Otra Vez, Como Siempre by Chris S. '11
Some J-Pop to cheer you up. =p
Amazing Discovery of the Day: After nearly three semesters at MIT, I just realized that you can take the Tech Shuttle straight from Kendall Square to New House (well, more accurately, MacGregor*, but close enough). Wow, it really shows what kind of MIT student I am over this last year. *blushes*
Last year, I posted Taiwanese pop songs to “encourage” the EA and RD applicants =p
Once again, like always, [hint: title* hahaha] I will do so likewise this year for you all EA’ers!
*[ also = „ÇÇ„Å܉∏ÄÂ∫¶„ÄÄ„Åфŧ„Åæ„Åß„ÇÇ – though I don’t think it will show up on the URL =p]
Can’t believe it’s already the Class of 2013!
In honor of what I’m going to do during IAP (included at the bottom), I’m going to post a Japanese song this year. This is the theme from Dragon Zakura, a famous Japanese drama from 2005.
The drama is about a radical teacher that sets out to train a group of students from an underachieving high school to getting into Tokyo University (Todai), the most prestigious university in Japan, through a year of intense training. The drama itself was actually pretty well made, as the teacher brings in “specialists” from different areas that attempts to teach the students new (and hilarious) methods of approaching math, literature, English…etc. that’s different from traditional instruction. It’s a very enjoyable drama (to waste time on while procrastinating for psets, lol =p) and really “touching” when the final results were announced (kinda like when MIT decisions are announced =p – but they do it the hardcore Japanese way – where they put the exam ID numbers of everyone who qualified for Todai on big poster boards in front of the campus and you have to go to scan frantically for your number to see if you made it).
But the theme is pretty cheerful and has nice lyrics, so enjoy!
Sooo while I’m on the topic of Japan…
This is where I’ll be spending IAP this year.
Similar to Spain last year, I’ll be living with a host family in Japan while taking Japanese classes in the daytime. Growing up, I’ve been to Japan more than a dozen times (due to its proximity to Taiwan – it’s only a 3 hour flight!), and it’s absolutely amazing to be able to spend a whole month there this year.
Again, going with the whole foreign language thing – I just love learning languages. The last time I took Japanese was 5 years ago when I was a freshman in high school, and I decided randomly to try to test into Japanese this year. My Japanese was really, really poor in the beginning, and it’s a wonder that I placed into Japanese III. But after one semester of MIT’s great language instruction, I had more confidence in Japanese and decided to spend this IAP refining my language abilities.
This all, however, isn’t sponsored by MIT though. I had to go through an external Japanese cultural association that organizes homestays, so I don’t think this is particularly relevant to MIT life…but hey, I just wanted to share the good news! :)
Good luck on the EA results!
You’ve filled out the forms, written the essays, done the interviews, and probably marked up your calendar with deadlines more obsessively than you’ve ever before.
One of the commenters pointed out last year that for every admit, there would probably be nearly 9 others that would not be there to share in the good news.
But I also want to say that like what someone else said eloquently, “you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” By stepping forward and trying hard for something, you’ve already extended yourself and grew in an intangible way. Thus, I feel like there’s nothing to be ashamed of. I was deferred when I applied ED (not to MIT), and there was a period of 2 months or so when my parents started freaking out about me not being able to get into ANY college. It was not so fun. (you know, Asian parents, been there, done that. xP)
So you’ll be fine. Put on your favorite soundtrack on Monday night, take a deep breath, and when you’re ready, click the button.
Life goes on, and I believe that tomorrow only gets better. ;)
woooooooooow japan… i’m in love with japan, japanese people, japanese traditions, japanese mangas, japanese animes, japanese dramas, japanese language and so goes this till the end.
wow it’s Yamashita Tomohisa, i really love him, i watched producing nobuto just because of him.
Yeah, I’m gonna go to Japan and spend pretty much the whole time in a hello kitty factory saying “Hello Kitty” to all of the beloved factory workers coming in.
God Bless the USA!
“After nearly three semesters at MIT,” you can’t spell “MacGregor”? *tear*
good luck everyone! regardless of the results, you will still be just fine in the long run. ^_^
Nice song. She’s pretty haha.
I’ll watch Dragon Zakura online until results.
Wow…IAP in Japan! It’s been a dream for me to visit Tokyo at least once in my life. Chris, you’re so lucky!!
Second!
Second! Aw man thanks for the encouragement..
can’t wait ’till monday!!
3 days to go OMG…
I’m interested in testing into some level of French since I took a couple years of high school classes–how do you set that up?
And I’m definitely looking forward to hearing about how Japan is!
And thanks for the words of encouragement! ^_^ And I’m definitely looking forward to hearing about how Japan is!
And thanks for the words of encouragement! ^_^ <3 the song too.
I got accepted to Caltech today, so I’m hoping that I get the same news from MIT.
Good luck everyone!
Mmm…comforting words
Thanks Chris!
Thanks Chris.
youre amazing.
Ah yes, Asian parents. I totally understand what you mean, haha.
And thanks for the EA talk. I really think it a great motto for everyone and applies to many things in life. It has actually been my motto concerning scholarships (never let one pass me by =D) except I’d say:
“The answer is always no until you try”
@ Oasis ’11:
Ooh, Tokyo!! I lived there. Make sure you visit this place called Akihabara. You techy people will love it there (I did, at least). All sorts of wild things happen there.
HEY!! I used to live in Japan!! And I watched that TV show too!! Lucky for you, you get spend your IAP in the coolest country in the world.
By the way, did you watch the show in Japanese? Which part of Japan are you going to? Tokyo?
Jpop!
Haha, just what anyone needs to be cheered up.
melody. sang that?! She’s amazing; glad to see others like her works too =) I also need to stop stalking the latest East Asian music releases and start studying for finals…
@ Random ’12 –
A few days before the first day of class, just email any French instructor and they’ll set up a time to meet with you / give you the placement test. For Spanish, I didn’t even have to take a test – a Spanish instructor just talked to me in Spanish for 10 minutes and that was it. For Japanese, I actually had to take a written test that lasted for an hour. It differs by department but if you email them then they’ll point you in the right direction!
@ Banerjee –
I watched it with Chinese subs, lol. My Japanese still isn’t good enough to watch the whole thing without subs! :(
And yeah, I’m going to Tokyo.
@ Japanese drama –
It was my biggest procrastination method in September and October until I literally had to constrain myself from visiting those sites lol…watching one episode leads to another…and another…and another…and by the time you know it, 6 hours or so had disappeared :(
Japan.. aah, I’d missed a chance to trip via the JENESYS programme. School missed the deadline, aargh! :(
Do students at MIT play video games on weekly basis?
@Chris, I’ve always been curious about the origin of your “Oasis” nickname, care to explain? :D
@DOS: it really depends. Some people won’t game no matter how much you ask them, while others seem to do nothing but play. I know I definitely game on a weekly basis; it’s a good stress reliever and friend-bonding experience, haha. Especially when you’ve got six people in one room trying to beat Rockband 2’s “Shoulder on the Plow” all on expert at 3am in the morning.
Right, Asian parents… I’m so lucky to have gotten some of the more normal few — the kind that won’t obsess over a 99 and a 100…!
I was just reading Yan’s little note on the EA decisions and now I’ve decided that I will put on my favourite soundtrack beFORE I click the button and explode.
@ DOS –
I know people here that never play video games, and people who play like there’s no tomorrow (like 4-6 hours a day). There are 4.0 and 5.0 GPAs in both groups.
Rockband is REALLY popular here…
@ Vivi –
Oasis is my collegeconfidential screen name! I post a lot less there now but I have nearly 1,600 posts (yeah, HS college obsession, I know) =p. Don’t ask me why I picked it as my sn. I thought it was cool in 9th grade.
@ Cathy –
Explode in happiness. :D
EA Applicants!
I updated the site to include a few new goodies.
Check it out, I think you’ll like it.
http://www.DidIGetIntoMIT.com/
If you’re bringing back little souveniers go to the TokyoHands department store.. they’ve got loads of cool stuff..