danceAP by Ankita D. '23

yeah so i guess i’m joining the “what i’m doing this IAP” bandwagon—in the month-long lull that is IAP, there isn’t much to talk about besides what you’re doing with your time

i actually had no idea what i was doing this IAP until the day it began. this was because i was planning on taking a class to satisfy the culture course requirement for MISTI Israel, but since i had no idea if i had been accepted to the program or not (and was supposed to find out before i left for Christmas break), i couldn’t register for the class. as a backup, i signed up for web.lab, a web development class/programming competition. i thought the class sounded cool, but i wasn’t that motivated to do it since i knew it wouldn’t be the best use of my time.

thankfully, on the way to my first day of web.lab, i received an email letting me know that i had been accepted to MISTI Israel! yay!!! i immediately registered for the culture class and dropped web.lab.

so everything worked out in the end! i feel adequately busy this IAP, but i still have enough time to hang out with the people i care about. #thriving

17.567 — Israel: History, Politics, Culture, and Identity

the culture course for MISTI Israel! it’s 10-1 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and although classes go by quickly, a grueling three hours of class so early in the morning is difficult to handle. all things considered, though, i really enjoy this class; the professor makes lectures engaging and thought-provoking, and the content is fascinating. we have a significant amount of reading to do for each class, but it’s all so informative that i enjoy doing it. i’ve already learned so much history from a variety of different perspectives, which is new for me—my prior history classes were fairly limited in their scope of narratives. 

this class is just one of the many options available for satisfying the MISTI Israel requirements. i chose to take it since it was one of the two recommended courses and because i wanted to get it out of the way during IAP so i can focus on more technical classes in the spring.

Mocha Moves

i thought six hours of dance a week was bad…yeah, no. i’ve been dancing 1-4 hours a day. a DAY. i have 20 hours of dance this week and i’m only doing seven of the 12 dances!!

…which means that i’m usually occupied with dance between 6 and 10 every night. i also am choreographing two dances, so i work on those during the day. that’s a lot of dance fam

i’m really grateful that i get the chance to do this, though! every dance i’m in is a lot of fun, and the thought of performing them at Mocha Show in February is super exciting. also, this month is a great opportunity to grow as a dancer—chances to dance in so many different styles in such a short period of time are pretty scarce. 

UROP

i have a UROP in the political science department that involves using natural language processing methods to analyze a hUge archive of documents from the Brazilian dictatorship between 1964 and 85. it’s a really cool project and i’m glad i was able to find it last-minute at the start of IAP–it’s possible, guys

Cooking

i unfortunately didn’t cook much during my first semester, but i’m a new woman this IAP. cooking is so enjoyable tbh. it’s therapeutic and fun and satisfying since you get to EAT the food you make!!

i feel like the typical college student experience is googling things like “kimchi omelet” and “asparagus goat cheese” because at some point, you end up stockpiling a lot of random ingredients that you need to use all at once. well, it works…i made some dope broccoli soup by throwing together a lot of ingredients that were about to go bad. we stan

IAP’s almost over now, but i’m super super excited for spring semester!! see you then :)