Tuesday, July 24, 2007;
I'm not ever be gonna able to put down everything that has happened to me, everything ive experienced here. There'll just be too much to write and words would just feel inadequate. These experiences would be imprinted in my memories and captured in the stories I have to tell.
Anyways, apart from the slight melacholy, here's a list of things I've encountered / experienced / learnt / did in the past 4 weeks. Gee, boy does time fly past fast.
15 Happenings:
1) Visited the birthplace of Scientology
2) Had the best ice cream ive ever had at J.P. Licks (maple butter walnut)
3) Jogged along the beautiful Charles' River
4) Went to a huge candy store along Newbury St.
5) Taken a picture lying down on the bridge between a smoot (unit of measurement)
6) Learnt how to calculate logarithms (base 10) mentally
7) Went to the Museum of Science
8) Strolled down Boston public garden
9) Eaten a quesadilla
10) Overslept my nap and missed an evening lecture
11) Clocked 3 hours in the lab (today)
12) Play pool almost daily
13) Hiked at the White Mountains in New Hampshire
14) Wrote a paper in linux using emacs
15) Played soccer, yes, played soccer in fair America
Great times apart, the workload sure aint light, with the first draft of the final paper due this saturday and the final copy on monday. Besides these there are things called milestone papers which are pretty much intermediates to the final paper. All these has of course equated to late nights over here (of course fun has and will never be sacrificed). Slept at 3 much of the past week. :/
Finally, I can say that I have lived overseas independantly. Eat, sleep, work, fun, throw that all in. And the fact that there isnt really a hard programme here at RSI means that much of your time is how you choose to spend it. In other words, just live your own life and hopefully produce something at the end of the summer.
For those who might be considering studying overseas and wondering how life would be like, whether it'll be difficult and all, trust me in this. The chance to live overseas is an amazing opportunity. Of course it'll be pretty different initially, but what you get out of it, greater independance, broadened perspectives, heightened exposure, all adds up to a truly wonderful time. To put it simply, if the opportunity arises, jump on it!
Justin,
Living abroad.
12:26 PM
Sunday, July 08, 2007;
Mentorships have started and its gonna pretty well so far i must say! My mentor happens to be my tutor who was from RSI '02. Its pretty cool cos he's quite familiar with science fair kinda stuff and he's been to intel. Sorta equates to him understanding that you have to get a good paper for science fairs. Which is great!
Anyways, the average day is this. My supervisor, fellow lab partner and myself leave simmons at bout 10. We grab breakfast on the way to lab and get it done before we're there. Lunch aint fixed and its pretty crazy. Its been 1 for some days, but there was a day we went at 4. :/ The three of us usually scoot off at bout 530. Takeaway something for dinner on the way back and on some days there'll be evening lectures at bout 715. After it ends we get some free time till debrief at bout 1030. And after this is where the fun starts. Things like capture the flag and chairing usually starts at bout 12 and go on for a bit. Really awesome. Went chairing just yesterday. It was amazing. Couple of little collisons here and there but the adrenaline rush from sliding down a long inclined tunnel whilst seated on a chair with no brakes and only acceleration is just crazy.
Thats all for today, gotta start work on some paper now!
Justin,
Gone chairing!
7:50 AM
Wednesday, July 04, 2007;
Tech Cash.
Okay, so now, or rather since the beginning, we have this debit card thing that allows us to purchase stuff on campus. Its meant to cover your food and various groceries. Trouble is, the food variety is so limited that you dont have much of a choice anyway.
8:02 PM
Tuesday, July 03, 2007;
The 4th is coming soon over here. Gonna be pretty cool!
I did not eat subway today. (Not to say that it was much better)
Mentorship's within the MIT campus itself, bout 15 mins walk from the dorm. Pretty good, cos traveling wouldnt be a hassle at all. Downside is, I get no allowance and im stuck with the same couple of shops. :/ Haha. Ill still choose to have it within campus though. :]
Short post for today.
11:38 AM
Monday, July 02, 2007;
This is the life.
10:23 AM
Sunday, July 01, 2007;
The first weekend is here and yeap, we're out around town. Went to quincy market today. Pretty cool place with lil' shops here and there and managed to grab a couple of nice stuff. Im gonna vow to myself that ill stay away from subway sandwitches once im back in singapore. Cos thing is, there aint pretty much to eat around here with my dining card. ie, subway's pretty much the only choice besides the supermarket. That has sorta equated to me eating subway sandwitches for dinner for bout the past week. :/ 5 more weeks to go justin.. Haha.
Anyways, we happened to run into He Ruijie over here at MIT. So he's prob gonna take us out sometime soon. Hopefully tmr. Coolios! Looking forward to it. :]
Justin
Stuck with subs
11:15 AM