Famous Last Words Week 13: Atlanta Bound!

This week has certainly been a crazy one. I finally committed to go to Emory for an MPH in Epidemiology late on Sunday. I swear I stared at the screen for 20 minutes before clicking the “submit” button on their admissions acceptance website. A bunch of money and anxiety later, I have officially committed to Emory for this fall! Imagine my surprise when I found out the next day that I was accepted to Tulane’s MSPH in Tropical Medicine and Parasitology program. I immediately second-guessed my decision, even though I had considered my potential acceptance to Tulane while making it. After a ridiculously drawn out conversation with both my mom and my grandma, my two best sounding boards, I realized that I’d made the right decision. That was just too much for a Monday.

As the semester winds down, I’ve been getting more and more anxious/excited/sentimental about graduation. Now that I’m facing a move across the country and leaving all of my friends and family behind, I’m trying to make the most of the time I have left. I’ll be spending my summer here in OKC with my grandma instead of moving back to Tucson, but I’ll be going to visit my parents at some point, hopefully.

There is just so much going on right now that sometimes it seems like it might be impossible to keep up. I will definitely be looking forward to summer when I’m not pulling all-nighters anymore and can relax some. I should probably start looking for a job though… I’ve really enjoyed the reading that I’ve been able to do for this class, as it gave me a nice respite from the other classes I’ve been taking. Hopefully I will be able to read more for pleasure this summer, though I know Emory has required summer reading, something I thought I left behind in high school…

Emory's Rollins School of Public Health

Extra Reading Diary: Italian Popular Tales

For this week, I finished the Italian Popular Tales unit. I absolutely loved the story of Buchettino, who is a wily little boy. I was so shocked that he so easily tricked the ogre not once, but twice! I could easily imagine a charming little Italian boy playing tricks like Buchettino did. I thought the onomatopoeia that was included when the ogre came crashing down on the dishes he was climbing was a lovely addition. It made the story seem like your mom or your grandma was telling it to you.

Another story that I really enjoyed was An Incident in Rome. I loved how this story incorporated the most Italian of traditions, the Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church. It was an interesting addition to the story of Pontius Pilate, who left Jesus’s fate to the pharisees. I felt bad that Master Carter turned to stone after the Pope read what was written on him. I didn’t think that was fair since he was the one to volunteer to see what was down there. The fate of Pilate was certainly interesting, since he didn’t condemn Jesus directly, but also knew that he would be killed at the hands of the Jewish leadership.

A photo posted by Lillian Flannigan (@vulpesdormiens) on Jul 3, 2014 at 4:08pm PDT

A photo I took in Piazza Navona in Rome last summer! 

Reading Diary A: Italian Popular Tales

For this week, I read the Italian Popular Tales unit. I really enjoyed this unit, as I spent the last two summers in Italy, so it has a special place in my heart.

When I read the first story, Zelinda and the Monster, I was immediately reminded of Beauty and the Beast. This version of the story is very beautiful, and I loved the details the story provided about the monster and how Zelinda came to stay with him. I really liked how well the story came together. The sisters kind of reminded me of the stepsisters from Cinderella at first, so I thought it might be a rendition of that story. So I was pleasantly surprised when it was a Beauty and the Beast-type story.

Another story I really loved was The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox. I loved a story about a fox, imagine that. But really, this story was a perfect demonstration of how the fox is a trickster, and I was glad to see that he helped out the huntsman. I was worried after the second judge how the huntsman would fare, I thought the fox might be vindictive, but I was happy with the ending as it happened.

The clever fox