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Writer's pictureRachel E

you're probably wondering how I got myself into this situation

(I have no photos this week so I'll just be turning to google)


$$ Will sleep for money $$

So around Smith, there have been flyers for a sleep study being done at umass. As a curious gal, I inquired further and lo and behold, qualified for the study! It's basically research involving 2 full days of data collection a week apart to look at emotional regulation (like how you control your feelings or something) and sleep over a wide span of ages.

Thursday was the first session, and it was an interesting experience. My motivation was clearly the money which is $200 but also I was very interested in seeing what it would be like to get an MRI and have EEG done.



mri machine. another thing about these is you have to listen to this repetitive dull tapping sound which can be a bit annoying


eeg. the one they used was a lot better in design bc it's a cap with all the electrodes but I thought this picture was really funny.

Knowing what I now know, I'm not sure if the monetary compensation is worth the time and energy, but considering my other motivations, I don't regret participating.

For the MRI, they had me do tasks where I would rank how I felt about certain images. If you've never had a scan, it's not that bad but you get kinda antsy. You can't move your head AT ALL and the hardest part for me was resisting the urge to scratch my face, especially when I kept thinking about it. Also they had me stare at a white screen for like 10 minutes and I really wanted to sleep. But OF COURSE, when I was actually supposed to sleep later on for 2 hours, I don't think I ever truly did. And it's awkward because you can tell if someone is sleeping by their brain waves. But it's ok :-)

I have the second session this thursday, and then I can wipe my hands clean of the whole affair lol. But it wasn't bad!


me when it was actually time to sleep.


She's SoCal, She's NoHo

This Sunday, the one and only (ok there are probably so many others with the same name but you get the idea) Claire Park made a guest appearance on Smith College campus. We tried out Amanouz (recommend!) and caught up and the waiter there was being wild haha. He added physical flourishes to all of his movements and was clearly born to perform. In the wise words of Britney Spears, there's only two types of people in the world: the ones that entertain and the ones that observe. This man was 100% the former. After getting ice cream, we officially parted (we've said goodbye like it was the last time at least 3 times now).




Always double check the schedule!

Yesterday, Aboni and I planned to go to Miss Saigon. HOWEVER, we're poor planners and didn't realize that it's CLOSED on Mondays. A mistake on our part, but also why Mondays ?!?! But it all worked out because it forced us to try something new which turned out to be a Japanese place that was really good. After some good convo, we got boba at Vivi's and then AGAIN bungled things up by misinterpreting the bus schedule and missing the B43 by a hair. It worked out in the end but just involved us waiting a bit. No harm no foul though!



me and aboni looking at the bus schedule

 


unrelated note but I just want to talk about it: there's a dance camp going on right now on campus and right now I'm working at the library and was catching up on all the posts. And this girl was full on doing her dance out here and now she's watching beauty videos on blast :-))) haha ok now the librarian shushed her.


second note: guys I was almost just so mad because I'm writing this a day early and I thought I was going to get locked out of it... so I think I might post it early too so nothing bad happens.

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Erin Walsh
Erin Walsh
Aug 26, 2019

Woah a real test subject! I've always wondered how people actually fall asleep during sleep studies, I always think I'd be too wired/feel too aware of myself to actually fall asleep Gotta love unexpected adventures that come from the plan going awry And oof me and Caitlin "officially" said bye to each other like 3 times too,, it's crazy that you're going to be Globál for the whole year tho :0!!

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Unknown member
Aug 16, 2019

Lol, I liked the pics in this post. Especially the one of you and Aboni checking out the pvta schedule. Anyway, the study sounds pretty interesting. What would you rate your overall experience in a scale from 1-10/ would you do it again? Also what does Amanouz serve, I want to meet this man. And did you and Claire (mostly Claire tbh) cry leaving each other?

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