So I found my friends Tuesday and asked, "Have any plans for tomorrow?"

Their responses were like this:

"Tomorrow's my chance to STUDY!"
"I have some major catching up to do!"
"AHHHHH evil physics test on Thursday!"
"I am locking myself in my room and never coming out!"

Somehow I found about three people that said they could do SOMETHING today. So I made a nice schedule:

I would wake up at 9:30ish, watch the fourth episode of My Girl (one of the best asian dramas out there, w00t!) with my big Jessica (a girl from my sorority) at 10, get to the Terrascope room at 12 and stay there until 2 or 3 to work on our final plan for lowering carbon levels in the atmosphere with carbon sequestration and by lowering countries' CO2 emissions levels, go to the physics review session from 3-5 for my own physics test on Thursday, and then find my friends to watch the Prestige and DDR. And then call it a night.

So what REALLY happened:

I ended up watching 2.5 episodes of My Girl with my friends until 1ish, then stayed up until 3:30 AM studying for physics. Luckily I texted my friend and told her I might not be able to watch the drama at 10.

So I woke up at 10 AM, turned off the alarm, woke up at 12:30, went to the bathroom and saw my left eye glaring at me in all its bloodshot glory.

I am pretty sure that I don't have pink eye because I've had a red eye a million times before for allergies or from overuse (ahem... maybe staying up till 3:30 like EVERY NIGHT), but there's always a first time, so I'm heading over to medical after I finish this post. And maybe after I study a bit more for physics. Because I didn't feel comfortable going into the Terrascope room or to the physics review session - there would be 30-80 people there that could get "infected" or scared at least...

So now it's 3:30 and I'm trying to get down and finish this annoying mass transfer problem and then go on to the rest of physics. No DDR or movies I suppose...

But I found something SOOO much cooler that I can do while I work in my room! XD It's called - OWL CITY!!! I have Fireflies and Saltwater Room on repeat right now... XD

So, if you'd read my last post, you may be asking: What's your life been like since that nearly-failed 18.022 test?

We had ANOTHER test, but this time I scored right on average (70)! And last time I checked (two days ago by email), I was passing the class with a B-! And since freshman year is pass/no record, I was in paradise. Some of my friends are still struggling though and didn't crack that test =( Hopefully we'll all make it through!

In other school news, I've been getting more involved in Terrascope. We're supposed to work like 6 hours outside of class a week... so since the deadline for our project is coming up soon, from now on I'm spending an extra 6+ hours a week on Terrascope =P

I also have to plan what I'm doing during IAP and the summer. I would LOOOVE to do something with Outward Bound or another group, hiking/mountaineering somewhere... but everything I've found is too expensive so far... so I'm going to look for a class/UROP/internship for IAP and an internship/program for the summer. Some people already have applied to internships and programs... I'm one of those students who doesn't work efficiently and... therefore...hasn't... X____X

Also, I've been trying to balance my life more outside of classes. For starters, I joined a sorority (*gasp!*) and we just had initiation yesterday (*DOUBLE GASP!*). We also had relevations - this is where we get paired to our "big" as in "big sister" (sophomore or junior from the sorority) whom we bond with for the 2-3 years we have together at MIT, and beyond! So yeah, my "big" Jessica and I have been watching Asian dramas! =) Yay bonding XD

I've been trying to spend more time with friends, not just in the sorority (I really should go to more of their events). I went to Salem for Halloween with friends from MIT and one high school friend that goes to Brandeis. There were so many costumes! And we went to an Italian place which had wonderful pumpkin ice cream. Unfortunately I don't have pictures from there, but I did get one of this evil flower my friend found in some hidden lair...

Look! Witness the evil! (My friend almost flew to the other side of that train while holding that flower. I am serious.)

I also have a good friend in McCormick whom I work with on 18.022 when we don't get distracted by watching movies, playing with Photobooth, or doing weird things to hair (like mine...)

I was working on an 18.022 pset while she (aka "The Master of Design") did THIS to my hair...

Master of Design: "CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW!"

And... this is us deciding to play with Photobooth on a Sunday morning...

You said TEST?

In terms of clubs outside of school -

I joined LTI - the Leadership Training Institute's Expansion team. I'm going to try to help with the logistics of LTI-Brazil and LTI-China however I can with my limited experience (and time X_X), but I'm also trying to see if we can bring this awesome program (to train high school students to lead their own community service projects!) to Puerto Rico! Gotta work on my spanish skillz X_____X

In addition, I've been trying to get more involved in environmental stuff outside of Terrascope. For instance, I'm helping Biodiesel @ MIT with their Biodiesel @ Brazil project (we're writing the proposal now... gotta work on this!).

I've also joined the Organizing Team for MIT's Sustainability Summit, taking place the Friday of Earth Day week (I believe) in April 2010. Almost everyone organizing this event is from Sloan (MIT's graduate school of management) except for me, another college freshman, and a Ph.D. candidate. It's pretty awesome. We had a social last night and they took us out to dinner XD They also had some great ideas about good "green" careers. I'll elaborate on an upcoming post about going "green!"

One last thing on that environmental note: I defied time by biking all the way to Northeastern University for the Boston Vegetarian Festival two Sundays ago. Sooo much food, sooo much info... it was amazing. Beyonnnd amazing. I only wish I had more pictures... I had like a brownie, samples of raw food bars, cous cous, hummus, asian food, etc., etc.

I'm also trying to get back into Sport Tae Kwon Do, but I wanted to take a look at the variety of martial arts MIT has to offer as well. I really need to get back into shape, that's one of my goals, haven't been exercising much at all... treadmills work wonders, it would be a dream to run/swim/do weight training/one of these at least four days a week... XDD

Ohhhh, and on THAT note... I should try to stay healthy. Got to start cooking healthy foods (there's oatmeal and stuff to make lentil burgers sitting in my room...). And I need to force myself to sleep at 12-1. At least 80% of the time if possible.

And I need to go to medical and get this eye checked out.

And then study for physics. And then do chem.

So there's one chapter of my quest to find a balance at MIT.

So maybe life will be balanced in the next chapter! In two? Or in 20 chapters! Or 100! Or... IS there a balance? We'll see!

But... now there are a whole two months of MIT to blog about, where to start?

So you're thinking about MIT...

You may have read about the opportunities available to you from the minute that you step onto campus as an MIT student, and perhaps that's why you'd like to come. What goes on here is nothing short of amazing. Exciting. Insane. Definitely take a look at the main MIT site and other blog posts (you can even check out my first post, The Land of MIT).

Wonderful? Out of this world?

No, the question is...

Can you SURVIVE???

I lied. That's not the real question. Even though it may seem like it.

The answer is YES, you can. People will say this a million times - but if you get into MIT, it IS possible. You can survive.

The real question is...

Will you be HAPPY (at least ~50% of the time)???

There's a reason why MIT's motto is IHTFP - “I Hate This F***ing Place” or “I Have Truly Found Paradise.” Most of the time, you'll agree with one of them. Our emotions are usually at one of these two extremes.

When we say that “MIT is hard,” we mean it. You may have to rethink your study skills. Some people just never had to study before they got here. You have to learn to manage your time. This may happen at any college, especially when you move away. Suddenly you're on your own. A million activities are thrown your way, a million possibilities for each minute, and you would go to every single one of them but there are only 24 hours in a day and you also have to get food and get done with everything early enough to get sleep – at least some sleep. MIT is just a liiiitle harder than most other colleges, so you have to pset and study too. (I actually believe that MIT is THE hardest college in the world, though someone said there's another school in India which may compare... forgot what it's called though =/)

We all have our reality checks. I mean, the overwhelming trend I've noticed at MIT is that everyone wants to take the hardest classes that they can even dream of passing. There really is a strong work ethic here. For the most part, the system (or the sanity that a few students seem to have) keeps people in classes based on their level of preparation for each course. For instance, most freshmen choose one of 8 flavors of math (18.01, 18.01A/2A, 18.014, 18.02, 18.022, 18.023, 18.024 – the 18.01's are types of single-variable calculus and the 18.02's are types of multi-variable calculus). I came in with Calculus BC and was able to choose from 18.02 (regular calculus), 18.022 (theory and challenging), or 18.023 (calculus with applications). (18.024 is a proof-based course that you can only take after 18.014). In my high school I was in the “honors math” sequence. I liked thinking about calculus and its applications – in economics, in general, in everything.

Well, anyway, the point is that I heard 18.022 once described as “honors math at MIT.” When I told my advisor I was interested in the class she said, “I don't know. That's a HARD class.” I guess the MIT freshman mentality was still in me, and I thought, "Wouldn't I be wasting my time here if I wasn't challenging myself? Won't this help me be REALLY awesome at EVERYTHING having to do with math later in life?"

Fast forward a month to... OUR FIRST MIT EXAM WEEK EVER...

(Weekend before)

"Time to lock myself in my room and do nothing but 18.022 for the test on Tuesday!"
"Wait, there's a chem test on Wednesday? Schrodinger's equation... I can't do that either, but what I REALLY can't do is math. Chem after math... chem after math..."
"Oh crap I also have an 18.022 pset DUE ON MONDAY? Guess I'll have to study everything else... tomorrow."

(Monday morning)

"YES! PSET HANDED IN! I totally don't know if what I did was right for half of them though. It would be NICE to get the PSET back BEFORE the test... not that that's happening...

"Oookay, for the test. Who knows how I had time to attempt this practice test? Anyway, time to compare these practice test questions with the answers pasted on the door of our professor's office... oh THAT'S how you do it, I still don't get that, I calculated that wrong, I don't get polar/cylindrical/spherical coordinates yet I'm so screwed omg, hey wait the professor messed this part up too... so he gave himself a 97..."

(later Monday)

"My recitation T.A. gave me entirely DIFFERENT answers for this polar/spherical/cylindrical coordinate question, let me check them... they're still different... hey wait he graded himself AGAIN?"

(Monday's facebook status)

"My professor got a 94 on his own test!"

(Monday at 8:30, at Sport Tae Kwon Do PE, trying to decide whether to leave after the first hour or stay for another)

Me to 18.022-er: "Hey, are you ready for the test?"

18.022-er: "No. No way. Are you crazy? Are you kidding?"

Me to other 18.022-er: "Are you ready for the test?"

Other 18.022-er: "I actually have the math test and a comp sci test tomorrow... and I haven't really started studying..."

Me: "So..."

Other 18.022-er: "But I'm probably going to stay for the second hour. Are you?"

Me: "Ha, ha, hahaha!"

(leaves to study)

(Monday at 1)

Another 18.022-er: Hey, have you been studying? How much have you been studying? I bet you haven't been studying Marcela.

Me: Hey! You can't say anything. I've studied for at least 6 hours by now, by the time I call it quits at 3 it'll be 8... I read the whole textbook chapters that cover what we're doing in class up till now, I reread them this weekend, I bought notecards and wrote every single important equation or formula on them, I took the practice tests, I met with my T.A. to go over the last three psets........ I think I'm ready...

(Tuesday at 1)

Another 18.022-er: You ready?

Me: Sure... You ready?

18.022-er: No. You ready?

Other 18.022-er: I think so...

Proctor: TEST START GO

(Tuesday at 1:55)

Professor: Hey, everyone, I'm giving you an extra five minutes!

(Tuesday at 2:00)

Proctor: PENCILS DOWN

Tests: *handed up*

18.022-ers: ...

18.022-ers: X X;;;;;;

18.022-ers: X X;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

(Tuesday at 5)

"OK, all right. It's time to study CHEM. I've got to pass one test this week. I've got to do well on this one. Ugh I'm breaking my resolution not to cram... but I STUDIED ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT FOR THAT 18.022 TEST THING OMG AND I SPENT SO MUCH TIME STUDYING AND I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MUCH OF MY LIFE I WASTED STUDYING AND OK Marcela go study for chem.

(Tuesday at 7)

Another 18.022-er: Hey Marcela, the results are online! Can you open them with me?

Me: OK!

Another 18.022-er: OK, let's count!

Me: All right, 1, 2, 3...

Us: ......

Me: Oh.

Another 18.022-er: AHHH.

(Wednesday at 10:30 AM, I'm in the student center getting food before the chem (5.111) test at 12)

Me: Oh hey 5.111-er!

5.111-er: Hey!

Me: You ready for the test?

5.111-er: You know, I studied for days for that test, and I didn't study last night because I had had enough. I think I'm ready.

Me: And what math are you in?

5.111-er: 18.02. Why? Oh, and by the way, I got a 100 on our last test. I think a lot of people got hundreds. It was a pretty straightforward test.

Me: .... X____X

5.111-er: Hey, by the way, do you know what time it is? You've got your calculator - maybe that has the time?

Me: Check it out, I don't know if it does though =/ I've gotta study study STUDY...

(Wednesday at 11:30)

5.111-er: Let's go!

Me: OK! Wait. Where's my calculator? *looks in bag*

5.111-er: I'm sure it's in your bag somewhere. Where else could it be? It's not on the table.

Me: But I don't seee it... Ah, all right, I'll look later.

(Wednesday at 11:55)

Me: ZOMG WHERE'S MY CALCULATOR.

5.111 TA - Here's a calculator you can use... *hands me a scientific calculator*

Me: YAYYY... Wait... how do you multiply things by 10^10? And wait why are these numbers disappearing after I press add or subtract? Ahhh why is time passing so fast OK I'm just going to add up the powers of ten and multiply all the other numbers and then combine them and hope that I don't make stupid mistakes or run out of time...

(Wednesday at 12:55)

Me: *rushed through the problems and just ran out of time*

(Wednesday at 1:00)

Me: NOW we get our psets back? And I FAILED this pset and I get it back NOW? Wow, I'm going to check ALL of these psets with my 18.022 friends from now on...

(Wednesday at 5)

Voicemail from 5.111-er from 2: AHHHH MARCELA I HAVE TWO CALCULATORS!!!!!!!

(Wednesday at 11)

"Physics prelab english reading english writing omg OMG I CAN'T TAKE ANYMOREEEE"

(Thursday at 1)

Professor: I owe you guys a BIG apology. That test was too long. As long as you're doing well on the psets, don't worry about it.

Me after class: Er I didn't do too well on the last two psets... even though I just barely passed the test by four points (the passing grade was a 42)

Professor: Well, that might be a problem. You might have to devote more time to the class.

Me: I've been spending a LOT of time on the class. You don't even KNOW.

Professor: Well, I would love it if you would stay, but if you want to switch to 18.02 you have to take the test they're giving in an hour. It's the last test that you can take to get into 18.02.

(an hour later, taking the 18.02 test)

Me: Wait how do you take the inverse matrix of a 4x4... and how do you maximize this with dot products... oh man I forgot everything in high school and we're not learning this now and I'm going to fail this test even worse than the other test...

(after the test)

Me: *no energy or willpower to even say "IHTFP"*

(Thursday at about 7)

Friends: "Hey, want to play DDR?"

Me: "YES!"

(Friday at 12:30 AM)

Me: *gets back from DDR*

Me: *goes into kitchen*

TV which is on: *plays The Fugitive*

Me: "OMG THE FUGITIVE."

The Fugitive: *is watched*

Me at 3 - I can't take another half hour. Bedtime...

Friday-Sunday: LONG WEEKEND!!!

Long weekend: Apple pie baking, sleeping (16 hours on Saturday), more movies, running a race for charity...

Me: *dreams "I have Truly Found Paradise..."*

--------------------------------------------------

So I ended up staying in 18.022. Before I was hesitant to ask for help, but now I work with pset groups and readily ask any and all of my friends for advice. And sometimes I can offer insights too. (Sometimes.) Perhaps this is the best way to go because:

1) First term is PASS/NO RECORD!!!
2) The class really IS interesting, especially once you start catching on =)

Will it apply in real life in any special way that 18.02 would not? Perhaps not unless you're a mathematician... but still, it's interesting. My goal is to PASS!

One thing I wanted to show you is that it's important that MIT is the way it is - that we don't just "work hard," but we "party hard." Partying doesn't mean heading out to the nearest frat party every weekend (many people - but not all - do!) Partying means taking time to do FUN STUFF. Hanging out with friends and having a life. Forgetting about work for a little while to take the time to hang out with the amazing people that you meet here. Not every weekend is a three day weekend, and everyone has to study at some point, but you have to LIVE. Enjoy your freedom - those tests don't matter in the long run (at least freshman year! XD).

Good morning!

I never thought that by going to college here I would be leaving for another planet.

But that's how it is. This is not the Earth that I knew in grade school. Not even the Earth that I knew from my magnet high school in NYC.

This is a planet of it's own. It's called TLM. The Land of MIT.

And its inhabitants, the Students, look like this.

Well, that isn't entirely accurate. That's just one specimen. If you look closely there are similarities to that species on Earth that we all know as homo sapiens. Actually, if you took one person from each of the planets and had them stand next to each other, they wouldn't look that different at all - beyond the ordinary variations. Even the DNA tests could match up.

But The Land of MIT is a new planet altogether. And here's a quick field guide:

- The Students at The Land of MIT have this crazy energy. It practically radiates from them, so when I see them walking across Kresge lawn or in the Infinite Corridor they glow. Seriously. You can practically see the brain waves flashing through their heads as they engage in heated conversations about anything and everything that's out there, ranging from healthcare reform, government in China and the U.S., the 18.022 pset that's due next week, or the two kids at the math diagnostic that were overheard whispering, "We're going to be at the bottom of our math class!" (They're both IMO finalists.)

- The planet itself is well equipped with space stations and rockets ready to launch. The stations are named MISTI, Go Global, D-Lab, IAP, MITPSC (Public Service Center), UROP, and many more names that just won't fit here. But there are an incredible number of rockets leaving each station every term. Students travel to several countries, take part in countless research projects, and win grants for service projects to... typically, build stuff.

- The rockets were designed and assembled by the Students. The raw material came from the land that is usually called the University Endowment, but the students really take initiative and handle almost everything. Many study abroad experiences and UROPS are designed by the higher beings that pretend to rule over the planet (aka the faculty and the other non-student People who Plan Things), but students still create their own experiences there and just as often design their own projects abroad or in the lab.

- However, the conditions on that planet are a little hard to acclimate to. It seems that this planet has low air pressure - after a few weeks one of my friends said, "I don't have time to breathe." Night only falls for 4-8 hours a day, depending on the time of year - closer to 8 on the weekend and closer to 4 on the day before an extraordinarily evil pset is due. It seems like everyone has different sleep cycles here, but for me - I typically sleep from 2-3 AM and wake up at 8 or 11 AM, depending on which classes I have the next day. I'm supposedly in one of the dorms (McCormick) where people actually sleep. I don't know if that means anything.

There is a lot in the way of support at MIT, contrary to what some might believe, but teachers will not generally hold your hand and walk you through each class. Someone who perseveres through each trial and error and is fiercely independent and driven would be well-adapted to thrive at this climate. Going to class is not enough - you have to gather rations of knowledge at office hours and find pset buddies or groups to get your work done. The Students are very cooperative.

The key is to remember that every Student at MIT was once an Earthling. And every one of them had, by the end of high school, built a rocket out of their own achievements that launched from the Earth and landed them at MIT. And if you make it in here, you did too. And, if you are ready to work hard, this is the perfect place for you to build more and bigger rockets that will take you wherever you want to go.