There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium… by Laura N. '09

Whew! I ran back from my field hockey game today (we won, 3-1! ya!) just in time to help the 213 suite put together a study break.

Every Thursday, some group of people on the floor puts together a late night snack for everyone to enjoy while, as the name implies, breaking from their studies. Since we hadn’t actually planned anything, we just ran to LaVerde’s (the convenience store in the student center) and bought brownie mix and ice cream. It was all quite delicious, even if a certain member of the 224 suite complained that we stole one of their ideas. =P

I’ve been hanging out in the floor lounge since then, trying to do some programming for 6.081. But I’m tired and confused (why is d+=1 legal normally but not when it comes right after the else command?) so I’m not really making progress. Instead, I’m having more fun observing the other activity going on in the floor lounge…

One of the requirements of 3.091 (one of the freshmen chemistry options) is that the students memorize the contents of the periodic table for a quiz. This basically means that everyone crams the information into their brains just before the quiz and then promptly forgets it all. A couple of freshmen were in the process of said cramming when Diana ’08 and Adelaide ’09 decided to try to fill out the entire table from memory…you know, for fun.

So between my halfhearted attempts at trying to figure out my syntax errors, I’ve been shouting out “radium is more reactive than that!” or “Hey you forgot manganese!” It’s honestly a rather pleasant way to spend an evening. Said the MIT student. Seriously, this is what we do for kicks. If you think that’s lame, MIT is not for you. =P

Now that I’ve actually been to classes, I can share them with you! Yay!

2.001: Things are static. ќ£F_x=0. ќ£F_y=0. ќ£M=0. The end.
2.003: Things move. The end.
6.081: Things do what you tell them to if you can figure out how to do it without making them mad. Usually.
21M.600: Things (i.e. students) act like trees that die in the winter and are born again in the spring. …it’s weird.

So that was whimsical and vague. I’m tired, leave me alone. I’ll write more insightful descriptions later. Ask me questions. Your previous questions will be answered in my next entry, when I don’t feel like I’m about to fall asleep any second.

Good night!