Hello Everyone! My name is Alexis.  I will be starting my junior year in the fall as an Anthropology B.S. major (pre-med focused).  I transferred to MSU this past January and I absolutely love the campus!  I’m originally from Ann Arbor and yes, I’m a HUGE University of Michigan fan! I decided to come to MSU because of the excellent programs that are offered and I needed to broaden my horizons by leaving the city I’m in love with, Ann Arbor.  After graduation I hope to attend medical school and eventually become a dermatologist.  I would like to use Anthropology towards my career goals of improving skin disorders for multiethnic people.  I strongly believe that our country will be one with mainly individuals of multiethnicities during my lifetime and the time to prepare for medical treatments for this diverse group of people is now.  The best way in mind to make this happen is to understand how the environment has affected humans, and how we have used it to better our lives to create a plan for the present and future generations.

This summer I am at University of Kansas participating in a Molecular Biology research internship with four other students from across the nation.  Every weekday I work a full day in the lab with an immortal cancer cell line called HeLa.  It’s a really famous cell line and if anyone has the time they should read the book about how it all began (“Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”).  I’m reading it now and really enjoying it.

I’m hoping to learn a lot in this class.  As a little girl I was obsessed with the famous Queen Cleopatra and Egypt.  Now that I am older and understand the nation better, I would like to understand the roots to the people and culture.

Hello!  My name is Cristina and I am a senior at MSU.  I am majoring in Anthropology.  I have about a year left in my degree.  When I am done, I hope to do some archaeology, probably through a volunteer field school.  After that, I might apply to graduate schools or look for a job in my field (Maybe a CRM firm).  One day I hope to be a professor or work in a museum (or both?).  I have always been fascinated with Egypt, and so I am geeked to be taking this class.  In the past, I have taken a few art history classes that have touched on the basic cultural aspects of ancient Egypt.

I am also very interested in the field of Forensic Anthropology.  I am taking CJ 210 online this semester as well, which is Intro to Forensic Science.  I am not sure if it is an interest I will pursue in the future or not, but I have thoroughly enjoying getting to learn about the field so far (that class spans the whole summer, so I am about half way through).  The other part of physical anthropology that interests me is the evolutionary branch.  I took a class last semester ANP 440: Hominid Fossils, which I found very interesting (and challenging).  Really, I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. (Maybe I should figure it out because I am pushing 30!)

I currently work full time for Elderly Instruments in Old Town.  I play some ukulele and I enjoy all kinds of music (Animal Collective, Queen, Green Day, Garth Brooks, Steve Miller Band, Gorillaz, Immortal Technique, Denna Carter, Godspeed You Black Emperor, My Chemical Romance, ETC… I know, I could be more ADD with my music choices if I tried!)  I love my job!  It is truly a wonderfully creative and inspiring place to be.  In my free time I enjoy playing games (MTG, Settlers, etc.), putting together jigsaw puzzles, cooking, watching movies, and going on walks (or swimming now that it is SUMMER!!).

Looking forward to the semester and, so far, love the set up of this class!

Well first off, I should say that I am really excited for the layout of this class.  I am currently a senior, dual majoring in chemical engineering and computational chemistry while minoring in mathematics.  It seems like a lot, but I do enjoy the material that I learn.  I guess I should comment on the fact that I live in Saint Clair Shores, Michigan and that I am an only child.  I am taking this class as a part of my University requirements through the Honors College, but I have always been interested in Egypt especially mythology.

Being a student who studies mainly chemistry, I find the history behind it to be quite interesting.  I honor the founders of today’s chemistry, who were in their time known as alchemists.  To learn more about alchemy, I took REL 275 “Magic and Mysticism”, which had a large section dedicated to alchemy.  I bring all of this up because of the Egyptian history that it contains.  Being that Hermes Trismegistus included in his scriptures the fundamentals of alchemy, these principles were in an essence, carried through to today’s modern chemistry.  So I feel a certain connection in my studies to those who started down the path of science in Ancient Egyptian times.  That is why I feel it is important to maintain an understanding of the past, as to not forget certain sacrifices that were made in an effort to further the knowledge that we have today.

All of that aside, I am excited to have a better understanding of the material that will be discussed in this class.  However, if you were to read any astrological description of Virgo, that would be me exactly.  So, I barely ever blog/tweet because I have no interest in sharing with people what I am currently doing; this will be a new experience for me, but I am excited for it.  I look forward to working with everyone in this class.

Hello everyone! My name is Melissa Jowers. I am a senior at MSU and am almost done with my undergrad in Psychology (I still have Chem lab and a stats class to take, I wanted to save the fun classes untill last). I love to swim laps and am currently trying to get into running, I’m not a fan so far. I have a fluffy cat who looks like a lion and two baby kittens who all make my life interesting. I love to read and can not wait to move into my new house so I can finally have my library! I recently started a cool new job in Warren. I love it but I miss East Lansing, Warren is too brown for me!

I am taking this class as an elective class and I am pretty excited about it. I love history classes and archaeology classes.  I love learning about people that lived so differently than how we live today.  I have always had an interest in ancient societies which started with ancient Egypt. I used to build pyramids out of legos and my dad tried to convince me that aliens built the ones in Egypt. I played the computer game Pharoh where I was able to build my own Egyptian city and fight off hipos and crocs while making sure the Egyptian gods didn’t get angry with me.  This class is a way for my childhood interest to be backed up with some facts.