Ode to PNR by Alexa J. '20

What I’m pretty sure next semester will be like. No offense to the great and wonderful institutions that are Princeton and Yale. Without further ado, I present my expression of feelings for the first semester of MIT.

Ode to PNR

Pretty please Pass/No Record, how I wish you’d come back.
I’ll pray, beg, get on my knees, if you think it’s gratitude I lack.

Play hard, try really really hard, pressure just to pass.
Can’t slack off but can get away with occasionally skipping class,
I’m learning the hard way that it’s really not like high school.
Surrounded by the weirdos and nerds; it’s no longer uncool.

I joined anything and everything and tried miserably to do it all,
Getting new emails by the hundreds, on those I really dropped the ball.
I found friends to talk with until the wee hours of the night,
With my 13.01 class in Procrastination, scheduling was tight.

Along those lines, in class, in clubs, in rooms, I often felt like the dunce.
I got rejected from a club or two or three, sometimes more than once.
I felt like a quitter when I left things I loved to make time for new passions,
Struggling to find ever-elusive balance; pj’s and sweats became the new fashion.

I’ve done research as a freshmen, a feat considering my veritable lack of skills.
Hacked a few buildings and scaled a few walls, all very run of the mill.
I found sisters I can wake up and pester at four in the morning,
It feels like I’ve found home, I know, how very corny.

It’s IAP now, and I am missing the west coast, my family, and home,
Trying to make sense of the mysterious workings of code under the big dome.
Reflecting on the fast-moving, yet slow-ticking of the MIT clock.
Only 3.5 more years of wondering why we still use chalk.

So now I guess I’m ready to attempt bigger gulps from the firehose,
Without getting drenched, and the snow, well, it really blows.
All while getting those dreadful grades again, A’s and more likely B’s throughout,
Still, I’m going to love designing toys, experiments, problems without a doubt.

I’ll end with a picture of a beautiful sunrise on the Boston skyline,
A reminder to stop and smell the flowers, I’m living on cloud nine.