Can you believe... it’s already the middle of August ???
...and we’re all getting ready to go back to school… Returning students are probably still wrapping up summer ventures, but 2014s are probably almost ready to leave for FPOPs, orientation, and the like!

I was just thinking about last August … wondering how I felt a year ago … so somehow I ended up digging up my 2009 Guide to Residences … (it's still so pretty & so exciting to look at)...

I looked at the empty i3 DVD slot on the inside cover … and flipped to the Burton-Conner page (which is where I live now) … and reminisced a whole lot -- and then

OH-MY-FRICKEN-G’ – I know all the people on this page!
This is actually a group shot of Burton 1 - my floor!

This kind of revelation is strange and mind-boggling to me. Last year this time, I looked at these pages with no particular attention to faces – they were just students, yadeeyada….but now I know them all?

So I guess my point is - all of you heading to MIT soon, GET EXCITED 'CAUSE THERE WILL BE LOTS OF CHANGES. New People. Places. Psets… HA.

Really I just have two other relevant things to say- 1) Seriously don’t get caught up on first impressions… I’m constantly in awe at how different someone is once you actually meet them … or talk to them outside of the classroom … etc. and 2) Open up! …I can think of a handful of situations where had I decided …not… to put myself forward (e.g. HEY DO YOU WANT TO HAVE DINNER??), I wouldn’t have met some good friends.

And just for fun, I dug up a personal blog post from a year ago –

HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL !!!