(The following post was written by SU student Jacob last summer.)
Hey everyone. I’m Jacob, a student in Summer University program here at Hopkins. For my time here, I’m taking Intro to Contemporary Democracy and Intro to Roman Culture. What I’ve decided to do for my first post is just to go through what one day here at JHU for a Summer University student is like. So let’s start with…
9:45 AM: In my room in Building A, the alarm goes off. Today, I don’t have a morning class, so I get to sleep in a little. Other days, I’m already in class by now. The question is whether or not to actually get up. I think I’ll hit the sleep button just once…
9:47 AM: Housekeeping comes to change the towels, so I guess I’m up. (FYI, if you’re coming here next year, it’s helpful to know that all your towels and bed linens are provided by the University and get changed periodically.)
10:15 AM: I have a project due in exactly one week which will require me to make a presentation on Roman games. Since I don’t have any more work to do for class this afternoon, I’ll spend the next hour and a half working on that.
12:25 PM: Time for lunch on the way to class. The FFC (Fresh Food Café) is busy as usual, but I’m somehow able to edge in and grab a slice of pizza before it’s all gone.
A note on food (since that’s pretty important when you’re here for five weeks): what you have to eat here is college food, so it’s probably not going to be what you're used to getting at home. That being said, there’s plenty of options in the dining hall, and when you start to get bored of the on-campus food, there’s a ton of places to eat within several blocks. But I’ll talk more about all that in another post.
12:40 PM: OK, lunch took less time than I thought it would. So I guess I’ll just head over to class a little early and start working on my Contemporary Democracy reading for tomorrow.
12:45 PM: Everyone else seems to show up early too for some reason, so I get nothing done, but rather have a good time talking with the other people in my class.
1:00 PM: Class starts. Today’s lecture is on the endings of the Roman Empire, from Diocletian to Justinian. We also talk about the rise of Christianity and how the triangular relationship between Judaism, Christianity, and the various pagan religions of the time affected society.
3:30 PM: Class ends. A conversation with the instructor carries over to Café Q, a coffee/gelato shop with a bakery, in the upper level of MSEL (the Milton S. Eisenhower Library, named for the brother of President Dwight D. Eisenhower who served as the eighth and tenth president of Johns Hopkins).
An interesting note about MSE: most of the library is underground, however, each floor still has windows and natural light. There are tons of group and individual study space, so it’s a great place to go when you need to get work done.
3:45 PM: Back in Building A, I pull out German sociologist and political theorist Max Weber’s “Politics as a Vocation” and begin the process of highlighting and annotating.
4:20 PM: Take a break from Weber to communicate with some friends back home. Here’s another FYI tangent: If you’re bringing a computer to campus, every dorm in Buildings A and B (which are inhabited exclusively by Summer University and Engineering Innovations students) is wired for internet access, but you have to provide your own Ethernet cable (if you don’t have one, you can easily get one in the bookstore). Also, MSEL has tons of computers and there are other computer clusters available for you to use.
5:00 PM: I usually wait until later for dinner, but I’m feeling hungrier than usual. One of my roommates (our dorm is a four-person suite split into two, two-person rooms) is experiencing the same sensation, so we hit the FFC.
5:40 PM: A phone call from the outside world comes and I see that I’ve gotten a letter. My point here is that it’s easy to stay in touch with your friends and family while you’re in Baltimore.
6:00 PM: Back to Weber. It’s time to get some serious work done, so I head over to MSE.
7:30 PM: Realize I just missed the Capture the Flag game on the Upper Quad. I guess Weber is more captivating than I thought!
9:00 PM: Floor meeting. We talk about stuff that’s happening in the next couple days, like a trip to a driving range with a mini-golf course and the talent show.
9:50 PM: Back to the library for Weber’s last stand. Finally, I’m done with him at…
11:00 PM: Head back to dorm, direct computer to campusfood.com. Truly, the ability to get food delivered right to the dorms with just a click is one of the greatest innovations the internet has brought to society.
11:30 PM: Pizza Boli’s long awaited delivery finally comes. Eat and watch “South Park” with friends.
12:00 AM: Curfew and room check. (FYI, you don't have to be up until midnight every night. The RA on duty will make sure you're in your room, but they won't wake you up unless there's a special circumstance.) Now it's time to get some sleep, since I've got a morning class just nine hours away. After class, I think I’ll stop by the Hopkins Barnes and Noble (which sells way more than just books) and maybe get some ice cream at Cold Stone. Can’t wait!
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So that's pretty much what a typical day in Summer U land is like. Got any more questions? Leave a comment on this post. Also, check out the Academics, Campus Life, and Baltimore threads.
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