Whoops, it's Sunday. I started writing last night but stuff happened and I didn't get back until 4 am. Sorry guys, I'll try writing earlier next time.
This past week felt like just one big festival. It doesn't feel like I'm starting school, and I can't believe that I already have homework. When it's not raining or humid, the weather is just like it is in June, and seems to scream "SUMMER BREAK!"
On Wednesday, I had my first day of classes. It was perhaps the best first day of school because I only had one class: 7.012, Intro Biology with Eric Lander. (Eric Lander was one of the leading figures in the Human Genome Project and is famously the one of the best (intro (bio)) teachers at MIT.) This is the kind of class that I've always wanted to take in school. From what I've heard, there is minimal memorization and a lot of problem solving, and based on Lander's first lecture, I know this will be bio unlike anything before. In 7.012, there is nothing on organisms, ecology, or the biosphere, and instead we will be looking at the lower levels of organization because "the secret of life lies at that level." I'm super excited to see what comes in future lectures.
My other basic courses, 8.01 (Physics 1) and 18.02 (Multivariable Calc), seem a bit bland in comparison, but they will probably pick up once we're past some of the review bits. I'm still looking forward to Science Communication, but we haven't had class yet.
The big reason why last week felt like a festival was because of rush. Everything was so much fun, and my opinion of Greek life completely changed. I spent a lot of time at one frat in particular - Alpha Delta Phi - and I think I'm going to pledge. Besides all of the awesome events, like the steak and lobster dinner, indoor skydiving, pirate battle on the Charles, and underground capture the flag, the people I met were all so interesting and friendly. One other thing that makes this one frat in particular extra awesome is that it's really close to a Tootsie Roll factory. As you walk past no the way to the main campus, there's this intense aroma of chocolate along the block. Maybe if I peer in, I'll see some Oompa Loompas working.
One concern I have now is how to balance my time. I really want to spend time with the people here at East Campus as well as at ADP, and I also want to play music and join clubs and do research and sleep. I'm so glad that MIT has pass/no record first semester, and I hope I can take advantage of it without going too far.
Raku
Bio sounds fun, is that a requirement for your major? Also, I'm interested as to what exactly your major entails. My question probably requires too much of a response to fully grasp the major such as all its required classes, however to encourage you to write a blog post about it would be foolish as I suspect only I (or Rich) would possibly enjoy hearing about it. So guess I'll just talk to you about it later via gchat or something.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm SOOOOOO excited you are getting into greek life. It's definitely been the best decision I've made in college and I hope this holds true for you to if you choose to join. Question, is Menghsuan in that as well? Or is he in a different frat?
I'm sure you will manage everything. And by that I mean you will realize that there simply is not enough time in the day to do everything. And you'll learn that one way or another, but by having pass/not pass the first semester MIT is doing you quite a big favor. So by having that great advantage I'm sure you'll do fine. Besides, you're Kaku Watars. I hope all is well. Talk to you soon.
Jason
P.S. I have a MIT reference for my next post. I think you'll enjoy it. I think others won't enjoy it as much. Oh well.
Sugar cakes.
ReplyDeleteI meant "too"
I'm not grammatically challenged after only a year from humanities courses.
Cole would probably disagree.
Agreed about Jason's assertion that there are not enough hours in the day to do what you want.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for that gap year post. :P
"indoor skydiving, pirate battle on the Charles, and underground capture the flag"
ReplyDeleteWHAT? HOW DOES THAT EVEN -- WAIT, WHAT!? KAKU WATARS!
I don't know if anyone is still looking at the comments here, but I'll answer some stuff. Sorry for the delay; I finally finished my homework and have some free time to write.
ReplyDelete@Jason: Bio is a requirement for everyone who passes through the institution, and this semester, 806 students are enrolled in the class. It's so big that they have to use the two biggest lecture halls and livestream the lecture in one of them. I'm not really sure about what the requirements for Materials are, but I'll let you know if I decide to do it.
This frat is really awesome, and I pledged on Sunday after posting. Menghsuan is in ZBT, a frat all the way across the river.
@Rachel: Gap year post should happen. The probability it will happen in any given week is directly proportional to hours of sleep and inversely related to hours of stuff going on in the next few weeks. I assure you it will happen though.
@Derek: Indoor skydiving: we float in a giant vertical wind tunnel and try not to crash into the side. Unfortunately, the store didn't let us take pictures and the ones they took were $15 each. Maybe I'll go real skydiving sometime.
Pirate battle: Take 3 sailboats filled to twice their comfortable capacity, arm the freshmen with water guns, and go! (Optional: board another boat as it passes by.)
Underground Capture the Flag: Use the main campus as one giant capture the flag field. Move through the ground floor, second floor, or underground tunnels. Use cell phones to communicate. Be sneaky and don't let the other team find you!
I read them! Also, one of our rush events was a campus-wide capture the flag game. Woot woot.
ReplyDeleteI definitely don't read them.
ReplyDelete