You: Where are you from?
Me: London.
You: But you don't have a British accent!

Let me explain: I was born in Singapore, had a Singaporean accent, and then moved to London during the summer before fifth grade. After I moved, I picked up an American accent, because I went to an American school. I have citizenship from all three countries, so I'm not technically an international student, but feel like a foreigner when I say “football” and people assume I'm referring to a game that involves very little use of the foot.

I have that conversation with every person I meet, so I thought I'd get it out of the way.

Moving on -

Hi! My name is Anna. The summer before my senior year of high school, I saw the Milky Way for the first time and was moved to tears because I thought it was "so beautiful" (think: the double rainbow video, but a little less intense). I cry during almost every movie I watch and get mushy around little kids. In high school, my life revolved around FIRST Robotics (Team 1884!), community service in and around London, and music. I play the piano and the trumpet in front of other people, but sing only in the shower or while playing Rock Band late at night.

I love the humanities as much at the sciences, and derive a lot of pleasure from finding all the weird, surprising, but most of all elegant, ways that they come together.

I can sing along to a scary number of Disney songs, and speak along to a scary number of Disney movies. I knew I was going to live in French House when I realized that the soundtrack to their i3 video was “I'll Make a Man Out Of You” from Mulan (in French!), and now enjoy amazing home-cooked food every night, and the company of an amazing, diverse community.

I smile a lot.

I'm horribly indecisive: I can't decide what to have for breakfast each morning, let alone pick classes and clubs. I find narrowing down my interests very painful. Slowly but surely, I'm learning that it's usually not the decision itself that matters, but what one does with it.

This blog is about my adventures, as I try to make the most of MIT. It's by me, for you, so please feel free to shoot questions and comments my way! I've been reading these blogs since eighth grade, and want to be as helpful to you as they have been to me. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to say that it's now my turn to weave a part of the blogosphere tapestry.