So you've probably heard of the comic strip Doonesbury. Basically, back in 2006, the author of the strip invited readers to decide which college the character Alex should attend. You can read about the history, which was chronicled by Matt, here, HeRe, and HERE!. Of course, pollhacking is not new, as demonstrated by the Victoria's Secret hack that happened my sophomore fall.

Okay so all of this was the backstory of how Alex decided to go to MIT. Here's some of the things that happened after she got here. (also - she's "graduating" this year!)

A compilation:

September 10, 2006- On Orientation

September 11, 2006 - What AM I doing at MIT?

September 25, 2006- On the HASS-D Lottery (it's not that bad)

October 14, 2006 - On Hacks

November 05, 2006 - On Being Hosed

October 15, 2006 - On Stata Center

January 08, 2008 - On Freshman P/NR (but it's only for one term)

March 08, 2008 - On IAP (and Charm School)

May 20, 2008 - girls at MIT = trophy girlfriend?

April 08, 2009 - on nerds

January 24, 2010 - most recent installment

Got any more? :P

8.02-Physics II-Electricity and Magnetism
I'm not actually taking this class as a student, I'm a TA! BWAHAHAHA!! It's a nice job, I explain physics, grade a few papers, and in exchange I get to say I helped teach a class at MIT on my resume. Not bad. Plus it's my favorite professor's last semester at MIT, so I'm happy to get to work with him teaching his class.

6.01-Intro to EECS
EECS, for those of you who didn't stare at the floor during prom, is "Electrical Engineering and Computer Science", and 6.01 is a quick and dirty introduction to the fundamentals of circuit building and programming. I've got a background in programming, but they use Python whereas I learned on Java. (for all you coders out there, let me go ahead and say Python>Java is TRUE) I love python, it's so easy to read and it makes a lot of sense. All in all, I love this class so far.

2.002-Mechanics and Materials II
The sequel to the critically acclaimed "Mechanics and Materials I", this class focuses on how materials behave when you load them to failure. Or in laymen's terms, I get to break stuff in lab =). It's fascinating to learn why bridges collapse and airplane roofs tear off, and being able to predict how and when things will fail based on the materials their made out of is a cool party trick (at least at the parties I go to)

14.02-Macroeconomics
Nothing like macrophotography, macroeconomics is the study of markets as a whole. It's a pretty good time to be interested in GDP and what not with all the talk about China and the recession. MIT has one of the best econ departments in the country, so I'm a lucky guy to get to listen to my professors talk about how it all works and what exactly is going on.

21M.460- Sabar Drumming
Do any of you guys remember Todd? My Sabar drum from long ago? (http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/life/sabar_drums_rwanda_and_the_cia.shtml/)
Well we're going to be reunited at long last! I'm taking a class dedicated solely to my favorite part of Intro to World Music: playing the Sabar drums. I'm super excited for this.

21W.789-Mobile web application development
The winner of "wrong category" award, this writing class (what?) is a project based mobile application development. It's the perfect compliment to the Obj-C I picked up over IAP as the goal is to design and implement an application for mobile devices. I've got so many ideas on sticky notes I can't wait to bring to life!

Rock Climbing-Top Ropes
MIT has some pretty great options for PE credits, including skiing, hiking, SCUBA diving, and rock climbing. The only one that fit my schedule this time was Rock Climbing, but I'm still really excited about getting to go out and do something I love and have it count for credit!

In addition to those classes, I'm also participating in a UROP designing and testing an Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscope to look for high temperature superconductors and I'm the recently elected "publicity czar" of the greatest club on earth (http://miters.mit.edu/). Actually Cam and I are both in MITERS, so expect to get blogger double teamed with all the cool stuff that goes on thereabouts.

Anything else? OH! I'm going to Germany for a weekend to give a talk on entrepreneurship and effective teaching methods for intelligent students, and (back) to Stanford to do some more work on stuff (these trips are practically back to back, which should make for an interesting week.) I've also picked up running as a habit with the goal of running in the Boston Marathon next year!

WHEW! It's a crazy crazy life here at MIT, but boy do I love every minute of it (good thing, I spend a lot of minutes here!)

The Wiesner Student Art Gallery is located on the second floor of the Student Center (W20) and is the only permanent location for current MIT students to show off their work. Exhibits are usually booked by month and scheduled well in advance through the Student Art Association.

If you've been following the blogs since 2007, you might remember I spent two months in Uganda that summer under a Public Service Center Fellowship. In June 2009, I traveled to Uganda again with Computers for Uganda, an organization based in Seattle, Washington, that brings computers to secondary and primary schools in Uganda. I have been a part of this organization since 2004, and this was my 4th visit to Uganda.

I brought my Mamiya RB67—a beautiful, entirely mechanical, medium format workhorse weighing in at about 8 pounds with its 180mm lens—to document the trip. Along with the camera, I carried roughly fifty rolls of medium format (120mm) film of various speeds (black and white) and a few rolls of color negative (C41) and slide (E6). As soon as I returned to the States, I scheduled a photography exhibit with the Wiesner.

However, being the incredibly hosed MIT student that I am, I of course didn't get around to working on this exhibit until the last two weeks of January. After spending weeks in lab helping put a paper together for SIGGRAPH, I locked myself in the dark abyss that is the darkroom, losing all track of time, endlessly hovering over trays of chemicals, watching the secondhand tick-tick-tick. A week later I finished toning my last 16"x20" print. This, of course, was not the end.

I spent the next week mounting the majority of my prints to gatorboard. The process is quite simple:

Dry mount paper is cut to size to fit the print. Dry mount is waxed-based and will melt and stick to surfaces after heated.

Using a tacking iron, I melt enough of the dry mount to stick to a small portion of the print, enough to keep it from shifting.

I then sandwich the dry mount in between the print and the gatorboard and apply heat and pressure using the dry mount press.

I then trim the image to my liking using a heavy duty art knife and straight edge.

While dry mounting was my main method for finishing prints (largely due to cost), I did mat and frame four pieces. Unfortunately, matting is perhaps the most stressful thing a photographer can do to finish prints. Consequently, the only photo of the ordeal comes from the beginning, where I start cutting my mat board to size:

A few dozen blades, sweat and #!@$%@ later, I've matted and framed my prints:

But this image is quite far into the future. Before I can get to this point I have to sleepily roll my cart of finished prints down from the Student Art Association to the Wiesner Gallery...

Measuring 57 inches (gallery height) from the floor I set up a sightline on every wall. This line determines the height at which the middle of each image should be hung.

With the sightline set up, I can begin to hang my prints.

A few hours later, and I'm all done.

The gallery is a constant work-in-progress. Sam Magee, the SAA's program coordinator), recently installed new track lighting and cleaned the space up a bit, but even with these changes there's still a lot left to be wanted. Nevertheless, the space is in high demand, and I'm lucky to have gotten a spot. Perhaps one day we’ll have a larger array of options and a more formal space to exhibit pieces that might be too delicate to leave out in a public space.

As an example of an informality of the space, people frequenting the second floor tend to use the Wiesner as a corner to make phone calls, have lunch and leave trash on the windowsill, and organize informal dance lessons. Yesterday I witnessed the gallery being turned into a playground of sorts: children of parents attending an event in Lobdell were left to run around the gallery, climb the walls, and leave food crumbs all over the floor. Grrrr...... >_<

In the meantime, though, I'm making the best of the space and am proud to have finally installed my first solo show. I hope that more than a few people will enjoy the work I've put up this month, and maybe learn a little bit about Uganda in the process.

Here is a highlight of some of the pieces featured in Stories from Uganda:

Playground (2009), Gelatin Silver, Sepia and Selenium Toned

Maama Namu Beauty Saloon (2009), Gelatin Silver, Sepia and Selenium Toned

Music Centre (2009), Gelatin Silver, Sepia and Selenium Toned

Village Boy (2009), Digital Print from Slide Film

<plug> If you're around for the next week, please come to my opening on Thursday the 11th from 5pm-7pm.</plug>

Case in point: Where did my weekend go?!
Follow-up case in point: Where does every weekend go?!

I'm sitting here, in my room, at my desk. It's nearly 11:30 pm on a Sunday night, and I feel as though I've spent the last forty-eight hours traipsing through puddles of psets, EMT drills, writer's block, dance, and reading assignments with only a moderate degree of success at remaining dry and unruffled.

Much of this weekend was admittedly fun-filled: EMT drills consisted of eight hours spent gulping down donuts and pizza, simulating emergency scenarios, and capturing embarrassing videos of fellow EMTs. Writing a short story for my HASS class was entirely entertaining and made me wish that every class I was enrolled in graded me for my ability to come up with bizarre plots. And both my bio and physics psets were actually doable. Shocking, I know.

But there are so many things I wish I had more time to do. I actually have a list:

1. Visit the Museum of Science/Museum of Fine Arts - MIT students get in free to a lot of the local museums. Which means that I really have no excuse not to go.

2. Read - For my birthday, I received some great books, including "The Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell and "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. I keep reaching for both of these - and then I realize that I have an orgo book that I need to be reading.

3. Watch Avatar - Yes. I know. It's sad that I haven't seen it yet. I have been informed so by several people on various occasions. I inform myself of this fact quite frequently.

4. Write letters to friends - I love getting mail from friends, and I always mean to return the favor. It's happened maybe once so far.

5. Bring myself up-to-date on goings-on outside the world of MIT - What? The Superbowl? Today? Huh?

6. Draw - It's been so long since I last took out my color pencils and drew for fun.

7. Learn how to iron my clothes - At least I know how to do laundry...

8. Watch every episode of Arthur in existence - Aardvarks are cool.

9. Learn how to solve a Rubik's cube - I have a friend who can solve it in about twenty seconds. He keeps telling me to learn how to do it. Apparently, it comes in handy when you're trying make new friends.

10. Figure out how to make smoothies that actually taste good so I don't keep craving Jamba Juice when it's 20 degrees outside and I don't feel like walking across Harvard Bridge and into Boston, where the closest Jamba Juice, to my knowledge, exists.

Someone give me Hermione's Time-Turner, por favor.

MIT can be a very tiring place.
MIT IS a very tiring place.
There are lots of P-sets and lots of work to do.
Which is why it's even more satisfying and exciting to see ARTalk get back up and running!

(...but what is "ARTalk"?)
ARTalk is MIT Admissions official blog on the arts! We'll be highlighting anything and everything art-related that goes on at MIT, from building large-format cameras to LARPing (for you non-nerds, that's live-action role playing) and giving out recipes for snacks. Art gives us MIT students a reason NOT to do schoolwork, and ARTalk lets us share these more fun-filled moments with the rest of you.

(...but who's writing these things?)
Good question! So without further ado, our bloggers:

ARTalk Bloggers 2010!

               
ABOVE, from L to R: Biyeun '10, Mei '13, Shelby '13, and Ken '11.

Biyeun Buczyk '10: I photograph—both analog and digital—and I'm fascinated with light and optics. I teach photography classes at the Student Art Association, and I do my research in Camera Culture, a group at the Media Lab.

Mei Zuo '13: Ciao! I’m Mei of 2013, and I have a confession to make: I am substance and the one who has no substance. On that note, I’m enraptured with couture fashion, calligraphy, Koolhaas architecture, and Tao. Around campus, you’ll find me smelling the roses and dancing on an electric feel. Hopefully, my blog will be an exposé of the glamorous side of MIT. Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da!

Shelby Heinecke '13: Hey everyone! What's up!? I'm Shelby and I'm a math and music double major, class of 2013. When I'm not studying theoretical math, I'm playing Bach on my violin, singing Black Sabbath songs, listening to eccentric contemporary classical music, or broadcasting my show, Peaceful Purgatory, on the radio. I'm excited to share my interesting artsy experiences with you all!

Ken Haggerty '11: I'm a junior majoring in brain + cognitive sciences with a minor in architecture. I was incredibly lucky to be asked to help start this blog back in freshman year, and I'm glad to see it's still going strong! I like photography and visiting art museums, but this semester I'm starting to play around with contemporary sculpture.

We'll also include guest blogs by MIT students, faculty, and staff from a wide variety of programs on a non-regular basis to keep things interesting. And of course, if you're interested in writing, just shoot us an email at artalk@mit.edu.

Okay well I have to go to class now but ARTalk's first real blog for 2010 will be posted this Monday by Biyeun, so stay tuned.

You: Hey
Stranger: ASL
You: 19/M/Cambridge
You: ASL?
Stranger: Lemur
You: wtf, bye
*disconnect*

You: I like turtles
*disconnect*

You: I want your body.
Stranger: Yeah baby!
*disconnect*

Today (more specifically tonight), something really awesome/sketchy/creeptastic happened. A dozen or so of us were sitting in our floor lounge, playing with Omegle on our 60" HDTV and server, when we decided to tell the random stranger that they were talking to a room full of MIT students. As it turns out, they had a friend that was just accepted to MIT EA. I'm not sure how much info I want to give away on the internet about this particular subject, but . . .

HI ALEX/PRISCILLA FROM THAT ONE BIG STATE THAT WAS TALKING TO HER FRIEND ON THE PHONE WHILE HER FRIEND WAS ON OMEGLE!!!

Friend or poke me on facebook so we can sketch on you more.

Cheers!

-Conner 2

7.013 – Introductory Biology (a GIR class)

I’m ALWAYS excited to take biology, but that interest usually fizzles out into indifference somewhere not too deep into the course. I think this has something to do with the science education track in American schools. I had learned some basic biology in 6th grade, some more in 7th grade, for a whole year in 9th (including some intense cramming for SAT Biology as I’m sure many of you are aware), and then hardcore AP Biology in 12th. It’s like – I know what meiosis and mitosis are, and why there is photosynthesis or ATP, but I can’t really tell you too many details. Yet when AP Biology came along, during which I’m supposed swallow down all the details, I felt already jaded by this subject that seems to always bounce back. But every time I have to take biology again, I’m excited again, since both of my parents are in the biology field – and well, I have lots of respect for their work.

I hope MIT’s 7.013 will be different, in that the professor will be engaging, the class less distracted than in AP Bio, and I myself more buckled down to memorize details. But speaking of which, I think I’m even more excited to see how MIT does biology. 18.01A-18.02A psets were definitely nothing like what we had in AP Calculus. How will 7.013 psets emphasize problem solving?

4.602 – Modern Art & Mass Culture (a HASS-D,CI-H subject)

We had our first lecture yesterday, and to be honest, I was a little bit unpleasantly surprised. It seemed a lot like an Art History class, where pictures of famous or not-so-famous works are shown on the projector screen …and we talk…about it… I’m hoping that as the lectures go on, the “mass culture” portion will be adequately incorporated, because I’m more interested in how the evolving art world impacts every other aspect of society – education, recreation, commerce, politics, etc. – rather than a straightforward discussion of so and so modern artist’s characteristic technique. But with that said, I have everything to learn in this class, since I’ve never actually studied art in a books and concepts kind of way.

8.02 – Physics II – Electricity & Magnetism (also a GIR)

Oh, physics. This is probably the class I’m least looking forwards to. Lots of equations, calculations, math-like things. Not to mention it’s held in a basement – with no windows, or fresh air. At least it’s under Stata. But!!! I'm crazy excited that the classical theory of electromagnetism includes cool natural phenomena like the aurora borealis!!! I’m also happy that this class is not graded on a curve, which means what I give is what I get. It’s going to be hard, but at least I know I got most of the freshman class there with me. ☺

Well, I saved the best for last, didn’t I?

4.111 – Experiencing Architecture Studio

As I might have mentioned before, I will declare Course 4 – Architecture at the end of this semester. Which means! That 4.111 is the first studio in a sequence of studios I will have to take for the degree. 4.111 basically introduces design and basic architecture techniques to course 4 majors, minors, or just anyone interested. We had our first meeting today, and there were students cross-registered from Wellesley and Harvard – which is pretty cool. The class will be a mix of lectures and studio time – during which we complete model projects responding to tasks somewhere along the lines of “design a space for reading that overlooks something” – that’s the first assignment, in fact. The roughly 50 students in the class are divided into cohorts of 9, and each student will get his or her own work space and locker drawers!

In my fantasies, I imagine 4.111 being like Project Runway, where designers create their projects, meet some challenges along the way, but ultimately stand before the judges (in this case “reviewers” who may be graduate students or industry professionals) to defend their work and get evaluated. But I've also heard horror stories about studio students disappearing as the semester moves along, spending the night at their work spaces, etc. But for now, I’m just looking forward to next week – when I will meet my workspace and cohort and first lecture and first project! And you can look forward to a more detailed, photo-documented post about 4.111 in a week or two. Wheeeee.

I don’t want to go a post without visuals, so here’s my favorite discovery of the day. Anyone have a guess where these two adorable chairs are found? I’m so in love.

P.S. How awesome is it that this entry is entry # 4111.....woot.

To announce this, Dean of Admissions Stu Schmill has just sent out this email:

The MIT Midyear Report is now available on your MyMIT Tracking page, http://my.mit.edu.

Complete your MIT Midyear Report now.

The MIT Midyear Report is an online form that is required of all students, and is to be completed by you, the applicant.  The Report serves two purposes: to provide your updated grades since you have applied, and to mention other updates since you submitted your application. Please submit this form as soon as your midyear grades are available or by February 15th, whichever is earlier.

A few notes: You should complete the Report as soon as possible after completion of the fall semester or second quarter (if your school uses a trimester schedule, please use your first trimester grades).   You do not need to have a hardcopy of your updated transcript sent by your school, and even if your school has sent a hardcopy transcript, you are still required to submit the MIT Midyear Report.  There is also an option in the Report for students whose schools do not provide any midyear grades, homeschooled students, and students already out of school.

Finally, my colleagues in the Financial Aid Office are happy to announce that the Financial Aid Tracking System is also now available on MyMIT.  On the Financial Aid Tracking System, you can view which documents have been received by the MIT Financial Aid Office.  You can learn more about applying for financial aid on the Student Financial Services website.  The deadline for applying for financial aid is also February 15th.

Best wishes,
Stuart Schmill
MIT Dean of Admissions

Hopefully, the form is pretty self-explanatory, but here are a few notes:

• The Midyear Report is an online form that is to be completed by every student being considered for Regular Action admission (thus, RA applicants -- including international students -- and EA deferreds).

• The Midyear Report is to be completed by you, the applicant.

• The MIT Midyear Report is different than the Common Application Midyear Report. The Common App MYR which is filled out by your counselor and sent to Common Application schools. The MIT Midyear Report is to be filled out by you, the applicant, online via your MyMIT Tracking.

• The MIT Midyear Report serves two purposes:
  1. to get your updated grades since you have applied ("Midyear Grades").
     
  2. to get any other updates since you submitted your application ("Midyear Updates").

• The Midyear Grades form has fields for your to report your coursework and grades. This is similar to the Self-Reported Coursework Form from the Part 2 of the application, except that we're only looking for current year courses and grades. And we're only looking for this from students with something to report -- so if you're in a school that doesn't have midyear grades, or you've already graduated, don't worry, you're all set -- you will be able to skip this section.

• The Midyear Updates form will be a simple text box, similar to one of the essays from the Part 2. The Midyear Update has a maximum of 250 words.

• We are happy to accept a midyear/updated transcript from your school/counselor, or the Common App Midyear Report form. However, even if your school/counselor submits a transcript, you still are required to complete the online MIT Midyear Report.

• The MIT Midyear Report is due by February 15.

We've been getting a number of questions about the Midyear Grades section of the form. Here are some quick tips:

• For most of you, this will be pretty strightforward. You'll take your transcript, then write the course name in one box, and your semester/trimester grade in the corresponding box. For example:

• While we ask for you to keep the grades column as pristine as possible, feel free to add some extra info in the "Subjects taken" box. For example:

  
  
  
  
  

  Biology		A+
  AP Calculus		A-
  English		A+
  History		B+
  Spanish 4		B

  ...or...

  
  
  
  
  
  

  BC Calculus		89
  IB Chemistry HL		97
  British Literature		95
  Japanese		100
  Economics (EPGY)		A-
  Health		Pass

• In the "Grades" box, please list only grades and not narrative text if you can help it. For example, it is sufficient to write "B+" rather than "B+ (Final grade)" or "B+ (online course)." Also, you don't need to write "Currently enrolled," "Just started," or "Spring semester;" it will be, in many cases, better to leave it blank.

• While we ask for you to keep the grades column as pristine as possible, feel free to add some extra info in the "Subjects taken" box. For example:

  Organic Chemistry (via dual enrollment at BHCC)

  A-

  ...or...

  AP Chemistry (self study / MIT OCW)

  ...or...

  Chemistry (auditing; not taking for a grade)

  ...or...

  Chemistry Honors (Spring Semester)

• If your transcript provides quarter grades but not a semester grade, you should list both quarter grades. For example:

  Biology

  A, A-

  ...or...

  AP Economics

  96 / 92

• If your transcript provides quarter grades and a midterm exam grade but no semester grade, you should list the quarter grades and the midterm exam grade.

  For example:

  AP Chemistry

  A / A- / A

  ...or...

  Theory of Knowledge

  6+, 7, 7

• If your school uses a trimester schedule, please use your first trimester grades. We know that in most cases, your second trimester grades will not be available for a while.

• Some schools -- including many international schools -- have no concept of "midyear grades." This is okay. You can ignore the text boxes and simply choose the option, "I attend a school that does not provide midyear grades."

• Some schools will not release midyear grades until after the Midyear Report deadline of February 15th. This is okay. You should choose the option "Semester grades will be available on ______________________ and I will mail or fax them to you at that time."

• Some of you have graduated already and have no new grades to report. You should choose the option, "I’m not currently attending school; MIT has all of my grades."
  

I'll also try to field any other questions you may have in the comments. Happy Groundhog Day!

Video may still be processing. Quality may be better after processing has finished.

*Not that this is supposedly impressive. Probably half the problems were just to take logs (the math kind, not the kind that President Lincoln lived in, which are much harder to take). Speaking of which, you should check out my friend Phil's blog, blogarithm, not necessarily because of the content but because I thought of the title.

After my advising meeting, I loitered for a few hours, had a meeting with the Department Head of Physics not worth blogging about (yet), caught an elevator* to the 6th floor of the Kavli Institute, and nearly fell asleep four times on a sun-dappled sofa while waiting for my UROP supervisor to finish his phone call. In the meantime (between sleep cycles), I started to debate the redundancy of phrases such as “stick of chapstick,” which has bothered me so deeply in the past that I've refused to use chapstick of any flavor, texture, or bee-produced ingredient in fear of getting belittled by my peers for repetitive word choice. Unbeknownst to me, there was an unopened stick of chap in my coat pocket, a complimentary gift from Cedar's Hummus Company that annoyingly happened to be peach-flavored instead of hummus-flavored. I later gave it to a British exchange student by the unlikely name of Nimrod, who remarked, “Wow! It's chapstick flavored like hummus flavored like peaches!”

*The elevators in the indubitably tall Building 37 are visible from Earth only slightly more often than Halley's Comet.

Tomorrow, I will (1) wake up, (2) attempt to get a career at the uncareerlike hour of 9 AM, and (3) sit through six hours of classes, in body if not in spirit.

Lastly, I'd be remiss not to publicly observe that my bed is a right triangle. I sleep on the hypotenuse: conveniently, (Wall length)^2 + (Wall length)^2 = (My height)^2.

I'm taking the following classes:

7.013 - Introductory Biology
8.02 - Physics II
5.12 - Organic Chemistry I
9.00 - Introduction to Psychology
21W.755 - Writing and Reading Short Stories
9.URG - Graded Undergraduate Research in Course 9
Total: 72 units

I'm way more enthusiastic about my classes this semester than I was about my classes last semester. I loved biology in high school - mainly because I had a great teacher who complemented lectures in class with several hilarious stories concerning jellyfish, nodules, and hermaphroditic cats, but also because I found biology slightly more relevant to my existence than, say, gyroscopes (*cough* 8.01 *cough*) - not that I have anything against gyroscopes. They were entirely entertaining to play with last semester.

I also had an awesome time taking psychology in high school. That was the one class where I actually liked reading the textbook. We'd watch a whole bunch of videos by Stanford's Philip Zimbardo, whose prison experiment some of you may have heard of. Towards the end of the year, we also got a chance to tour an MRI lab and take a look at the psychology in movies like "I am Sam" (I LOVE that movie!). I've heard a lot of great things about 9.00 here at MIT, so maybe it'll eclipse my high school psych experience.

I'm taking the writing class for a couple reasons - first, I have a lot of fun writing and think it'd be great to improve my creative writing ability, or current lack thereof. Second, every MIT student has to pick a HASS concentration, and I want mine to be writing! It'll give me a little break from the demands of science and math classes :)

9.URG is just a continuation of the Course 9 research I started doing during IAP. I love my lab! Everyone is nice, calm, helpful, and quick to guide me when I have questions regarding any independent work I'm doing in the lab. One of my floormates now has a UROP in the lab a few doors down from mine - I see this as a fantastic benefit to working in my lab because when I'm done with my work, I can pop into her lab and annoy her =P Or give her chocolate, since she REALLY likes chocolate :)

All in all, the only two classes I'm slightly wary about are physics and orgo, since physics always takes me longer to master than other subjects do and because I've never been exposed to orgo before. As a 'sophomore,' I'm allowed to designate one subject as an Exploratory subject, which means that I can take the class, see my grade, and decide whether I want to keep that grade or change the class to non-credit. Guess what I picked as my Exploratory subject? Yup, orgo. Ahh, that class is notoriously difficult...*cringe*

Other things I'm up to this semester: EMT shifts! I'll be taking the state EMT exam in mid-March, but until then, I'll be trying to get as much experience as I can continuing to work as a third rider on the MIT ambulance. Basically, anyone who's CPR-certified can be a third rider on the MIT ambulance - so any of you admits who decide to come here next year should bring along your CPR certs and work with MIT-EMS! I'm also doing the same getfit program that Jenny blogged about earlier. Week 1 just ended, and I logged 660 minutes of exercise :) But now that classes are about to start, I'm not sure if I can keep it up. It might not be too hard, though - there are a few Indian dance shows coming up this semester that I'm going to be participating in. I'm sure we're going to be practicing a lot. Time management is going to be crucial...

I hope you guys are having a blast as second semester seniors!! I had a lot of fun last year just spending time with people and cruising through school. Make sure you collect lots of little memories :)

There's a feeling that goes something like "ugh, if only I'd taken more classes in previous terms I could have graduated by now!" But I am not dwelling on that. While some of my friends have completed their requirements in three or three-and-a-half years, four years feels just right to me.

Then there's the feeling of relief. Whew - I don't need to cram 6 classes together to finish my degree. In fact I can proceed at a comfortable pace. I can almost take it easy!

But you can't just sit around waiting for June 4th to come. At least, I can't. :D But at least I am done with grad school apps now, and am back from blogging hiatus! I've spent so much time worrying for my future... will I get into a good school? Can I get a job? Can I ensure that I've made the best out of my four years at MIT? Will I end up broke and homeless? :X I feel so out of touch with everyone.... Being a second-semester senior in college sure feels different from being a second semester senior in high school. What on earth do you guys even need to know about nowadays? Comment below. ;)

And now, I’m going to practice saying goodbye to Pass-No Record and start embracing real grades (ABC’s) for the 2nd semester. I'm going to grade my IAP.

The following is a hypothetical but unembellished report card. ☺

*click

Let’s see – 3 F’s and 2 C’s? What!!! Second-semester can’t be like this!

Okay, so the report card was just for fun, but the serious question to ask is: Where did all the glorious IAP time go? This seems to be a popular question popping up on Facebook statuses lately. For me, 18.02A was the obvious culprit, but I can't help but mention some other preoccupations that edged into those rare un-mathematical intervals of time.

To start:

I had never realized that my gummy vitamins were bear-shaped, that my Tupperware was microwave-safe, and that those green furry soybeans are called edamames

But then I learned, and now my food/grocery awareness improved just a little bit; still can't get over how exotic edamame sounds.

I didn’t plan on getting this bruise, and several others:

But then I did, and surprisingly I'm loving Taekwondo more and more everyday - despite the customary twinkling of fear before each practice. Taekwondo during IAP sucked up nearly 9 hours every week, but thank god for it I'm pulling my weight in getfit@mit. With every sore leg, bruised foot, and scratched elbow, I feel it's harder and harder to turn back and say "I don't want to do this anymore". And about that, I'm very excited.

I didn’t know there was a mulberry tree a little farther up Charles River:

But then I found one. One morning before calculus lecture, I power-walked along the Charles to put in some minutes for getfit@mit. I was happy to find that near the Boston University bridge, there are a couple of mulberry trees in a little park-like setting right next to an industrial overpass. This was an interesting find, precisely because I want to study the intersection between architecture and urban planning that improves the look, feel, and functionality of every precious space in the modern city.

It feels good to rematerialize the bygone times.
--
Anyways, I gathered from this IAP that planning well and aiming high is really important - but prioritizing at the right times could be critical. If 18.02A was a fail, I would probably be freaking out under a pillow right now.

But it wasn't - so Happy February!

I have a few theories as to why we elbowed our way to the top of the list:

• OpenCourseWare: MIT courses for free on the web. What's not to love about that?
• Blogs: You're reading one now! We do have others from all corners of the Institute, so you might want to check out the MIT Blogroll.
• MIT News: Everything you want to know about technology, research and MIT. Get the inside scoop before it hits the pages of "Wired."
• TechTV: Did you know that MIT has its own web video service? There's really no way to adequately describe the eclectic mix of videos that are added by the MIT community each day. My personal favorites are the Doc Edgerton high-speed films. There's also a general MIT video gateway.
• MIT's home page: It changes every weekday.
• GAMBIT Game Lab: Games created by MIT students. I'm partial to Shadow Shoppe.

That's not an inclusive list, of course. MIT is such a vibrant, creative place that if you can't find something amazing on our website you're really just not trying. That's more of an opinion, though.

...I basically just went home for six weeks.

But I had a reason for doing so, you see. In a little bit more than 48 hours, I will be taking the monster of a test known as the Medical College Admissions Test, or the exam that tests your ability to choose correct responses to 144 multiple choice questions in the realms of biology, chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, and English in four and a half hours. (oh, and write two essays while you're at it)

FUNNNNNN. (especially after spending the entire IAP poring over thousands of pages* of prep material).

* no joke. i read through at least 3,000 pages of material this break. if you think the SAT is bad, wait till you get to the MCAT.

But that's enough complaining on my end.

IAP (or also known as January Term in some other colleges - but MIT's is very unique!), is one of the many reasons why I love MIT. Our IAP gives us the flexible opportunity to pursue study abroad opportunities (like what I did in my last two IAPs), to work on projects (both abroad through things like D-Lab, and on campus in research labs through UROPs), to enjoy the multitude of craziness that goes on on campus (see our IAP listing, and Mystery Hunt!!, see this year's), or to just go home, chillax, and do something that you always wanted to do (like backpack across Europe in 4 weeks, which is what one of my friends is doing). I actually haven't to date had one IAP on campus, but rather spending three different IAPs in three different countries. I think it'll have to be next year. (this class still calls!! and I'm finally 21 :P)

I only regret that I have but four IAPs to spend during my tenure at MIT. =p

Anywhoo, I'm writing right now from a Starbucks on O'Farrell St. in downtown San Francisco, where I'm spending the last 5 days of my IAP. I arrived here yesterday amidst the pomp and circumstance of the unveiling of the Apple iPad (which, by now, you should know about unless you've been living under a rock in a barren desert devoid of Internet connection). I went to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to find out what the hype was about, but I realized that there wasn't much to see from the outside, so I left, haha. IMO, iPad is basically a glorified iPod Touch, so perhaps this article did had some merit after all =p (oh, Mad TV predicted the coming of the iPad 3 years ago. since the video has PG-13 content I can't post it here, so please go youtube it =p)

I <3 SF. It's great being back.