Summer Lovin

Summer Lovin’ I didnt even know we had suitcases big enough to pack up my life and ship it all the way across the country. But we do, so I started packing a few days ago, and I dont even know how I feel about that. Im going to college! In less than three days! Wait, I need socks? This list, as well as Meliss, is actually pretty helpful, although Im not planning on buying half of the things on it until I get to Cambridge since most of it is heavy and shipping would cost me my soul. Other than that, its a good way to make sure you dont forget anything. Theres just one little detail that I found a little odd: Yearbook from high school as a conversation piece. My sister and I imagined early introductory conversations going something like this: ROOMMATE: Hi! How are you? Its nice to finally meet you! ME: You too! (awkward silence) ME: hey, you wanna see my high school yearbook? BEN JONES: JESS! ME: BEN JONES! How are you? Its nice to finally meet you! BEN JONES: I know, its ME: Did you know my friend Curtis was voted Most Likely to Cure Cancer? (Theres your shoutout, Tis.) Unfortunately, I went to a big public high school of about 2000+, so my high school yearbook is pretty much an encyclopedia, meaning its fairly unlikely that any of you will get to see it unless someone starts a PayPal account to donate for shipping. We can still have awkward conversations leading to a discussion of my high schools terrible homecoming theme, though.* All this frenzy is a result of my summer dwindling to tomorrow and Sunday, which is a pretty crazy thing if you think about it, especially since I havent been doing any of that (thinking, that is) for the past three months. The summer after my junior year I was only in the United States for about two weeks, whereas I spent all of this summer in the US for all but two weeks. I did say I was taking it slow. But what IS taking things slow, for a MIT prefrosh? Ladies and gentlemen, my summer in a nutshell. Work. While the average MIT prefrosh may have spent their summer interning at big labs, writing complex programs and pulling down $5000 a month, I sold cakes and memorized how many of each cookie go in a half-pound bag. (Four of the shortbreads, two of the sprinkles..) Yesterday was my last day of work at Schuberts Bakery in San Francisco, which was sad because I loved my job. Unfortunately it dawned on me that everything Id learned there is absolutely useless unless I go back to work at the bakery over break (which I probably will, because it always smells fantastic and theres something therapeutic about making chocolate flowers). I only learned how to decorate cakes, and thats if I have the molds, the chocolate shavings, the prefilled piping bags, and oh yeah, THE CAKE. So no, I cant actually make you a white chocolate raspberry mousse. I CAN charge you $25.50 for it, though. (Thats a skill for succeeding in life if I ever saw one!) Traveling down Memory Lane. A few days ago, my friends and I went to visit our Calc BC teacher at her house. Ms. Shackelford (we call her Shack) was one of my favorite high school teachers, seeing as shes a brilliant lady with a fantastic sense of humor that can clarify almost any concept, so I made her promise I could email her when Im failing 18.02. (18.022? Advice on course selection, anyone?) Which reminds me, incoming seniors have you figured out whos writing your recommendations yet? Even better an English teacher who knows you, and who you trust, to read your college essays? Soccer. I dont mean like going to practice and tournaments and wearing real cleats; my friends just started playing during finals week in honor of the World Cup and weve been getting together every week ever since. Its pretty funny, since most of us are terrible (meaning, someone actually stopped a goal by lying down in the grass), but its good exercise and is never boring. Also, theres nothing like waking up in the morning to your mom yelling about all the astroturf rubber in the house. Poker. Im no Timur 10, but I love poker anyway. A love poem for poker lovers. You could be my high card King; Im no Ace at this game but Im not bluffing Wed make a great Pair. Im being Straight with you when I say you make me Flushed Though its a Full House tonight, Im Blind to all but you. I get these urges and its hard to Hold Em I just want to stroll along the River with you. so I hope my message isnt lost on you when I go All In. Heres the Kicker, now that my Ante is Up stairs Can I Call you? Please dont let me Flop! (snapping) Thanks, everyone. Yeah, I dig the beret too. Eating as much In-N-Out as humanly possible. Dear East Coast, You dont have In-N-Out, so you should probably get on that before I get in on Monday. Thanks. Love, Jess Seriously, whats up with that?? To compensate, my sister and I ate five In-N-Out burgers within the last week. Five. No joke. And were really not even compensating, because I think five is more than Ive eaten in my entire life, but if youve never had an In-N-Out burger you cant even begin to understand what Im talking about. No, dont even try. Youve got NOTHING. Hanging out with the family. I have a mother, a father, a sister, and a dog, and thats about as normal as my family gets. We hold hands in public. We sing like nobodys business. We dance. We laugh. Hysterically. Constantly. We make up words, make fun of each other, make a 4-unit comedy troupe of inside jokes with a communal love for a good bowl of ramen. I love my family more than anything and to say that I will miss them is an understatement like saying my family is weird. And then theres this little thing.. Being excited out of my mind. Less than 48 hours, folks, until I can genuinely say Im an MIT student (and write something slightly more relevant). Come say hi to me; I promise I wont write scathing reports about how awkward our first encounter was. (Cant say the same for bringing up my high school yearbook, though.) *SHOES. Summer Lovin’ When I was in Madrid, I often spent my afternoons wandering around in cobblestoned plazas and taking in the sights. However, guess what some of the other more dedicated trippers were doing? Yup, drafting summer internship proposals and applications. Aye, its that time of the year again. If college students are thinking about their summers, then what are you doing this summer? Matt drafted this entry a month or so ago about summer programs (and since then, the deadlines for the three summer programs that Matt mentioned on the page had passed, oops =/), and from the standpoint of someone who was pretty involved (in my opinion) during the high school summers, I strongly recommend you to make this summer a meaningful one. Just a glimpse of what I did in high school: Summer 04 Canada/USA Mathcamp!, Colby College, Maine I visited MIT for my very first time(Im with Jeremy, my travel buddy to Mathcamp that year. Hes also in MIT right now class of 10). Alright, Im sorry! (for this being totally irrelevant) I just couldnt resist. 2004 was an election year too. :) We hiked the Appalachian Trail during the weekends. Sadly, I dont recall the names of these people except the guy right next to me (hes at Stanford now). I did my first math research at Mathcamp. It was pretty rewarding! (I actually do still remember running through the labyrinth of hallways that connects Colbys dorms) Thirty Proofs in Thirty Minutes (towards the end of the camp, the counselors try to do 30 distinct proofs on the board within 30 minutes). Current Mathcampers, they still have this, right?! Of course, there is A LOT more, but for the sake of space, I wont flood you with pictures from Mathcamp. Suffice it to say that it was a summer filled with spontaneous tea parties, LARP-ing, I lost!, Color or Country, Mafia, Settlers of Catan, and more (cool) math than you will ever see in high school (whilst enjoying the beautiful New England summer rafting, hiking, relaxing). Summer 05 Lifeguard Training Camp, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Lifeguarding by the pool. Im sure our Speedos are very flattering (as a matter of fact, you HAD TO wear speedos. I got a huge scolding from the head coach on the third day of training Do you think you are going to the beach?! Whats that you are wearing?! Tell me, do you think those shorts of yours will make you go fast in the water?) The truth is, however, that wearing Speedos does make you go much faster. :$ We were also trained in beach lifeguarding (which is quite different from that of the pool). We learned how to incorporate water jetskis as well (in case the rescue occurs a bit off the shore). Moreover, we also went to the rivers to train for emergencies in inland bodies of water (for example, if someone falls into a river during rafting). This was right after a typhoon, so it was actually quite difficult. A fun component to the course was the use of ropes to descend from heights (such as going from a bridge to the riverbed through using a stretched-out wire and a rope that you tie around your waist). Right after this summer, I took the American Red Cross version of Lifeguarding in my high school, and truth be told, the Taiwanese version relies on a lot less equipment as the American version (this means that you can get to the victim faster, but also mean you need to have A LOT more arm and leg strength). It was quite a rewarding summer aside from the lifeguarding skills (Im still a certified lifeguard!), I can still swim 25 meters without surfacing to breathe :) Summer 06 Summer Science Program, Ojai, California Some of the 06 Ojai-ers. Quite a lot of them are now at MIT! (there are 7 here now, out of the entire program) We did a lot of programming that summer. VPython brings back interesting memories(I should go dig up my VPython model of a miniature revolving solar system. That took me like 3 afternoons and 2 nights=/) We had to measure the distances between the stars in the films we obtained while observing at night. If the errors were too big (we knew what the errors were by plugging the measurements we got into a program), then its back to square one. In my year, I think one team had to restart 15? times. As you can see, many teams vented their anger on our communal board. =p (I spy IHTFP!) There were also hacks (ahem). I had never been rigorously exposed to physics and programming until I got to Ojai that summer, and I remember looking back on Graduation Day at the code that I wrote for my asteroid OD (Orbit Determination) program and being surprised at the amount of technical knowledge I acquired. Aside from that, I also learned how to work a telescope, develop film, and play poker (=p). Also, a highlight of the summer was a trip to Caltech (its kinda funny how this was like the antithesis of summer 04, when I visited MIT) and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). By the way, the stars at 2 in the morning from Ojai Valley are beautiful. - Truth be told, the people I met through my summers in high school taught me a lot about myself outside of the classroom. In high school, I was pretty limited in terms of the curriculum and the options that I had. Through my summer programs, I discovered many fields of interest (for example, a rigorous programming class does not exist in my high school) and a lot of other people that share the exact same interest that I do (just go to Mathcamp and see the energy of math for yourself!). Some things to ask yourself as you consider your upcoming summer: *Is there something that I like to do and would like to explore further? *What are the priorities for my summer? (e.g. travel, learn something new, chill and relax, volunteer) *How much is everything going to cost? (but dont worry too much about this, most programs have a system of getting financial aid if you ask for it regardless, your parents would probably care) and *What do I want to get out of my summer? To be honest, I was really conflicted inside during Summer 2005. I wanted to go to another program in the States, but I was rejected by the two programs that I applied to. Finally, an university summer school accepted me, but hesitated on replying yes because I wasnt sure I wanted to go to America just to take regular classes during the summer. I ended up turning it down and staying to do lifeguarding training. Needless to say, I enjoyed my alternative choice immensely and it really expanded my interests in aquatics (I was just an avid swimmer before, but didnt have any interest in lifeguarding). Perhaps I post too much on CC, but I urge you strongly not go to a program just because you think it would look prestigious on a college application. I know people who did summer activities just because they got into a renowned program, and ended up hating the summer. They returned to school without any rest (the program was too taxing), and burned out quickly into the next school year. The summer was designed to be a vacation, and anything you do aside from relaxing should be something that you want to explore because of your own initiative, not something designed and thrust upon you by your parents or your counselors. But given all of this, dont feel compelled that you must do a summer program, all the same. The key is to do something that you feel will enhance or further your goals. If you had a killer term and want to spend a big part of your summer relaxing by the pool, then go for it! You do not need to have amazing summer experiences to get into college. If you dont want to pay $3000 to go to a 6-week summer program, spend time volunteering in your town or picking up a new hobby. One of my friends worked at a convenience store the whole summer, and he picked up so much management experience that the owner of the store hired him to be a manager during the school year. Another chose to spend his summer on the beach, and his unintentional observations about the behavior of hermit crabs led to a research project. The possibilities are endless. Search around (you can find many lists online, just be careful of the deadlines!), plan ahead, but most of all, ask yourself what you want summer 2008 to be. Good luck!