Saturday, November 26, 2005

Thanksgiving Break

I'm finally home for thanksgiving! It almost feels like I never left in the first place. I've lived in CA for so long that it feels natural to be here. I am enjoying spending time with my parents and being in my old room. The past few days have gone by too fast! I can't believe I leave tomorrow to go back to MIT. I have homework to do on the plane....some "break." I also noticed that finals are only in a few weeks! At least I've been relaxed. Some old high school friends are coming to visit me in a few minutes, so I'm excited to hear what they have been up to these past few months. Hope everyone had a happy turkey day!

Friday, November 25, 2005

Elephants, Parties, and Rubber Ducks: The Past Month

So I am finally updating about the past month! Wow, so many things to talk about. This update will focus on all the fun things I have been doing, and then the next entry will be about school.

A few weeks back I went a party at Wellesley, which was quite fun. I went with Amanda B and some friends from Phi Sig. Getting to Wellesley was quite an experience. It turns out that you need tokens in order to use the bus, and all the places that sold tokens near MIT were sold out. Amanda and I were frantically calling people to find out if they knew what we could do. Luckily one of our friends from Phi Sig had a car and we ended up driving there. The traffic was insanely slow (Fenway had a game that night), but we made it eventually. It was awesome because I saw my “bestest best” friend Maggie (I’ve known her since I was a baby) and Ilang, a good friend from my home town, who both go to Wellesley. My friend Peter from Harvard was also there. This was my first official college party and it was a blast. I had a great time dancing and talking with people. After the party I got lost trying to find Maggie’s dorm, but we found each other after a half hour of wandering around and I got to meet her roommate.

Maggie and I at Wellesley

After the party we drove back in the car to Phi Sig. Everyone was still pretty wide awake so we proceeded to watch Super Troopers until about 5:30, and at that time most people were falling asleep. Then we went to Dunkin’ Doughnuts for breakfast and then it was back to Simmons to sleep. I had told Annelise I’d be back around 3, so in case she woke up before I got back, I left her a text message on her cell phone. At first I was going to have it read “I’m staying over at Phi Sig”, but seeing as how we still didn’t know each other that well, I instead wrote “staying with friends, be back in the morning.” (I didn’t want her to get the wrong impression of me :-). That was an awesome weekend even though I was tired the next day.

Random Phi Sig people sleeping

Annelise and I went to see the Ig Nobel lectues. This is a spoof of the Nobel Prize, it is for research that is just really random and funny. We got to throw paper airplanes at the speakers and when their 5 minutes were up everyone was allowed to ring their cell phones, so that might tell you a little about how goofy the atmosphere was. To see more information, go to: http://www.improb.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html

One night I went out with Amanda M and Amanda B and her friends to see Just Like Heaven. Cutest movie ever. We really liked it, but the guys that came with us went to see Serenity though :-(. Afterwards we trudged through the pouring rain and went to eat at Uno’s (not the pizza place though, a different restaurant). When we got back Amanda M and I proceeded to watch Pirates of the Caribbean but were too tired to finish.

A great thing about MIT is that you get quite a few long weekends. These are called “Student Holidays” but to joke about the rumors and difficulty of MIT people call them “Suicide Prevention Days” (remember, this is jokingly, many people think that MIT students are always depressed and that a ton of suicides happen all the time---this is not true!). We took advantage of one of our five day weekends to go out shopping (I got new earrings!).

One of the most random things that happened the last month was that elephants walked down Mass Ave right in front of Lobby 7! The circus was in town and as a tradition the elephants walk to the circus though the streets. Very very cool! There were a bunch of people waiting for more than two hours to see them, and luckily I had a long time before my next class.

Elephants!

My parents came and visited me during Parents Weekend. It was really great to see them (I couldn’t believe it had already been more than a month and a half!). I have been fortunate not to be homesick. I took them to the science museum and also to my chemistry class. We also went to an acapella concert (MIT has a bunch of really wonderful acappellas groups—I have some of their CDs). Some of the names are really funny, for example, the “Logarhythms” is a popular all-male group that is very entertaining. It was a very relaxing weekend and I had fun spending time with my parents.

For Halloween MIT has yet another quirky tradition: the “Pumpkin Drop.” Pumpkins are thrown off MIT’s tallest building—the Greene Building—to explode into tiny pieces when they hit the pavement. The same weekend there was a Simmons Halloween dance. There were only about seven of us dancing, which was sort of sad, but we had a great time anyway.

Me with wings at the dance party

It was very exciting because a student from my high school, Michael, came to visit MIT. Amanda and I persuaded him to apply, and after talking to us he even said MIT had become his first choice! I hope he is accepted!

Another funny thing that happened this past month dealt with rubber duckies. Simmons’ strange architecture lures many architects to visit our dorm (they are only allowed in with a guide). One of the pieces of art we have is a ying-yang pond area. To make the area a bit more fun and welcoming, students have a tradition of putting rubber ducks into it. Unfortunately, a woman that organizes the art on the MIT campus, thought that there were altering the artist’s original meaning. We actually had a meeting with her (complete with pink peeps, save the ducks T-shirts, and duck-crossing signs). Luckily she agreed that we could keep the ducks in most of the time as long as they do not affect the sculpture in any way. We argued that this is our home, not a tourist attraction, and perhaps we could remove the ducks for architect tours. Right now there is an official duck committee that is in charge of making rules for the ducks. Really random….isn’t it? That’s MIT and Simmons Hall for you.

The Schrodinger Cats lounge went to see “Proof” a few weeks ago. It is a very good movie about an insane mathematician’s daughter and how she might be insane too. We appreciated a lot of the nerd jokes and MIT references. You should go see it!

I can also officially say that I saw the first snow of the season!!! One Sunday I saw white flakes drifting from the sky and got very excited. Annelise and I quickly grabbed our coats and ran outside. It only stuck to the grass, but we were able to eat a few snowflakes. After that day the weather became warmer again, and we have not had snow since. Hopefully this means we will have a relatively mild winter! The snow was gorgeous, a white blanket across the field outside.

Eating snowflakes

The last thing I want to discuss is the Star Wars Musical I saw last weekend. It was HILARIOUS!!!! They used songs from so many different musicals it was insane! There were even references to movies, like The Princess Bride and Pirates of the Caribbean. Our favorite line was from the Empire Strikes back, when Luke is battling Vader and is about to tell him he is Luke’s father. This is a reference to The Princess Bride when two men are battling each other with their left hands to be modest. When both realize that they are right handed, they switch hands.

Luke: I know something you don’t know.
Vader: And what is that?
Luke: I’m not left-handed!
Vader: (Cuts off Luke’s hand). You are now!

The show even had tap dancing storm troopers….how could that not make you laugh? I am soooo glad I went to it even though I was swamped with work. That’s what pass/no record is for, right?

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Rearranged Room

Annelise and I wanted to reconfigure our room when we first moved in. Finally, the facilities staff in Simmons helped us do it! Now my bed is lofted by my closet on the right and four drawers and a bookshelf on the left. We have a little sitting area where people can hang out with two chairs and a "table" (really Annelise's plastic box with pretty towl on top). My desk is now under my bed, so I have my own little cubby hole :-). We also moved our fridges to the corner of the room. Now when you walk in it is a very narrow hallway, but then once you get past that it is all bright and large! We are very excited. I put up two Stanford Basketball posters under my bed and an ISEF poster. We also have a Star Wars poster near the front door where my closet was earlier. It looks very nice, and we have a lot more room.

Kaitlyn and Josh enjoying our new setup.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Harry Potter!!!!!!!!!!!!!
















I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Thursday night! In order to do this, I stayed up until 4 on Wednesday finishing psets, but it was sooooo worth it. Most nights I go to bed around 12-1 and wake up 8-8:30, so I'm still getting plenty of sleep.

Ilang, Amanda M, and I took the T to Boston Commons to see the midnight showing. There were Harry Potter fans all around us! (In order to show her spirit, Ilang wore a black pointy hat with the Hogwarts' symbol on it). The movie was very well done and I enjoyed it. Each movie the acting gets better. The director had to cut a ton out from the book, but he kept in the most important things. It was very fast paced, the dialogue was spectacular (very funny and even sexual....which is why it's PG-13), and the visual effects were really cool. And I must say, the guy who played Cedric Diggory is HOT (see for yourself http://imdb.com/gallery/ss/0330373/11r.jpg), truthfully, a lot of the people in the movie are really cute. It's so much fun to see a movie with fans because they clap, scream, "Ohhhh," "Awwww," and a lot of other things through out the whole movie; it just makes it more fun. Unfortunately, we missed the first 5 minutes because the theatre people screwed up the reel, but it was still okay (the crowd was VERY mad about that...). We were shoved into the movie, but once we got into it we all forgot about the blunder. After the movie we took a taxi home and went to bed around 3:30. Luckily I didn't have class until 1 the next day, so I was able to sleep in and finish my chemistry pset.
It was strange seeing a movie on a school night, but this is college, and I got all my work done!













Yesterday I watched Casa Blanca with Amanda M and Annelise, and then we bugged our friend Dan who works at desk. I went to bed around 12:30 to make sure I could be efficient this weekend. Sunday we are going to see the Star Wars Musical, which should be entertaining.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Beauty

Most people do not think MIT is beautiful. Compared to Princeton or Dartmouth, there isn't much competition, but MIT has it's own beauty.

Today I had a meeting with the writing tutor for my HASS class (she has to sit down with every student and talk to them about their paper). The meeting was all the way in E51, which is about 10 minutes past the Great Dome, which means it's about a 20 minute walk from Simmons. At first I was annoyed that I had to walk so far, and I was worried that the weather would turn nasty. It was windy outside but not cold. But as I walked to and from E51 I realized how amazingly beautiful MIT is. The wind swept through my hair and pushed me gently, making me feel like I was flying. The leaves swirled around me, making intricate patterns. The Charles river and the Boston skyline were to one side, the Great Dome to my other. Absolutely gorgeous sight! I felt like I was dreaming.

This is the true MIT, the one most people would look right past and never see. I am so glad I came here, I love this school.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Fall Formal. Dance the night away!

I am writing up a very long post that I will post during Thanksgiving break but to tie people over until then, I will tell you about our Fall formal. We had a three day weekend!

Simmons and a few other dorms put on a very dressy formal dance last weekend. It was a ton of fun! We got to get all dressed up. I asked a sophmore named Gus to the dance. Annelise and Kaitlyn went together since they both have boyfriends (Kaitlyn was the guy, as can be seen with her hat). Amanda and the very tall (6 feet 9 inches!) Adam went together. We all had a great time dancing and talking and getting hyper off of coffee (all the food was gone by the time we arrived and the only free drink besides water was coffee). The hotel where it was held was very ornate and pretty.

After the formal, which ended around 1 am, we went back to Simmons and watched the movie Hackers (hilarious for MIT students, it was very cool). Then we went to bed around 4.... It was an awesome time and I think everyone had fun.










(Left) Gus and I. (Right) The girls all dressed up! (Kaitlyn, me, Amanda, a friend, Annelise in green)

The gang afer putting on some more comfortable clothing.

The next night I watched Fight Club with some people and Ilang came over. That is a really bizarre movie, but very good. Then on Saturday night I watched Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban with Amanda B and our friend Jason. Then we watched music videos, very fun.

It has been a bit stressful the last few weeks, but Im staying sane and looking forward to thanksgiving break.

Enjoy the pics and I will have a HUGE update soon.

And totally separate....HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE COMES OUT THIS THURSDAY....OR RATHER FRIDAY MORNING AND I AM GOING TO THE MIDNIGHT SHOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED!!!!


Monday, November 07, 2005

Haha, updating....yeah

Oh I 'm soooo sorry I haven't updated in a while. I promise next weekend I WILL update! It's a three day weekend so I don't have any excuses. The past few weeks have been very busy for me and when I actually did have free time I completely forgot about my blog.....so yeah, I will update next weekend.