So Many Exams, So Little Time

            Maybe I should just start doing biweekly blogs... it seems like I’d be more likely to be on schedule then. :P I’ve obviously missed a few weeks... so this post is mostly a recap of those few weeks and why I’ve missed them. Nothing super exciting, but it’s yet another crazy week coming up, so there’s not much I can do to give you exciting, unfortunately.

            Let’s start with the reason I’ve missed a couple of weeks. In what has been both a blessing and a curse, I only have one week with multiple exams this semester. While this might seem wonderful initially, it has a dark side that you might not guess at first- I have one exam, quiz, or project due date every week, with the exception of the weeks of our campus preview weekend (when I’ll be busy anyway, shepherding prefrosh around and showing them why MIT is the best place ever) and the week of Easter, which also happens to be the week of the Boston Marathon this year. Aside from those two weeks in a 12-ish week semester, I’m continuously being evaluated on how I’ve been doing in classes. Which is always fun, of course. And it’s even better in college than in high school, let me tell you. Night exams are totally my favorite thing (I’m being entirely sarcastic here, in case that wasn’t clear... it’s surprisingly difficult to focus on taking an exam when you’ve already had dinner and are in homework-doing-slash-chilling-a-bit mode).

            The constant go-go-go is great, until you realize that you’re mildly exhausted and decide that something has to give. Unfortunately, the thing that I’ve dropped for the past few weeks has been writing a blog post... which is sub-optimal, I know... but at some point sleep is more or less necessary. And honestly, when I say more or less I mean very... sleep is extremely necessary. I do far too little of it already, as is probably true for the majority of MIT and/or college students. Siblings, if you’re reading this, the single best thing you can do when you go to college is sleep enough. If you get less than six straight hours a night, your ability to process and remember information decreases (science facts... I’m not just making up numbers). And let me tell you, things move quickly enough in class these days that that whole remembering thing? It’s rather important. Okay. End rant. But the point is: sleep. It’s critical.

            Not too many exciting things have happened over the past couple of weeks, unfortunately. We had a brief period of almost-spring where I almost abandoned my winter coat for a lighter jacket. This was quickly brought to a halt by another quarter inch of snow though... Boston weather is actually ridiculous. (This week we’ll have a day with highs in the 20’s, and then another day later in the week with highs in the 50’s. On the plus side, at least I’m not bored. :P)

            After getting some absolutely abysmal results in lab the Monday before last, my grad student told me to take the week to study for my exam. This turned out to be a good thing, since I definitely needed the time to study. I was rather grumpy at myself for the horrible results though, which is never fun. On the plus side, when I redid the tests the following week (so last week) the results were much cleaner, even if they still weren’t what we were expecting to see.

            The one big thing that happened over the past two weeks was that we had Floormal, which is my floor’s formal dance that occurs once a year. We set people up with ‘blind dates’ (usually someone in their friend group, or at least their friends’ friend group). And then we dance and eat food, and it’s generally a good time. As floor chairs, Michelle and I were in charge of buying the food and setting things up this year, which was a great deal of work. I can honestly say that I’ve never bought so many things from Shaw’s in my life. I can’t say I never will again, since that would be tempting fate, but we bought a truly impressive amount of stuff. The party went pretty well though, so I’m happy with the outcome.

            That’s pretty much the majority of what’s been going on. I, of course, have another exam this week, but it’s almost Spring Break! Which means that I’ll be home in Seattle for a little over a week, and I’ll get to play with babies and see my family and possibly enjoy a good old fashioned Seattle spring rainstorm (I know my mom wouldn’t particularly appreciate that, since then we’d have to entertain the babies inside all day... but I do love a good Seattle rainstorm). And since I’ll be home next week, hopefully I’ll actually be able to post on time! (Maybe... it remains to be seen how much time I’ll have between catching up on sleep and hanging out with my family. :P) Here’s to another crazy week!