REX: Choosing a Dorm

I’m finally back at MIT! I miss my parents but I’m very glad to see my friends again. Annelise and I have had a lot of fun planning our room and figuring out where to put our furniture (I ordered a rug, a little table, and a fridge before I came back, that’s how excited I was!). The past week has been very very busy, since it was Residential Exploration for the freshman. In order for me to come back to MIT early (school starts on September 6^th), I had to help out with REX. Gus is in charge of it along with his friend Nunu, so it really wasn’t a bad thing :-).

MIT is unique compared to other colleges because they give you a lot of control over where you live. Each dorm is very different, so you should look around thoroughly. Before arriving at MIT, the frosh receive information about all the different dorms and they rank all of them in order of preference. During part of orientation, they are put in a “temp” dorm (based on their preferences and a lottery that is held). REX started last Friday and ended this Wednesday. During orientation/REX, there are a lot of activities that each dorm puts on. This allows freshman to go around the dorms and decide where they would feel most comfortable. If they do not want to stay in their temp dorm, they have to enter a second lottery (the same as the first lottery) to determine their dormitory. Most people get one of their tops choices. Yesterday Simmons’ residents found out their permanent room assignments. Within Simmons, we also have another preference sheet so the freshman have as much control as possible over what room they get. On the preference sheet you have to rank in order of importance to you: curvy vs. straight walls, size of room, Cambridge side or Boston side, which floor, etc. You can also choose a roommate, but if you don’t have anyone to room with you can fill out a roommate preference sheet too.

Here are the activities we did last week for the freshman:

FRIDAY:
-In the morning, we greeted freshman at the entrance to Simmons, there were donuts!
- We took some frosh out to dinner. My group went to Royal East, a Chinese restaurant.

SATURDAY:
- In the morning, we greeted freshman at the entrance to Simmons
-We had a barbeque outside for lunch and there was a water slide (I got all wet because Gus threw me in it :-).
-There was a Star Wars movie marathon that lasted until about 4 in the morning. We started at 8:00 with episodes IV, V, and VI. Our plan was to watch Episodes I, II, and III after that but I guess people went to sleep after Episode I.

SUNDAY:
-The housemasters served brunch to freshman
-We tie-dyed boxers, thongs, and t-shirts in the afternoon
-We gave tours of Simmons to parents and freshman
-There was a water war between East and West Campus, but it was raining so I don’t think many people went.
-Fluorescent party (including a DJ and glow in the dark stuff!) and capture the flag in Simmons at night
-We served waffles at midnight along with ice cream and other goodies (mmmm soooo yummy!)

MONDAY:
-We went paint balling, it was awesome!

TUESDAY:
-We invited the freshman to do a 3.5 mile run along the river at 7:00 in the morning :-)

WEDNESDAY:
-Freshman know what dormitory they are staying in
-Simmons orientation, freshman met the different GRTs

THURSDAY:
-Simmons Mystery Hunt (puzzle solving competition!)

I had a lot of fun meeting the freshman and helping out with the events (I did almost all of them!). It was stressful at times but definitely worth it. We had a great REX this year thanks to all the Early Returns and Gus and Nunu!

Minor Planets and Huge Telescopes

Before I left for MIT (which was on the 23^rd of August), my family planned a surprise for me. One of the science competitions I went to actually named “minor planets” after all the participants. A minor planet is similar to an asteroid. If you put “amberhess” in Google it will actually come right up. http://www.ll.mit.edu/LINEAR/winners_2005.html My “minor planet” is number 21431. Here’s some more information about minor planets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_planet

There is a place called “MIRA” (Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy) near where I live. We drove up to the top of a mountain to visit the telescope they have there! It was so cool! The view was spectacular (the sunset was gorgeous), the telescope was huge, and I got to see my minor planet! I don’t have any pictures of the planet right now, but I should be getting some soon. When I do, I’ll post them!

In order to find “amberhess” we took multiple pictures using the telescope of the place we knew it should be. Since the other stars/galaxies and planets have such a larger orbit, they appear to be standing still. My asteroid orbits around the sun, and so the asteroid moves quite a bit in just a few minutes. So the bright dot that moves a bit from one picture to the next was my minor planet! Luckily there were not other asteroids in the area we photographed.

It was a very memorable experience and I thank my family and the researchers at MIRA for making it possible.

Sea Turtles and Beaches Galore!

Going to Maui was a very relaxing vacation. It was a great end to the summer, and now I feel rested and very excited to go back to MIT. While snorkeling, we saw a lot of brightly colored fish and even sea turtles! The turtles were really cool, and they are huge! They can weigh up to 300 pounds! They go down among the rocks to have fish clean off the algae on their bodies and when they come up for air, they surface right next to you! We also went surfing (very small waves, since we are beginners). It actually is not very hard to stand up on a board. The beginners have much larger boards than advanced surfers (you should be able to use physics and/or common sense to figure out why :-).

I read quite a lot while I was in Maui. I finished George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows (Book Four of A Song of Ice and Fire series). This one wasn’t as good as the last few (not a whole lot actually happens), but he still has a few more books coming out so hopefully they will be better. I also read Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment, which was quite amusing. It’s a great book to pick up if you want to read something that has depth, but is also rather silly. I laughed out loud a few times while reading it. At the same time though, Pratchett uses the humor to point out important issues about war, sexism, and everyday life in general. I’ve also been reading Democracy in the United States: Promise and Performance by Robert A. Dahl. It is a fascinating account of how the constitution was formed, and its effects today. Although the people who wrote the constitution were not almighty and no where near perfect, their insight into democracy was certainly unique, and the proof of that still stands today. No democracy had ever been placed over such a large area as the United States, and many democracies fail in general. I just find it so amazing that our constitution is still here, and hardly altered.

Hmmm….I have diverged a lot from my main topic. So back to Maui :-). We also ate REALLY good food while there. I had so much fish and pineapple! Soooo delicious. I think I was full every single night. And of course I can’t forget about the wonderful smoothies! One day we took a trip to Lahaina, a shopping area with tons of stores. My mom and I went through some of the more touristy stores and got pretty dresses. I got a mouse pad from David and Goliath (The Stupid Factory), a rather interesting store that has lots of random things to buy. My mouse pad says “How do you do this thing on?!” and it has a girl with pigtails holding pompoms. Since I go to MIT and I am relatively good at using computers it was rather amusing. I am a little tanner, but not very much (30 spf is not the best thing to tan with….), and I am now sufficiently relaxed.

I have so many things to do before I leave for MIT though, so it’s time for me to start packing! I leave on the 23^rd!

Maui!

I finished my job at Agilent about a week ago. It was a great experience; I learned a lot about the working world and about biochemistry (more details on this later!).

Right now I am packing for a trip to go to Maui with my parents! I'm very excited! I can't wait to relax, read a lot, listen to my ipod, and sit by the pool. We're going to swim and surf and snorkel (such a strange word)!

It's so crazy that I only have about three weeks until I go back to MIT. I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer so far.

I will do more updates when I get back (which will be on the 14th), including lots of pictures!

PLEASE POST COMMENTS on my blog! I like it when people leave notes or suggestions. So far no one is posting anything except for Gus :-(.