Forever Young

Hey there!
Never got to talk about how we lost (yet so totally WON) the cosmolympics. Yeah. ROCK THE BOAT! I was our pie eater, but it was actually really gross pudding and I felt really sick afterward.
We went to Knotts yesterday. Christina, Shannon, and Tiffany were so chicken. I couldn't get them on to the Silver Bullet, but we ended up going on Perilous Plunge and Ghost Rider. Instead of pictures, the Ghost Rider ride has a video camera now so we could see me on scream perfectly pronouncing, "Oh, there are no droppps---OH SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!" as the coaster dropped us like an egg. Seriously, Ghost Rider is x10 as fast at nighttime for some reason.
Today I went to the beach. Shannon and Christina didn't want to go deep in to the water but I was able to go with Tiffany and we had fun stringing seaweed together. I realized how mature cosmos people are. Min has a inner child of 40 so he just slept at the beach (he says he is going through a middle age crisis and we were all very childish). My advice to cosmos peeps: We are teenagers! We are californians! GO TO THE BEACH AND GET IN THE WATER!
Bye.

Sunday Post

I think it goes without saying that our cluster should've placed in the Top 3 at Cosmo Olympics, if not won it all. But it was more fun than I expected, and we all did great. Knott's Berry Farm was boring for me because I live a couple blocks away from the park- I wish we had gone to Wild Animal Park or Sea World. I'm looking forward to going to San Diego Zoo, though.

The workload for our cluster is heftier than I thought. I hear a lot of people saying that our cluster has the most amount of homework. I can't really complain because I at least have a laptop. For the people who have to check out laptops, it really sucks. Hope we get some time off this week. Peace.

First Week: Done

This first week was beyond full of homework for us. It was mostly because Amanda and I went first on the scientists report, so the research report got pushed back to the next day, and then the lab questions got pushed back to the last day. Come to think of it, I suppose this is pretty good practice for in college and - actually - my next year of high school.


Well, that is all for now, Daniel broke his toe, so I am waiting for him to return and see if he needs any help.

It's Getting Warmer

Hey guys

An academic week has already/finally passed and I think I'm really beginning to get absorbed into all of the stuff we're doing. Everyone here- especially in my cluster- undoubtedly has a lot of potential to be the next nobel prize winner. no joke! The work is substantial I guess; it's just really difficult because of how little time we're given to do it. Time is precious here! But i'm looking forward to getting a chance to swim and get a few laps in today; it's really hard to get some exercise in!

That's excluding the four 15 minute walks we have to make from ERC to the bioengineering building.

Knotts tomorrow, beach the next day. It should be really fun if its not too crowded everywhere

Catch ya laterr.

WTH

hay, I'm writing so i don't get in trouble, nothing to report, other than the cosmos Olympics was RIGGED, we should have at leased ranked.... uh, that's about it, the bonfire was AWESOME, but mostly because i was with my friends. other than that it was unorganized and too short.

Thank goodness it's almost the weekend! I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow and on Sunday. I might go to the bookstore during Free Time today to get a UCSD sweatshirt. Going to the beach on Wednesday was definitely a fun experience. I've never felt such fine sand or lit a marshmallow on fire (literally) before. Last night's COSMOlympics was so intense. =P Dressing up and screaming were probably the best parts. I'm glad our cluster is bonding well. [: This morning we got to work with blood again so the labs are still part of the highlights of the day. I'm still getting used to the showers that randomly turn from hot to cold and vice versa, but I really like our Suite. I'm surprised (in a good way) that we get In-N-Out tonight and I'm looking forward to it! The walks to and from class are tiring but an excellent form of exercise, especially on the hills. Hope Knotts Berry Farm tomorrow is as good as I remember it was!

I love Fridays

Yay!! It's finally Friday..the end of the week.
I am looking forward to tonight and tomorrow.
Of course I'm excited to go to the pool and Knotts, but also sleeping in.
I've been waking up too early;;
I hope the Lab 5 essays does not take too long, because our study time is very limited.
So far, I am enjoying myself here at UCSD.
All of the people I've met so far are really cool. =]
Almost a week has passed, and I've pretty much adjusted.
The most difficult part is walking uphill to the classes, but at least I'll be in shape for season.
Hope everyone else is having fun too!
Knotts tomorrow!
Woot woot!!
-Hyungju Kim

First Week is donee

Hey all!

Like my cluster mates below me have said, we dominated the Cosmolympics and I'm being absolutely honest, we should have won, or at least placed. Everybody was incredible and the spirit was fun. I'm glad we have such enthusiastic kids in our cluster, I know my roommate said nobody in his cluster was really into chants and competing, which sounds boring. Our relay race was awesome, we finished a good 5 seconds before anybody else so kudos to all those in the race with me.

We got through the first week with no problems really. I'm really tired though and I'll admit it, I've zoned out a couple times when it's really dark. Everybody complains about the homework load but really, what else would we expect. I'm not too bothered, I know it could be worse. Plus I'm learning a lot of new stuff, it's not just review anymore. The post-lab questions are pretty tough and stretch out my mind, but I like the stretching. I should be working on my 4 PAGE SINGLE SPACED ESSAY now so I'm going to switch gears. See you all on the flip side..

Ev

P.S. Mom, Dad, Andy: If you're reading this, I love you guys! And call me as soon as my AP scores come in!

Cosmos Poem

Mouse blood and pig blood and many pipettes,
Moving liquids from one container to the next,
Essays about diseases I've never heard of, I study
Instead of getting much needed rest.

My eyelids fall heavy, and my chin falls flat
Good thing Ms. Nicely is there to wake me up
With a small pat on my back.

People here are very interesting
Socially awkward perhaps, but so am I
So it all works out somehow; a great dynamic.
More people to meet means more things to learn,
Funny how that works.

But buildings are nice, and air conditioned
The chairs are comfortable and the food is good
I'm working hard and trying to listen
Twenty some more days of this, I'm down.

Josh Denogean

400 Block: It's better on top! ; )

Porcine Blood

Good job everyday. It's almost the end of the week and we're closer to the prize? What prize you ask? The Prize.

Really liked that olympics, even though I lost the balloon toss for us. I'd like to give a shoutout to Evan and Josh for growing a pair of wheelbarrows and owning the race.

Also, thanks to Min and Christine for getting all those tough questions.

Nice job on the Paris Hilton question, Min.

J.M.

At Least Twice a Week

They said post at least twice a week, so I am. I only ever find time to post while I'm in the lab, as computer access is limited without my own laptop. Labs two and three were more interesting than the first one, and this lab we're working on now is pretty interesting as well. I have to go now--bye!

'ELLO POPPET

this is my second blog, yesterday was tons of fun, we participated in the cosmos olympics. All ihave to say is that it was RIGGED!!! i mean like everyone knows cluster seven should havewon. We were pirates, we shoulda had first place, its kind of ridiculous how we dint even make it in the top 3. We had the best costumes(i was Jack Sparrow) and we won 2 of the events. By far i htought we had the best cheer so i dont know how they decided we werent worthy of top3. The way i see it, we shouldhavewon, but oh wellits just a cluster party.im signingout now bye.


North Side KR3W 4 LIFE!!!!

Yay, it's Friday! I'm looking forward to getting to sleep in tomorrow instead of having to get up at 7:00. The bonfire on Wednesday was pretty fun though. My first s'more was good. The COSMOlympics yesterday were also so much fun. Min and I did better than I expected in the Knowledge Bowl, and Cluster 7 totally won the relay race! I have no idea why we didn't even get 3rd place though...

Anyway, no research paper or Scientific Communication homework from yesterday, so this weekend I only (hopefully) have lab questions and reading/prelab for Monday's labs. We're going to Knott's Berry Farm tomorrow, which should be pretty fun. So this will be a fun weekend, if all goes well.

Today's lab was cool. We were lysing red blood cells and collecting ghost membrane pellets, which required a lot of centrifugation. At least there are only 2 lab questions to answer for this one. Unfortunately we have an essay for homework for the afternoon lab.

At least I'm getting more used to the walking. And we took a quick tour of the Biomedical Library yesterday, which was nice. The food is fine, too.

Hopefully this will be a good weekend!


~Christina

This is my firs blogg ever!!! so watheveri i guess cosmos has been fun except for all the homework were expected to do and only one hour a day to do it. Trying to get a lap is becoming a hassle and this is the first day i got one. Well i have met a lot of cool people(except for all those Nor Cal haters!!)and i guess the food is pretty good sometimes. Now i gotta go check in my lap so maybe i will blog next week.

North Side KR3W for LIFE!!!

C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G song! (it would help if you just sing along)!

Hello there! =D
I have to type quickly because Ms. Nicely will lecture us soon. She's very cool and nice (ha ha). I wish I had her as a chemistry teacher because she is so enthusiastic!
Cluster 7 has been fun. Yesterday we looked at mouse blood samples (both as a smear and as a drop under a cover glass). Smearing was hard because you have to get the hand technique right.
Unfortunately, we have a lot of homework and projects to do. Half the time I am worried silly about whether I can finish them on time because there is so little computer time available to us. The RAs make our evening activities exciting. Yesterday we went to a bonfire and roasted marshmallows. The fire was super-hot, but I was able to just stick my marshmallow stick in the sand in the fire pit like I see them do with fish in animes.

I wish my cosmos peeps would go near the water with me =(.

fun fun fun!!!!!!

COSMOS has been so fun, I have a lot of homework and am very busy, I have made many new friends and have brushed up on my biology. now I have to go because I am still doing my homework.

Last Person to Post

I'm posting this late because I discovered that my lab questions which I had finished earlier somehow didn't get saved... so I did them all over again. But today was a pretty cool day at the lab- preparing blood smears and looking at them with Dr. Vera's high-tech computer/camera was pretty fun. The amount of homework (and walking) so far is indeed a bit surprising, I admit. But I'm optimistic that things will be better. I'm looking forward to going to the zoo.

A few notes from Adam

Hey Cluster 7, I've got a few things now that you've all started posting:

• If you are going to use your name to sign your posts, go ahead and just use your first name and last initial. You can change your displayed name by clicking on the Blogger Dashboard up at the top of the page (when you are logged in), then clicking the Edit Profile link. There is an option there to change your display name. Don't worry, we'll still know who you are. :)
  
• This is your blog, so if you want to change the layout or color scheme, let me know and I can help you with it. Decide amongst yourselves what you want it to look like, then go ahead and meet me in my office and we can work on it. Blogger has a number of ready-made templates, and although we can't get too complicated, if you have some html skill you might be able to turn it into something great!
• If any of your classmates/roommates/friends haven't received their invites, please send them my way. Thanks!

Cluster 7 Adventures

Well I've been at COSMOS for four days now, and already I have three lab reports due tomorrow along with a three page essay on a blood disease that randomly caught my attention yesterday. It's not going to be an easy walk in the park, that's for sure. The people in my cluster are all pretty chill so that's a plus side to this whole thing and one of my roommates is in my cluster so that's also another big help. I'm still having difficulty immersing myself into this world of molecular biology. To me its a really impersonal and detached field of study, but nonetheless many of the main concepts we've gone over have really interested me. I understand how biotechnology and the things we are learning are continually affecting people's lives for the better, but it just seems so irrelevant to my life. Otherwise I'm having a good time, meeting new people.

Hi Cluster 7!
I'm looking forward to learning more about bioengineering and blood cells. The first lab was a bit tedious, but labs two and three were more interesting. I didn't expect to have to write a research paper this early on. But that's ok; at least we'll be able to explore a new topic.
I felt really sleepy during today's lecture, but that's because I didn't sleep well last night, not because it was boring!

Excited for the bonfire tonight!

~Amna