Are You a Freshman?

So once again I'm slacking with the content... Sorry, readers! I really do love you. But I have been extremely busy the past couple of weeks and for my own personal sanity I took the weekend off from everything and went climbing at the other end of the state. I'm behind on everything from laundry and blogging to making appointments and replacing my cell phone. That said, I now give you day two of my visit to MIT! =)

I woke up and went with Paul to his first class of the day, 8.012 (Physics). I had forgotten how much I actually liked Physics, and I actually understood what was going on during the entire lecture! I was lost on a couple formulas and some of the math, but I knew what was happening. There's no way to describe just how encouraging that was! I might just make it through freshman year after all.

Next stop was the career fair! Wow. I had never been to anything remotely like this before. There were a few hundred booths set up in the Johnson Athletic Center - booths belonging to companies like Google, Firefox, IBM, 3M, General Motors, NVIDIA, etc. (no, Microsoft does not make the list of cool companies that impress me). All these companies were recruiting MIT students, which meant there was an abundance of free stuff! I suppose I wasn't technically allowed to be there at all - owing to the fact that I'm not a student yet - but I never liked following rules anyway.

NOTE: Walk quickly and look like you know what you're doing - you'll be surprised what you can get away with. ;)

My presence prompted some interesting questions, the most common of which was, "Are you a freshman...?" What a simple question, right? Not for me... I must have answered this question (in one form or another) a hundred times during my visit, explaining my deferral of enrollment and trying hard not to induce further questions by mentioning that I'm in the Navy.

All this deferral talk was making me feel a bit estranged, so I was very glad to receive a call from Vicky '12, a fellow defer! She was about to have lunch, so we hurried away from the crowd of companies to join her in the student center. On our way there we met someone who knew Paul (big surprise), so the four of us ate together. Vicky had to get back to work (she interns at InvenTeams), so I walked and talked with her on the way and then started to make my way back to the hotel.

Having never walked through Cambridge before, I had no idea where I was going. While getting un-lost I took this awesome picture of the Boston skyline from the Longfellow Bridge. =)


Once I found my way to the hotel I met Melisa (my acquired mother) for a second round of lunch. We talked about our fun times in Boston so far, and I explained the theory behind my secret plan for hacking the number of hours in a day (it's a secret because I'm still doing the research; as soon as I have a firm grasp on things, I'll tell you all everything). She and Dad were going to a banquet dinner that night, so I went to explore the CambridgeSide Galleria for a few hours (it was just across the street from the hotel).

We all returned to the hotel at about the same time and went down to the hotel restaurant for a late dinner (I ate - they sat with me). I was tired and sleep soon sequestered me, but little did I know that the next day would prove to be the biggest adventure yet...!