Cccrruunncchhh

I figured out today that this week is probably the first crunch week of the semester for me. Two tests throw off the usual rhythm I do my work in and I kinda blew off some work on the weekend. Nothing too bad though, and I'll be in the clear after Friday. Google Calendar helps keep things straight with color coding. The brown stuff is just me trying to plan out when I am going to work on the stuff I need to get done.

Saturdayyy

I finally got to go out into Boston again. It had bee awhile. One of MIT's student groups had planned an indoor rock climbing trip so I tagged along for $5. After a nice ride on the T, walked about a mile to get to the place. Since we were the second group to go, and the logistics had not been planned out, I didn't get to go on a high wall or anything, but I got to do some bouldering on some smaller rocks that poked out at funny angles.


After cramming 18 people into a minivan that seated 8, we got a ride back to the T station while it rained pretty heavily. From there, Megan and I stopped by Haymarket, Boston's huge farmer's market that takes place every Friday and Saturday. You could get 6 peaches, 6 nectarines, 8 oranges, or two packets of strawberries for the price of a dollar. I went for three peaches, three nectarines, and a thing of strawberries for a dollar fifty. I also went for two avacadoes for $1.50, but I'm skeptical about those. I read that as the market goes on the prices and quality both decline, and it had been raining all weekend, so the prices were probably low for a combination of those reasons. But I decided to gamble $3 and ask questions later.

It feels like what I know as November/December weather. But it's only the end of September. The rain doesn't bother me though, no complaints yet.

Feeling Good

Slept in since we had the day off today. Every month MIT has at least one three day weekend (affectionately named Suicide Prevention Mondays). I attended a four year planning seminar and got a rough schedule mapped out for my entire undergraduate education. A senior in course 2 (MechE) helped me out with this, along with some recommendations on teachers and heads up on which classes are hard.

Megan also stopped by from her apple picking trip with the Tech Catholic Community and dropped some off. The effects of the 3 day weekend also spilled over to where I do not have to go to class until 1pm tomorrow. So I'm feeling pretty good right now.

Spanish House Retreat

The good majority of Spanish House loaded into three vans and drove an hour and a half to Cape Cod to spend the night. I don't know exactly where the money came from but it was our first ever house retreat. The place where we stayed was a summer camp, so we got a big two story house filled with a ton of bunks.





We sat around and did some ice-breakers and discussions most of the time. Standard retreat material. Then we went down and walked along the beach. It was sunset, and there were almost no waves since it was in the cape, so it was one of the most serene beaches I've been too.



The night was a bit nippy, and the trees are showing signs of colors other than green. I think the cold is slowly arriving...

¡Comida!

Today was my first day to cook with Josh for Spanish House. I had no idea what I was doing, so I followed Josh's lead, who got some recipes from his mother. We made chicken parmesan with some spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, string beans, and a cool-whip-mixed-with-jello-powder-and-yogurt type of pie. We even made the spaghetti sauce ourselves. The biggest pain was taking the bones out of the 12 pounds of chicken thighs we bought. Things got intense as I was manning three frying pans, breading chicken, and trying not to burn anything while finishing by 6:15. I'd say it turned out pretty well for two freshmen cooking.

Classes

I found myself in a lecture hall filled to the brim with a little less than 500 people at 10am in the morning on my first day of class. Introduction to Biology had an unusually high enrollment this year. Equally as packed were my Intro to Solid State Chem and Multivariable Calculus lectures. Physics was kept down to about forty students in each class.

At the moment I'm taking four technical classes, omitting the usual writing class in order to take chemistry and biology simultaneously. It will probably be a little harder, but fall semester is Pass/No Record so I'll be good as long as I pass. Biology is taught by Eric Lander, who has been working on the Human Genome project for the past twenty years, along with Weinberg, who is also supposed to be a great lecturer. I think we are focusing on genetics. Sadoway teaches Solid State Chem and shows up in a full tailored suit every lecture. My calculus teacher, Aroux, has a french accent. There is something about math professors and foreign countries.

It Begins

After only two and a half months in Massachusetts, I am about to attend my first day of class tomorrow. I have just finished my chemistry reading and am prepared to get 8 hours of sleep, being the model student I am. I'd post which classes I'm taking, but I'm not even too sure what they are yet, I have to straighten out my schedule a little bit.