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MIT student blogger Linh V. '13

New kid on the block by Linh V. '13

Ents, bop, punting, pidge, Natsci, boatie, blues.

Umh, say what?

You might wonder whether these words are even English. Well, they are (I learnt them in England, from British people.) These words are among the many additions I have made to my vocabulary since I commenced my study at “the other Cambridge” *mysterious music ensues*

Yes, Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom, is also known as “that other place across the pond”, “Harry-Potter-style city”, a world-famous university with 61 Nobel Laureates (only 15 fewer than MIT, no biggie- notice the new sense of humor I picked up in England) and last but not least, the place where the structure of DNA was discovered (I am a biology major, I have to throw that in).

Now you wonder what in the world I am doing here, on MIT Admissions blog. Well, I am also an MIT student! (Trust me, I have beaver fever.)

Hi! I am Linh, a junior majoring in Biology (Course 7) and I am currently participating in the Cambridge-MIT Exchange Program. For those who are not aware, MIT has organized an exchange program with Cambridge University for the past 10 years (CME) and I am proud to be one of the students on the exchange program this year. Even though I am pretty much madly in love with MIT, I know that MIT creates all these study-abroad and exchange programs for a reason: to broaden the students’ horizon, develop our life skills and enrich our knowledge. Therefore I took that chance and I am glad I did.

So, one day, when I was reading MIT admission blogs, which I have frequented since I had the intention of applying to MIT, I suddenly thought: “Why not blog about my life here in Cambridge, from my classes or extracurricular activities, to trips that I made around the UK?” In this way, potential applicants as well as MIT students will know more about all the exciting study-abroad/ international opportunities that MIT has to offer. I asked the admission office and here I am! I hope everyone will enjoy reading about my college journey, at MIT and abroad. Hopefully I will be able to let all the readers know more about MIT and its awesomeness :)

Love

Linh

7 responses to “New kid on the block”

  1. Ji Wei says:

    Hey Linh! Glad to know that you’re enjoying England much! Hope to read more of your experiences soon wink

    And remember this?

    A thousand miles, a thousand miles, a thousand miles, a thousand miles. Lord I’m one thousand miles away from home…

    Visit ya soon smile

  2. Anna F. says:

    Lovely blog! Too bad there isn’t a Space tunnel between the two Cambridges, though. The people here miss you.

    Ps. That is such an accurate portrait of you!

  3. Lovely says:

    Ooh, have fun in England! Well, at least I hope you’re having fun now.

    –random person

  4. Piper H. '13 says:

    Wait what do these words mean?! Are ents something other than Lord of the Rings trees?

  5. Titary says:

    HELLO! that’s very nice!

    It’s nearly valentine’s day. Wish you all the best! ..Bon voyage!

  6. Linh V. '13 says:

    @ Piper: haha, I wish ents refers to something in lord of the ring. That would be kinda cool. but Ents simply means entertainment (which includes bops, aka school discos)
    Punting is a way of traveling on the river Cam! It’s basically propelling a flat-bottomed boat by pushing the riverbed with a long pole. Blues refer to the university’s first team for any kind of sports. Boatie is someone who rows.Natsci is someone who does Natural Sciences (pronounced as Nat- ski, it’s easy to pronounce it wrongly and it can sound very wrong)
    @Anna: let’s do a wormhole kind of thing at the moment! http://tech.mit.edu/V131/N31/wormhole.html
    We will move on to Space tunnel later!

    And happy valentine’s day everybody!!

  7. Jennifer B. says:

    Thanks for writing your blog. I can’t wait to share it with my hs daughter who is just starting her college search. I enjoy your enthusiasm and insight and the pictures in Bath England are really appreciated.