At the Range

Yesterday for the first time in a long time I went to the driving range.  My lil lil Stephanie and I plan to go to the range every Wednesday to improve our golf skills.  My first few swings were straight and good distance-wise, just like the good old days!  However, after that my swing crumbled into bad habits. With our skills, we attracted the attention of two young kids who refused to let their dad take them away until we hit a good shot…with the pressure on, that took a while.  We also had to pause for a short while as a family of ducks waddled their way across the range.

Commencement

After 5 years at MIT, I am now officially an alum of the institute.
Things I liked about commencement:

• The traditional feel of the procession and ceremony
• Taking pictures
• Entering Killian Court and being mobbed by a tunnel of paparazzi, aka rabid parents
• Being amused by the length of my robe, while most other gown came down to mid-calf level or below, mine was about knee-length
• As I walked from my apartment to campus many people congratulated me, even the homeless people were excited
• Celebrating with friends and family
• Getting my diploma!

Random Pics off my old computer

My primary laptop is currently angry at me and non-functional, so in the meantime I am using my old laptop that has problems of its own. It's a bit slow, but the bigger issue is that the screen is very finicky. If I type too vigorously or insert a CD into the drive that vibrates the screen then it turns into a beautiful yet unreadable mess of colors. For the most part however, I have been only checking my email on campus once a day for the past few days. It's actually quite refreshing to be free of the internet leash, although frustrating when I can't easily look information up.

On the other hand, using this older laptop has allowed me to look at some old photos I haven't looked at in a while! Esther left these cookies for me on my window sill back when I lived on the first floor of East Campus.


















Oh Boston, you can be so beautiful when you aren't being temperamental.

The End

Today at 12pm I finished my last final ever at MIT.  I am officially done!  I could recap my experience and throw in some philosophical afterthoughts, but for now I’d much rather catch up on some of the sleep I’ve been missing out on the past few years!

Right now, I’m cleaning my room, doing laundry, etc.  aka tending to regular life duties that have been neglected in the past few weeks because of the MIT fire hose.

Serenade

This was months ago, but now that I am free from MIT, I can write about my past semester highlights! Every year, several MIT acapella groups sell serenades for boyfriends to buy their girlfriends, or in my case for friends to simply embarrass other friends.  My lil lil, Stephanie, bought me a serenade from the MIT Logarhythms, who sang Miley Cyrus’ “See you again”.  Since I knew it was coming ahead of time, I mentally vowed not to be embarrassed when they corned me in the student center, sat me on one of their legs, and sang to me.  Despite my preparation it was still awkward.  First, I was sitting on a guy’s who was no taller than I was.  Second, all the group members intensely stare at you, and I didn’t know where to look.  Third, crowds of students and tourists gather round to see what the commotion is. But I took it in and just decided to go with it.  The more I got into it, the more they got it into it.  Thanks Stephanie!  See the below video.

Serenade Video

Senior Bridge

Today was judgment day! For 1.013 Senior Design, one of our major projects is to design a bridge for a third world country in a savannah climate during the flood season.  The bridge had to span 10 ft, and the deck had be at least 2 feet above the ground.  The failure criteria was that the bridge had to hold 2000lbs of weight, and not deflect more than 1/2 inch.

We decided to use wood since that is a readily available material in the third world, and to do a spin on the classic truss structure.  We wanted the design to be visually appealing, so our side trusses formed a V shape. and the planks laid across the top of the bridge.

Our Bridge in SketchUp!

The underneath V of the bridge. So visually appealing!

It was a beautiful day outside, perfect for bridge testing!  There were a whole variety of bridges – arches, a roll-up bridge, and other ones I don’t even know how to describe.  It was finally our turn to load our bridge, but as the only all-female group all 5’4’’' or shorter, we were struggling a little bit to raise the 50lb blocks up 3ft in the air.  Suddenly all these male onlookers swooped in and loaded our bridge in less than a minute.  It didn’t fail, and it passed the deflection test by deflecting only 3/8’’!  Most groups don’t pass the deflection requirement since its meant for a highway overpass, so we were proud of our design.

 The bridge in the midst of being loaded with 2000lbs!

Beautiful Day!

Confident in our design to load another few hundred pounds on it.

Yay! Our hard-work on our bridge paid off!

Welcome to my blog

My blog is in the works, but it will be a mix of old and new entries.  So far it includes entries from my trips to the Galapagos Islands, Italy, and Costa Rica.  Right now I’m working on adding Brasil.  As I update these older posts, they will be put in chronological order, and will not be the most recent entry.  So be sure to click on the labels on the right hand side to view these entries if interested!

Learning how to fly! aka Trapeze School

So on Monday, I learned how to fly!  I went to trapeze school with my roomate, Gergana and learned how to do some awesome stunts.  The three things I learned how to do were a knee hang, a backflip, and a catch.

Right before my first plunge off the platform.  I was a bit nervous because standing up there getting ready to jump reminded me of when I went skydiving.

Flying through the air!

Doing a backflip.

The catch!  I got it on my 3rd and final try!  That guy has ridiculous strength.  He was hanging from another trapeze, no support cables, and held onto me while hanging upside down!

Today my arms, shoulders, hands, and abs still hurt.

Costa Rica – The Highlights

1. The Food – We had some really delicious food, but most of all I loved the fresh fruit juices. As Amy put it, this tastes so real! mmmm
2. Travel companions – I really enjoyed traveling with Amy, my rational side. Esther, my little. And Leanne, my hulk. I got to learn more about these great people, bond with them, and see new sides of them. I enjoyed seeing Amy’s eyes light up when she ate/saw/experience something cool, and squeezing her arm whenever I liked something. I miss you guys!
3. The scenery and green-ness of the country – The country is so green and beautiful! There were hills, volcanoes, blue water, white sand, and things I can’t even describe in abundance.
4. The vast adventure options available – nothing like a little adrenaline rush from Ziplining, jumping off a tarzan swing, going into class IV rapids, and riding public buses that teeter on the edge of steep hills.
5. The friendliness of the people – they were always very patient with our Spanish and generally helpful. Compared to my experience in Madrid, where I always felt confused and lost in the bustle, Costa Rica was like a warm mother.
6. Pura Vida!

Costa Rica – Day 10 – Back home…

We said our goodbyes to San Jose and were on our way back to the United States. First stop Hotlanta. The in-flight movie was not nearly as good as Twilight. Instead, we watched The Day the Earth Stood Still which cause me to fall asleep halfway through. One funny part of that movie however, was when Keanu Reeves met an old Chinese man in a McDonalds. They were both aliens, and spoke in Mandarin. I asked Esther if they were speaking Alien-language or Chinese. She said that all Old Chinese Men are actually aliens. Since she’s Chinese I have to believe her.

In HotLanta, Esther and I desperately searched for a Chic-Fil-A, but to no avail. Despite going to another terminal where we believed the chain to be located, we were reminded that Chic-Fil-A is closed on Sundays. Dreams denied. Meanwhile, Amy worked her magic with the Freshen’s man to give her mountains of M&M’s.

The rest of our trip was eh. First, our flight back to Boston was delayed an hour. Then after boarding the plane, we were informed that air traffic control would not let us depart for another hour. Another plane needed the gate, so we had to sit off to the side somewhere. However, the three of us completed an entire crossword (which I have never done before!) in 45 minutes, when someone decided that they did not feel well and had to be brought back to the gate. Our ETD was then pushed back another hour. Finally, we made it back into the skies, and unfortunately, returned to cold Boston and MIT psets.