Lets Get Down to Business

Let’s Get Down to Business Tomorrow marks the return of classes, p-sets, papers, reading assignments, and a tangible lack of both time and sleep. Yup, second semester is about to begin. Im taking the following classes: 7.013 Introductory Biology 8.02 Physics II 5.12 Organic Chemistry I 9.00 Introduction to Psychology 21W.755 Writing and Reading Short Stories 9.URG Graded Undergraduate Research in Course 9 Total: 72 units Im way more enthusiastic about my classes this semester than I was about my classes last semester. I loved biology in high school mainly because I had a great teacher who complemented lectures in class with several hilarious stories concerning jellyfish, nodules, and hermaphroditic cats, but also because I found biology slightly more relevant to my existence than, say, gyroscopes (*cough* 8.01 *cough*) not that I have anything against gyroscopes. They were entirely entertaining to play with last semester. I also had an awesome time taking psychology in high school. That was the one class where I actually liked reading the textbook. Wed watch a whole bunch of videos by Stanfords Philip Zimbardo, whose prison experiment some of you may have heard of. Towards the end of the year, we also got a chance to tour an MRI lab and take a look at the psychology in movies like I am Sam (I LOVE that movie!). Ive heard a lot of great things about 9.00 here at MIT, so maybe itll eclipse my high school psych experience. Im taking the writing class for a couple reasons first, I have a lot of fun writing and think itd be great to improve my creative writing ability, or current lack thereof. Second, every MIT student has to pick a HASS concentration, and I want mine to be writing! Itll give me a little break from the demands of science and math classes :) 9.URG is just a continuation of the Course 9 research I started doing during IAP. I love my lab! Everyone is nice, calm, helpful, and quick to guide me when I have questions regarding any independent work Im doing in the lab. One of my floormates now has a UROP in the lab a few doors down from mine I see this as a fantastic benefit to working in my lab because when Im done with my work, I can pop into her lab and annoy her =P Or give her chocolate, since she REALLY likes chocolate :) All in all, the only two classes Im slightly wary about are physics and orgo, since physics always takes me longer to master than other subjects do and because Ive never been exposed to orgo before. As a sophomore, Im allowed to designate one subject as an Exploratory subject, which means that I can take the class, see my grade, and decide whether I want to keep that grade or change the class to non-credit. Guess what I picked as my Exploratory subject? Yup, orgo. Ahh, that class is notoriously difficult*cringe* Other things Im up to this semester: EMT shifts! Ill be taking the state EMT exam in mid-March, but until then, Ill be trying to get as much experience as I can continuing to work as a third rider on the MIT ambulance. Basically, anyone whos CPR-certified can be a third rider on the MIT ambulance so any of you admits who decide to come here next year should bring along your CPR certs and work with MIT-EMS! Im also doing the same getfit program that Jenny blogged about earlier. Week 1 just ended, and I logged 660 minutes of exercise :) But now that classes are about to start, Im not sure if I can keep it up. It might not be too hard, though there are a few Indian dance shows coming up this semester that Im going to be participating in. Im sure were going to be practicing a lot. Time management is going to be crucial I hope you guys are having a blast as second semester seniors!! I had a lot of fun last year just spending time with people and cruising through school. Make sure you collect lots of little memories :)