I am really loving my American Presidency class this semester. Although the readings occasionally keep me up into the wee hours of the morning, they are all so interesting I don't mind!!

But my favorite class so far probably was the history course I took over Intersession IN SPAIN! You can read all about it in my blog: http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/2014/2011/01/mad-about-madrid/

My favorite class so far is without a doubt Introduction to the Museum: Past and Present with Professor Rodini, the director of the Museums & Society program. I consider the museums and society minor, and all of the classes it includes, to be one of the hidden gems of Hopkins, and Professor Rodini is the most engaging professor I've had so far. Since the class covers not just art museums but science, history, natural history, and anthropological museums as well, the class has students from a wide range of majors so our discussions in class include a truly interesting array of perspectives. We started by looking at ways that communities collected and shared information all the way back to the 4th century BCE with the use of libraries, to studiolos and Wunderkammers in the 14th through 16th centuries, and then moved onto looking at the ideologies behind object, purpose, and the public in contemporary museums active today by looking at their history and background. The role of museums has evolved into a highly influential medium in our society, so this class is unimaginably insightful and has made me think about culture and knowledge on an entirely new level. The final project has been independent research on the museum of our choice in which we've used basic mapping software to create an interactive map in proving a thesis about the museum. This is really an exceptional course at Hopkins and it's been so much fun to take.

My favorite class this semester is American Earth: Empire and Environment in U.S. History. It is a Dean's Teaching Fellowship course, in which graduate students teach the course. I think it's great that JHU has this program - it provides students with a different outlook and often times the teachers are phenomenal. So far, my teacher has been one of the best teachers I've ever had (and he's even not a professor yet). The course is so unbelievably interesting and it's such an unique course that I probably will never be able to take another similar course again. The great thing about it is that the course fulfills both of my majors, International Studies (since it's a history course) and Global Environmental Change and Sustainability (since it's based on the environment). Perfect! I also love history, so I immediately took up the opportunity to take this class - it's got all of my interests mixed into one!

My two favorite classes this semester were American Literature After WWII with Professor Nealon and Political Sociology of Latin America with Professor von der Heydt-Coca. Being the English nerd that I am, I signed up for Am Lit after seeing that my favorite author, Toni Morrison, and my favorite poet, Adrienne Rich, were on the reading list. (Just a tip: Definitely check out the book/textbook info before signing up for a humanities class, because the reading selection can really make or break your opinion of it!) The professor is a great lecturer and does a really good job of covering the social and historical moments that the authors/poets were writing into. Some of the best books that I read for Am Lit this semester were: "Housekeeping" by Marilynne Robinson, "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison, and "American Woman" by Susan Choi.

I was really apprehensive about taking Political Sociology of Latin America in the beginning of the semester because it was a junior-level course and, even though I am really interested in the history and politics of the region, I had no background knowledge. However, after taking the course, I'm now considering a minor/double major in Sociology or Latin American Studies. I loved how both classes covered the same time period (1940's to present day) but from two completely different perspectives. For example, in Am Lit we would talk about the Latin American literature boom in the 70's and how the region-specific genre of magical realism started to alter the structure/function of the American novel. In PSLA, we would talk about the 1970 military regimes, providing further insight into that particular juncture between Latin America and the United States.

I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Global Public Health Since WW2. My first history class here ( I know) allowed me to track how public health has grown and evolved since 1945 all over the world. An amazing class and I highly recommend it, even for freshmen.

I also loveee Power and Racism with Dr. Hayes. I definitely think about the world differently now. The big question was...will racism ever cease to exist in the world? Is it possible? hmmm...

I loved my French class, Advanced Writing and Speaking in French, this semester. It really was just a couple kids, sitting around a table, discussing french! The professor was a TA grad student fresh from Switzerland, and she was SO nice and helpful - and people in other classes with other TAs felt the same way about theirs. The real professors overlook these courses, but teach the higher levels directly, which I'll take next year! But in any case, this class was relaxed, but I still ended up learning as much as I had in other backbreaking grammar courses which I took in High School. I've really enjoyed my time in this class!

Although I have only completed one semester of classes here at Hopkins, I already know I am going to relish in all of the unique academic opportunities here. My favorite class thus far is International Politics with Professor Daniel Deudney. The class material is very interesting and the class was very challenging but I learned so much about a subject I was entirely unfamiliar with. Professor Deudney is INCREDIBLE. I had heard around campus that if you have the opportunity to take a Deudney class, DO IT! So I took the plunge and couldn't be happier with my decision to enroll. It's also really cool when half of the required readings for the course are written by your professor and he has coined half the terms in the field of International Politics (seriously)!