Now, to be fair, I still can't answer that question entirely. Most MIT students don't leave campus much. There are so many awesome people to meet and activities to try (and so much work to do) at MIT that I haven't spent a whole lot of time in Boston. That's actually point number 1: This isn't a very important question to answer, because MIT is the community you will spend most of your time in, and it is plenty friendly.

As for Boston though, it might help to share a few anecdotes to give you a picture of what the city is like. And, in the comments please let us know if you have other anecdotes to add.

Anecdote 1: My family came to visit me about a year ago. My mom was always striking up conversations with people on the subway! She would talk to them about their children or where they were going or how to get where she was going, all the time. Most people in Boston would not initiate a conversation with a stranger, but they will talk to you if you initiate the conversation.

Anecdote 2: I left my purse on a city bus a few months ago. When I called my phone (which was in the purse) the woman who had found the purse answered, we met, and I got my things back. A similar incident happened a couple of months later; my wallet fell out of my pocket as I was crossing a street, and the man who found it looked me up so that he could return it. Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe this says something about the residents of Boston.

Anecdote 3: One of my friends who lives in an apartment in a bit of a shady area (not near MIT) was mugged a few months ago, and was badly beaten up.

Anecdote 4: About a month ago, on a cold rainy night, a city employee made me get off of the subway because I had a bicycle. Never mind that I had already paid, never mind that it was miserable out, never mind that people with strollers and large packages are allowed on - rules are rules. The guy was also a complete jerk to me. I had to sit around for an hour until 7pm, when I was allowed back on (the reason the rule exists is so that during 'rush hour' the subway doesn't get overcrowded). On the brighter side, once the jerk went off duty his coworker let me back in for free since I had already paid once.

Anecdote 5: Yesterday, my boyfriend and I rented a Zipcar. We were way out in Weymouth when the car broke down. The woman whose driveway we ended up in invited us in for tea while we waited for a tow truck to come!

Anecdote 6: One day last year I stumbled upon a giant outdoor dance party, put on by the city to increase community spirit. It was nighttime, and colorful lights lit a crowd of hundred of people, dancing in the street outside of City Hall.

These certainly don't sum up the whole city, but they can give you an idea of what to expect. Boston is a city, and it can be a little dangerous. On average people are a bit more direct here, which I think is what my librarian had actually picked up on. When they mean "no," they are more likely to just say "no" than "sorry, I would, but... ." In my experience though, most of the people I've interacted with are decent people who are perfectly willing to help a stranger out. Some will even dance with strangers in the street. Really, I think that you get a similar mix of people here as anywhere else: some friendly, some not, some nice to you if you're nice to them first.

What have other people's experiences been, coming to Boston for the first time? How are people different here? What other questions are admitted students thinking about? (And by the way, congrats if you got in! Come hang out with us for CPW!)

Today. I. Joined. Quidditch.

The awesomeness is still sinking in. This afternoon was the first warm, sunny, beautiful day we've had here for a while. I bike year-round, but today was the first time since fall that I went on a bike ride for fun, instead of just to get to class. After exploring the Minuteman trail (including a statue of Uncle Sam; did you know that the original Uncle Sam was born near Boston?) I headed to MIT's campus to take some pictures of MIT"s newest sport. I started out as an observer, but soon got caught up in the magic and was flying (er, running) around a soccer field on a broom.

Today's practice was mostly about getting used to moving on the broom and handling the ball with just one hand (since the other holds on to the broom). We used a volleyball as our quaffle. We haven't practiced with them yet, but we have dodgeballs for bludgers. We also have a cross country running who has volunteered to dress in gold and play the snitch. The snitch is allowed to run around the entire campus, instead of staying on (or even in sight of!) the playing field. If you check online, you can find some pretty funny videos of existing Quidditch teams and their snitches. Some of the snitches will do flips and cartwheels to taunt the players as they run past.

One thing that surprised me about practice was the wide range of students who came. Out of 11 students present, I think we represented 10 different dorms/Independent Living Groups. It was great to meet people from all over campus with a common interest.

Another surprising thing about practice today was the spectators. Given that the sport is brand-new, I expected the stands to be empty. There were some people at MIT (I think there was a swimming tournament?) who noticed us practicing and stopped to watch and cheer. I gave them my camera and it is thanks to them that you have the three action photos!

To MIT students: We have practices weekly, on Sunday afternoons. Sometime this month we will scrimmage Harvard. Several other schools are interested in playing us as well. Email quidditch-execs at mit dot edu to get on the list for more info! We would love more players and/or more fans :)

To pre-frosh: We will have a CPW event! I am pretty sure it will involve us playing a demo game, and you will likely have a chance to play as well!

Today. Was. Awesome.

Yesterday in 11.125, we talked a little bit about trees. As you know, they grow from seeds, much like this one.

Photo courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net

And of course if you wait a few years they get quite large...

Photo courtesy of sherhorosko.wordpress.com

So, the question we were asked in class is, where does that huge increase in mass come from?

I want to hear your answers and reasoning in the comments... just think about it; no Wikipedia!

I also want your input on something else for 11.125. I need to sit in on some class at MIT as an impartial observer and take notes on how the teacher interacts with the students. Please look through MIT's course catalog and let me know what classes interest you (and what you are wondering about them). I will choose one to check out and report back on it later!

P.P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!

Lately, life seems to be going my way.

Case in point number 1: As I was returning to Boston recently, we flew through a cloud-bank and I was able to take the crazy picture above. Now, I know that it was really a trick having to do with optics and the water droplets in the cloud and the angle of the sun and whatnot. Nonetheless, what are the odds?

Case in point number 2: I was running late for class on Thursday. I parked my bike, quickly locked it, and jogged toward the South door of the building. Then I saw my professor heading for the same door! He was farther away than I was, and hadn't seen me yet. If I kept going, I would beat him to class but he would see me walking in just before him (and obviously late.) So I circled to the North side of the building and made it to the room before he did, undetected. If I had been 10 seconds later, if he'd looked up, or if there hadn't been another entrance, all would have been lost.

Case in point number 3: It's the week before Thanksgiving, and my roses are still blooming.

Also, I live in a castle (see the stone behind the rose)

Case in point number 4: This is where it starts to get really good. I'm hoping the MIT students who didn't listen to me at first have returned to work by this point. In this shaky economy, I know many people who haven't found work. I even have one friend whose summer internship just canceled on him because they're in financial trouble. Despite this... I landed a definite job with a company I am CRAZY about! Stroud Consulting is a relatively new Operations and Management Consulting company. Basically, they hire out their problem-solving skills to a lot of huge companies who want to be more efficient or productive. They go in with big goals, get told that it's impossible, and then produce the results they promised. Sounds like a good challenge :) The people are great, the job will change with each new client, and I am really excited to start! I just have to finish this thesis...

The Official Employment Contract

Case in point number 5: My classes lately have been all about how people learn. So we basically do activities and play games all hour to see how good they are at teaching us material. Here's my team playing with Legos and pulleys:

Yun '12 and Ken '11 building a pulley structure

Yun '12 and Ken '11 demonstrate our pulley structure in action (video)

We also get to play with higher-tech sorts of games. While other people are working on Mastering Physics tutorials, I’m playing Waker. Waker was developed at the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT game lab this past summer to showcase some elements of physics. All of GAMBIT’s games have educational objectives. A quick perusal of the games on their website shows coverage of everything from neurotransmitters to political oppression. Waker was a fun way to spend my Saturday morning. If you try it out, or any other games on the site, let me know what you think!

Isn't it a beautiful game? Now, no firsting on this post unless you beat Waker first!

So, I decided to take pictures of part of someone else's life at MIT: 6.131 Lab.

6.131 Lab, or Power Electronics is one of those classes that reminds students why they came to MIT in the first place. At this time of year in many other classes, students are cramming as much into their heads as possible for midterms. At this time of the year in 6.131, students have just finished working late nights to create a system that lets them drive a go-cart. Now they're working on controlling fluorescent lights.

Breadboard by Noah S. '10

Why, you might ask, does a fluorescent light need to be controlled? You have likely seen a demonstration of how easy it is to wire up an incandescent bulb; you basically just connect it to a battery. In these more traditional bulbs, the filament is a resistive unit, so the more voltage you put across it, the more current will flow through, and the brighter it will shine. The filament is made out of metal (these days, usually Tungsten), so even though there is some resistance there, it is not very high.

In a fluorescent light, instead of a wire filament, there is a tube filled with low-pressure mercury vapor. When the light is turned off, this gas provides a very high resistance. Even though mercury is metal just like Tungsten is, it's spread out as a gas. For electric current to flow through the bulb, it needs to be able to jump from one atom of metal to the next, all the way to the end of the bulb.

Signal Generator in Power Electronics Lab at MIT

So that's the first difference: to get the light going in the first place, you need to provide a HUGE voltage. So why aren't fluorescent bulbs just like incandescents with bigger batteries? Well, as soon as you have started the flow of electrons through the tube, the vapor ionizes! This means that its resistance drops very suddenly. If you continued to use the same amount of voltage you used to start the lamp to run it, it would explode!

Noah S. '10 -- Hard at work. See the giant green donut-thing with red wire? That's a huge inductor.

And then the final kicker: The V-I characteristics, or relationships between voltage and current, for the lamp, are really weird. Even if you put a high amount of voltage in to start the lamp, then bring it down to the perfect level, it is a very fragile system. If some tiny little variable changes, like the temperature, it could become unstable, the current could run away, and it would still break! *For 6.131 Professor Leeb's explanation of why this happens, see note at the end.

The answer to all of our problems!

So, the answer, clearly, is to use the circuity represented above. All clear? Just in case it's not, let's explain...

So, the goal is to provide a big initial voltage, then turn it down and set up some sort of self-policing system.
Most of the things in the picture above are just made to generate a huge square wave (40 Volts). There's a part where you can adjust the Duty Cycle, or what part of the time the square wave is high or low. The other really important parts are right next to the part labeled 'Fluorescent Lamp.' They are 'L' and 'C.' The huge square wave comes in through L (an inductor) and then chooses whether to go through the C (capacitor) or lamp. If the lamp is off, it goes through the C, since there's so much resistance in the lamp. If the lamp is on, it goes through the lamp and mostly avoids the capacitor.

When the lamp is off, the inductor and capacitor form a resonant circuit. If the frequency of the square wave going in is right, the voltage in the capacitor voltage builds up until it is high enough that the lamp starts. Once the lamp starts, the inductor helps to keep the amount of current in the lamp steady.

Other cool things about the lab are winding the big inductors yourself, doing all your own soldering, and working with chips that are getting hot enough that they need huge heat sinks (the big black metal things in the photo below.) Let me know if you have any questions about 6.131 or lab classes in general. And thanks to Noah S. '10 for showing me his circuitry and giving me a refresher course on building a lamp ballast :)

Totem board, Noah S. '10

*I'm going to quote Professor Leeb himself here, because he explains it so clearly.

In the lit fluorescent lamp, "an increase in terminal voltage corresponds to a decrease in terminal current, and vice-versa. This happens because, roughly, as the current decreases in the tube, the number of charged carriers in the tube also decreases, decreasing the conductivity of the plasma column in the tube. So a higher voltage is needed to maintain the lower current! Increasing the current on the other hand, increases the conductivity of the plasma. A lower voltage is required in this case to sustain the higher current.

With these properties, "imagine a slight, inevitable disturbance that momentarily increases the current in the bulb. This disturbance could be a slight change in exterior temperature, for example. The voltage across the tube remains fixed, but now we are "off" the equilibrium curve, with a larger number of charge carriers in the tube compared to before the disturbance. Off the equilibrium curve, this voltage will push yet more current into the bulb, further increasing the conductivity. If the voltage remains unchanged, the bulb enters a "runaway" condition, where the current increases until something breaks."

So far, I've met a *ton* of companies. I can tell, thanks to previous internships and projects, that there are some that I am not a match for, some which would be alright, and only one (so far) that I would love. I think my interview with them went well, but they're also incredibly selective.

I'm beginning to be a little more polished in interviews, now that I've experienced enough of them to have an idea of what's coming. Some companies will rephrase their questions, but in the end they want to know the same things: who you are as a person, and how that will fit in with the company. (It's actually pretty similar to college admissions, once you get past the surface differences.) One thing that has been paying off for me is the time I spent in UPOP (MIT's Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program) two years ago. They do an outstanding job teaching MIT students how to interact effectively with companies. My title comes from a motivating example they gave us at the beginning of their program. A company representative at a career fair came to MIT and reported that the students lacked social graces. A student had actually come up to them and asked, "Do you have jobs? Can I have one?"

Speaking of uncomfortable situations: I was waiting for an interview lately, just before 9:00 am. (That's not the uncomfortable part; I like mornings.) There were over a dozen other students waiting with me to interview with various companies. A recruiter stuck her head into our waiting room and called a name. There was no response. "Strike one!" she announced, and left. Ouch. You know, I looked at the clock when she came in. It was 8:59 and 30 seconds. So in my book, the student was not yet late. And if they had been on an MIT schedule, with classes and meetings tending to start at 5 minutes after the hour, the student would still have over 5 minutes to arrive. I guess my high school band teacher had it right after all, "If you're early, you're on time; if you're on time you're late; if you're late you're left. "

As high school seniors work on their applications to MIT, they should make sure to submit materials in a timely fashion. You should also take the appropriate tests and let MIT know how you scored. But the main focus of your attention should be on showing the Admissions Office who you are as a person. I get emails regularly from applicants who are nervous about the other aspects. They want to know my SAT score and my fr iends' SAT scores and my mom's SAT score. But that's not the point! Don't let yourself get too wrapped up in having the right numbers. Just in case anyone has missed it thus far, I'll bold it. Tell MIT what motivates and excites you. They want to admit real people, not academic robots MIT wants to admit people who, besides being intelligent, will contribute to our amazing community. It's one of those things I like about MIT.

Good luck, applicants! And wish me luck, as another type of applicant!

I graduated in June, but I'm not gone yet! Due to a great program in Course 6 (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) at MIT, I am able to stay on to complete a Master's Degree. The M.Eng program in Course 6 is something students can apply for in their junior year. They then start to integrate graduate-level courses with their regular courseload. This puts them in position to finish all of the requirements for the Master's degree as well as the Bachelor's in only 5 years. (If the two degrees were completed sequentially, they would generally take a total of 6 years.) Besides the time-savings, I am excited about this program because it offers a way to cap off a lot of theoretical learning with one big project that requires actual application of the ideas. I also happen to have absolutely *amazing* advisers. We're working understanding how humans produce speech -- more on that in a later post.

Number 2: Learning to Teach

I've joined the Scheller Teacher Education Program (STEP) this fall. It's basically a crash-course series of classes on education in theory and practice. The theory side covers issues such as, 'Should we be developing students' creative thinking skills or giving them practical lessons and vocational training?' The practice side teaches us the nitty gritty of discipline, lesson planning, and how to get students' attention. STEP also includes classroom observation, and eventually teaching in nearby schools!

Number 3: Randomites

Though I'm living in an apartment now, I still take time to go back to Random Hall. One must-experience event at Random is their fall rush, designed to introduce freshmen to their unique culture. I attended a great new event this year, led by ch3cooh '11. There were three parts to the event: building MIT out of candy, rolling it up into katamari, and eating it! Here are some pictures of the process shot by Zev '08, M.Eng '09:

Step 1: Building MIT out of candy.
The big peanutbuttery gob with the Hershey's kisses on it is labeled 'Stata'. Nearby are graham cracker representations of the two parallel buildings of East Campus and the Green building (the tallest building in Cambridge!) You can see the blue jello version of the Charles River flowing through the center. I'm not sure whose idea the snow-capped mountains or volcano were... I haven't seen them around campus.

Step 2: Rolling it up into katamari.
We started with a small glob of chocolate and marshmallow mixture, and rolled our katamari around the board while listening to remixes of the song (the song can be heard on this Youtube video.

Step 3: Eating it!
This was harder for some people than for others...

My family came into town on Wednesday for graduation. Classes were over, and the most stressful thing I had to deal with was cleaning my room. It was pretty relaxing. I didn't even have to rush around Boston saying goodbye to people and places that I've known, because I'm staying for another year to finish my Master's degree (through the MEng/VI-A programs).

Since I am going to around for another year, I saw the graduation ceremony as more of a check-point than a finish line. I also think that attending MIT has had a side-effect of keeping me from getting too excited about ceremonies in general. After four years of urgent deadlines (Test! Lab of Doom! 4 PSETS! 2 Tests!), I seem to have adjusted some internal excit-o-meter. So in the days leading up to graduation I was glad, but not super-excited.

The big day came. Every senior gets four tickets to give to friends or family for graduation, and I was using my four for my family. This meant that my boyfriend (who is class of '08) couldn't come see me graduate in person. I did the next best thing to bringing him, and brought Roary instead.

Photo Credit: Tiffany Tseng

Roary is the stuffed tiger that my boyfriend gave me on our first Valentine's Day together. I attached him to my mortarboard using a strip of cloth and a couple of alligator clips. I used the alligator clips because they were the first thing to come to hand, but after I was finished I realized that it was also a nice nod to Course 6. Tiffany '09 took the picture above for me. The first picture in this post and the rest to follow are courtesy of the Tech photographers (who have more similar pics here.)

All the graduates-to-be congregated in the Johnson Athletic Center and sorted out who they would walk next to. Then we processed to Killian Court where our friends and families waited for us.

Photo Credit: David Templeton

Once we were actually all together walking towards Killian, it started to sink in that we were really graduating and I started getting excited about it. As we passed some of the buildings, I saw a sign hanging from a window and half a dozen people leaning out and waving at us. The sign said, "Congratulations Course 1 Grads!" and the people waving seemed to be their professors.

Photo Credit: William Yee

The ceremony itself was nice. There were a lot of people graduating though, and I eventually found myself looking around for other decorated mortarboards. I didn't have my camera on me, but I've pulled some pictures from The Tech of interesting ones. I think the aero-astro majors had the highest percentage of grads with decorated caps.

Photo Credit: William Yee

Some people wore stoles with the colors of their country or region.

Photo Credit: William Yee

A friend of mine actually substituted the cap out entirely for a black cowboy hat (he attached the tassel to the brim.)
I'm not sure about the significance of this next one...

Photo Credit: Eric Schmiedl

Brains...

Photo Credit: David Templeton

And a crab.

Photo Credit: William Yee

We heard speeches by the Governor of Massachusetts and MIT's President. After the speech by our Class President, we got to turn our "Brass Rats" (class rings) in the opposite direction. Before graduating, we wear the rings so that we can see an image of the Boston skyline when we look at them. This is supposed to remind us that we'll get through MIT eventually and go out into the world. Once we've graduated, we wear the rings so that we see an image of the MIT skyline. This is so that we can look back on the good times we had at MIT.

Photo Credit: Ricardo Ramirez

Part way through the ceremony, some people broke out half a dozen beach balls and started them bouncing around the student section. The reappeared later, presumably when people were bored.

Photo Credit: William Yee

Eventually it was my turn to walk. I was slightly worried about walking with the tiger on my head (since it had a high center of mass) but all went well. President Hockfield even complimented me on it as she shook my hand!

After the ceremony, I met up with my family and we went to a couple of receptions for graduating students, complete with delicious food.

And that's it. I'm graduated. Weird.

My main activities for the past two weeks have been working during the day, working at night, and squeezing in doctor’s appointments wherever they fit. Helpful tip: don’t get sick while at MIT.

So when my friend Roxana '09 suggested biking to see the Battle of Lexington, I was THRILLED!

We woke at 3:30 on Patriot's Day Morning and rode off into a quiet, misty land. Massachusetts Avenue, so often clogged with cars, was transformed. It belonged to just we cyclists, and we soared over the pavement, thrilled to use muscles which had begun to rust in place...

We arrived at Lexington just before 6 am, and a huge crowd had already gathered. There were three tiers of people: those standing in front, those perching on ladders/ladder constructions, and those in the trees.

Niki '09 and I grabbed a bench. She stood on the bench and I stood on the bench's back, using her shoulder to steady myself. We traded off for the better vantage point a couple of times.

The Redcoats and the Patriots met and exchanged harsh words. Both sides postured a bit. A shot was fired, and battle broke out.

When it was all over, women and children tended the fallen.

The British marched off, to loud boos from the present-day audience.

And then we fraternized with the enemy.

This guy turned out to be an MIT alum. He also told us about the first time he was part of the reenactment, in 2001. He had never watched the reenactment before being in it, and didn't know the guys planing patriots. So, he was really unsure how the battle would unfold, if he could trust them not to really stab him, etc. He also told us an amusing story about how he was scared out of course 12 and into course 22.

We grabbed some hot sustenance from a Dunkin' Donuts and biked back to Boston as the sun rose.

And we all lived happily ever after (at least, until the next set of deadlines arrives).