All posts by Sophie

For me, it all came down to study abroad. Who was going to let me study what I loved, in a place I was excited to visit? Spoiler: It was WashU.

This Wednesday, Hallberg is returning to campus to present, “Organized Complexity: the Novel and the City.” And better still, the first one hundred students in attendance will receive free copies of the book, along with first dibs at the book signing to follow. This is one presentation you won’t want to miss. In a world where the fate of the “big novel” is obscured by fog, Hallberg’s City on Fire has offered to clear the air.

For college students who have no clue what they want to do in life, internships and summer jobs are, in the words of the wise and venerable DJ Khaled, major key.

Fact: I have never watched Star Trek. Ever. Sci-fi (or, as I learned in Fiction II a few weeks ago, speculative fiction) isn’t exactly my cup of tea. But I do believe in Klingons.

Because, I suppose, I am one. Just not the kind of which the Trekkies among us are thinking (hopefully).

I was already convinced of language’s ability to intoxicate, but hearing the author herself read her book, with a lyricism that only she can know—that was a whole different level of cool. Made all the cooler by the fact that she calls this campus home.

So though the trip was incredibly nerdy, and though it had its stressful moments (LA infrastructure, I’m looking at you), it was one I would gladly take again. And yes, I’m saying that even as I transcribe several hours of interview footage. I would gladly do it again.

Since my junior year of high school, the Spungen Family Foundation and CANDLES Holocaust Museum have been looking out for me big time, providing me with generous support and countless opportunities to grow, both as a student and as a citizen. After hearing about my lecture on the Ratlines in January, the two decided to introduce me to an eyewitness as well as provide me with a grant and the recording equipment necessary to interview him.

My former history teacher and friend Mr. Schuster is sitting at one of his temple’s adult enrichment programs—they host a variety of speakers on Sundays throughout the year—and thinks to himself, “maybe Sophie would want to do this.”

This is a dimension of WashU I did not know existed. We’re a research institution, after all. We’re Pre-Meds and engineers; we’re chemistry, biology, computer science, and calculus. But we are also one of the top undergraduate writing programs in the country.

When I begrudgingly agreed to check out day two of LouFest last year, I finally realized that people attend these things for a reason: they’re fun.

While I have meandered over to the Delmar Loop countless times, my Saturday morning in Clayton was a first filled with surprises of all sorts. A 10/10 would recommend situation, I could not have asked for a better way to catch up with an old friend.

On Friday night, the Class of 2019 kicked off the holiday weekend with First Floor Dinner and Night at the Museum, an annual event hosted by the First Year Center that promises food, friends, and much more at the Missouri History Museum. As one of the WUSAs for Dauten, I was lucky enough to come along for the ride.

Sophomore year has officially begun, and with it I find myself no longer the new kid on campus but a sophomore, which, as Merriam-Webster reminds me, comes from the the Greek sophos (wise) and moros (foolish). I recognize I have been largely silent of late, but rest assured, my online absence has not been for want of material. As a WUSA (more […]

Yes, I am a summer intern. No, I am not the coffee girl. Thanks to a bit of luck, a lot of hard work, and, most importantly, support from countless loved ones, I have received the opportunity to intern at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center (ILHMEC) for the summer. Three days a week, I don […]

This Spring Break, I took a leap of faith and signed up for a trip to Tahlequah, Oklahoma, despite the fact that I knew only one other person committed to the journey. My first experience working with Habitat for Humanity, it was rewarding on multiple levels.