MIT Inside vs. Outside by Ben O. '19

“Yes I said etc…… Just don’t think about it to much (oh and I’m working on getting a better camera so apologies 
ahed of time)”

I am not sure if you guys have the same feeling, but sometimes you just have those times where everything just feels right. There might not be anything especially special about the moment that you are in, but nevertheless every piece of your life seems to fit into the right spot. You tripped over your foot and successfully landed a perfect front flip recovery, your girlfriend exists (lol), and you walked into your AP Physics test, looked it dead in its pale, white, papery face and said, “I will defeat you,” and then proceeded to do so….

When I came to MIT as a super cool 8th grader (because don’t we all feel that way in 8th grade) that is the exact feeling I had. I would like to give you guys the exact word to perfectly describe how I felt when I first put foot on campus, but sadly I don’t think such a word exists. I’d felt that MIT was a place for me. The buildings seemed to be the embodiment of innovation, the students I saw walking around campus had done what so many high school students strived for each and every day, and my meeting with a Professor Hammond gave me the feeling MIT students actually have limitless opportunity. To me MIT was Heaven on Earth.

Now let me be completely honest with you guys for like 2 sec. I have visited schools that were physically more beautiful. Look as a blogger I feel slightly obligated to tell you guys otherwise, but I would feel bad lying to you coolest people on the planet (If you have interest in this school, you are in this group of “coolest people” If you do not have interest in this school………….. lol jk those people don’t exist). But in all seriousness out of all of the colleges I visited, MIT was the only college where I truly felt at home. While I visited other colleges I constantly found myself thinking things on the lines of “Woahhhhh this school would be awesome for (some person that is not me).” Now that does not mean that these other schools were not amazing in their own respect, but in honesty they just simply were not the place for me. They were like that best friend you have that is super awesome and would totally be dateable except you just don’t have that “I like you in that kind of way ;)” vibe. In my mind I would not be happier anywhere else other than MIT.

The insane need to attend MIT was one of the core aspects that caused me to work hard in high school. I would just dream of one day being able to live in my “Heaven on Earth” and 4 years later that happened; however, unexpectedly things changed for me once I had finally reached the end all be all (Now things might sound bad now, but little *spoiler* if you keep reading all the way to the end they get better. Now if you are like me and hate spoilers don’t read this excerpt….). After getting to MIT and living here MIT slowly just became another place to me. I was getting so caught up in psetting, going to classes, just hanging out with friends, and things of that nature that MIT was losing its heavenly status. It is like when you eat your favorite food all of the time it just doesn’t seem to taste as good as it used to. Now MIT was not becoming a place that I hated, it wasn’t even a place that I disliked, I still loved being here, but I was not acknowledging that fact. MIT was simply just a place I happened to live; it was no different from any other place I could potentially live. The scariest part of this gradual change for me was that…… I had no idea it was happening.

(*spoiler* here comes the happy climb back up :P again if you don’t like spoilers please don’t read this excerpt). About a week ago a friend of mine that was a senior at my high school came and visited MIT for the WISE program. Through this program he was able to come to MIT and live with a student, take classes, and just get a feel of what it means to be an MIT student. During his time here all I did was rant about how amazing MIT was. I wouldn’t shut up about how much I loved late night psetting with friends, how much I respected my professors for taking time from their genius to teach me, how much I enjoyed hanging with my new fraternity brothers, and of course how awesome it has been being able to share my love with the world via blogs. I actually would not shut up. I feel like at some point he was giving me that “I don’t really care what you are saying, but it’s like 3 in the morning and social norm requires me to smile and act like what you are saying is interesting….. But for real Ben I have to get some homework done” face, and it was then that I realized that MIT was still my heaven on Earth.

Now Ben what are you getting at with this story of yours??? Excellent question my little prefrosh I will tell you. Sometimes it is wayyyyyyyy too easy to take for granted the opportunities we have. For me that was MIT. However, once I got here I began to get complacent and started to forget that I have been given one of the most amazing openings to change the world. Now if you are sitting there like, “lol Ben I haven’t got in yet so I can’t yet get complacent this does not apply to me,” you are……. probably really sleepy or something lol because think about it. Every single one of us has something in our lives that has become so integrated that we forget how special that something is. Whether that’s an opportunity to have parents that can afford an amazing high school so that you can get every bit of education you need to get into a good college, or it is simply the fact that we wake up in the morning and we can walk to our closet and have clothes, we all have something in our lives we should be grateful for. So you know what would be cool???? Lol take a little bit of time to just say “Thank You” to someone or something that you are grateful. For me that is my parents, for well everything lol, and to MIT, for truly being my heaven on Earth.

P.S. Saying thank you to MIT as a whole is a little bit harder than I thought…. Kind of just went up to a wall and was just like “thanks bro” *fist bump* (regrets punching wall immediately).
 

Now for picutres of how beatuiful this place is:

“Thanks MIT”

“The secret roof library… not that secret but I didn’t know it existed”

“How can you look over the charles river and just not be happy”