as long as the actual book, so just go invest a few bucks in Suzanne Collin's Hunger Games. The third book comes out on August 24, so I ordered it and shipped it to my St. Louis address this morning. : D

I was invited to the beach last night. I had a very nice time today at the beach. It was a less frequented part of Newport. I really enjoyed hopping over the swelling waves before they crash. Plus, I may not see those friends or that beach for a very long time. I started catching fire this morning. I am so excited to navigate the trilogy. I have at least read 3 books this summer. Not too bad, considering I worked a lot, learned a lot, etc.

Best,
Nic E. Coli

Pleasantness

Life is becoming more and more pleasant. I am excited for college! Good things are coming my way, I hope. Sometimes it's hard to be optimistic, but I chose to be anyway. : D

Hiatus

I didn't realize people had commented on my blog. So I took a hiatus. Today when I realized that someone beside my mom reads this, I decided to go for it again. This week has been boring. I have been having an internal struggle lately. Who am I going to be when I go back? It's not a question of whether I'll be Nicole or not. The question is which Nicole I'll be. People are so complex, made of up so many shades of themselves. Which shade of Nicole will I be? Will I ever reach my goals? Who knows. Not something to worry about yet.

I was getting antsy because so many blogs I read aren't posting new material three times a day. Or even once a day. So I thought to myself, HYPOCRITE! Hypocrisy at its finest. I mean, no one hangs on my every word, and honestly, the blogs I am waiting on are mostly picture-based blogs. But still. I realized that in order to feel better, I can't keep all of my Nicoles at bay. I have to go off of this hiatus.

I shipped some things to Wash U today. I caught up with some people, ran a million errands, walked, rode my bike, stretched... No matter how old I get, I will always regret not being a contortionist. Being super limber is so relaxing. To just be a noodle without the weight of the world (or a heavy backpack) on my shoulders.

I have a lot of wishes/goals right now. I don't know that I believe any will come true. I am not used to that...

Anyway. More to come. I promise

Nic E. Coli

Post 60

Friday: Symposium was awesome! Free breakfast and lunch. Then I went back to my lab, played cards, said bye to people, etc. I had $98.00 in meal points left, so I asked my lab if they wanted to have a dinner/spades night. We did, and it was a blast, until I had to leave to go to the City Museum. That was also a blast! I got back home afterwards, played Bananagrams for the first time (so fun!), and went to sleep.

Saturday: I went home. I was tired. I got some things done that I can't remember. I also unpacked.

Sunday: Exercised, caught up on TV, etc.

Monday: Opened B of A account since St. Louis and Wash U are owned by Bank of America. I also did a bunch of other random errands and then had my friends over for a night of Rubios (which I missed in St. Louis, but not as much as I thought I would), fun, and conversation. It was a blast.

Today: Going to do more errands and exercise. Sorry for the brevity!

TBC,
ATT

PS. Home is awesome.

Yesterday was chill. I went to work, took a FroYo/ spades break (the card game) after flow cytometry, and then showed my presentation to my lab. I then went to the arch's Westward Expansion museum, then up 630 feet (192 meters) in a retro futuristic space pod. I still don't trust the arch. It gets so crowded up there. But the view was really cool. When it is packed like a sardine tin, I don't feel safe. Plus you have to practically lay down to see out the windows. It's odd but very cool. We went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I was starving by the time we got our food. There were 3 parties of at least 20 people including mine, and a lot of other patrons, so we got our food at about 9:30 PM. It was pretty decent though. I came back home and chilled, worked on my presentation a bit, and went to sleep.
Today I am going to the lab lunch for the Jeopardy tournament. It is an Indian/Nepalese/Korean place. Should be interesting.

TBC,
The girl who calls an "elevator capsule" a "space pod"

The Rest of Monday, All of Tuesday, and This Morning

The rest of Monday, I took my walk. On my way home from chem prep before my walk, I captured the picture of the pink sky behind Wash U. So pretty! I made it my new blog photo. I exercised, did a bit of junk I can't remember, and went to sleep around 11:00 PM. At 3:00 AM, I was woken in my sleep by my roommate and some friends, who thought barging in screaming to steal her mattress so she could sleep in the room ONE DOOR DOWN was appropriate behavior on a work night. We also had an 8:30 AM seminar that morning and I had stuff to do before that. Needless to say, I was not pleased. I did get everything done that I wanted to get done on Monday! That made me feel good.

Tuesday, I woke up at 6:00 AM despite my roommate, did some stuff to make my day easier, and went to breakfast nice and early. I then got to the seminar early, enjoyed hearing the perspective of a female MD/Ph.D., and went to work. If anyone wants to know more specifics on the seminar, I don't want to bore all of my readers, so you can ask me later. At work, I did some prep for flow cytometry, passaged cells, etc. with my bench mentor. Then we went to the med school. I got so tired, I napped. We got back to the hilltop (main Wash U) campus, added the final images to my presentation, and today, I will present it at work.
I got off of work at 4:30 PM, went to dinner, made my own salad and had a fruit salad on the side, and watched The Lion King. It is a great movie. I love it more at 18 than I did as a kid, probably because I can appreciate Scar's ironic statements. Then I took a really fast, intense WUSTL walk. I could barely breathe. Before going back to the South Forty, I went to the DUC to relax a few and get some water. I got back home, did some various junk, mostly of the relaxing nature, and then went to sleep. I got up to go to the bathroom at 2:00 AM and could hear giggling next door. No wonder those kids look trashed in the morning. No offense to them, but they are like narcoleptics during the day, falling asleep EVERYWHERE (even at seminars. Kinda rude, in my opinion. And there really is NOTHING to do all night on a Tuesday or Wednesday. I promise.).

This morning, I woke up early, read some blogs, and showered. Now I am writing this blog, drying off a bit so I can get dressed. Have a good day!
Sincerely,
The-Applebaum-who-sleeps-alone-in-her-room-but-doesn't-mind-because-she-doesn't-have-to-put-up-with-her-inconsiderate-roommate-barging-in-screaming-in-the-middle-of-the-night-anymore : )

Schlepping

Today consisted of breakfast, lab, iTunes shopping spree (11 songs I think), med school, lab, DUC to get Dylan some lunch, lab, med school, ran back to lab to pick up a chemical, ran back to catch metro 5 minutes later, med school, lab. DONE! If you can count (I convoluted it, I am sorry), that is 4 schlepping trips, three of which were to the med school.

I finished everything for the day, went to dinner, went to Yaa's presentation (she is leaving for some compsci competition tomorrow), and went to chem prep. I did well on my quiz from last week! Yay! I can safely say I beat the average (finally!). I also practiced my presentation, and realized that I need to add pictures where my frog picture templates currently are. Haha. Glad I practiced. I can fix it tomorrow. I am about to go exercise if it isn't raining. Good day to you all!
-Nicole

Post Schfifty-Five! Weekend Update!

Friday was fun. Lab was slow. Thursday nights are when the engineers have their coed softball league games, so my bench mentor was really tired. I accompanied him on a Chinese food run, worked on my presentation, and edited my abstract.
After that, I went to a free, outdoor Sarah Bareilles concert at the Civic Center. She was really good. Since the FSAP kids had their last night on Friday, I went with them to the Loop to get FroYo, which was delicious (as usual). Then we watched an old TIVOed SNL. I went to sleep.

Saturday from 9:00 AM to noon I volunteered landscaping a preschool. It was a really nice, ritzy preschool. Apparently they give out financial aid. Haha. Too funny. After that, I had some fruit at the DUC. It was about 97 degrees and 100% humid during volunteering. I also got hit in the face by a wheelbarrow. Ow. Then I went home, showered, went to the library, and got a ton of stuff done. I hung out in the fun room. I was too sore to enjoy the City Museum, so I passed on going. My stomach was also very upset. : (

I love thunder and lightning. Before the bus ride to Tyson and last night as well, I just sat out and watched the storm under an overhang. I love the lightning! Such a novelty. The whole sky is encouraging epileptics to seize. I wanted to rave, but then it started to rain. When I say rave, I mean, dance in the storm. No psychedelics.

This morning we headed out 1.5 hours west to the Meramac River for our float trip. It was a blast. My raft was composed of very cool people, and I really enjoyed the picnic lunch. I had a wheat bread sandwich with hummus, cucumber, lettuce, and tomato. It was amazing. There was also a variety of chips, fruits, and cookies. So yummy! Thanks, Amy.
I got back home, got my storage bins, and packed them most of the way. I have to ship some stuff home soon, and I got my laundry done. Now I am headed to dinner in a few.

Hope your weekend was equally awesome,
ATT

Terrific Thursday and Beyond

I woke up, had a different breakfast than I normally do, and went to a conference where a BME who had gone into "industry," I.E. the business aspect of things, talked to us. He was more of a software programmer/ IT guy, but he was still really cool. He encouraged us to take some business classes, maybe get an MD/MBA (not for me, obviously), or a business minor. He said it is better to do it while you are still on your schooling streak than to try to go back to school later. He also invited us to check out his company and gave us his email. I picked his brains quite a bit.

I went to work, autoclaved, did some actual productive work, and talked with Dylan about my presentation. Unlike my abstract, he actually liked it. He said it was simple, effective, and the flow was good, and to just add the results and finish. We analyzed the results, emailed them to my laptop, etc.

I went to dinner, where I had a delicious chicken burger (so worth the longer wait. Burgers of any sort take way longer than Mexican food). Then it was chem prep time. It was so fast. I only have one more left on Monday. I have learned a lot about the WHYs of chemistry. Why we accept certain things as true, and the quantum mechanical Schrödinger's Cat situation.

I went from chem prep to the library. I was there for 2 hours. It felt like 10 minutes. I focused like a dream. Headphones on, one album repeating (so that you don't notice the music and hence don't feel time go by). I almost finished my presentation. Then I went home and actually finished.

It feels so good to be done. I know I have editing to do, but it is just... such a relief to have everything pretty much squared away.

Today I am going to a seminar about MD/Ph.D. programs. I think the point of SSBBR is to push us to be MD/Ph.D.s, but they don't talk about how ridiculously competitive they are. The nice thing is that you can research on humans. Many Ph.D.s do rat surgeries, etc. But MD/Ph.D.s do human surgeries and lab work. I think many of them teach medical school. Not sure though. It gives you so many options. But the speaker yesterday makes me think that industry might not be so different. Money make things happen, and money comes with strings attached, whether loaned or granted.

TBC,
ATT

Wednesday and General Life Changes

Yesterday was really cool. After work, I went to the Tyson Research Center. We rode on the back of trucks around this giant forest facility and looked at the different research projects. We were sitting on the sides of the truck cab leaning in to avoid falling off of a "speeding" truck (going 30 seemed like 50). It was really beautiful and very memorable. We went up and down hills in these trucks on off-road trails. There are over 2200 acres and tons of solar panels. The building we had our picnic in is called the Living Learning Center, which is nearly 100% sustainable. It's about half an hour off campus, and such a cool resource for Wash U students. On the bus home, we played a fun word/phrase game.

In general, my life is so different here. Yesterday, I sat and watched a rainless thunderstorm with Madeleine. I am no longer terrified of storms in close proximity. In my life, I have always taken night showers. Now I take morning showers. And in VP, I eat most of my food for the day after school. Now I eat my food more evenly throughout the day for energy purposes. I also have a new outlook on certain things.

Tata for now,
ATT

No Blog Blog #2

Monday and Tuesday. No Blog.
-ATT

"Have a Six Flags Day"

Yesterday I woke up early, ate breakfast, and went to Six Flags St. Louis, which is also a water park. It wasn't too crowded. We hopped on two rides fairly quickly. The first one was a kiddy ride. The 2nd was called Ninja. One of the cars leaving after I rode it got stuck, and so my friends who went on the car behind me couldn't get out of their train until they could pull into the platform. So we waited for them for a few minutes. Then we went on Batman, which we waited an hour to go on. The line was super windy. It was so much like the Silver Bullet at Knott's Berry Farm, because they are both made by Bolliger Mabillard (the famous roller coaster makers).Then we went to lunch at the greasy and heavy Johnny Rocket's. It was way too hot to eat that much grease. I also went on a wooden roller coaster (Evil Knievel?), a log flume, and waited outside with the worst stomach pains ever during "Mr. Freeze." Around 4:00 PM (we arrived at 11:00 AM), we went into the water park. The wave pool was fun, as was the kiddy stuff. So I just followed little kids around pretending I was with them so I could stay. Ahaha. Anyway, I got back home and had an excellent night, hammocking and watching a movie. The movie was so cute and beautifully made!

Today it is rainy with thunderstorms. Better than yesterday, which felt like 112ºF death! : )
TBC,
ATT

50th Post!

Quote of the day: "Good thing you aren't pregnant!" -Dylan, my bench mentor, referring to me working with certain chemicals.

More to come later!

My half-centennial post is very short... but I will make it good. Today, I realized that being here in St. Louis has changed my perspective and my overall view of humanity. Thanks, WUSTL and WUSTLians! WUSTLites? Who knows?

TBC,

Nicole A.

Yet another two day recap... and bagel weirdness

Wednesday: Woke up, went to lab, worked on stuff, went to the med school for PCR, met at 8th and Pine metro station for lunch around 1:00. Another undergrad (a rising senior) left her purse on the metro, which put a stall in things. Ate a bento box of delicious food at Jade (including Hao's tiger cupcakes!), went back to the med school to realize PCR had failed, went to lab, went back to med school to redo PCR, went back to lab, ate dinner, went to library, relaxed on hammock, found my roommate, went to sleep after a shower.

Thursday: I woke up, ate my bagel, went to a seminar, no speaker, went to work, prepped for autoclaving, ran around like a chicken, finished playing the tourney of Jeopardy at lunch (got 4th place! If I had gotten .5 of a point lower, I would have the girl who lost her purse buying me lunch instead... Not that I'd ever really SEE that lunch), worked like a dog on my project, and went to med school to do flow cytometry ("I'll always opt to fall down the stairs in the end" -Bobbing For Apples by Regina Spektor. Ask me later). Most of it worked better than we expected. We realized one of our important factors is expired... but not just passed its suggested date. It really works poorly. So we went back, made culturing plates, and are about to start with all new stuff. I left the lab, ate dinner, and was too late to go to the Cardinal's game. I found out no one went. Also, I ate dinner with some friendly FSAP kids who were really cool. It was nice to meet them. Too bad they are leaving in 8 days (the 24th). I found out at the seminar with no speaker that I am presenting on July 30th at 11:00 AM. Cool. Also, my suggestion for the Sunday night dinner, Panera (STL Bread Co.) was chosen as the winner. : )

I went to the library after dinner, worked in a study room with the FSAP kids reading a really good journal article on my topics of interest (they do things slightly different than we do). Then I went home, walked, went to sleep at 10:30 PM (so early!), woke up, showered at 6:50 AM, and here I am now.

Tuesday and Wednesday, I ordered cinnamon raisin bagels. Tuesday I got a jalapeno bagel (it was a slight shock), and Wednesday I got a blueberry bagel, which was pretty good too but not what I wanted. Thursday, success! I got the right kind of bagel! : )

Hoping for another lucky bagel day!
-ATT

SSE Snafu

So I had an awesome day. It was great. I will comment more on it later... but my lab had a streak of bad luck. It was Xi's birthday and Bastille Day, so maybe that has something to do with it. Who knows? More to come. Awesome hammocks at Wash U... : )
Awesome conversation.

TBC,
Nicole

Today kicked butt...

So pretty much, today kicked butt, as my title infers. Woke up nice and early, made my lunch, and went to see a seminar by Dr. Herzog, who researches biological clocks. He fascinated me. I had so many questions for him, I must have driven him crazy. Then I went to lab. Lab rocked! I got frozen yogurt after lunch, did flow cytometry, prepped cDNA for PCR, aliquoted, you name it. I ran around a lot. I was in lab until 5:45 PM, went to dinner, and went to the library, and wrote my abstract. I had a study buddy, which was very nice. : D

Later,
ATT

I am not going to lie to you...

This weekend was mostly uneventful, besides making some cool new friends and what not. I went to Dierbergs so I can make my own lunches now! :D Trying to be healthier. :D

Today I woke up, had a rad time in lab, and had dinner, went to chem, and came back. But I also am starting a project... my halloween costume. I want to get suggestions on it. I have these plastic pieces that the lab isn't using and gave to me. I have like, 150 of them, WAY enough to make a costume. So I want to be some sort of lego person. All I need is some fishing line!

TBC, and give me suggestions!
Love,
ATT