Pictures From a Year of Classes by Richard O. '28
The End of a Saga
So, about a month ago, I submitted my last exam for the year in Johnson Athletic Center which marked the end of a very, very, very long first year at MIT. So, like the first and second two times, I’m going to finish off the year by giving you all a full run down of everything that happened during this last semester…but with pictures (because I like pictures).
Part 14: January Shenanigans
So as you may know by now, MIT has this silly one month period during January called the Independent Activities Period (better known as IAP – learn more about it here, here, and here) where you pretty much get to do whatever you want with your life for the whole month of January. So for me, I spent this month learning some new skills while finishing up the second half of 18.02A.
But before leaving for Boston, I decided to go on a hiking trip with some of my friends to a place called Old Rag back in VA.
So yea I somehow learned how to snowboard that day and left with a pretty bruised tailbone:
Story time: So in order to get back to the train station we needed to take this bus right. And the bus had only 2 times it cycled between the mountain and the station in the afternoon: 4PM and 6PM. So we had planned on leaving at 4PM to play it safe. So before we left I wanted to get a vid of me snowboarding down so I did like my last run at 3:30PM. Got to the bottom of the mountain and realized I never pressed record… So here I am thinking: “dang – I didn’t get a single vid of my first time snowboarding”. Turns out, by the time we got to the bus station we missed the bus by like 30secs cause it really left at like 3:55PM. Pretty much a blessing and a curse cause now I had two hours to get a new video before we absolutely had to make the last bus. (We actually also missed the second bus and had to get driven by one of the mountain staff to the train station with like 10 seconds to spare before the last train left for the night…but that’s a story for another time).
Part 15: The Professors Strike Back
Part 16: The Good, the Bad, and the Random
Learn more about DesignPlus in Ellie’s joint blog post with Gloria and Teresa here!
Part 17: Spreak!
Spring break took too long to come by. Spent most of it doing things on campus but I ended up escaping for one day to go on a day trip to Newburyport with Spencer and Jaelynn
Some snippets from my camera:
Snippets part two:
Part 18: That Weird Period between Spring Break and Finals
Weather got warmer. Campus got livelier. World became more colorful. And finals were looming around the corner.
Part 19: The Second Great Finals War
So eventually…it was that time again. Finals season was back. I beat the institute during first semester, but this semester the stakes were higher. We had a total of 3 battles: 8.02 (Electricity and Magnetism), 6.1010 (Fundamentals of Programming), and 6.1200 (Discrete Math for Comp Sci). Would’ve been four but CMS.100 (Intro to Media Studies) had a final paper and presentation instead of a test so we’re only counting three.
Last day of school was on a Tuesday. So, the Grand Lock-In began with reviewing all of 8.02 from the beginning on 9 large chalkboards in the Green Building Lecture Hall from 18.02A.
So, at some point, Tuesday turned into Friday and the battles had begun.
- Friday. 8.02. 9AM. Johnson Athletic Center. Just me, a pencil I had to borrow from a friend because I forgot you need those to actually take an exam, and the life-altering memory of the reviews I watched from Mohamed
- 3 hours later. Noon. Test Complete. Boom. Knocked out. Beat that battle and had two more to go. Richie: 1, Institvte: 0
Next was 6.1010 on Monday and then 6.1200 on Tuesday so I had the weekend to study both but 6.1200 had ALL my attention because I knew that battle was gonna be rough…
- Monday. 6.1010. 1:30PM. Johnson Athletic Center. Just me, another pencil I had to borrow from a friend because I forgot you need those to actually take an exam again, and my belief in the power of environment diagrams
- 3 hours later. 4:30PM. Test Complete. Boom. Knocked out. Beat that battle and had one more to go. Richie: 2, Institvte: 0
And then it was time…
The 6.1200 final was almost as scary as my 5.111 (Chemistry) final. But if I survived 5.111 I lowkey could survive anything…including 6.1200. And I did.
- Tuesday. 6.1200. 1:30PM. Johnson Athletic Center. Just me, a third pencil I had to borrow from a friend (Spencer this time), and me praying that the 6.1200 professors would not force me to write a mathematical proof for why the sky is blue and the Earth is round (Though that probably would’ve been the nicer treatment)
- 3 hours later. 4:30PM. Test Complete. Boom. Knocked out somehow??. Beat that battle and won the second great finals war. Richie: 3, Institvte: 0.
FREEDOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM (I have 6 more finals seasons to go – plus who knows how many more for grad school💔)
Part 20: Impossible Challenge – Pack Your Whole Life Away in 24 Hours
After that final, I had about 24 hours to finish up on packing my room and getting all my stuff to our storage pod. But before that, Chocolate City had a little celebration for our seniors in the New House courtyard.
Part 21: This is Where I Yap About What I Learned and What Not
At the beginning of the year, DoingWell at MIT had us all write letters to ourselves that would automatically be sent to our MIT emails at the end of the year. This letter finally came back about a month ago and reading it pretty much summarizes all the different experiences I’ve had this past year. So instead of trying to write up some new summary, I’ll share that letter here in hopes that it explains all the ways I think I’ve changed this year and resonates with anyone going through some sort of new academic experience.
The following is a letter from the past. It was written on August 30, 2024 .
Dear Future Me,
By the time this message reaches you, I’m sure you’ve probably grown in ways you would’ve never expected yourself to. You’ve probably built communities and relationships with people that you never expected to become close with and have learned a lot about who you are along the way. By now you’ve probably realized how hard psets really are compared to how I think they are as I’m writing this. You’ve probably edited hundreds of photos and videos and posted blogs on the admissions page that have probably inspired people you will never meet. You’ve probably learned more about our world’s different systems and how you want to change it. You’re probably stressed right now. Or maybe you’re satisfied with everything. You may be confused or lost. But at the end of the day remember that getting to MIT was only a dream at some point that you ended up making happen. Cherish that. Be proud of it. And continue to find ways you can improve yourself and the lives of those around you. Nothing is too far out of your reach and the best time to start making change is now, but always remember the people that helped you along the way. Because without them, life wouldn’t be the same. Congratulations on making it through your first year and good luck on the rest!
With that I’m really grateful to have been able to share my freshman year with you guys through all these photos and looking forward to sharing more of my stories here in the years to come!
My favorite view of the Boston Skyline