T-Minus Six Days by Hamsika C. '13

Yup, it’s true: CPW 2010 IS ALMOST HERE!!! My poor inbox is struggling under the sudden influx of CPW-related e-mails, and my willpower to study is slowly but surely slipping away. I can’t wait until all 1100+ of you get on campus! It’s going to be EPIC.

As those of you who tuned into the CPW live chat already know, your hosts will be contacting you this coming Sunday or Monday. If you have any questions for your host, have them ready! I was lucky last year in that my host was someone I already knew, but for many of you, that won’t be the case. It’s not a bad idea to exchange e-mails with your host before you get here, just to get to know them a little better. If you’re nice to them, they might be willing to snag a cot for you to sleep on, which means you won’t have to lug a sleeping bag halfway across the country or world, whichever it may be :)

If you’ve checked out the CPW website, you will have noticed a list of things to pack. Notice that one of the items listed is a camera. Do NOT forget your camera! I think I came home from CPW last year with close to 200 pictures, and I would have taken more, were it not for the fact that my battery ran out of power and I didn’t have my charger. Speaking of which: bring your charger.

As far as events go, there are a lottt (over 500? 600?). Overwhelmed as I was by the sheer number of activities and the obvious impossibility of sleep, I attempted to narrow down the events I wanted to attend at last year’s CPW by ranking them in terms of where I’d get the most free stuff. This turned out to be an incredibly fulfilling experience. My total winnings were comprised of seven or so t-shirts (though most of them were at least three sizes too big for me because I apparently fail at pushing my way to the front of the line…), a couple key chains, several pens and pencils, a couple squishy stress-relieving things, a laundry bag (hahaha), way too much candy, and a bunch of other stuff that eludes my memory at the moment.

When I wasn’t trying to hoard free stuff, I spent time cooking a gourmet French dinner at New House, running away from cats at Random Hall (I like dogs more), visiting classes, and attending club/majors fairs. My favorite CPW event was undoubtedly the Closing/Variety show; I know Cam blogged about this earlier, but seriously, MIT a capella groups = amazing. There was also some pretty hardcore juggling and several neat performances by MIT dance groups. Somewhere on my computer, I have a video of basically the entire show, but I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you guys ;)

Though I admittedly spent most of CPW on campus, I did wander out into Boston a little bit. If you get a chance to explore, I highly recommend it! Boston is one of the most lively cities I’ve ever been in; I spent my last day of CPW checking out some of the restaurants, the stores, and just admiring the elegant and historic architecture. As I recall, CPW last year overlapped with the 2009 Boston marathon, so there were quite a few people running alongside the Charles. By ‘quite a few,’ I mean even more than usual, which, as you’ll find out, is impressive; there are always people running in Boston.

Anyway, that’s a quick run down of CPW. Points to remember: 1) Bring a camera, 2) Explore, and 3) Have a blast with your fellow members of the MIT Class of 2014!!

I’ll see you all soon :)