New York Smithie

This fall I'm registered for:

EDC 232: The American Middle and High School with Rosetta Marantz Cohen

ENG 399: Teaching Literature with Samuel Scheer

REL 227: Women & Gender in Jewish History with Lois C. Dubin

JUD 284: The Lost World of East European Jewry, 1750-1945 with Justin Daniel Cammy

I spent the first part of the semester living off-campus in Northampton with one of my friends from Smith and my partner! It was wonderful, but sadly our lease was up at the end of April, so I moved to Boston for the rest of the semester with my partner! It's been fun, though we've been pretty busy. Our first week we got the second dose of the covid vaccine which knocked us out for a day. However, on Friday I finished my finals, and my partner filed her thesis Sunday! Now we're enjoying our last week in Boston before going back to NYC.

Senior grades came out on May 25, but my grades won't be available for a little longer. However, every year you can usually see some (or all) of your grades early. Once people figure out a new trick, it is quickly posted on Overheard at Smith (a Facebook group), texted among friends, etc. Here are a few ways I try to see my grades as soon as possible (I'm impatient):

Latin Honors: If you go to the Smith portal and click the Latin Honors tab, you can see the grades you've earned in past semesters. Sometimes, you can also see grades a bit early, depending on when your professors get them in. A grade from one of my classes is already posted :)

GPA: In past years, our GPA has been updated before final grades are posted.

Final Grades: This tab can be accessed via Bannerweb or the Smith portal. Under each semester you can see your institutional GPA, as well as your GPA for the selected term. It's possible that our GPA for this semester could appear before our grades, but that hasn't happened yet!

Unofficial Transcript: There's a small possibility this could be updated before final grades are officially posted, but it's not likely!

Professors: Finally, some professors will let you know your final grade before they're officially posted in an email or office hours meeting!

Good luck everyone :)

This summer I have a fantastic marketing internship with a nonprofit in LA. It's a remote internship, so my day won't start until noon! However, when I go visit my Dad in LA later this summer, my workday will start a wee bit earlier.

My internship is unpaid, so I'm using Praxis funding. This provides me with a $3000 stipend, which is a huge help!

I'm also taking a community Hebrew class this summer (not for credit) to brush up! I've really taking missed Hebrew, so I'm excited to get back into it. I didn't apply for funding for it since it was very inexpensive, but if I had needed to I could've applied for funding from through the class deans office. Similarly, if the Hebrew class had been intensive and for-credit, there would have been multiple departmental funds I could have applied for. Smith has a lot of funding for summer opportunities if you know where to look!

In addition, I'll be spending this summer thinking about my thesis more seriously! Because I took last fall off, I'm a rising second semester junior, and will need to submit a formal proposal at the beginning of next year.

Overall, it should be a great summer!

Here are some more pictures from the botanical garden that I took during this year’s bulb show!

My favorite statue

In one of the first rooms

The inside

Taken by my friend Sarah :)

Smith is letting students in the testing program go to the bulb show! I went with my friend Sarah the other week and had a great time. It was so nice to be back in the botanical garden, and to do something so normal.

We got to explore the entirety of the botanical gardens when we were there. They’re limiting it to groups of three, so it was almost entirely empty. Last year I went to the bulb show on the opening weekend, and it was so packed that you could barely move!

Students in horticulture grow flowers for the mum show (fall) and the bulb show (spring)! Usually, there’s a competition where you can vote for your favorite plant hybrid.

There are a number of places nearby that are good for walking/hiking/etc. In fact, Paradise Pond is on-campus! However, there’s an entrance to the rail trail about a ten minute walk away from Smith. There are routes to connect to nearby trails, in fact, I’m only 5 minutes away from one! I wish I had used it more before this year!

This semester I’m living off-campus in Northampton, and am enrolled in the Smith testing program. This means I get tested on-campus three times a week, and can access all of Smith’s resources and events on Smith campus. For instance, I recently went to the bulb show with one of my friends who is living on-campus, and picked up a book from the library the other day.

I’m living in an airbnb that is about a 20 minutes walk away from campus with one of my friends from Smith and my girlfriend.

Our living room

It’s a really beautiful place that has worked out super well for us! There are definitely things I miss about living on-campus, and it’ll be fun to be back there next year, but overall this has been a super fun experience. Only ~3% of Smith students live off-campus, so most Smithies will never have this experience. I’ve definitely been utilizing Northampton in a way I never have before, and wish I had earlier. For instance, I’ve been taking a lot of walks on the bike path/rail trail, which previously I had only been on once or twice. I’m also right across the street from a graveyard, which I’ve taken a few walks around as well.

Our massive cereal/grain cabinet.

I’ve also been continue to cook a ton, which I really enjoy. At Smith it’s easy to access a kitchen, but i rarely cook anything more complex than pasta since we’re all on the meal plan anyway. All in all, it’s been really nice living on my own.

Over quarantine, and this past semester in particular, l’ve picked up a ton of hobbies! I started playing Dungeons & Dragons at the beginning of my sophomore year, and really love it. It’s decently easy to play virtually too, so, lo and behold, I’m sort of involved in 5 different campaigns.

I’ve also been knitting a ton since March. Whenever I watch TV or movies I like to do something with my hands, which is where knitting comes in. I learned how to knit in elementary school, and have been knitting ever since. I’m a pretty average knitter, but I did make a blanket last spring, and am currently working on another blanket.

Puzzles are another thing I’ve done a lot of! We have a surprising number of cat-themed puzzles at home.

Last week, I tried embroidery for the first time! I’m not very good at it, but I’m proud that my first attempt looked like what it was supposed to even if my technique was bad. If you have any tips please, let me know!

Finally, I’ve been cooking a lot since March! I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but haven’t had much reason to cook a lot. Since I’m home all the time, and my Mom is back at her office, I cook lunch every day (usually for my sister as well as myself), and we switch off cooking dinners. It works out quite well since I detest washing pots, and my sister doesn’t mind.

A few recipes I’ve discovered over the past year are:

Maple and Miso Sheet-Pan Salmon (NYT Cooking)

Japchae (My Korean Kitchen)

Balsamic-Glazed Oven-Baked Ribs (NYT Cooking) (easier to make then it seems!)

Coconut Butternut Squash Soup (NYT Cooking)

As you can tell, I use recipes from NYT Cooking a lot. Let me know what some of your favorite recipes are (particularly vegetarian recipes)!

This semester I’ll be taking:

Shakespeare with Naomi J. Miller

Asian American Women Writers with Ambreen Hai

Race and Education with Lucy W. Mule

Introduction to the Study of Women and Gender with Jina Boyong Kim

English majors are required to take either Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer, so I’ve decided on Shakespeare! However, I really enjoyed reading Milton in English 200 last year, so I might take Milton as well.

I took my Servants in Literature and Film seminar with Ambreen Hai last fall, and absolutely loved it! Professor Hai is an amazing professor, so I’m really excited to take another class with her, and the authors we’re supposed to read look great.

I’ve been hearing a lot about Race and Education since I first started at Smith. Tons of people have told me that it’s one of the best classes they’ve ever taken-- so it’s a no-brainer for me. I’ve also wanted to take an education class for a while now as I’m definitely interested in teaching English literature after college. I also met so many of the professors in the department while working as an office assistant and social media liaison last year, so, all in all, this is really exciting!

As for Intro Swag, I’ve been meaning to take it since my first semester at Smith, but timing has never worked out! So, I’m really eager to finally take it.

I can’t believe a new semester is right around the corner!

Since I took last semester off, instead of graduating in 2022, I’ll be a J grad. My new class year is 2023J! About half of my friends decided to take time off, and of them, about half took/are taking a semester off like I did, and the other half are taking off the full year. Even though I’ll be graduating in January, my eventual job search and grad school applications shouldn’t be affected too much. A lot of grad school programs that are in the back of my mind have January start dates, and jobs are always hiring.

During my semester off I interned for the author of Young Mongols, which was an incredibly meaningful and rewarding experience. I also continued tutoring for Ringle, which I began last March.

I spent my semester off at home in NYC. Normally I go to LA a few times a year to visit my Dad but, because of the pandemic, I haven’t done so. I haven’t seen him in over a year now which is really strange. It has never seemed worth the risk to travel, but hopefully, vaccine distribution will go well so I can see him in-person soon.

My Mom moved over the summer to a new apartment in Murray Hill that has a small terrace, which has been phenomenal. We actually ate breakfast out there on Christmas Eve!

Our terrace is VERY New York-- it faces a brick wall! I really like the privacy though so we aren’t very high up.

This coming semester I’ll be living off-campus in Northampton for part of the semester with one of my friends and my girlfriend. It’s a really cute apartment that is about a 20 minute walk away from campus.

Even though I’m living off-campus, I’ll actually be on-campus quite a bit. Because I’m living locally, I’m enrolled in Smith’s asymptomatic testing program. I’ll be getting tested three times a week at the Campus Center. You can learn more about Smith’s Coronavirus Screenings here. I’m also enrolled in one enhanced remote class (though I’m not sure what the “enhanced” part will look like), and when I’m allowed/it’s safe to do so, I’ll be going for long walks around paradise pond!

Last semester I took Elementary Hebrew I at Umass Amherst! For those of you that don’t know, Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst, Umass Amherst, and Hampshire College are part of the Five College Consortium (you can learn more about it here). This means that five college students can take classes at the other colleges. I’d say half of my friends have taken a class at another college, and half never had. There are so many classes at Smith I want to take that I’ve never felt a need to take a class at another college! However, taking a class at another college is a great experience that I’d definitely recommend. You get to meet new people, new professors, and have a different classroom experience.

I ended up taking Hebrew at Umass last semester because you can start Elementary Hebew I at Umass in the spring (it’s a linked course at Smith), and I wanted to study abroad in Israel (Smith requires that you take two semesters of a language before you study abroad in some countries, you can learn more about this here). It was a great, but very different experience!

Naturally, one of the main differences between taking a class at Smith and Umass is that there were cisgender men in my class (my Hebrew class was actually mostly cisgender men). Even though I’ve had cisgender guys in my Smith classes before, this was my first time being in an educational environment with so many cis-men since high school. I definitely walked into the class more self-assured than high school. In high school, I didn’t participate as much during class, but once I got to college I started talking in-class more. Even though it wasn’t a Smith class, i felt super confident, and was comfortable participating.

Because of the timing of my Umass class, I missed lunch at Smith. However, I was able to get lunch at Umass through the Five College Meal Exchange! If you take a class at another college and miss a meal at your home institution because of timing, you can eat at the college you’re taking a class at (learn more here)! Umass has great food (they’re ranked #1 in the country for college dining), so we always joke at Smith that you want to find a way to get Umass food at least once (you can actually pay to eat at their dining hall if you want). I would bring a Smith grab and go container with me (learn more here), get my food at a dining hall, put it in my container, and head back to Smith with it! Most days I would bring back different things for my friends. On my last day of class before we got sent home for the rest of the semester because of covid, I brought back a ton of cookies for everyone that we all ate sadly in my room <3

Overall, it’s really fun to take a class at another college, and I’d definitely reccomened doing it at some point during your time at Smith! 

August has been a super busy month for me! As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been taking an intensive Hebrew course, which is a lot of work. This week is my last week, which is very exciting, but also quite nerve-racking, as I have a huge final on Thursday. We’ve learned over 500 new vocabulary words thus far, and it’s unclear how many more we’ll be asked to learn for the final! This class is super challenging, but very rewarding.

In addition to my Hebrew class, I’ve started interning for a Smith alumna! Smith has a very tight-knit alumnae network. When I decided to take a semester off, I reached out and asked if anyone had any recommendations. By the end of the week, I got an internship with Aubrey Menard, a Smith alumna and author of Young Mongols (https://www.youngmongols.com/). So far, I’ve just done publicity work part-time for her, but i’m excited to do even more once Hebrew ends!

I’ve also been reading a lot, and playing tons of Dungeons & Dragons! D&D is pretty popular at Smith, so I learned how to play at the beginning of sophomore year. Now, I’m playing in two campaigns and running a third! It’s mostly with Smith people (but also one of my Hampshire friends Sidney, as well as a friend of a friend), which has been a great way to stay in touch with everyone. We play over Zoom (Smith provides a free subscription), use a variety of websites to help, including DND Beyond. I’m really excited to keep playing with everyone, especially since we’ll all still be scattered across the globe this semester.

Predictably, I’ve been reading a lot to stay busy during quarantine! My new apartment has a terrace that I’ve been reading on a lot, which as been a life saver, so I can still get outside without going outside. Some of the books I’ve read the past few weeks are:

The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich (a re-read)

A book of Celtic myths

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths (another re-read, was on a bit of a mythology kick)

The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck (another re-read for me)

Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

Currently, I’m reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. As always, I’d love to hear your book recommendations! 

Pre-Covid, I was going to be in Jerusalem right now taking an intensive Hebrew Class at Hebrew U (funded by an International Experience Grant). Instead, I am taking a month-long Ulpan online through Haifa! Back in June the Jewish Studies department sent out an email letting us know about funding for credit-bearing classes and independent research. I obtained a grant of $750 to take this course ($1000), which was amazing!

My course has been challenging, but I’ve definitely learned a lot. I’m going to be taking the Fall semester off, but I plan to continue taking Hebrew. Ideally, I’ll continue taking Hebrew at Umass with the same Professor I took it with last semester. My Professor, Ofir, was an amazing teacher. I’ve always struggled with languages, but he explained everything in a way that made sense (I’ve actually been using some of the handouts he made for us during my ulpan). Right now, we’re talking about what level I should take next, which is very exciting!

June definitely was not what I expected!

In a slight turn of events, I spent most of it house (apartment) hunting with my Mom! She wanted to shorter her commute, so we started looking at apartments on the Upper East Side and Murray Hill. After a lengthy spreadsheet, and several socially-distanced viewings, we finally found (and got) the one! It’s a little smaller than our current apartment, but it has a small patio which is extremely exciting. It’s also in Murray Hill so my mom can walk to work! We’re moving in a little more than a week, and I’m so excited, though there’s a lot to do!

I also dyed my hair pink again (yay), and have been doing lots of cleaning and winnowing out. We have A LOT of books (both my sister and I are English majors and my Mom loves to read-- need I say more), and we ended up giving away 8 feet of books (we still have far more than that). Though it’s a lot of work, I’m excited to move!

A generic picture of the new apartment!

Pink hair again!

When it comes to decorating my room at Smith, I’m a big fan of fairy lights. My friends always joke about how many I have every time I move rooms! Honestly, I think the main reason why I’ve never bothered getting a standing lamp is because I have so many fair lights I don’t need one.

These are my main fairy lights ($13.99). They’ll fit around the entire room of most first-year doubles and most singles. They provide a really nice amount of life and have different settings!

I also have three sets of string lights that I got from Flying Tiger in NYC for ~$4 each. if there’s one near you, I definitely reccomened checking it out!

I also have some printed out photos, polaroids, and posters in my room. I have 2 posters that I got at the poster sale at Smith first-year for about $5 each, and a smaller poster I ordered off Society 6 (my absolute favorite) when it was on sale. In addition, I have an astrology themed poster that I got from Thornes (a building of shops in noho) for $4. I’m pretty sure half of Smith owns that poster, in addition to more than one of my friends. It’s a good one!

Mini fridge:

Mini fridges are a super easy item to obtain at the end of the year at Smith. My first year, my roommate brought a mini fridge from home with her, and at the end of the year I got my current one for free from a graduating senior! I would only spend a lot of money on one if you really want a mini fridge, or, to split the cost with your roommate first year.

Desk Lamps:

This is another item I don’t reccomened spending a lot of money on! I got a desk lamp from Walmart for about $5, but it turns out I didn’t need to buy one. I got one I liked better at the end of my first year with a built-in outlet that I’ve found super useful. A lot of people will leave desk lamps in their house free bin at the end of the year, and other houses will store lamps that aren’t claimed from free bins at the end of the year so first years can get them at the beginning of the next school year.

Fan:

I would definitely bring a fan if nothing else! It can be super hot at the beginning and end of the school year, and only Cutter-Z has ac. The trick is finding a fan that’s small enough to store in your closet except for the first and last month of school. You can find a good one for around $20, but, if, you’re able to splurge, I highly reccomened this one ($64.99). My room at home doesn’t have an ac, so we invested in this fan after reading about it in Wirecutter.

The Vornado 630 Mid-Size Whole Room Air Circulator Fan

Mirrors and Floor Lamps:

These are two items I would wait to buy until you see your room. Both items are harder to find in free bins, but certainly not impossible. Furthermore, all rooms have mirrors-- some even come with floor-length mirrors! 

Storage Ottoman:

One of THE BEST purchases I made was a storage ottoman. It’s great for sitting, easy to move around, collapses perfectly for storage, and can fit a lot of things. I’ve put blankets, jumbo things of pretzels, my nalgene collection, and so much more. Here’s the one I got (at the time it was on-sale for $20), but there are cheaper ones on Amazon, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc.