10 Things I Miss About MIT by Ankita D. '23

going absolutely wild at frat parties

let’s get things straight: while i was at MIT, i never sought out frat parties. partying on my floor was always much more fun—everyone in my living community is amazing, we have bangers playing at all times, and there’s so much space to dance. the only times i actually enjoyed frats were when around 30 other people from my floor showed up to parties in one screaming orange horde and danced like animals in the middle of the dance floor.

but times have changed…now, i’d do anything to be able to dance at a frat. i don’t know if i’ll be trampled and shoved in a giant sweaty mass of college students ever again, but god, do i crave it; the sheer liberation of dancing in a setting where no one knows you is indescribable.

one of my earliest memories from freshman year is of going fratting with 20+ other girls in my living community. one of the floor traditions that help integrate the freshmen girls onto the floor is getting dressed up and going to frat parties, which is ridiculous since frats are too trashy to mandate any effort whatsoever (yes, i did go fratting in pajamas more than once). the parties were mediocre…we weren’t able to dance on the overcrowded dance floors and had to wait outside in the cold more than once, but they were a great bonding experience. also, on the way back to our dorm, one frat gave us fried Oreos, which slapped. oh frats, how i miss you

practicing daily dialogues on the way to Chinese class

i took Chinese II in spring, which was great since i’m a huge fan of language classes, but annoying for a few reasons; namely, having to wake up around 9 am, and having to memorize dialogues to perform in front of the class every day. the dialogues were never that bad—they were only a few lines long and not too difficult to remember, but i’m the type of person who can’t not prepare for something right up until the last minute, no matter how confident i am about it. as a result, i would spend my ~13 minute walks to class every day rehearsing dialogues in my head, which sucked.

now, though, i kind of miss it. dialogues were fun and being able to speak Chinese with people in person was amazing!! my Chinese skills deteriorated after i came home in March since i didn’t enjoy not being in a live classroom environment and started to slack off. big rip

waking up feeling like death on weekdays

i can’t even tell you the number of times i’ve made a series of Bad Decisions that have resulted in me waking up at 9 am in a groggy haze. getting from lecture to lecture without falling asleep was an absolute nightmare, but man, do i miss having the freedom to fuck up my sleep schedule in lieu of deep-talking with my roommates, or going on late night walks with my friends, or dancing on tables in the center suite until sunrise. what a time

didn’t expect to find a pic of me dancing on a table in center suite but here we are

being swiped into Next Dining

i lived in Burton Conner, a Cook-For-Yourself dorm, so i was happily not on a meal plan. i did, however, get swiped into Next House’s dining hall more than a few times by my GRT⁠01 graduate resident tutor for monthly bondings. i can’t say i ever had an enjoyable meal at Next, but hey, free dinner, am i right? hanging out with various permutations of people from my floor was great as well.

dancing for 6-8 hours a day during IAP

during IAP,⁠02 independent activities period my dance team, Mocha Moves, prepares for our annual show, which is held in early February. we choreograph and perform over a dozen sets, which comes out to around 2-3 hours of content. it’s a lot, and it requires a significant amount of preparation, as you can imagine. and that’s why i spent up to eight hours a day dancing during the month of January. my weekends weren’t safe, either; we literally had no days off. choreographing and dancing and walking between various dance studios on campus every day was grueling and intense, but so fucking incredible in retrospect. i watched the recordings of Mocha Show the other day and could only marvel at how fulfilling it was to perform an entire show for my friends and family. i don’t regret any of the time i dedicated to it and can’t wait for our next chance to perform.

i had a moment in this set where i slid on my stomach across the stage. that was def my peak

this set was called “ratchet shit.” it was as fun (and exhausting) as you’d think

going to 9 am meetings at Stud

every other week in spring semester, the Burton Conner Transition Team had early meetings in the student center, which were awful to wake up for. i’d roll out of bed at 8:45 am, briefly consider shirking my duties to get more sleep, and then reluctantly clamber out of my bed to start getting ready. it was hell, and at the time, i could only find solace in the breakfast they provided for attendees. looking back, i wish i hadn’t been such a little bitch about waking up for these meetings. i miss in-person meetings! i miss Stud! i miss having a such a great reason to wake up before 9!!

sprinting across Briggs Field at 2 am

one of my closest friends at MIT lives in the dorm Simmons, which is right across from Burton Conner. often, whenever i wanted to hang out with her, i’d run across Briggs Field, the field that separates the two dorms, since it freaked me out being in such a wide space late at night. i have 0 stamina, so the ~3-minute journey would knock the wind out of me without fail, which wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences for me. now, though, i can only reminisce about being able to visit my friends in other dorms. :'(

bumping into people in the Infinite while looking like absolute trash

ah, yes. this happened most days since i stopped caring about my appearance after IAP; i’d wear exclusively sweatshirts and sweatpants, cycling through my collection of Bomber⁠03 burton third bombers merch since they’re by far my most comfortable winter clothes. i also had my hair in a messy bun and had permanent bags stamped under my eyes…it was not a look. running into people i met in my FPOP/during REX was pretty hilarious since i looked like a whole different person back then. given how much i used to care about my appearance, i felt a bit shitty about it, but now i couldn’t care less. i loved running into people in the Infinite corridor and miss having the opportunity to do so!

hauling ass to dance practice at 8:57 pm twice a week

Mocha Moves had practice at 9 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.  if you were late, you had to do pushups, which, uh, is something i cannot do. practice was held in the dorm McCormick, which is only a few buildings down Dorm Row from Burton Conner, so i always thought i had enough time to make it to the studio without being late. i was wrong pretty much every week. sprinting down Dorm Row in a sports bra during winter was unideal, but i never learned my damn lesson.

pictured: me taking dance practice VERY seriously

i don’t know when the next time i’ll be able to dance with my team will be, so i really, REALLY miss having practice in-person.

coming home to my dorm after a long and stressful day

sometimes, i’d have a shitty day and return to my dorm nearly in tears. it sucked, but my friends were always there to eat ice cream with me, help me talk through my stress, and cheer me up. we could run barefoot to the music room to scream away our frustrations, or dance in the hallways until we forgot all about our problems, or walk to Briggs to lay on our backs and look at the stars.

i miss being able to walk into my suite and see all my friends in front of me. i miss flopping onto the beanbag in my room and getting ready to bitch about my day to my roommates. more than anything, i miss knowing that no matter how awful my day was, my living community would be there to support me through it, and that everything would be ok.

i miss that so much.