This is It, This is the End

Well guys, I made it. (Assuming I didn’t fail my final class that I’m still waiting for a grade in!)

All the work of my undergraduate career, is over, and now all that’s left to do is walk the stage (NOT in a boot!)

My weekend was full of studying. I spent all day Friday working on a take home test, and then devoted Saturday and Sunday to studying for my Human Behavior final.

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I took a break on Saturday for a spin class and an acai bowl. This was my first time trying hemp seeds, and I liked them in this context a lot but can’t imagine any other way I’d eat them.

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Sunday, my advisor had all the senior pre-vets at her house for a goodbye lunch. Every year, she has her seniors paint her a tile. Guess which is mine? (The sheep.)

Monday I took my final exam of undergrad. Then finished my take home test that night.

Tuesday morning, I did a workout of bench presses, pull ups, and rows, and then I went to physical therapy for my foot for the first time. Honestly, it was a little rough after.

And from there, I went and turned in my take home final. And thus ends my Stanford career.

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Lunch on Tuesday was super delicious: salmon lettuce wraps. Our chef makes the BEST salmon.IMG_7282

After lunch, I drove to my home-area to run some errands. First up, I picked up cupcakes for the end of the year party I was throwing that night.

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From my FAVORITE cupcake place ever. These are GF, and I customized the flavors a bit by swapping the icing on the dulce de leche and chocolate cupcakes. BEST decision. Chocolate cake with dulce de leche icing, and vice versa.

After that, I made the mistake of heading to the mall to look for a dress for some of the week’s festivities. That was far more walking/standing time than my foot was ready for, and I was dying and grumpy by the time I left the mall. I don’t know if it’s stress fracture pain, weakness pain, or not walking in a month pain, but it was rough.

That evening, I went to a spin class (and took it easy of course), before heading back to the house to prepare for the party.

The part was really low key. I mostly wanted an excuse to eat cupcakes and see all of my favorite people one last time! I tried to get a picture with everyone, but ended up failing in that respect.

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Check it out: no boot!

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It was great to chat with my favorite people!

Later that night, there was a Stanford tradition that I’ve never done before. Apparently a giant group of people move around campus on the last day of finals. My foot wasn’t loving me, so I wasn’t sure how making it across campus was going to work, but my friends are legitimately the best. And the strongest. They literally took turns carrying my crippled buttĀ most of the way across campus. Love them!

We met up with the group near the main quad, right as it was heading to the final stop, a big fountain. I have never seen anything like i in my life.

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There was a giant boat that someone made and was carrying, with music. #stanford

I was so glad to be bootless and able to hang out in the fountain for a bit, taking it all in.

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It was one of those days/nights that make me so grateful for my school, and all the amazing friends I’ve met. I really want to try and keep up to date on blogging this week, because I know I want to be able to look back on it, and I also want to share some of the Stanford traditions.

More fun/food/fitness to come soon!

Senior Formal, One Health, Fountain Hopping

It has been quite the weekend. This is hell weekend #2 of the quarter in terms of school work, and I have a bit of a long night ahead of me. That being said, it’s also been a blast thus far, and I’m soaking up the senior experiences.

In terms of my foot, it’s likely a stress fracture but I’m still waiting for an MRI to come back to know for sure. When I have more details, I want to do a full post on that. In the meantime, I’ve been playing the game of “how many ways can I keep myself amused on a spin bike?” Luckily, I’m certified in that!

While I am totally swamped, I did want to take the time to blog about this weekend. Lots of pictures!

Friday right after class, I headed to my MRI. Totally fell asleep in the middle of it. You know you’re in college when…

We had been considering going out to dinner before senior formal, but given I wasn’t going to get back from my MRI until 6, we scrapped the idea and ate at the house.

My friends and I got ready together, and I popped a bottle of fancy champagne, courtesy of Black Friday shopping at Domain Chandon.

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Then we took some pictures before boarding the bus to SF. I never look fancy so be prepared for a bit of a photo overload.

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Formal was held at the Metreon, which had a gorgeous view of the city from the balcony.

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It was so fun to see everyone from my class so dressed up!

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There was a live band playing, a (crowded) Photo Booth, and plenty of food. Not a lot of Aurora-friendly food, so I didn’t have much, but it looked good! The mac and cheese was a hit, and I had some chickpea channa masala.

We got on one of the earlier buses back, but even still, I wasn’t in bed until around 2.

Saturday morning, I was up bright and early at 6:30am to be at a conference I was working at and attending as part of the pre-vet club. The conference ran 8-6, so it was quite a long day after 4.5 hours of sleep! I have zero caffeine tolerance so I can’t drink coffee, but I found that a few sips of green tea here and there really helped. Yes, my tolerance is that low. I don’t get it.

The conference was One Health focused, and was very interesting. One Health is the concept that the medical, veterinary, public health, and environmental fields are intertwined and all interact with each other. As such, we need to link them in our approaches to problem solving in various realms. For the conference, we had tons of speaks, ranging from MDs, veterinarians, and researchers. The conference covered 4 main areas: influenza, Seizure/Epilepsy research, Antibiotic Resistance, and Bats (as a vector for disease). The influenza section touched on particular types of flu epidemics, and the spread of flu from animals to humans (and vice versa). My favorite section was the Seizure/Epilepsy research. Presenters shared research in both humans and animals, and two of the presenters showed some incredibly cool research on new technology for predicting seizures (in epilepsy) based on brainwaves, and then potentially trying to prevent them. In the antibiotic resistance module, speakers discussed the growing problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria, resulting from over prescription of antibiotics and of uniform antibiotic dosage within the food animal industry to increase growth rate. Antibiotic resistance is a serious issue, because it is not unforeseeable that in the future we will no longer be protected by antibiotics. For those unfamiliar, antibiotic resistance occurs because bacteria can mutate and evolve at extremely fast rates, and can change in a way that allows them to evade the effects of antibiotics. The final module was on the spread of disease through bats.

One of my roles was a lunchtime discussion facilitator, and in my group, we spent a lot of time discussing animal use in research (something I am fairly knowledgable about) and the public’s view of it.

It was a long day, but I definitely learned a lot!

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Immediately after the conference, I went out to dinner with my family for a little early birthday celebration since I have a midterm on the night of my actual birthday. Per my choice, we went to Lyfe Kitchen.

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Goat cheese and mushroom flatbread to start.

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And a gluten free chicken and avocado sandwich for my main meal. Plus garlic parmesan sweet potato fries to share!

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We went back to my sister’s apartment for cake afterwards, and I got to hang out with her kitty, Lava!

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Lava is a sweetie, and extremely easy-going. The only way to blow out candles clearly is with a cat in your lap! I certainly tested out my range.

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My mom made a beautiful ice cream cake!

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Gluten free chocolate cake on the bottom Strauss mint chocolate chip ice cream on top. It was delicious! (Was/Is. Definitely had a slice Sunday night!)

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Sunday has been spent simultaneously trying to get my life together and trying to enjoy the last half quarter of senior year. I started my morning with a spin class, because I can only spend so much time on a bike by myself. I let the instructor know beforehand that I couldn’t stand on the bike, and it was still a great class. (Sidenote: I taught a class Wednesday without standing, and my class were rockstars! They were super understanding an followed my cues perfectly!)

I spent Sunday afternoon grinding away at a take-home test, before breaking for a little fountain hopping.

Fountain hopping is a huge thing here. Because of the drought, the fountains have been turned off for the past 2 years, but they turned them back on for the final month.

I was greeted with an unexpected roll out when my friends knocked on my door with a boom box.

It was the perfect weather for hanging out in a fountain. I hadn’t been fountain hopping since just after my freshman year! Crazy.

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It was fantastic to see some friends I haven’t hung out with much this quarter.

Froyo afterwards was totally necessary as well.

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I got plain with fruit from Fraiche, the froyo place on campus. (They also make their own normal yogurt and it’s so good! I never get it!)

And then it was back to the reality of take home midterms and pages and pages of reading. *Sigh*

How am I a senior though??