The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon Sometimes, when life at MIT gets too tough, this is what I think of, in all seriousness: Wow in just one more day, I will not have blogged for AN ENTIRE MONTH. tsk tsk. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Truth is, Ive been MEANING to, but I just simply never got around to it! Actually, in the beginning, I had some time to blog but I was likeuhm I dont have any pictures so Ill wait a little bitand then BOOM 5.12 exam BOOM 7.03 exam BOOM getting the results back BOOM sadness and depression BOOM rhetoric paper? BOOM art history essay (granted, this was very enjoyable) DING 14.02 pset! DING ocrap 7.03 pset? BOOM 14.02 exam tooltooltool BOOM 4.601 midterm DONG studystudystudycrystudystudystudy BOOM 5.12 exam#2. (feel free to intersperse POW Japanese quiz BAM Japanese memorization randomly in between) Me : MIT :: Linguini : cookingFor all you bushy-tailed, eager-eyed young beavers out there (hehe, I love the quote, its from Shuai 07 who I met at Stanford this past weekend), 72 units HURT. Do so at your own risk. Parental discretion advised. Mmmm. Anywhoo, thats enough complaining from me, haha MITs still an awesome place. Cmon, no pain = no gain, right? :D (this is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, fifteen percent concentrated power of will, five percent pleasure, and FIFTY PERCENT PAIN) ok. Ill stop being random now. October was a month of fun work, yes, but also fun. iHouse had a retreat with SCRUMPTIOUS food. Listen, if MIT Dining could make this kind of stuff, we wouldnt be having oodles of editorials in the Tech talking about dining problems and most likely the number of restaurants around MIT would decrease like pigeons in the park. We talked a lot about the vision of iHouse and the events that we have planned for the coming year (after all, iHouse is still a really young dorm!) BTW, shameless plug for current students if you want to be involved in iHouse, you can! We invite MIT undergrads to apply to be social members of the house even if you do not have residential membership. As a social member, you are eligible to come to a number of open events that iHouse conducts (such as dinners and certain speaker series) and get to know us better! If you have an interest in global development and iHouse, this is a wonderful way to get involved! And, Autumn came to visit last night, the temperature dropped below the freezing point. I was sad. ='( Last but not least, I travelled with ESP to Stanford last weekend. (I know this is the MIT Admission Blogs, not the Stanford Admission Blogs, but please excuse the following picture =p) (aside about Stanford: Stanford seems to be a huge school in terms of cross-admits with MIT. If you apply to both and get admitted at either, chances are you might get admitted too at the other one. I cant even count how many people I know in the current undergrad population that turned down Stanford during the application cycle) Going to Stanford is not completely all fun and games, although it was an amazing experience. Remember ESP that Ive talked about at some length here? (for those that are just tuning in ESP stands for Educational Studies Program its a completely student-run club/initiative at MIT that aims to provide supplemental educational opportunities to high/middle school students in the Boston area through offering educational programs taught by MIT undergrads) Well, it just so happens that ESP runs this really amazing program called Splash! (plug#2 Splash! is amazing you can teach ANYTHING. ANYTHING you want!). We have 200+ classes registered this year (and were hoping to set a record and break 2,000 students in attendance) w00t! :D Moreover, ESP is actually this really intense and nebulous organization (HAHA this sounds like Tammany Hall or something rest assured we do not conduct voter fraud (not that MA needs any, anyways =p)). ESP goes back AGES we always have alums who had ventured into the dark and foreboding world known as grad school coming back to visit us. Throughout the last year, Ive been involved to some extent in at least 4 ESP programs, but Im still an ESP baby when compared to the breadth of what they did (and are still doing) for ESP! Anywhoo, the point is that some of our alums founded other ESP chapters after they went on to grad school. As of now, UChicago and Stanford also run Splashes (while I believe NYU runs another version of Splash that isnt directly related to ESP). Usually, having ran Splashes for so long and being the founder of Splash!, MIT ESP sends a couple of people to help with set up, logistics, and teach classes when other Splashes start their program. Stanford Splash ran this past weekend, and the chairs graciously allowed me to tag along with them! It was great. Cali was sunny. The students were enthusiastic. Splash ran amazingly well (due to the diligence in preparation of Michael 07 and his enthusiastic team!). Meeting so many MIT people in Stanfords grad school was actually pretty amazing its awesome to be talking about 8.02/5.12 and seeing Brass Rats 2,500 miles away from Boston in a completely non-MIT environment (maybe this is my first ever experience with meeting alums outside of Cambridge? man, roots definitely run DEEP after youve been through MIT). I taught The Art of Money (money yes, money in your pockets but more generally money from all over the world is an amazing way to preserve history and the cultural context of a nation. ive been collecting for 13+ years and still loving it. ask me about it sometime!) and (harhar) Hardcore College Admissions. Twas fun :D Man, I love speaking about college admissions now. Maybe Ill go work for Princeton Review when I graduate ;) (plug#3 Ill be teaching these classes again for MIT Splash happening a month from now! if youre a high school/middle school student that will be dropping by, definitely come for Splash! even if youre not interested in college admissions or money, theres like 198+ more courses you can explore =p) So yuppp. Thats my month, more or less, in a nutshell, if you take away the nights of tooling in deserted locales on MIT campus (I should write an entire blog on this), numerous take-outs ordered after being famished from studying, and punting working with fellow beavers in the wee hours of the morning (like right now). Whats up next in blogs? Remember the whole flood of bloggers posting their essays (and then arguing about them?) Ive actually meant to write a blog on the essay this application season since Ive talked a bit about interviews last year. Actually, aside from the interviews, I believe the application essay is the other significant window into your life and to who you are aside from the numbers and the blanks on your application form. So stay tuned! And I promise to make it yummy too, since Ill be comparing the college essay to froyo! (seriously though, Ive never heard of that term before coming to Boston =p)