Hi, everyone! My name is Hinaa Noor. And it is not pronounced as Hinaaaa…, so don’t get confused. I am currently a junior majoring in journalism (print and digital) and international politics. I also do professional photography in fashion shoots and personal projects of my own. I am from Jersey city, New Jersey – very close to New York City, so yay! I was born in Pakistan, and i came to the US when was 11-years-old. I do visit back home during summer and part of it is because i love traveling, and i have been to other countries in the middle east mainly so far. Looking forward to travel to Europe after a decent internship (aren’t we all waiting for that, well some of us). I first attended Penn State DuBois during my freshmen year, a very odd place it was for me – too country. Then, i transferred to Penn State Abington and from there, reached my long-time goal – Penn State University. I applied to Penn State at 3 a.m. during February of my high school senior year. I was intrigued to apply at Penn State when i came across a Penn State alum, Sara Ganim, who has worked for CNN, Huffington Post and many other well-established news outlets, and has won a Pulitzer prize for successfully covering the Sandusky case. So, I chose Penn State to hopefully receive good opportunities and embark on a journey that would be interesting, and it has been so far. As for choosing this course, i was one the last minute people to join it. I was looking to replace a course with a science course, but i wanted something that i could relate to and have interest with even though it will be science. So, this was perfect! It includes blogs (so that means writing, research, opinion) and this equals awesomeness! Also, i never pay much attention to the science side of the news, so this course would be perfect to spark curiosity for me in science and learn cool things, hopefully. When I explained my adviser that i am not good in science courses, have been having and i tend to yawn a lot – she recommended me this course. I am not planning to be a science major even though most Pakistanis are in science, or their parents would like for them to choose science (this can be a stereotype, but quiet true at times). Science is a great field for certain people, but for me science has not been my main interest of study, even though it can be intriguing.