Showing posts with label missing MIT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label missing MIT. Show all posts
Monday, April 5, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
I want to go to SCHOOL ...
... not a massive 9-month boarding school party that Cambridge is turning out to be.
Friday, November 27, 2009
CME Thanksgiving Dinner
Thanksgiving 2009 celebrated in the UK.
Irony.
"Hey guys, let's celebrate this holiday in the country from which we fled!"
Thursday rolls around, and here I am, like any other day, sitting in hall, chatting with Richard about how his history exams work at the end of third year, with my bookbag, about to run off to another lecture .. and I realize -- OH HEY the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is airing on TV right now in the states!!! And everyone in the US is at home, with their family, watching the Macy's Parade, maybe already starting to prepare their massive Thanksgiving dinner, playing holiday music throughout their house, basting the turkey, boiling the potatoes ....
Last year, Thanksgiving consisted of things like this (reso retreat Thanksgiving dinner):
[turkey prepping all day]
[mashed potatoes in the making]
[Reso family dinner]
Needless to say, the lack of holiday spirit in England was a bit disappointing. But the CME program put on a Thanksgiving dinner for current exchanges and CME alumni to recreate the festive atmosphere we would've been surrounded by back at home ... King's hall, MIT friends, old CMEers ... much needed gathering to make up for the lack of holiday warmth all our MIT friends were enjoying during their break, and the countless Facebook statuses of "Turkey!!!" or "home <3" or "mm, wonder how much I'm going to gain from Thanksgiving dinner at home" ...
11/26/09
[Serving proper American Thanksgiving turkey!]
[CME Thanksgiving in King's Hall]
[proper turkey, potatoes, and cranberry sauce!]
[PUMPKIN PIE yummm]
[Home away from home - Alyssa, Kathleen, Caroline, me, Arjun]
[Recreation of Thanksgiving family dinner :)]
[Joe, Jon, me, Caroline, Rachel]
--------------------------------------
11/28/09
Had a CME Thanksgiving shindig two nights after the CME dinner. Organized it to be at one of King's dorms that has full kitchens, in anticipation of making turkey and other delightfully American foods. ... we ended up having a ton of store-bought desserts and some random foods, but still, it was good to see everyone again!
Halfway through, Spalding hostel's fire alarm went off -- and everyone basically thought, "Oh Arjun!" while Arjun (who was in the kitchen making tacos) thought "great, I bet everyone thinks it was me ..." haha. Turns out, someone on the other end of the hall had set something burning in an oven or toaster or something, so we all just chilled outside for a while in the drizzling rain. 15 minutes or so of Cambridge fire truck-ness, we all filed back in, at which point the entire population of Spalding residents had flooded into our potluck room and were questioningly standing around wondering whose food all of it was/whether they could partake. So, we ended up having a massive Thanksgiving conglomerate of snacking ... way to go, TGDinner v2.0!
[Thanksgiving potluck]
[waiting to go back inside]
[Dina, me, Alyssa, Elijah]
[self-serve]
[Thanksgiving 2009]
Irony.
"Hey guys, let's celebrate this holiday in the country from which we fled!"
Thursday rolls around, and here I am, like any other day, sitting in hall, chatting with Richard about how his history exams work at the end of third year, with my bookbag, about to run off to another lecture .. and I realize -- OH HEY the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade is airing on TV right now in the states!!! And everyone in the US is at home, with their family, watching the Macy's Parade, maybe already starting to prepare their massive Thanksgiving dinner, playing holiday music throughout their house, basting the turkey, boiling the potatoes ....
Last year, Thanksgiving consisted of things like this (reso retreat Thanksgiving dinner):
[turkey prepping all day]
[mashed potatoes in the making]
[Reso family dinner]
Needless to say, the lack of holiday spirit in England was a bit disappointing. But the CME program put on a Thanksgiving dinner for current exchanges and CME alumni to recreate the festive atmosphere we would've been surrounded by back at home ... King's hall, MIT friends, old CMEers ... much needed gathering to make up for the lack of holiday warmth all our MIT friends were enjoying during their break, and the countless Facebook statuses of "Turkey!!!" or "home <3" or "mm, wonder how much I'm going to gain from Thanksgiving dinner at home" ...
11/26/09
[Serving proper American Thanksgiving turkey!]
[CME Thanksgiving in King's Hall]
[proper turkey, potatoes, and cranberry sauce!]
[PUMPKIN PIE yummm]
[Home away from home - Alyssa, Kathleen, Caroline, me, Arjun]
[Recreation of Thanksgiving family dinner :)]
[Joe, Jon, me, Caroline, Rachel]
--------------------------------------
11/28/09
Had a CME Thanksgiving shindig two nights after the CME dinner. Organized it to be at one of King's dorms that has full kitchens, in anticipation of making turkey and other delightfully American foods. ... we ended up having a ton of store-bought desserts and some random foods, but still, it was good to see everyone again!
Halfway through, Spalding hostel's fire alarm went off -- and everyone basically thought, "Oh Arjun!" while Arjun (who was in the kitchen making tacos) thought "great, I bet everyone thinks it was me ..." haha. Turns out, someone on the other end of the hall had set something burning in an oven or toaster or something, so we all just chilled outside for a while in the drizzling rain. 15 minutes or so of Cambridge fire truck-ness, we all filed back in, at which point the entire population of Spalding residents had flooded into our potluck room and were questioningly standing around wondering whose food all of it was/whether they could partake. So, we ended up having a massive Thanksgiving conglomerate of snacking ... way to go, TGDinner v2.0!
[Thanksgiving potluck]
[waiting to go back inside]
[Dina, me, Alyssa, Elijah]
[self-serve]
[Thanksgiving 2009]
Sunday, November 8, 2009
I love ...
... Cambridge friends.
And I'm beginning to get into the swing of life here.
<3
As much as the first few weeks found me incredibly homesick and quite depressed (like, actual depression) about this place, I'm beginning to get into the groove. And it's thanks to the awesome people :)
And I'm beginning to get into the swing of life here.
<3
As much as the first few weeks found me incredibly homesick and quite depressed (like, actual depression) about this place, I'm beginning to get into the groove. And it's thanks to the awesome people :)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
WTFTPCIAU?
This school's system IS SO IDIOTIC. UGH. It just goes against all logic. And against everything a "university" should be. I mean, this place is alright. But this school ... hate it.
WTFTPCIAU. The new IHTFP, except it doesn't have a brilliantly extreme positive connotation.
anecdote 1: I do my lab for 3C7 and afterward ask the lab instructor for his email "in case I have any questions" (about what we did, or while writing up the report/analyzing the results/learning). His response: "well, I'm not really supposed to help you ..."
I don't have his email.
(I still can't believe this actually happened.)
anecdote 2: The lab instructors for my other lab left the lab after the 2-hour designated "slot" time. No staying after for answering any questions we might have, anything we might be confused about ... and never, ever, ever would you see here TAs who stay until 4am helping undergrads understand a lab that started at 9pm. Don't even think about it. (Granted, I'm not asking for that, I simply want to finish hearing your input past the 1pm-sharp mark.)
anecdote 3: Every college has a download/upload bandwidth limit. It's like 3GB a day. SERIOUSLY?!?! Are we still living in the 13th century when Cambridge was born? Hello people. I had to reinstall MATLAB last night, so I downloaded the 1.8GB installer and received a "caution: approaching bandwidth limit" email (at which point my internet connection may be severed -- and yes, they can do that here because "wireless" is a foreign and innovative concept here).
WTF, (seriously?) this place calls itself a university?
WTFTPCIAU. The new IHTFP, except it doesn't have a brilliantly extreme positive connotation.
anecdote 1: I do my lab for 3C7 and afterward ask the lab instructor for his email "in case I have any questions" (about what we did, or while writing up the report/analyzing the results/learning). His response: "well, I'm not really supposed to help you ..."
I don't have his email.
(I still can't believe this actually happened.)
anecdote 2: The lab instructors for my other lab left the lab after the 2-hour designated "slot" time. No staying after for answering any questions we might have, anything we might be confused about ... and never, ever, ever would you see here TAs who stay until 4am helping undergrads understand a lab that started at 9pm. Don't even think about it. (Granted, I'm not asking for that, I simply want to finish hearing your input past the 1pm-sharp mark.)
anecdote 3: Every college has a download/upload bandwidth limit. It's like 3GB a day. SERIOUSLY?!?! Are we still living in the 13th century when Cambridge was born? Hello people. I had to reinstall MATLAB last night, so I downloaded the 1.8GB installer and received a "caution: approaching bandwidth limit" email (at which point my internet connection may be severed -- and yes, they can do that here because "wireless" is a foreign and innovative concept here).
WTF, (seriously?) this place calls itself a university?
Sunday, November 1, 2009
American Breakfast
10/24/2009
For breakfast, every college dining hall, restaurant, and cafe/shop in Cambridge serves:
- Sausages (big, chunky ones)
- Toasted bread
- Baked beans
- Poached or scrambled eggs
- Tomatoes
- Mushrooms
[Standard English breakfast]
I got talkin' to an Englishman about what American breakfast entails, and harped on the fact everything in an English breakfast is salty and/or neutral-flavored. Nothing sweet. No fruit, no pancakes, no french toast. No bacon. So ... on a whim, I emailed out and got a bunch of people together for American Brunch Saturday.
[Colin and Denys cooking bacon + french toast]
[French toast and American bacon that Colin somehow acquired]
[French toast with syrup, powdered sugar, fruit ...]
[Breakfast underway]
[Buffet-style breakfast]
[Good ol' fashioned American french toast.]
[Colin, Carrie, Alex, Isaac, Arjun, Phil, and Caroline]
With the help of everyone bringing ingredients potluck-style, we got a huge breakfast and lots of satisfied appetites. Sweet success! Literally.
For breakfast, every college dining hall, restaurant, and cafe/shop in Cambridge serves:
- Sausages (big, chunky ones)
- Toasted bread
- Baked beans
- Poached or scrambled eggs
- Tomatoes
- Mushrooms
[Standard English breakfast]
I got talkin' to an Englishman about what American breakfast entails, and harped on the fact everything in an English breakfast is salty and/or neutral-flavored. Nothing sweet. No fruit, no pancakes, no french toast. No bacon. So ... on a whim, I emailed out and got a bunch of people together for American Brunch Saturday.
[Colin and Denys cooking bacon + french toast]
[French toast and American bacon that Colin somehow acquired]
[French toast with syrup, powdered sugar, fruit ...]
[Breakfast underway]
[Buffet-style breakfast]
[Good ol' fashioned American french toast.]
[Colin, Carrie, Alex, Isaac, Arjun, Phil, and Caroline]
With the help of everyone bringing ingredients potluck-style, we got a huge breakfast and lots of satisfied appetites. Sweet success! Literally.
First Week Updates
10/10/2009
Had a bit of a CME gathering in my room the second weekend into term just to see how everyone was doing.
Besides being really "Whoa Freshers Week" about Cambridge, we basically just all got to hear how everyone's college was, their rooms, etc. etc. Twas a good time, and made good use of my HUGE ROOM!
[Just getting started]
[Isaac and Colin: weird onion flavored chips that were shaped like claws ...]
[Muriel and Caroline]
[Jon and Caroline: CRISPS! not "chips."]
[Cambridge-MIT Exchange '09-'10]
--------------------
10/15/2009
Went to Gonville & Caius's formal hall with Caroline, Alyssa, and Alex
Each college at Cambridge has both formal and informal halls, but different schedules depending on which college. The style/dress code is also different; for example, for the colleges that have them weekly or bi-weekly, students may dress up more fancily and the meal may be more extravagant. Gonville & Caius has informal hall at 6pm every day followed by 7pm formal hall. King's has formal hall only once a week.
Informal hall: regular canteen-style food, sit wherever you want
Formal hall: either dressed up or wearing gowns (latter requirement for Caius) unless you're a guest
3-course meal, wine, gowns, guest ticket ... £6 meal
[Caius dining hall]
[Me, Caroline, Alyssa - MIT '11s]
Had a bit of a CME gathering in my room the second weekend into term just to see how everyone was doing.
Besides being really "Whoa Freshers Week" about Cambridge, we basically just all got to hear how everyone's college was, their rooms, etc. etc. Twas a good time, and made good use of my HUGE ROOM!
[Just getting started]
[Isaac and Colin: weird onion flavored chips that were shaped like claws ...]
[Muriel and Caroline]
[Jon and Caroline: CRISPS! not "chips."]
[Cambridge-MIT Exchange '09-'10]
--------------------
10/15/2009
Went to Gonville & Caius's formal hall with Caroline, Alyssa, and Alex
Each college at Cambridge has both formal and informal halls, but different schedules depending on which college. The style/dress code is also different; for example, for the colleges that have them weekly or bi-weekly, students may dress up more fancily and the meal may be more extravagant. Gonville & Caius has informal hall at 6pm every day followed by 7pm formal hall. King's has formal hall only once a week.
Informal hall: regular canteen-style food, sit wherever you want
Formal hall: either dressed up or wearing gowns (latter requirement for Caius) unless you're a guest
3-course meal, wine, gowns, guest ticket ... £6 meal
[Caius dining hall]
[Me, Caroline, Alyssa - MIT '11s]
Friday, October 30, 2009
Cambridge Fall
Yesterday I went to my supervision for 3F1. It was at the fellow's house out in West Cambridge.
So I biked out there and back - about 10 minutes each way. We passed various sports fields, little rural houses, the University library, and countless trees/bridges/parks.
It was beautiful. Finally, a redeeming factor of this place. It's not a city, but it's got its nice, compact, chill and rural areas of narrow streets, standing mailboxes, and cottage houses. 4pm, under a calmly setting orange/pink sun, biking down the street past house after house, notes in a messenger bag hung across my shoulder, fall jacket loosely wrapped around, all as a Cambridge University student ... it was one of those happy moments that every once in a while amidst my homesickness for MIT give me hope that this place has its gems to be discovered.
:)
So I biked out there and back - about 10 minutes each way. We passed various sports fields, little rural houses, the University library, and countless trees/bridges/parks.
It was beautiful. Finally, a redeeming factor of this place. It's not a city, but it's got its nice, compact, chill and rural areas of narrow streets, standing mailboxes, and cottage houses. 4pm, under a calmly setting orange/pink sun, biking down the street past house after house, notes in a messenger bag hung across my shoulder, fall jacket loosely wrapped around, all as a Cambridge University student ... it was one of those happy moments that every once in a while amidst my homesickness for MIT give me hope that this place has its gems to be discovered.
:)
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
I want snow too ...
It is snowing in Cambridge, MA.
The explosion on my Facebook home page of statuses like
"Snow!!"
"omg it's snowing in October?!"
"snow in Boston!"
"snooowwwwww"
"it's snowing!"
"SNOW SNOW SNOW."
etc.
makes me so jealous.
I wish it would snow in this Cambridge, too ...
The explosion on my Facebook home page of statuses like
"Snow!!"
"omg it's snowing in October?!"
"snow in Boston!"
"snooowwwwww"
"it's snowing!"
"SNOW SNOW SNOW."
etc.
makes me so jealous.
I wish it would snow in this Cambridge, too ...
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sign of a ridiculous hangover: light of laptop screen hurts to look at. oouuuch. -LB
doesn't remember anything after the port -JDF
I wish we had guitar hero in the library. -NH
You know Monday night was bad when you have a hangover Wednesday morning -PW
is too drunk to go to a supervision
is practising using his gown
really can't be bothered to go to his supervision
The hardest part of Cambridge is having to put on cufflinks every week
Plan for tonight; Formal, back up to room for a homemade southend special, cocktails at the union then on to Emma (wednesday)
is an exhausted, hungover mess, but SO excited about tonight! [another formal] -JDF
is well chuffed with the discovery of her wonderful array of drunken facial expressions -HB
loves the fact that she got wrecked last night but still made it to lectures and labs, while her mother drank a few too many bacardis with her mate and, as a result, is wagging work.
5:46am. Did Tiananmen make the Chinese intellectual community more independent and vocal? Joseph Fewsmith says 'no', Xu Youyu says 'yes'. -JDF
Entered the library at 7.30pm... it's now 5.30am and I've nearly finished the introduction. I'm the Usain Bolt of essay writing. -KK
Working from bed with mint tea and Yemen books. Lovely. -LL
post-ball motivation fail.
To remove the HAMMER & SICKLE FLAG or not. This is the subject of tonight's controversial OPEN MEETING. Come speak at 6pm tonight!
rihanna.rwanda.coffee.
music, food, alcohol and friends - it's like the fun of a nightclub but in the warmth and comfort of King's library :) -MM
is an exhausted, hungover mess, but SO excited about tonight!
£5... 13 glasses of wine... can't be bad.
has been in the library for nearly 4 hours, and is only just starting her work.. -NH
[MIT Facebook statuses]
I just downloaded 3 gb in 3 minutes on the MIT network :) -JL
gallons of coffee and 12+ hours of various labwork to do? must be friday! -SF
So, maybe my grad student and I get a little overexcited about dorky things. but in our defense, that interface, and those grain boundaries, were absolutely gorgeous. mmm.
3 exams and 4 psets in one week? Really? -SW
haha! The dude that invented the happy meal and the cabbage patch doll (as well as pop rocks) wants to talk to me about Electroplushies. Hilarious! -MS
downloading at 5 Mb/s via wi-fi. Mmmmmmm.
wants better a better metadata UI than _KB.txt files. -KH
got into 24.900 and CMS.100 and has a UROP in CVCL! Which means that he'll be dropping 4.351
feels surprisingly prepared for doomsday tomorrow. Bring it on. -VH
bounce like ya got hydraulics in yo' g-string? hahahaha. -MYL
just found out that laundry view only works for the building you're actually in... I was trying to see if anyone was doing laundry in BC right now. -KB
excerpt from the BEST DESK CALL EVER guy: Can you connect me to the science department? me: This is a dorm, I don't really know how to do that. MIT has multiple science departments, so you'd need to call the main number and be more specific. guy: I was calling to settle a bet between me and my stepdaughter. We wanted to know if the moon is a planet or not. -EJ
is trapped in an infinite potential well. (it's like The Ring, but with more sine functions.) -SF
Op-amps are my new favorite circuit element... especially when they look like little insects. (They even look adorable in circuit diagrams.)
I've finally reached the point where it takes me much longer to format something in Word than it does when I just use Latex. Another questionable MIT milestone.
Dear fluids class - you have made me confuse upper case gamma with the capital letter F. Now the notes from all of my classes are super hard to decipher. -VH
all I want for Christmas is a stream function.
will have time for basic human needs at the end of the week.
is a sine wave for Purim! -DB
spent 3 hours figuring out android virtual machines instead of doing computation theory work. well, at least now today's refactoring nightmare is resolved....