Happy Sunday! I’ve had a lovely, restful weekend.
On Friday, I went to my 3 classes and took lots of notes. I also stopped by the bookstore to buy a few pens and notebooks. I got some pens with glitter in them, so my notes are very fun to take now. I also got a notebook with graph paper inside so that I can make concept maps for my microbiology class. Before I went to class, I went by Karm and thrifted some really neat vintage sweaters. One of them has perfume bottles embroidered on it, and the other one has animal print. Dressing up for my classes has made me feel more motivated, and it always sparks conversation with my classmates.
On Friday night, I went back through my biology lecture to make a concept map. I have figured out that if I read the textbook before class, type quick notes and focus on listening to my professor during lecture, and take more detailed notes using the lecture slides after class, I actually retain a lot of information.
In biology, we learned about some of the founders of microbiology and important technological innovations that still contribute a lot to the field. We also learned about Florence Nightingale and her contributions. I had heard about her but did not realize that she was the first figure to use statistics in biology. She made a pie chart to show that her military patients during the Crimean War were dying from infections in their wounds more than they were dying from their actual wounds. This showed that there was a need for sanitation, and efforts to create sterile environments after that lowered death rates drastically.
In my Latin American politics class, we looked at different maps of Latin and Central America throughout history, beginning with the Mayan, Incan, and Aztec Empires. We also looked at maps of their natural resources, major exports, border redistributions, and tons of other factors that add perspective to their history and wars.
On Saturday, I went to the gym with Alicia and Bella and worked on legs. I then went to Potchke, the Jewish restaurant near the Mill and Mine, and got a soup made of beets, dill, and other seasonings and a salad with lemon and oil.
I worked on a global health essay, which was a reaction paper to an article we were assigned to read. It was around 20 pages, but it was easy to read and digest. The article discussed the different definitions of success in global health throughout time periods and the importance of context in defining successes and failures. In the middle of the 19th century, sanitary conferences were formed between countries, which was considered successful for the time because of the movements towards international cooperation in preventing disease spread. After that, the institutionalization of global health, especially with the creation of the Rockefeller Foundation, was the main success. In the 1950s, the bureaucratization and formalization of global health, with the formation and funding of the World Health Organization, was a large success for the mid-late 20th century. The author of the article also argued that the eradication of Smallpox was used to push certain political agendas which overlooked the need for poverty reduction and healthcare access, but current global health scholars are emphasizing the importance of preventive healthcare, which includes greater access to healthcare, healthier living conditions, access to fresh produce and clean air, and social resources.
Saturday evening, Bella and I went over the Brooke’s apartment. Brooke was my roommate last year and is from Michigan. She lives in The Henley, an apartment complex on the road that goes behind the Dunkin Donuts on Chapman Highway. I made us buffalo chicken wraps with slaw, and we sat on her couch and talked for a while. She is in 17 hours of pre-PA classes, so she’s staying really busy. She also adopted her boyfriend’s dog, Curly. Curly is a pitbull mix and is so sweet.
This morning, I met Madeline at the climbing gym with Bella, and we climbed a few routes. The routes are graded based on their difficulty, and I’m currently working on 5.10a, which is the first grade of route in the moderate category. I’ve only ever climbed 3 routes that high of a grade, and today I climbed my first one that was on a straight up (rather than slightly leaned in) wall. I fell a few times, but I enjoyed the challenge. I also climbed a few others routes and a 5.10a that I have climbed before. My hands gave out before the rest of my body, so I stopped once I couldn’t grab onto the holds anymore.
After leaving the gym, Bella and I had lunch lunch with her mom and mimi at her house. We had a porch chop, greens, peas, and mac and cheese. Now, we’re both working on homework. I finished my essay, so I am going to finish up my calculus homework for the week and work on my biology readings. Love you!
Bella is in a class with the Knoxville Leadership Foundation, and she went to a dinner Thursday night to meet her mentor, David Butler. David Butler was the Executive Director of the Knoxville Museum of Art until he retired in 2023. She’ll be able to attend meetings with him and learn about the administrative part of art museums. She’s also going to be partnering with the Knoxville Museum of Art for a community project this year. I’m very excited for her and proud of her.
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