As I still needed an "Intellectual Traditions" general education credit, I spent May term in Bloomington taking the final class of my undergraduate career. Each day I spent three hours in class, and a good deal of time outside of class reading obscure and dense literature on the idealogical split between Ashkenazim Judaism that occurred in the Pale of Settlement in the 1800s, as well as learning slightly more practically knowledge, such as the actual meaning of the words putz, schmuck, and bupkis (see http://www.alanemrich.com/Class/Class_Practical_Yiddish.htm for more examples). My professor was Marina Balina, and her field of study is actually Russian fairy tales. She is quite the pistol, and she really achieved her goal of making Jewish and Yiddish culture expand beyond the horrors of the Holocaust.
I also spent a good deal of time birdwatching with my advisor/professor Dr. Harper, and I was able to see quite the variety of birds...some of my favorites are below:
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Bluebird
Blackburnian Warbler
We even went a far ways out of town to find a Dickcissel! My life now feels complete!
I also spent a lot of time cooking, a lot of time in lab, and said a lot of goodbyes: from the streets of Bloomington to the beauty of the quad to my housemates, it was kind of a bittersweet month. It still hasn't really hit, and when it does, I know that I'll be pretty sad.
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