Hi! I'm Rebecca Karpel, a sophomore from Great Neck, New York. I am a student in the Cornell College of Human Ecology, majoring in Human Development. My career goal is to get a Ph.D. in Neuropsychology and perform psychological assessments for children and adolescents. I invite you to join me on this lovely spring Tuesday, where I'll take you through my day! 

7:00 AM | Wake up, eat breakfast, and drink coffee!  

I wake up every morning at 7:00 am for absolutely no reason at all, and I love it! I have my morning cereal and Nespresso coffee and simply relax to get ready for my day.  

10:10–11:25 AM | HD 2170 (Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood)  

This class is fulfilling my developmental psychology requirement. I am interested in working with children and adolescents in the future, so this class is fitting for me. What is cool about this class is that  Dr. Robert Sternberg teaches it. Dr. Sternberg is at the top of his field and has his own theories of love, creativity, and intelligence. He makes time to present his theories in class through the lens of adolescence and emerging adulthood development. He even discusses incomplete theories, which is interesting as we get insight into Dr. Sternberg’s theory development process. 

11:40 AM–3:00 PM | Experience and Cognition Lab   

Next, I go to work in the Experience and Cognition Lab. I am a research assistant  working on an fMRI study on the Sword and Shield Hypothesis.  We are studying where approach emotions (engaging emotions like anger) and avoidance emotions (like fear) are in the brain and how that correlates with handedness. My specific task is to use coding to analyze the data. 

3:00–5:00 PM | Person and Context Lab (PAC) 

I am also a research assistant in the PAC Lab. This semester, I am focusing  on my research since my major is flexible. I am taking six research credits that go towards graduation. In the PAC lab, I am working on two projects. One is an electroencephalography (EEG) project, and I am working with a team to analyze the data using coding. The other project, which is still in the development phase, uses a combination of virtual reality and EEG. 

5:15–6:00 PM | Dinner 

I love to have dinner on the earlier side. I live on West Campus, which has many dining halls, so I usually pick one of those dining halls to eat at. Today, I ate at Flora Rose House, which also happens to be where I live. It is extremely convenient living on top of a dining hall. My favorite part of dinner is always the Cornell Dairy Bar Ice Cream, which I eat every night! Today, I had my favorite flavor, “Chocolate Gorges!” The ice cream always allows me to leave dinner feeling satisfied. 

6:00–7:00 PM | Workout 

This time is my favorite time of the day to go to the gym. My favorite gym on campus is Toni Morrison gym (on North Campus), but since I live on West Campus, Noyes Recreation Center is most convenient for me. It is usually really crowded, but I find that at this hour, it is on the emptier side. At Noyes, I do a 30-minute run on the treadmill. I always feel so refreshed after a workout and shower. 

8:00 PM | Work or Hangout  

At this time in the evening, I do any homework I have and hang out with my friends. I enjoy doing work with my friends in a study room on West Campus, but if I have a lot of work to do, and need to “grind,” I prefer to work alone in a library so that I can focus. My favorite library is the Mui Ho Fine Arts Library.  

9:30–10:30 PM | Wind down and get ready for bed 

I pride myself on my good sleeping habits. I like to take my time getting ready for bed and watching a show. I end up falling asleep around 10:30 pm or 11:00 pm.