Spring seems to have arrived at last, though this isn't the first time this year - we've had nice days on and off for awhile now. I've learned not to trust Boston weather, it'll probably snow tomorrow or something.

At least we haven't gotten any earthquakes though. I always miss all the good stuff in the Midwest - last year while I was on exchange, like all of Illinois got multiple snow days! Dang.

For now, though, it's byooootiful. The kind of weather I'd like to ride my bike in (not that any weather really stops me from riding my bike. Though I've never tried in an earthquake) if my bike hadn't gotten stolen.

Oh yeah, so you know those lists you've been writing compulsively about What To Bring To MIT Next Fall? If you're planning on having a bike, make sure to bring a good bike lock. Maybe four.

I don't actually know if it's been stolen - I have a tendency to...forget where I leave things. Like my MIT ID. Haven't seen it since before CPW. I'm going to assume my prefrosh didn't take it because she seemed pretty cool, and just hope I find it laying around my stuff sometime. Anyway, I don't know where I left my bike, but I haven't seen it in any of the normal places I go, so I think it might have gotten stolen. This would be more sad if I weren't getting my new bike for Bike and Build (which you haven't donated to yet...) soon. Weee, summer!

Anyway, I know last weekend was supposed to be the weekend to end all weekends or something because it was CPW, but actually, this weekend is the one I've been looking forward to all year. Besides having Monday AND Tuesday off, this weekend at MIT there are two really cool really cool things going on:

1. the Global Poverty Initiative Conference. Oh man, nothing gets me excited like poverty. I mean. Solving poverty. Yeah. So this conference - lots of people at MIT this year have spent countless hours planning this thing - it's the first time ever that it's happening. There are over 1,400 people (yeah, that's more than there were at CPW...) from about 280 different schools and organizations. They've invited lots of really cool speakers like John Edwards, Paul Farmer (OMG), John Legend, the main singer from Dispatch, our own Amy Smith, Jeffrey Sachs (another OMG), Augustine Mahiga, and a load of other really inspiring people to speak (I mean, they MUST be cool, they all have wikipedia pages!), and they're also holding Action workshops such as "Starting Projects for Global Change" and Overcoming Barriers in Project Delivery."

Basically, it's just a whole weekend of AWESOME. I'm sooo excited. They also have a really cool website where you can see the program for the whole weekend.

2. APDA Nationals are being hosted here by the MIT Debate Team (http://web.mit.edu/debate/www/). I was really into speech team back in high school and I still really love seeing guys dress up and suits and ties and give persuasive speeches ;), and since I participated in a few tournaments first semester, I'm helping out with generally making sure people don't get lost and stuff.

Also, I'll be spending a lot of time at one of the coolest places ever, tEp, this weekend, partially because they're having a party called Yeast Roast, which is exactly what is sounds like, and partially because I like going there whether they're baking crazy amounts of bread or not. tEp is one of my favorite places ever but I've been too busy lately to really go, so I'm excited for that as well.

And tonight (in about five minutes, in fact) I'm going to dinner with DUSP, as kind of an informational-welcome to the department type thing, because I finally got to declare course 11 last week!

EDIT: So on my way back home from eating dinner with DUSP I was so full that I decided to go to tep instead of going home, thinking I'd spend a calm evening here catching up on blogging, email, etc. Then the fire alarm went off due to ...um...cooking.....Hah. So much for relaxing evening.

...Anyway. I had fellow Senior House resident Milena write an entry for you guys on one of many summer opportunities for you guys - Project Interphase.

Summer is quickly approaching, and I’m guessing you prefrosh are trying to figure out the best way to spend that last summer before you come to MIT and get screwed over by the tsunami of work that is a term at MIT. For some of you, this might entail working a part-time at the mall scooping fro-yo for snotty little kids or watching people unfold shirts and throw them back with the rest of the neatly folded shirts that took you forever to get right. Some of you might decide that you worked your pretty little butts off during high school and you need a nice, long summer to, uh, recover from all that hard work. (Right... we all know you’re trying to catch those I Love New York marathons!) Well, rounding it up, some of you might also be so freaking excited over going to college that you wouldn’t mind (or, heck, you’d give your left pinkie for) getting an early start. And that’s where the OME comes in! The Office of Minority Education (more commonly known as the OME—you know how we abbreviate everything!) sponsors a summer program for incoming freshmen called Interphase. And now some Q&A, ranging from somewhat inane to completely relevant! Just so you don’t have to :-)

1) How long does Interphase last?

Interphase starts at the end of June and goes until mid-August. So I’d say it lasts for about 7-8 weeks. Plenty of time before and after Interphase to catch those marathons on VH1! (It’s OK, we’re cool here, you can profess your undying love for trashy TV!)

2) How much does going to Interphase cost?

A summer at Interphase will set you back a total of Nada! On the house! The OME sponsors the program, which means you only have to pay for your laundry and your frivolous expenses (mine were shoes and dining out, but hey, don’t judge!). On top of free housing, you get a little plastic card with a very nice amount of Tech Cash on it to spend on food—sorry kids, it doesn’t work at the Coop or the laundry machines.

3) What exactly do students do in Interphase?

Well, just about everything normal students at MIT do. You take four classes–calculus, mechanics, chemistry and writing–, have p-set parties, order take-out from campusfood.com and go out to Boston during the weekends, among other things. Also, every other weekend, you’ll go somewhere to do something fun (my year we went to Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard). The OME plans cool things for the students to do even on campus, such as basketball games against the MITES people, talent shows (I opened bottles with my mouth as my talent!), and parties. AND you also get to take the swim test early and take a PE (there was sailing, swimming, tennis and some other stuff my year).

4) But Milena, isn’t it all the hardcore people who live and breathe school the ones that do Interphase?! Why would a normal person like me want to take classes during the summer!?

Well, first off, dear prefrosh, let me start that deliciously cold shower for you and help you wake up: odds are, if you go to MIT, you are not, at least in one way, normal. You’re smarter than most of the world population! Just the kind of person who would get excited over the prospect of eight more weeks of school! Lame jokes aside, no, it’s not all hardcore people at Interphase. Sure, there are some, but that’s just part of, uh, having a group of 80 people that accurately represents the demographics at MIT. Most of the people I met were refreshingly normal: they bitch about p-sets, and they bond over bitching! Sounds fun, right? Most people at Interphase are simply trying to ease the transition from high school to college without having it count for credit—which brings me to...

5) Do the grades I earn during Interphase actually count for anything?

Well... yes, and no. For every class you pass (i.e., get a C average or higher), you get two units of general elective credit (or whatever it’s called). Basically, you use those units in case you need them to complete the X number of units you need in order to graduate. The grades you get will NOT earn you class credit, so even if you passed that mechanics class with an A++, you don’t have any 8.01x credit until you take the Advanced Standing Exam during orientation week and pass it. That said, the instructors really go out of their way to make sure you learn enough so that, with a little more prep, you actually stand a chance at passing the ASE. But above all things, Interphase is just a really good way of “practicing” taking the class. You cover pretty much the same stuff you’d do during term-- if anything, it’s a little watered down, reason being it’s summer and you can’t cram a term of work into seven weeks. The exams you take are comparable to what you’d see during term, so it’s also a good way to gauge how good your study habits/exam-taking skills are.

6) Is it fun?

Yes! I thought Interphase was loads of fun, when it wasn’t stressful, just the way MIT usually is. I met my best friends during Interphase-- some of them were my classmates, some were my TA’s, but either way, they were all undergrads! You also get to meet lots of different kinds of people that you’d never think you’d interact with, which I personally think is really interesting. The possibilities are endless when it comes to having fun; my friends and I were particularly fond of going to Briggs Field at midnight and playing with the sprinklers!

7) I don’t want to come off as insensitive, but what do I get out of Interphase?

Ah, I knew this was going to come up. We always wonder what we can get out of situations! Well, you ask, I dish it. You’ll get a unique summer that only 80 people in every class get to experience. Very useful connections, if you’re into social networking and the sort. But I believe the most useful thing you’ll get out of Interphase is the strong sense of community the students and faculty build over the summer. Each Interphase class is one big support system, and even though everybody’s really different and not everybody gets along with everybody, they (we) all help each other. Interphase sets up a mailing list over the summer (meant for sending out memos) that, come term, doubles as a support group during term where you can send out emails at 4am asking about that 7.013 p-set and people will email you back with helpful hints. So this, in my opinion, is the beauty of Interphase.

8) What if you totally did not address all of my burning questions and I have more to ask of you?

Well, you can do one (or more) of the following:

*Check out the OME website here

*Email the OME! I am not sure of who’s handling the Program this year, so I’ll be very generic and direct you to ome(at)mit(dot)edu

* For non-logistics-related questions, and if you want an honest answer from someone who’s been there, you can email Karen at kfig at mit dot edu and she’ll forward your questions to me.

So, what are YOU doing this Summer?

And by spring break, I mean that I'm not attending the last two classes I have today, because I'm leaving for Mexico in a few hours and I have yet to pack and blog and come on - it's not like I'd be able to focus with the sky so blue. That pre-break twitch is impossible to escape, fidgeting all through classes, time goes more and more slowly, the lecturer seems to have been talking for 40 minutes when it's only been 4-

yeah, there was really no hope for me. instead, i will blog randomly yet again to tell you all about The Month of March. Not that it's over. But it's pretty much over. Kind of.

I don't know about y'all, but these were the longest three weeks of my LIFE.

Okay, so, I'm not going to talk about the fact that was was busy because I think you've seen enough "I'M HOSED" entries and really, the last thing you want to hear about and I want to write about on the Friday before spring break is homework.

Instead, I'm going to talk about the absolutely fantastic things about this month - namely, the fact that it was Mes Latino, or Hispanic Heritage Month.

Now, there's a lot of controversy surrounding minority programs and special months dedicated to certain heritages and if you want to talk about that, I have an email address, and its kfig at mit dot edu. Let's try to keep that discussion off the blogs though, or at least my blog, for now, and focus on the positive:

In three weeks, there were 29 activities. 29. Most of them involving free food of some sort. And if you attend ten, you are entered in a raffle to get a free 32GB ipod touch.

Yeah. I know. Wow. If that's not an incentive to going, I don't know what is. I made it to eleven events, and I'm thinking that there won't be too many people who managed to make it to that many, so I think I have a decent chance. But then, it's a raffle, so there's really no way of knowing, and since I never win anything, I'm trying not to get my hopes up.

But dang.

So anyway, a list of some of the events they had:

• The Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists (MAES) Make Your Own Burrito Night.
• A joint movie night sponsored by MIT ASO and the LCC.
• A SHPE movie night
• A Teatro Latino Performance
• Latino Karaoke
• Cena Latinoamericana: A dinner for MIT students to talk with MIT Spanish literature/culture professors.
• Festival de las Americas: There were booths set up representing many different parts and countries of Latin America. There was TONS of free food and it was pretty informative.
• An MAES movie night
• A LUChA meeting
• Te Para Tres
• A Multi-Cultural Conference held at the beautiful Endicott House.

I don’t know if you guys know this, but I am of El Salvadoran heritage. Born and raised in the states, but I still love pupusas and fried yucca with a passion, and I speak Spanish at home. Though I can’t say I truly identify 100% with any culture, because I find it a bit limiting, there are definitely several aspects of my life heavily influenced by my culture.

It was strange to come to MIT and not have there be Hispanic people everywhere. I kind of took it for granted at home. You know what? I actually thought since everyone is making such a big deal about immigration, that Latino presence must be very prominent in all of the US.

And then, I get here to MIT, and people’s only exposure to any sort of South American food is Taco Bell. It’s really, really weird.

It used to be a little skeptical about these things, but it actually turned out to be really important to me to have such a great network of cultural groups available. Unfortunately, there are no El Salvadoran student groups (yet…), but I definitely think anyone who is worried about leaving a certain culture behind shouldn’t be afraid – there are definitely options available.

That’s not to say that MIT is a haven of cultural sensitivity, equality and diversity (there are two female Latina professors. Two), but there are definitely many opportunities to push it in that direction. That’s another topic for another day, though. For now, I’ll just say that the Multi-Cultural Conference I attended with Laura was definitely a worthwhile experience and gave me a lot to think about.

Now, last things last – I should finish up, because like I said, I’m about to leave for MEXICO.

MEXICO!! (In case you didn’t get it the first, or second time I said it)

Ahhhhh I’m so excited.

Oh wait. What am I doing there?

So this year LUChA started an international community service initiative, and I’m going with six other students to volunteer at an orphanage and cancer centers in Mexico City. Of course, we’ll be sightseeing as well. This is not the typical MIT-invent-something-really-cool-and-implement-it-international-service-project that are often funded by the Public Service Center, but I think it will be a very good kick-off to many LUChA trips in years too come.

I, unfortunately, did not have as much time to dedicate as my six team-members to dedicate to this project. I’m also trying to work on a Youth Activism Camp in the Phillipines for May, a relatively young but so far very productive student initiative to get more fruits and veggies readily available on campus, I’m president of Amnesty, and there’s CPW of course….and this summer I am participating in Bike and Build!

Yeah, I’m biking from Florida to California for the affordable housing cause. I’ll say more in another entry (this is getting long), but for now it would be AMAZING if you could donate for me. I have to raise $4000 by June. Just go to www.bikeandbuild.org, click donate and choose “Karen Figueroa” as your rider. I would REALLY appreciate it.

ANYWAY. I got kind of sidetracked! Trip to Mexico! Not as much time committed to it as I would have liked! *Freshman Syndrome! But I’m excited!

If anyone has any questions or doubts about any cultural issues at MIT, feel free to email me. But I probably won’t respond for a week or so. Because I’ll be in…where was it again? Oh yeah! Mexico!

*Freshman Syndrome is the inability to correctly gauge the amount of things you can take on without spontaneously combusting or something. I always take on wayyyy too much. But I can’t help it! I don’t know if I’ll ever be cured. Life is too short to not do everything! Ahhhh

At about 4:45, I walked into Senior House. I had been at East Campus working on a 5.111 (chemistry) pset with a friend. I actually enjoyed doing it, despite the very obvious fact that I spent all night doing it because it's due tomorrow. Although I have to admit I think I've drawn enough Lewis structures to satisfy me for awhile. When I walked in, there was tons of bread at desk. Even baguettes, and I love baguettes. Usually when there's food at desk, it's free for the taking, but I had actually gone back to senior house to pick something up about twenty minutes before I came back for good, and it wasn't there then, so I thought that maybe someone had just put it down for a bit because there was so much of it or something and they were going to come back.

At 4:58am, an email was sent to the Senior House mailing list. It said "please help yourself to the many loaves of bread at desk."

I was excited - free bread! - but I didn't go downstairs right away, I was in the middle of something important. Probably checking facebook.

About ten minutes later, there were only two loaves of bread left at desk. An email gets sent out at five o'freaking clock in the morning, and the stuff is nearly all gone ten minutes later. Things really do move fast at MIT.

It's like the Reuse mailing list, which is the only mailing list I ever took myself off of, because I stopped reading the emails after about a day of constant ads. People just send out emails like "pink lamp in 2-232" or "one and three quarters of a gallon of seagreen paint next to the X office" or "cute cat, call xxxx for more information" or "box of packing peanuts need good home." I know a lot of people who scan reuse for computer parts to build random cool things.

For real.

It's all free, too.

But the thing is, you have to move fast. Running is best. If it's on the other side of campus, though, you're probably out of luck. Anyway. That's how fast all this bread went.

But it's okay, I still got a nice loaf.

I'm not sure what the point of this entry is. When we blog things, we get a drop-down list of categories to choose from. If this isn't "miscellaneous," I don't know what is. Except for like eighteen of Snively's entries. They seem to be the very definition of miscellaneous.

Hmm. In two and a half hours, I will be attending the "Petit Dejeuner Francophone et "Reseautage" Science et Technologie." Mmmm, free French breakfast, sponsored by the Club Francophone. But I must finish some things before I go. Like my Arabic homework. And this blog, I guess.

I would almost consider not posting this because it's so random, but I haven't posted in awhile, and hey, I don't think I was hired because I'm the most efficient writer in the world. Or was I? Hmmmm.

So today is pi day. It's 5:30 am and already there are two entries up.

Pi day.

It's a good excuse to eat pie. Which I did today. At midnight. It was delicious.

But as for memorizing the digits. Well. I mean. Personally, I think there are better uses of brainspace. Like memorizing the periodic table, if you're really feeling compelled to memorize something. Now that's useful. At least for chemistry. At least, more useful than knowing 67 digits of pi is for math. But if that's what you want to spend the time until decisions come out doing, I'm not going to stop you.

Oh yeah, decisions. Those are tomorrow. It's pretty exciting. No, really. In fact, the last time I slept (I'm too disoriented to figure out when that was), I dreamt about a certain prefrosh I know getting waitlisted. Wow. What does it mean when you start dreaming about other people's decisions?

I also dreamt that those robots from Battlestar Galactica (cylons?) were taking over the world while I tried to finish my 5.111 pset, and then I "woke up" and thought I woke up too late for class, then I woke up for real and was relieved. Until I remembered I had to go to class. Then I tried to block out the noise from my alarm by covering my head with my pillow.

Sometimes my suitemates can hear my alarm, but I don't wake up.

The other day, the fire alarm went off at 1am at Senior House. Minor cooking fiasco or something. I woke up, but I wasn't entirely asleep, so I'm still not sure if I'd wake up for a fire alarm in the middle of a deep sleep.

Right. Back to what I was going to say about decisions. MIT is a just place - a set of buildings.

"But Karen, it's more than that, it's a community."

Well, gee, you're right. But communities are made of people. They're made of you! There are tens of thousands of people who have regretfully been rejected from MIT in the past simply because we have a small, small undergraduate population. Which means that, in all of those other colleges you applied to, there is the potential to create a community and find a sense of belonging, if you really feel that this place is your calling.

I'm not articulating myself very well. Sorry, it's really early. What I'm trying to say is that YOU make the place. So you want to be a hacker?

Hey, guys, there are buildings at just about every college in any country that can be explored. You want to do research? It takes initiative. Even here at MIT, UROPs don't fall from the sky and land in your lap. You have to look into what's available, contact professors. Professors love it when students take initiative, I suggest trying it anywhere you go. Don't let red tape that isn't even there get in your way. You want to be challenged more than you've ever been challenged before? Well, you can do that for yourself, too. Set goals. Work towards them.

Yeah, MIT is a cool place. But what makes it cool is people like you, and I want you to know- no matter what happens tomorrow, that you have SO much potential. Don't let other people keep you down.

[My alarm just went off - at 5:45. That's what time I was supposed to wake up...24 hours ago]

No, seriously, if you ever tell me you're coughing, or your nose is running, or your leg's going to fall off, don't expect any sympathy. I'll probably just be a jerk and say something like "I never get colds" or "the last time I was sick was 1918" or "MY leg would never fall off because my immune system is better than yours."

Can you see where this is going?

Pride goeth before the fall.

Last week, I...I...I have a lot trouble admitting it. Even after several days of waking up with razorblades in my throat (that's how it felt, anyway), constantly having to blow my nose and general unattractiveness, I still insisted to my rather skeptical hallmates that I don't get "sick."

Then I dragged my sorry ego over to MIT Medical, where they tested me for strep (negative. First test ever I willingly failed =P) and told me to sleep "a lot" and come back if it gets any "worse."

WORSE?!

So I guess I'm not used to being in this condition, because I really felt at that point that the only way to get worse would be to get better because there wasn't any possible way I could feel MORE sick. I went to the doctor willingly, which is a rare thing for me, because I was seriously concerned about my LIFE (aka getting psets done)...and he tells me to sleep "a lot." Which I did, over the three day weekend, but today during class I was still concerned I would infect my arabic partner. I'm sure they weren't too pleased to be placed with me. Oh well. It'snot like I have a choice (wow, that was the worst joke ever. I should be fired...).

So it turns out I'm not the only one suffering. It seems like everyone has what I have, or more likely the other way around....Today when meeting my group for my **CI-H class, one girl showed up without a voice! (Come on, how unprepared can you get?) It turns out that three of us missed the class last week because we were all THAT sick. And one of the dean's from S^3 went home sick today, and today another girl in my arabic class walked in with asthmatic pneumonia after missing over a weeks worth of lectures! This is pretty bad, guys. They should just shut down the world a couple days and let everyone recover.

Incidentally, yesterday I saw these two posters on the wall of a bathroom:

(And then a girl walked in, and I left really fast, because I probably looked like a weirdo taking a picture of a poster on a bathroom wall, which is exactly what I was.)

But it got me thinking. How did I get...you know...get..si-...si-...ACHOO (oh, sorry, I sneezed, but I said the word. Really.)....anyway? It must take a lot to knock out an immune system like this.

And then it all came together, like that moment in a Hollywood movie when the main character has an epiphany with mini-flashbacks as if the audience isn't smart enough to figure it out. Keyboards, petri dishes, epidemic, poor ventilation...

*Athena clusters!

I never used to spend time in Athena clusters before this semester because Senior House's printer, Pulp-fiction (Yeah, we name our printers at MIT), actually used to work. But it's been broken for awhile, and now, in the midst of flu season, I've been going to Athena clusters pretty often to print off...everything.

This is the cluster found on the fifth floor of the student center:

Note that there is poor ventilation, keyboards that probably have been home to every flu season's worst killers for decades and a lack of hand sanitizer available, even though they have hand santizer dispensers next to the buttons of elevators on the first floor, because it's sooo hard to press one button with the sleeve of your jacket or something.

Not even the door is left open, ever, because you need a code to get in. (Or maybe it's really just to contain the diseases found there...)

So that's it, then. It's Pulp-fiction's fault.

Dear Pulp-fiction,

-Karen

*Athena clusters are MIT's computer labs, they can be found around campus. You can print free from them, and they're open 24 hours a day.

**Communication-intensive class required once a year for the first two years. Don't ask me to explain anymore about humanities requirements because no one really understands them. If someone tells you they do, they're lying.

Last week I saw Musical Theater Guild's Wild Party, which Keri produced entirely during "the Month of January/IAP." It was about a couple during the 1920's that decides to throw a party to make themselves feel better about their failed relationship, and the party turns out a lot more exciting than either of them expected. I really liked the music because it was jazzy and the show in general was pretty energetic and nice to watch.

Like I've said before, I am not a great photographer, but apparently Jax Kirtley is, and since their photos are on the Wild Party photo page, they hopefully won't mind if I use a couple.

I never wrote about it, but I saw MTG's production of Cabaret early this year which I really enjoyed - I believe it was their summer production. The pictures are taken from the website. Again.

So anyway, back to this semester, I saw Dramashop's production of Suburbia. It was about some kids in a small town that hang out in a parking lot and their various issues, usually centered around Being Stuck In This Crummy Place, Not Caring That You're Stuck In This Crummy Place, and Trying to Escape This Crummy Place.

I can't find any pictures of the play, which is really sad because one of my friend's pointed out that the set was AMAZING - it was incredibly detailed, and especially considering it was just a parking lot and a 7-11, I was really really impressed.

Last semester I also went to a Gilbert and Sullivan Players show called Cox and Box. It was quite a small affair - only three or four characters, but I really enjoyed it. If you haven't caught on by now, I really love all sorts of theater. I'm not talented in any way in this department, unfortunately, but that's okay, I'm busy with other things and am quite alright leaving it to the experts.

I feel really bad about myself whenever I don't have pictures for you guys, or I do have pictures but they're terrible. Seriously, when did it become an unstated prerequisite that you have to be a great photographer to be a blogger? Even my normal, non-artistic pictures turn out badly. Maybe I should take a class.

Anyway, moving on. The most recent show I saw (last night) was the Vagina Monologues. I'd never seen it, but it's pretty famous so I was excited to do so. Apparently, on February 14th, or "V-Day" (for Valentine's Day, Violence and Victory), thousands of Vagina Monologues productions are put on around the world to raise awareness and money for campaigns and charities that work to stop violence against women. MIT's production of it It was held in the Stata Center in a large auditorium with soft red chairs, I might add, since people seem to care a lot about chairs nowadays. I was surprised to see the turnout: the 318-person auditiorium was full!

Look at all the people that love to hear about vaginas!

This is the only picture taken by me in the whole entry. Now you know why I rely on other people for photos.

After discussing the (very entertaining and hilarious and sometimes sad) play with my guy friends,I noticed that they all believed that this was wild feminist propaganda that belittled men and encouraged women to keep to themselves. I'd like to take this moment, with thousands of you listening, both guys and girls, to state that this is not what the play is about. Okay, so it is empowering towards women, it makes us feel good about being female and it makes us feel more comfortable with ourselves, and though there may be a few pokes taken at the opposite gender, in general, it is not an attack on men, nor is it counter-productive towards making society equal. It's hard to explain without you actually seeing it, but it is two simple things: a feel-good production, and just as importantly, an awareness campaign. That's not to say that each production is not unique and that some may turn it into something else - which is fine - just don't make assumptions about something you haven't actually seen.

Funnily enough, I think I ended my last entry on a similar note. I don't mean for this to be uber-serious or anything. Just something to keep in mind. Any questions about theater at MIT will probably not be answered by me, because I'm just a groupie ;) Someone from ARTalk can probably help you out :)

This is the first year I've been old enough to actually vote, and though I realized there were other ways to get involved without actually voting, despite being aware of current events, I never participated for reasons that are probably irrelevant to this blog.

I. Change We Can Believe In

...Yeah. So, you probably recognize that slogan because it seems like everyone under 40 is crazy about it.

I'm not going to get into my personal politics here - if you really want to know, you can talk to me - but I will say that I believe politics are relevant, and in my mission to make informed decisions as often as possible, I decided to attend an Obama rally the night before the primaries. I've never attended a presidental anything before and it was definitely a cool experience, even though I had to miss a free, pre-screening of Be Kind Rewind AND a chance to hear the awesome director Michel Gondry speak (courtesy of LSC), and possibly even to drink cocoa with him.

This is the problem with MIT - I'm always deciding between a great thing and an awesome thing. Oh, woe is me.

Anyway, Obama wasn't the only presidential candidate in Massachusetts that night. In fact, Clinton and McCain were both here, though as far as I know, Obama was the only one to have a public rally in Boston. I think I shall make a life's goal in which I attend a rally for each presidential candidate in one season.

Unlike Lulu, Keri and Chris, I am not photography inclined, so you'll have to imagine what it looked like from my mediocre pictures.

This girl was there the whole time, and all of my pictures have her in it. Grr.

This is John Kerry! Obama was late, so we got to hear him and Ted Kennedy speak to make up for it or something - Caroline Kennedy was there as well! Oh man - the people went crazy for them. I think the only state that probably loves any of its senators more than Massachusetts loves Ted Kennedy is Illinois (loving Barack Obama).

II. Les Politiques Français

Since I know all of you read about French politics on a regular basis, you'll be pretty excited to hear that Ségolène Royal came to speak at MIT! I mean, maybe I'm biased, but I think she's pretty dang awesome.

She gave a speech in pretty bad English (I don't know why. Everyone there was speaking French) about higher education in France compared to the USA, then there was a Q-and-A session. She mentioned that what surprised her most about MIT was the diversity, and how she really liked it.

Well, can't argue with that ;)

[Part of being photography-challenged is always forgetting my camera, so I didn't get any pictures. She pretty much looked the same as she does in all her pictures though.

III. Local Power

You may or may not know, but right now MIT is in the midst of elections as well. Senior Haus had its elections last night in the Housemaster Suite, which I had never actually been in, so it was pretty cool.

Keri ran for president basically unopposed, except for The Perfect Algorithm or something - the premise was that people make mistakes, and Perfect Algorithms do not, and clearly power belongs in the hands of perfection.

The other chairs you can hold in Senior House are treasurer, soccomm (social committe) and Judiciary Committee. MIT dorms are required to have JudComms - the premise behind them, according to the girl running the elections, is that we're not grown up enough to solve our own problems between ourselves, so JudComm is there to make impartial decisions.

I think a cat got elected. Maybe a couple people, too, though I doubt anyone will ever know who they are.

There was only one actual contested race and it was - well - I suppose you'll have to visit Senior House to find out ;)

And finally, I decided to be Senior House's CPW chair for this year. Which means - yeah - *I* decide what you guys are going to be doing this April. I feel powerful. Muahaha. Any requests? I may or may not take them into consideration, depending on how interesting they are...

Keri did this last year. How sweet, it's like a blogger tradition now or something.

IV. Elections and Ethics

Both Student Pugwash (a fairly young organization that works for ethics in science, technology and academics) and MIT Amnesty International held elections in the past week or so, and I was there for both. I know, I know! I told you I had been political lately. I'm not actually a part of Pugwash, but I went to support my friend Sam. Since they don't actually have a significant number of members, the polls were completely open. I think Pugwash could be a pretty significant force on campus if time is put into it, so I hope you guys take it into consideration if you come here :)

As for Amnesty, well, in our most stereotypical humanitarian habits, we all kind of felt too bad to have real elections because they seemed so cut-throat and none of us wanted to intimidate anyone else with titles. So we now have co-presidents, co-treasurers, etc. Aren't we nice? :)

For those of you that found this entry as exciting as I find real Mexican food delicious, you can poke around the Political Science website. I find that people are sometimes a bit uncomfortable when they hear that someone else is majoring in - gasp - a humanity!

But hey. Everything is important and everything is relevant. Don't knock it until you try it.

Personally, I find this a lot more exciting than Mystery Hunt. I mean, there's something to be said for watching people do really random, stupid, amusing things.

For me, there is nothing to be said for locking yourself in a room for countless hours solving really hard puzzles on little to no sleep. But to each his own! Whatever floats your boat! Insert other clichés about tolerance here! Just wanted to point out that contrary to what the blogs seem to indicate, not everyone participates, or even intends to someday participate. Don't forget - no matter what, there are always exceptions to rules here at good old M.I.T.

Anyway, I wasn't really around for much of Bad Ideas, unfortunately. But I did make it a point to go to one event. Friends, this is the Green Building, home to EAPS/Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences/Course 12, and 54-100, one of the most uncomfortable lecture halls at MIT:

The Green Building is something like 21 stories tall - I'm never really sure because, as you can see, the first floor doesn't exactly exist, but anyway, it's the tallest building in Cambridge.

You may be wondering where this is going. Bad Ideas? Green Building? No, we didn't throw anything (or anyone) off, though on Halloween, East Campus does use the Green Building for its annual Pumpkin Drop. The Bad Idea associated with the Green Building was running up the stairs as many times as you can in four hours (bananas and Gatorade provided at the top, and you take the elevator down). You would usually run for a team, and the team with the most runs gets the much-coveted title of "Most Masochistic." Or something.

Do you still think MIT sounds fun? ;)

Anyway, I really only showed up to take pictures, but I made the mistake of going on time (silly me), so almost no one was there for the big start. And I kind of felt sorry for one of the people there, because she would have to run by herself, so I thought, "well, what the heck." I ventured up.

I took pictures of the scenery along the way. There were some motivational posters, because sometimes the MIT Crew Team (though I prefer "cult" :P) have to run up them for practice:

And there were also some random amusing pictures on the wall, like caterpillars and dinosaurs:

Despite the artwork on the walls, I still only did it once, because, well, running up stairs for four hours (though most people don't do it for the whole four hours) is just a Bad Idea.

The weekend also consisted of a rat-trap building contest (contrary to what you may believe, the streets of MIT are not paved in gold. We do have rats. Large ones. But they live outside, so as long as you don’t go out at night by yourself, you should be okay ;), eating and cooking contests, live Mario Kart racing, and (what I regretted missing the most:) Velcro Gladiators.

I’ve been incredibly busy lately as student groups try to fit in one last activity before IAP comes to an official close. I didn’t even have time to make it Karaoke Night with ATS tonight because I had so many other things to do! But rest assured, I have lots of cool stuff to talk about for the next few days, even though technically (and I’m really sorry to have to say this) IAP is already over for me. Harvard started classes today.

Now that’s a bad idea.

And you know what sounds cool? Food.

So like 90% of MIT events have freeeeeeeee foooooooood. Ooooh. But the magic wears off after a couple weeks, to be honest, and soon "free food" isn't a good enough reason to walk across campus for a 2-hour lecture.

But I couldn't ignore the email from the Association of Taiwanese Students in my inbox a couple weeks ago: Cooking workshop.

Oh, yeah, it was free food, but much, much better. It's like an engineering international service project instead of flat-out donations: sustainable. You know the whole give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, etc....Well, that phrase came to life when I heard about this thing. Especially since I cook for myself most of the time - I rarely go to the student center or LaVerde's. (In fact, the only time I even ever use TechCash is to do laundry. I mostly live off my credit card.) It's always good how to learn to cook new things.

So I went with My Suitemate Linda, and we learned how to make wontons (which Linda already knew how to make, so hers looked a lot cooler than mine). It was great - like watching the Food Network - live! We also learned how to make mochi, which I didn't like much because I don't like red bean stuff:

Cucumber meatballs (I had never heard of these before, and I couldn't even find a wikipedia page for them):

And my personal favorite, onigiri:

Talking to a mathematics grad student recently, he mentioned how he has learned more from his peers at MIT than the actual lectures or professors, and I think this is 100% true. There are so many opportunities available, both in high school and college, to learn about things outside the classroom that will come in handy one day (perhaps when you're very very hungry and only have rice, rou song and rice vinegar sitting around). Be sure to enjoy them! I know I do...

*Thanks to the Glorious Gloria Yang for the pictures!

Of course, that doesn't stop me from starting this entry explaining why I decided that life, or at least life at MIT, is like snowboarding.

You may or may not know that I absolutely *LOVE snow. I love snow more than MIT loves acronyms. I even love it more than Paul loves hacks (though I don't love it quite as much as I love DUSP. But still, it's a lot).

So when I found out that a snowboarding PE course existed over IAP, I jumped at the chance to throw myself from high places with just a piece of plastic attached to my feet. I had never snowboarded before and the last time I skiied was middle school, but I figured that if Johnny Tsunami could do it, then it couldn't be that hard.

Alas, it turns out that Disney gave me unrealistic expectations about snowboarding, and I have the bruises to prove it. My left arm has a bruise that looks like black death, it still hurts to sit down from all the times I fell on my poor, poor bottom, and I'm pretty sure that yesterday I permanently restructured the shape of my skull when the back of my head slammed on the ground. The ski patroller asked me if I was alright and jokingly asked me how many fingers he was holding up. I panicked for a split second when I actually didn't know how many - but then I realized I had just lost my glasses in the fall. It's okay, I found them, and the guy was holding up three fingers, which I probably could have guessed because everyone always holds up three fingers when they're asking how many fingers they're holding up, but it's too late now - he probably thinks I lost my vision forever.

Now, I realize that a certain stereotype prevails when it comes to nerds and their athletic ability: they have none. (This belief is largely due to, well, people like me. Sorry guys.)

But actually, it's not true. In fact, there were several students in my snowboarding lesson that would often be able to do things on the first or second time without, um, losing control and ending up sliding down the hill way farther (further? does anyone really know the difference?...Of course, now I'm sure I'll get multiple notes from people that actually do) than we were supposed to, and there are even some people that already *know* how to ski or snowboard and don't even need to take lessons and in the ice skating PE class I took last semester (hi, ice skating classmates) there were people who were really really good at not falling as well.

I wasn't one of them, but that's not the point. Well, actually, it kind of is the point. Whatever.

Okay - this is the part where we get into the cheesy, reflective stuff, so listen up:

When (if) you come to MIT, you might feel kind of like I do when I'm snowboarding. You might not be as quick at learning J-turns or organic chemistry as other people and sometimes you might start to resent those students that already seem to know everything. And sometimes you'll fall as soon as you try to get up and it'll hurt, and other times you might not fall but things (like, say, your board, or your physics class) will go faster than you're comfortable with and you'll just hope to God that the snow at the bottom of the hill is soft (it wasn't. The real snow, I mean, not the metaphorical snow. Although technically, because of the unusually warm weather we've been having, it was actually fake snow. Real snow is probably softer than chemically-altered chunks of ice).

But that's okay, really. Because the bruise on my arm is a great conversation piece ("Oh my GOD what happened?!" "I was snowboarding and-" "You snowboard?" "Er, I try...") and falling is a good way to learn to laugh at yourself (not that I ever really need any more excuses to laugh at myself, but just in case I run out).

HOWEVER, (and this is where my advice goes a little beyond the standard "it's okay to make mistakes") it is not okay to keep making the same mistakes. You can't just tell yourself "Oh, well, I'll do better next time," but not actually change anything the next time. I did this a lot last semester. It didn't work out.

So next Tuesday during snowboarding, I think I'll set a goal, of, say, only falling 15% of the time as opposed to the current....50%? 'Cause as useful as my bruise is for making lasting impressions on people I meet, I think I'd rather they remember me for being that one girl who's really good at snowboarding instead of that one girl who thinks it's cool that she's really bad at it.

*In fact, while Snively opted to play with snow indoors because it was "too cold," I spent four hours outside building an igloo with a couple of my friends.

Though the MIT campus within itself offers 57334534923 (not a hyperbole) convincing reasons to attend, to me, one of the most important aspects of being here is the world directly outside MIT. The "M," if you will.

After graduating, I kind of felt like Frank Sinatra in New York, New York: these vagabond shoes were longing to stray. Living one hour away from Chicago, it would not have satisfied my shoes to go to school there. Not one bit. But if it was anywhere in Illinois except directly in Chicago, I'd continue to suffer from my high school case of little town blues - that's just not worth it to me. Hey, we all have our priorities.

Luckily, it's not in Chicago. It's in Massachusetts, and not a day has gone by without me thinking "TGI Boston" (even though we're actually in Cambridge) at least once. This is because Boston is an unbelievably cool city. From the music scene to the history and diversity and proximity of other schools and even New York, nothing disappoints.

Someone asked yesterday if anyone at MIT could cross-register at Harvard. The answer is yes. People usually go to Harvard for language classes, but it's definitely not limited to that. Students can take anything less than half of their units there each semester. There are also opportunities for cross-registration at Wellesley (yes, even boys), the Massachusetts College of Art and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. The availability of cross-registration here is definitely near the top of the List of Things I Love About MIT (or at least it would be, if such a list actually existed). I really love the idea of studying at another school because, well, I love learning about different cultures, and cultures aren't just limited to countries or regions, but cities and schools as well. It's also a good way to expose yourself to different teaching styles, get off campus and meet students from other schools.

Speaking of other schools, this morning as I was riding the T to that other school I take a class at, I remembered what it was like to live in a place without public transportation. I come from a place where even the most dedicated environmentalists often have no choice but to drive. I happen to hate driving for more reasons than one, so coming to a city with a Subway system like this is like heaven. And the fact is that a lot of times, you don't even need the Subway because Boston is small and walkable (walkable cities are also runnable, which is really great. I'm still amazed at the number of runners there are in the city year-round. It's fantastic). But it gets cold and the Harvard Bridge is pretty harsh, so the buses and trains are the way to get where you want to go. By itself, I think the T is kind of expensive, but MIT offers student discounts on Charlie Cards that make it much more worth your money.

I urge you all, when deciding where to go to school, to consider how important location is to you, and possibly how important it *should* be (I'm trying really hard not to preach, but I do think it's good for everyone's sanity to be able to get off campus once in awhile). When doing college visits, don't just see the campus, but the surrounding area as well. After all, you're more than students. You're people, and sanity often demands something other than school :)

*This is the very first thing MIT ever taught me. A new vocabulary word.

I arrived on Saturday from Florida, where I was spending time with my family for the holidays. I had other plans for break, but they fell through, so I decided to come back here a little early to go see an AMAZING concert and spend New Years in a place that I wasn't allergic to.

(No, really, I'm convinced I'm allergic to Florida. I've never had allergies anywhere else. They started when I arrived and were gone hours after arriving back in Boston. Too bad - it turns out that Florida is a pretty cool place, despite the heat. I really like how much nature is accessible there.)

As I was saying. The walls. My room.

I have a single, and strangely shaped though it may be (there are...fourteen corners in my room, but it's still pretty much a rectangle. Have fun figuring that one out), I quite like it. I have a view of the Media Lab and of the construction next to the Media Lab, which was great for waking me up at 5am back in the fall. My single is in a suite. This can mean different things across dorms - I think Burton-Connor suites make up different floors and have kitchens or something like that - but in Senior House, this means I share a lounge with three other people. Normally, it's several more - something like five or six, but my suite is somewhat of an architectural anomaly within Senior House.

One of the cool things in this dorm is that we're allowed to paint the walls (and have cats and smoke, if you're into that). As a result, there are a myriad of cool murals and interesting decorations in Senior House. One of the not so cool things is that recent renovations resulted in a lot of walls being painted over and murals lost.

Anyway, I'm still new here and don't know for sure whether my suite was ever painted. But at this very moment - right, you remember. Uninteresting walls.

My suitemate and I considered painting in the beginning of the year, but we were far too lazy and decided to leave this endeavor for IAP, which you'll hear more about as it occurs.

Now January is fast-approaching (actually, it's here. Oops), and I have to decide whether this is something I really want to do. Interesting walls do not make a person, and the money could honestly be put to better use on a lot of things, but at the same, well, I love color.

The point I'm trying to emphasize here is that I really appreciate the fact that I have so much freedom to choose what I do here. I can paint the walls, I could have a cat (theoretically. But only cats. And fish), I could live in a double or a single or a suite, I could paint a mural on the walls. Just another thing to think about when it comes time to choose your living groups (because, you know, it's only eight months from now ;)

...

This has to be the most awkwardly timed blog entry in the world. All of you have finally submitted your applications and probably celebrated the coming of the New Year, and here I am talking about my walls.

I have a lot to say about the end of first semester, and I plan on actually saying it soon because I have time now, instead of thinking about saying it but actually falling asleep like I've been doing for the past month.

Of course, by "I have time" I actually mean that "I have more time than I did before, which was none, so it's not actually saying much because I still have an Arabic final a week from now, but I'll still have plenty of time for you all, my pretties."

(Harvard's finals schedule does not correspond with ours. Which, if I were you, would be a huge deterrent for taking classes there. But don't worry, that's changing soon, so it won't affect you much.)

Anyway, the time that I have happens to be running out for tonight because I still have a lot of studying to do.

I hope you all have a relaxing break, and a great start to your last semester of high school. :)

…Yep.

So anyway, today I thought we’d go into a part of MIT that is seldom seen by public eyes. You can’t find it on the website, they don’t show you on the tours and you probably won’t even see at CPW. Ladies and gentleman, I’m warning you, this is even a little intimidating for me, and I’ve been a student here for a whole 76 days (but who’s counting?).

Today we are venturing into the deep and dark place that is my Inbox. Please keep your hands and arms inside the computer and don’t take candy from strangers (but other free food is okay).

We begin at the beginning, when I, just like many other eager freshmen, still believed 24 hours in a day was surely enough time to do everything I wanted, like ice skating club and Origami Club and Marching Band and juggling club and salsa dance and do Model United Nations and Medlinks…

Well, I’m sorry to say that that belief was shattered like the sad sad idealistic glass it was pretty quickly. You know you signed up for too many mailing lists when you get four different emails saying “Meeting TONIGHT at 7:00. FREE FOOD.”

And these decisions – whether to go to the MIT Literary Society Meeting or LucHa – are among the many character-defining moments that you will encounter as you grow up. It always comes down to a really, really tough question: “Chinese food, Thai, or Mexican?”

Yes – these are the perks to being over-committed. You’re never hungry (unless you do something like the DarfurFast, but even then it’s only for a day).

Anyway, the point is that I signed up for entirely too many mailing lists and now they’ve all kind of grown on me (like quickly-reproducing mold…) so if I stopped getting my weekly mailing from Braintrust or MIT Beef, I’d be kind of sad, even though I never even read them.

I have received 3398 messages since August. Only about half of them get read at all. The other half get quickly scanned between classes, and from those, the lucky ones get put into a folder to be re-read and noted later. (Most don’t).

Of course, not all of them are from mailing lists for activities. Some (many) are from dorm mailing lists – the topics in those can range from the undependable nature of our printer to announcements for parties to full-blown spam wars complete with the silly people who try to end them by sending out even more emails…

But in the end, checking my email is still something I look forward to every day (and every hour, half-hour, etc...) because you never know when you're going to be surprised by something really cool. And even though I know there might not even be anything I'll actually read, I still get kind of nervous when I can't check it for a whole day (Wow. I'm truly a child of my generation).

Well, that's all the time I have for now. I have to go check my email :)

But not about the Red Sox. Because had it not been for the MIT Blogs, I'm not entirely sure I would have even been aware they won the World Series. Because I don't actually care whether the Red Sox win or lose. (Uh oh. Am I allowed to say that on here?)

I do, however, care whether YOU win or lose, and that's why I'd like to devote the few following sentences to help you WIN senior year.

Take it easy, guys! I know it's much easier said than done, but try to remain a semi-reasonable human being. Don't hole yourself up in your room trying to get a 100% in every one of the 16 AP classes you're taking - don't surrender to senioritis and stop doing homework entirely. Just, you know, chill. When you think about it, you're way beyond capable of accomplishing what high school is throwing at you. So if you feel stressed out, just take a step back and think about how hard things actually are. Because chances are, you're looking at them under the Last Year of High School Magnifying Glass, which always makes things look harder and more important than they actually are. Believe in yourself, take some time to reflect on what you've accomplished and what you haven't accomplished - anything you wish you would've done? Regrets?

No! It's only November. You still have time to live whatever dreams you've been dreaming these past three years - to start up a high school chapter of Amnesty International or to make friends with that one kid you've had Spanish with all four years but never actually talked to except when the teacher made you practice your conversational skills by telling you to describing your family to eachother and the only vocabulary you knew at the time didn't even come close to describing your family, so both of you just ended up describing your cute little sister, intelligent older brother and tall father. Or if you've been dreaming about doing nothing at all, do that! (But I don't actually mean nothing at all. Everything is relative, right? You should still eat and breathe and sleep.)

Anyway, now that I've preached you into living an accomplished, bilingual and happy life, I'll discuss the application season a little, of which I was actually nearly completely unaware. So I kind of missed the deadline to wish you guys good luck with your essay-writing and such. No worries! Deadlines are more morbidly named than they should be. I'm sure there are still plenty of people to wish good luck and tell to try not to worry TOO much because it really doesn't help.

Right. Application season. Oh, application season...It wasn't too long ago that I was in your spot and-

Wait a second. It actually was long time ago. You know why? 'Cause I took a gap year! And I'm so far, mentally and emotionally and scholastically, from what I was senior year because that year was so life-changing that it feels like a lifetime ago that I was filling out my application. Just something to think about while you still have the time...

Anyway - I suppose I'll talk about my classes now, too, since I promised I would at some point, and at this rate the next time I post will be next semester....Just kidding, I'll post before then, but if I'm going to tell you about my classes, I should seize the day! What if something happens tomorrow and the internets break? You'll never know what that one girl whose blog you sometimes read spends her time doing!

(Incidentally, you know how sometimes you find something really silly absolutely hilarious? Even years after you've heard it, you want to laugh and laugh and laugh everytime you hear it because it's so funny, even though no one else thinks it is? "Carpe carp: Seize the Fish" never fails to make me laugh. Just thought I'd share....)

Right. Moving onto relevant things....like my classes.

As you may have guessed (or I may have told you - I don't remember), I'm not taking the typical freshman course load. Why not? Let's review: I realized physics was an unnecessary evil at some point this term, so I dropped it. Also because my intended major doesn't actually require most (any?) of these classes. Also because I'd rather take classes I'm interested in rather than a whole bunch of classes I'm forced to. Basically, it doesn't seem worth it to me to pay to come to MIT just to be miserable. So I'm taking classes that make me happy. :)

So what am I taking? (Man, do I know how to get off track or what? You should see my notes. I end up writing Chinese characters all over my calculus notes and the arabic alphabet during Chinese class and solving calculus problems on my French reading...)

Wow! I'm sneaky! I just told you all four classes I"m taking! I guess that makes this entry a wrap, then.

...

Right, I guess a little more detail wouldn't kill me. Well, to turn a lot of boring paperwork into a slightly interesting story, these are the classes I ended up with after filling out a small tree's worth of paperwork and a lot of indecision:

1. 18.01, known to the rest of the world as "calculus." MIT requires two semesters of calculus to graduate. It's just a standard math class, not too different from high school except that that homework is a little harder. Three days a week I have lecture and two days a week I have recitation, which is about fifteen people and a TA to go over stuff with us.

2. Introduction to French Culture. I took four years of French in high school (kind of...) so I didn't want to take just another language class because it gets kind of old. Intro to French Culture is like a history class taught in French. It's only three hours a week - we get tons of reading and spend classtime discussing things which may or may not be relevant to what we read. It's a nice class, I usually have fun.

3. Chinese III - this is the class I picked up when I dropped physics. Someone asked how it was possible to pick up a class so late in the semester and didn't I have a lot of work to make up. Yes, I did (do...) have a lot to make up, but it's not too bad because I already know a lot of what was taught, so it wasn't impossible. That's part of the reason I chose this class - I knew that for any other class I would have missed too much to make up. Anyway, Chinese class is really fun because our teacher is really amusing and says crazy things, and because, well, I like to speak Chinese.

4. Beginning Arabic. ("But Karen, I've studied MIT's course offerings extensively - multiple times! - while planning out my four years of college even though I haven't even finished first semester of senior year, and I don't remember seeing arabic on any of the programs!")

Well my eager little beavers, you would be right. Much to my language-loving little heart's dismay, MIT doesn't offer Arabic. Luckily, that one school down the river does, and MIT students can cross-register for classes there. See? That's why we keep Harvard around ;)

Anyway - so yes, I ride my bike every day to that lovely brick campus and study this absurdly hard language and have a great time doing it. It's really challenging (especially at ten in the morning!) and not quite as relaxed as my MIT language classes - in fact, Arabic is the only emotionally taxing class I have. I'm on my toes and slightly nervous through out the hour because our teacher is awesomely hardcore, but it's easily my favorite class. I guess this is what they mean when they say MIT students are academic masochists...

Well, I hope you guys that have submitted the application can finally get a good night's sleep! And for those of you that haven't, well, I hope you do too :)

Hopefully this entry won't be as long winded as the last - but I did promise you an entry on How To Be Cool and Study Abroad, and it just so happens that some deadlines are very, very soon. I wouldn't want to tell you how to have the best year of your life and then just say "But I waited too long too tell you, and now it's too late to apply."

So, for your perusing and traveling pleasure, I give you not one, not two, but THREE ways to get your adventurous little self out of the country!

I know this sounds incredibly daunting, and to some people, even a little crazy or scary, and I know the deadlines are like, now (Well, not really, but probably incredibly soon), but it'll honestly be completely worth it. If you have any interest whatsoever, try as hard as you can to get the application in now - you can drop out later if you decide you don't really want to do it.

If you're a junior or sophomore, that's great, you have plenty of time to think about this and you can go during high school. But I'm guessing most of you are seniors, so you'd be looking at taking a gap year, which is FANTASTIC - because as excited as you are for college next year, you know that you wouldn't really mind a year off from the traditional learning environment. You only live ONCE! You're only young for roughly a fifth of that time! Take advantage of it! Go, go, go! (Ale, ale ale!) (Oh my. Did I just quote Ricky Martin? You see, that's how far I'm willing to go to convince you guys you should consider this.)

It's a lot of paperwork and other stuff to get done as soon as possible, but it's not impossible, and (let me reiterate) completely worth it. If you have any specific questions about getting this off the ground, or if you think it's really hard and complicated, feel free to email me at kfig at mit dot edu so I can help you or convince you otherwise. Or leave a comment and I'll try to answer as quickly as possible.

But actually, the transition can be pretty painful.

I'm here to tell you it doesn't have to be.

That's right. You don't have to be an academic masochist.

Wait, what's that? You like doing all that work for classes you'll never need and don't even like instead of spending your time doing things you love? No you don't.

Admission officers and bloggers have spent a lot of time and effort preaching to you about your high school activities and life: Spend your time with things you're passionate about. Don't join twenty extra-curriculars because you think you have to in order to have a chance a college. In the end, it's what you did for the love of the game that'll shine through anyway.

We're not kidding.

I got pretty good at this in high school (doing what I love, not working for The Man), and this mentality is what landed me in Taiwan instead of MIT three months after I graduated.

So when that fateful time came to register for classes, I tried really hard to keep this in mind. But the pressure to take those pesky - I mean really fun - GIRs your freshman year is pretty strong, and ultimately, I broke a little. I ended up with two classes I wanted and two GIRs. Most people do not call this breaking. This is because most people are taking pretty much all GIRs and one HASS-D/CW class they may or may not convince themselves they like.

With that, I'd like to devote an entire entry to a class I'm not even in anymore:

Physics. [Insert collective gasp from the audience here]

That's right. I dropped physics. If you're wondering why I would do such a thing, and you're expecting a really interesting answer like an elephant eating my homework, you're going to be dissapointed. Because the reason I dropped physics is...

I didn't like the class.

A little about Introductory Physics, henceforth called 8.01, at MIT:

8.01 is your standard introductory physics class taught with your non-standard teaching style: TEAL. (Have you noticed that people here seem to have an overwhelming desire to give everything an acronym?) TEAL, in its extended form, is "Technology-Enabled Active Learning," and in its true form probably resembles Satan, or whatever evil being it is you believe in (and if you don't believe in one, you will soon).

Wait, did I just say that? Pretend I didn't.

Let me be a bit more politically correct.

Completely unofficial studies (read: asking Everyone I Know) have resulted in a heavily-supported hypothesis that No One Likes Teal. In true MIT fashion, we will call this theory NOOLT.

I strongly suspect the NOOLT phenomenon occured because TEAL, as I overheard someone whose name I can't remember say, "is the perfect example of when too much technology can be a bad thing."

We sit in tables of nine in groups of three. Each group has a computer to enable the learning process. Most of the time, though, it's used to watch the power point that's already projected in four (or more) different places around the room. (Sometimes these computers are used for Facebook. We're going to ignore that data.) In the beginning of the year, we took a diagnostic test and we were assigned to tables in a fashion that would keep an even distribution of physics background at the tables (meaning that all the people who took AP Physics in high school wouldn't sit in the same place).

This is all geared towards collaborative learning, which is nice in theory, but what happened in my experience is that the people at the table who knew what they're doing would work through the problem, and I would be left in the dark in terms of where this equation came from and what that one means. The idea was to learn from eachother, except that I feel that we do plenty of this while working on p-sets. Personally, I'd like classtime to be geared more towards learning from the teacher.

The point is, even though it's supposedly part of the "freshman experience," (I don't like that phrase, but that's another entry for another day) to be in the same sinking boat and eventually coming out on top by figuring out how to, I don't know, fix the boat, I'm not entirely convinced that it'd be smooth sailing from then on.

What I mean by that perfectly awful metaphor is that I'm not that great at classical mechanics, and even if I somehow figured out how to get around my feelings towards TEAL, I'd still struggle a lot in the class. I wasn't looking forward to letting physics continue to feed on my soul for the entire year - it was really cutting into my other classes and my happiness.

Luckily, there are answers for people in this situation! MIT very rarely leaves you with no choice. Many NOOLT-sympathizers have switched from 8.01 to 8.01L, which is another introductory physics class. It's geared towards people with little-to-no physics or calculus background and I've heard great things about it. For example, there's a lot more support available for it. They have lecture and recitation. In recitation they can ask their TAs questions and even though the class runs an extra month (through IAP), they can take the time to actually learn and understand the material.

I didn't switch into 8.01L for several reasons. The main one was that there was a scheduling conflict with my Favorite Class (ooh, a mystery). But looking back, I'm glad that scheduling conflict was there. Now I'm taking three classes I like and one GIR, and I'm perfectly happy.

Now, Before bringing this insanely long entry to a close, I'd like to note a few things.

The first is that even though I have yet to meet anyone that likes TEAL, that doesn't mean that everyone hates it. First of all, I haven't met Everyone. And even if someone doesn't like TEAL, it doesn't mean that they dislike it as much as I do. They may not care either way. It works for some people (I don't know who, but I'm trying to be optomistic); it didn't work for me. This is in no way trying to convince you that TEAL is bad - you may have no problem - I wrote about it mostly to show you all that if something is making you terribly unhappy, there are very often ways to change that.

The second thing is that I spent a lot of time complaining that I hated physics my first month here. But after listening to a lot of people's points of view, I've decided that I do not, in fact, hate physics. I mean, there are hundreds of people here that love physics. There must be something good about it. And I hope that one day, when I finally take a class that's not 8.01 TEAL, I'll appreciate the subject matter more. The point is, if you ever find yourself in a class you hate, consider the fact that it may be the environment and not the subject matter that you are discontent with. Your life will be significantly happier if you give everything a second thought and chance instead of dwelling on how much you hate or can't do something.

The THIRD (and last, I promise) thing is that even though I plan on spreading my GIRs out instead of taking them all at once, there are a couple arguments that go the other way. First of all, your first semester is Pass/No Record, so it's nice to be able to take classes you may not particularly enjoy with that safety net. Also, I know a few people who are taking as many GIRs as possible their freshman year so they can focus more on what they enjoy in the coming years. Finally, you have to remember that I am fairly certain about what I want to do with my life. Many people do not know what they're interested in, and that's okay, and in this case, the GIRs can be a nice way to explore subjects before committing to a major your sophomore year.

In conclusion, be rational and do what's best for you. I hope those of you working through your senior year can keep this and your own happiness in mind.

Unlike almost everyone else here, I don't have an anecdote about my first encounter with technology or science. Most of my childhood was spent reading books and books and more books, and I think that's what led me to see life the way I do:

The world isn't just something you should get around to seeing once or twice when you get a vacation. It's a place you live in everyday, and even if you think you live in the smallest, most boring town in the world, there are adventures around every corner (or cornfield, in some cases. Like mine. I'm from Illinois, remember? Well, actually I didn't live far from Chicago, so it wasn't as bad as I'm making it out to be, but it had a nice ring to it.)

You'll have to get used to my parenthetical digressions if you're going to be reading this. I'm warning you now.

With this in mind (the world, not parenthetical digressions), I spent a year abroad as an exchange student in Taiwan the year after high school. I applied to MIT my senior year, deferred admission (gasp!) and spent the better part of a year not always understanding what people said to me, but having fun anyway. I'll talk about this more in-depth in another entry, but the point is that it was a critical year, because A) when I came back, I felt that I had had enough time to really think about what I wanted to do, and B) I forgot all the math I ever learned.

As a side note, I thought that when I came back to the US, it'd be a relief to finally understand everything people said, but here I am, at MIT, not always understanding what people say, but having fun anyway...

Anyway, I had a lot of time to think about ways to spend my life that wouldn't turn my hair gray before I was forty, wouldn't trap me in an office or a lab, would help me do my part to help the world, and allow me to have fun at the same time. Surprisingly enough, I actually came up with something. How about that.

I'll probably major in Urban Planning and Design and minor in International Relations. I also plan to spend a lot of time here learning as many languages as possible (possibly even a programming one, so I can communicate with Course 6-ers as well as with the rest of the world). Reading Anthony's blog, you might guess that I want to spend my life designing public transportation systems because we have the same major and minor and we're both studying French. But actually, we're on completely different tracks (Hah! Get it? Tracks? Like trains...). My dream is to spend my life improving conditions in under-developed countries. And not just because it's, like, a good thing to do, but because I'll get tons of opportunities to travel and see other cultures and maybe even some wild animals.

It all sounds really fantastic to me.

But for now, I'm still just a freshman without any official major declaration. I still have GIRs to get through. I still have people to meet, and I still need to learn how to cook, and I still have new music to discover, and I still have a room (a single) in Senior House to paint, and I still have a lot of things to learn about the world.

I hope you enjoy reading about them.

[Also, for those of you at MIT, the Muslim Student Association is hosting a Fast-a-thon on the 27th. The event is not religiously affiliated, it's just for charity - businesses will donate to certain organization per person that pledges not to eat on Thursday. Go here to sign up or to read more about it. It's only a day. No, seriously. Do it. What's stopping you? Go!]