A Bantam's Blog: Josh

Hi!

I am currently sitting in the common room of my dorm room in Summit Suites, procrastinating and putting off writing another page of my thesis (due in 2 weeks AHHHH). As I begin my daydream (which may extend late into the evening), I am reflecting on my living experience over the last four years here at Trinity and how amazing it has been. I’m sure that many of you are in the process of figuring out where you will end up, and I know that there are many factors that go into the decision. Perhaps one of them is residential life. Let me tell you a little bit about my experience, and hopefully you will see how awesome it is to live on campus here at Trin.

I lived in Jones my first year. I was blessed to be paired up with a terrific roommate, who remains among my closest friends to date. Now, you are probably wondering, “How can I ensure that I have a similar experience?”. Well, first thing first, you need to have an open mind. Being flexible with people that are different from you is an acquired life skill, and is particularly important when living with a stranger. Second, our residential life department does a wonderful job at pairing students up based on a survey that you fill out over the summer. This survey is very comprehensive and includes questions about your living habits, ideal study environment, and ways that you spend your free time. Most of the time, they do a very good job at pairing you up with someone compatible. All tangents aside, I had a great time living in Jones. It is the most centrally located dorm I have lived in to date, within 30 seconds walking distance of Mather Hall, 3 minutes from the Raether Library, and 5 minutes from Ferris Athletic Center. I lived with a great group of people on the third floor, and we are all still very close. With that being said, all of the first year dorms are great, and I have friends who have had great experiences living in all of them.

Sophomore year was a particular blast living in Anadama, which is unfortunately not going to be around much longer to make room for the new housing on Crescent Street…if you haven’t seen or heard of this yet, check it out next time you visit campus, or go onto the college website and take a look at the blueprints. Anadama was great because we had a huge common room, a bedroom for my two roommates and I, a kitchen and our own bathroom. It was great to have a space like this where we could entertain friends, cook for ourselves (sometimes), and have an overall good time.

However, most people will tell you that one’s Trinity experience is not complete without living on the long-walk. I was fortunate enough to return from my semester abroad during my junior year and live with my friends in Cook, which is along the south end of the long walk. If you have been on a tour (or will be taking one soon), you probably walked underneath one of the archways that was immediately below our room. Hopefully you didn’t mind the eclectic mix of Eric Clapton, FloRida, and Coldplay that was blasting from above! Needless to say, living in Cook was an experience never to be forgotten. And not to mention, the best water pressure of any of the showers on campus!

And here I am, as an old senior, living in Summit Suites. This dorm, which is immediately on your right as you drive into Trinity from New Britain Ave., is a beautiful, less than 10 years-old dormitory that is primarily for upperclassmen. I am living in a quad with four of my close buddies, and we are having a blast. All of our friends live on our hallway too, which makes for constant socializing whenever we choose. All of my living experiences have been very different, but I have loved every single one for different reasons. Chances are, you will too!

Hi everyone,

I am back from the West Coast, where the Trinity men’s tennis team was competing for the last week. We finished with a record of 3-2, which I would say is successful! The weather was hot and the days were exhausting, but our guys showed some grit out there. I wanted to update you all with another post during our week, but the internet was really terrible at the hotel we were staying at. My sincerest apologies!!

On another note, I want to congratulate our recent admits for the incoming class of 2017! I tell this to all of the prospective students I speak with in my information sessions, but I still remember the day I got in way back when… it was a cold day on December 18th, 2008. My mom came rushing to my school with my letter, and needless to say, the two of us made quite a scene. But the news was good! That day still goes down as one of the best in my young life thus far, as it was the official start of the best four years of my life.

I write this post to all of you incoming first year students, not only to congratulate you, but to express my jealousy that you all get to start these absolutely amazing four years within the coming months. I love Trinity with a passion, and I’m thrilled that you all will be able to have the opportunity to have a similar experience to mine.

Trinity is a great place for many different reasons. Perhaps the most important of these lies in the education you will receive here. In spirit of this, I want to tell you about my top 3 favorite classes I have taken here thus far:

1) Neuropsychopharmacology: This class was a joint psychology and neuroscience class (my major is neuroscience) where we learned everything there was to know about how drugs (both the good and bad kinds) affected our bodies. We covered so many interesting topics, including the study of major neurological disorders and how they have been/are treated, as well as the social issues pertaining to psychopharmacology, such as cognitive enhancement. Additionally, the class was taught by a formerly practicing neurologist, who was able to provide a clinical perspective on all of these topics.

2) The Process of Discovery: Taught by Professor Alison Draper, this course was my first year seminar component of the Interdisciplinary Science Program (ISP). In this reading and writing intensive course, we learned about major scientific discoveries over the course of the last century, and how they proceeded from start to finish. This included learning about their successes, as well as how they used their failures to move forward with their progress. The highlight of all of this: at the end of the course, each student was placed into a research lab of their choice, where they could spend the rest of their college career (if they choose) assisting a science professor with their work. I’m still working in mine 🙂

3) Modern Israeli Culture: This class is a bit self explanatory – a survey of modern Israeli culture! Taught by Professor Ariela Keysar, we learned about so much, including but not limited to how Israel came to be an independent state, the role of the Russian Jewish immigrants in the development of Israeli society, and an in-depth analysis of the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. For a science major like myself, it was a great change in pace for me to take a course like this and explore my Jewish roots in the context of Israel.

I hope I was able to give you all a sense of one of the many reasons why I love this school!

Howdy,

I post tonight from Denver International Airport as we await our connecting flight to Los Angeles, where the Trinity men’s tennis team will be traveling for a spring break training trip. The latest weather out in Cali is 80 degrees and sunny, so needless to say, we are all changing out of our sweats and into the shorts and flip flops as we wait to board! Although we will surely be able to soak up some of the rays, and maybe even get our tan on if we are lucky, this is just as much a business trip as it is a vacation. We will be playing a total of five  matches out here, ranging from local teams such as Occidental College and Cal-Lutheran, to Bowdoin College, one of our NESCAC rivals. The team has been training really hard the last few weeks, and I am feeling good vibes as we look forward to the coming trip. If anything else, we will be the best looking team in the NESCAC with all of our new Nike gear. I will post more pictures when we hit the courts so I can show you just what I am talking about! It looks like we are boarding, I will post in the next few days and let you know how we are holding up.

-Josh

My post today is a bittersweet one. Last Friday night, the senior class had an event called the 100 nights hurrah. This gala, which was held in Hamlin Hall, was a celebration of the final 100 nights of our college careers and included some killer hor d’oeuvres, tasty beverages and overall great company. Additionally, the 100 nights hurrah was an opportunity for us to make a monetary donation to the senior class gift, a very important endeavor. One of my favorite parts of the weekend is catching up with friends that I don’t normally get to see during the week. The night was not only a great opportunity to catch up with everyone, but also to be together under the same roof as we wrap up the final months of our Trinity careers. The ceremony came to a close at approximately 12 midnight with a champagne toast to the class of 2013. Here are some pictures from the night:

Alas,

I am so excited to be posting my first entry for the Bantam Blog. But before I begin, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Josh Altschuler, and I am a senior neuroscience major from Annapolis, MD. I am also a player on the men’s varsity tennis team, as well as a student board member of the Zach’s Hillel House. I have also served as a leader for the Quest pre-orientation program, which is one of my favorite things I have done here at Trinity. I’ll save that for a later post. On that subject, I have so many thoughts that I would like to share with all of you, considering that it is my last semester here at Trinity. Because this is my first post, however, I would like to highlight a few of the exciting things going on in my personal Trinity experience, as well as on campus as a whole. 

We just began spring semester a few short weeks ago, but I already feel like I am at midterm! This is not a bad thing though. Most days, I am engaged in workouts with my teammates as we prepare for our tennis season. Although they are tough, I love the feeling of getting them done, and literally “sweating” through them with the rest of the boys. Over spring break, we will be traveling to California to play several other schools, including one of our big rivals, Bowdoin College. Needless to say, we are all getting psyched up for this trip, and are training hard. 

I am also amidst my senior neuroscience thesis, which has been a terrific experience thus far. I am working in a lab that looks at the effects of a high fat, low carbohydrate diet on a variety of neurological conditions. For my project, I am working specifically with autism. More cool details to follow, and hopefully the results look promising.

As for what else is going on here at TrinColl, we are in the process of renovating the Vernon Social Center for next year. This already beautiful building will be completely revamped to house a variety of social events, serving as a hub for activity amongst students. I must say though, I am kind of sad that I am not going to be able to experience these changes first-hand, considering they are putting in Goldberg’s Bagels, my absolute favorite spot to eat off campus. Such bad timing. 

Anyways, I look forward to updating in the near future, and hope to provide you all with a clear picture of campus life from a student’s perspective.

Talk to you all soon,

Josh Altschuler