Month: September 2014 (Page 3 of 4)

Hello Classmates,

I am Nicholas Gurzynski, a GOV/LAW and Geology double major from a small town on Long Island named Locust Valley. I have had the opportunity to have some really cool pets and hang with some rare and endangered animals in my life so far! I am fascinated by the unknown, whether its behavioral traits in whales or migration patterns of turtles. I am an avid fishermen but I always throw what I catch back, hopefully to catch it again another day.

I am involved in the Marquis Steering Committee and am a Marquis Scholar here on campus. My hobbies include coral reef research and sailing, both of which I was able to do this summer while interning in Australia. I am pursuing a career in intellectual law, more specifically a focus in patents and inventions. I am always down to go for a hike or fly fish down on the Delaware. My dad and grandpa both attended Lafayette and I am proud to be on a third generation on this campus.

I am an avid writer, mostly personally, but I have been a research associate on some published works titled, “Crassotrea Virginica, the use of an electrical stimulus as a means of population enhancement and heightened growth.”  I look forward to learning more about animals and our varied perceptions of them through this course! My writing and research papers are published on http://coral.org/, a non-for profit organization I work for called the National Coral Reef Alliance.   The picture I attached is one of my cats Blizzard, in my suitcase which happens regularly. Blizzard has a twin sister named Comet and I nicknamed them respectively Dot.Com and the Blitz.

     My name is Jixuan Zhang. Call me Sandy. I’m majoring in Economics. I’m from Chengdu, China. It is a big city located at east part of China .It is a city famous for hot pot and pandas. Hot pot is a very special and local food in Chengdu. Basically you just put  a big simmering metal pot at the dinner table and add a lot of chili and sichuan pepper into the pot. While the pot is simmering, you could add any ingredient you want. Having hot pot every once in a while means that you need to have a very high tolerance of spicy food. And I love spicy food.  I don’t have any brothers or sisters thanks to the single-child policy in China. So growing up in a big city without a sibling can get  quite lonely at times too.

Sadly, I don’t have a dog. It is not easy to have a dog in a big city like Chengdu. But I love dogs and I used to spend a lot of time with my cousin’s dog. It’s a white Labrador.

For this class, I do want to learn a lot about college writing. All my previous experience about college writing comes from FYS, which is obviously not enough at all.

As for my life after class, I spend a lot of time playing soccer and tennis with my friend. I also like to watch soccer games on weekend. Real Madrid and Manchester United are my favorite teams. Although the United is not doing so well recently, I have been supporting them for over 10 years.

Hey guys,

In class we have been discussing a lot about the different ways images can depict animals, and in particular the 2 different images of the mice have stuck in my mind. These two pictures are especially interesting to me because I actually have pet mice in my dorm room (don’t tell residence life!). I was able to see the non-personal side of these pet mice when I was first unfamiliar to them grow into a personal familiarity that shows a uniqueness to each one of them.

Also, some of the pictures I’ve taken of them are remarkably similar to the ones in class.

A few days ago, you received an announcement requesting canine (and human) volunteers for an honors thesis project on how dogs make decisions.  I’m reposting the announcement here (1) in case you might have missed it and (2) to encourage you to participate if you’re at all interested.  The research, Katie Brown (’15), is a psychology major and former student of mine.  Her project is, so far as I know, the first psychology honors thesis on dog cognition, which is a growing area of interest.  I’ll be participating with my crew.  If you’re interested, follow this link for more information about how you can participate.  And of course the best part will be that you get to bring your dog to campus.

Born to a Russian household,  I was raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Originally, I was born in Stamford, Connecticut; however, when I was about one year old my family moved to Philadelphia. I am the youngest of four children and happen to be the only boy, too. In addition, I have an Australian cattle dog named Winnie.

I am majoring in biology with a minor in French. Although my future plans are constantly changing, I currently plan on pursing medical school after Lafayette College and then working for organizations such as Doctors without Borders or Partners in Health.
Even though I have future medical aspirations, I love to read and write. I have not always been this way, though. It was not until high school,where my AP Language and Literature teacher really taught me to love and appreciate reading and writing.

Apart of learning, some of my other passions include cooking, playing tennis, and traveling. I have been cooking since I was about three years old. It is a hobby that allows me travel all across the world without leaving the kitchen. Particularly, I love to cook Indian, Thai, and French dishes. I have been playing tennis for over ten years now and is something that I can never get bored of playing or watching.

As of now, I have only traveled to two other countries, South Korea and Israel. I am planning, however, to extend that amount of countries by studying abroad next semester in Paris, France. There, I will be able to test my French skills I have acquired thus far!