Graduated Learning : Answers to your questions

Activities at MIT

srs — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 01:57:00 GMT

I'm devoting this post to discussing the different sorts of activities you can participate in on campus. First I must say, there are more student groups on campus than you could ever have time for. I suppose this is bad in a way, because you wont be able to do anything. But the cool part is, if there is something you want to do, there's probably a group that also likes to do that. And if there isn't, you can start one! The main organization to know about is the ASA, the Association of Student Activities. They are the official organization for MIT student groups. You (incoming freshmen) and any other new students (grad students) will receive/have received a CD-ROM and booklet describing all the ASA-recognized groups on campus. Plus, during orientation, there will be an Activities Midway, where you can explore and sign up for different groups. (and I'm pretty sure there aren't any conflicts with that time, so you'll be able to go!) Of course, feel free to contact any group that interests you prior to coming to campus, if you want to know more about the group.

I've had questions about a few groups in particular. Elina asked me about a cappella groups, and Laila asked me about dance groups. In terms of a cappella groups, there are quite a few of them on campus, but each group has their own style/personality, though most groups sing pop music. And besides all of the a cappella groups on campus, there are plenty of other music groups. There are choirs that you can join (and get credit for in some cases!) and bands and orchestras as well. There are also quite a few groups that put on musical productions and plays.

As for dancing, besides performing in musical theatre groups, there are plenty of dance groups. Some groups do hip-hop, swing, ballroom, ballet, tap, jazz, as well as different cultural groups. I was going to list and link to all the groups, but I realized that there are way too many to count. My suggestion is to go to the ASA Lists page and search either by activity type, or just bring up the whole page and look through them. Then you'll realize why I opted out of listing them all here (and decided to be lazy).

This post is definitely not meant to be complete for all the activities, so I encourage you to check out the information on the ASA website or on the CD-ROM they send out over the summer. And if anyone is reading this, and see that I have said something wrong, or left something out, please let me know, and I will edit this post.

Of course, there are plenty of activities that you can be a part of that are not part of MIT. My freshman year roommate participated at a ballet company in the Boston area, and has continued with it these past few years. If you are passionate about something, or if you want to try something new, there are plenty of chances to do what you want during your years at MIT. Whether you go off campus to do it, or just get together with people not as an ASA recognized group, or join an ASA group, it's definitely important to do stuff outside of school (there I go again, lecturing you like I'm your mother or something). But it's true.

Okay, I have other stuff I want to talk about, but I'll leave that to another post, since it's getting late (because I have to wake up so early), plus that way this post is just about activities.

-Stephanie

answers are here!

srs — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 00:58:00 GMT

First of all, glad I could be of some help to you with my information. And now, Elina has a question for me!

"What Do I buy???..I never do my own shopping..always wear what mum brings for me..but NOW !!! as in clothes and shoes..... and how much???"

Well, there are quite a few things to consider, and certainly, everyone is different. A lot depends on the styles you like, or the money you have/want to spend on clothes. And of course, it is important to think about the weather. I guess I can discuss types of clothes as related to weather.

Weather

So, when you first get to MIT for orientation, it's going to still probably be nice and summery. So at that point, you can have tshirts, tank tops (girls only please!), shorts, etc. It's also a good idea to have pants for around that time (jeans are my preference if I'm wearing pants on a warm day), and a light jacket. Fall comes relatively quickly around Boston, and I usually survive with pants, a long sleve shirt, and a sweatshirt jacket. Come winter, you might want to invest in something like long underwear to wear under pants (if you want/can fit them under pants), and of course a winter jacket as well as the extras, like hats, scarves, gloves, and, the most important, waterproof and relatively warm boots (thick wool socks are good too). My opinion (not everyone shares this opinion) is that comfort, warmth, and preventing frostbite is more important than fasion.

How much should I bring?

A lot of the amount you should bring depends on a few things. For example, you don't want to have to be doing laundry too often because you ran out of clothes. Keeping this in mind, the key piece of clothing is underwear. Make sure you have more than enough to get you through a couple of weeks. Sure you can wear a pair of pants a bunch of times before washing, you can wear some tshirt under your jacket and no one will know. But you know you're in trouble if you're out of underwear. So, underwear is often your freedom-from- laundry limiting factor. As for other stuff. . .don't go overboard. Most dorm rooms have limited storage space (though they will have closets, drawers, etc.), and so don't go bringing everything from home (or buying out the whole store). You might want to invest in storage as well, since you can never have enough! Dual purpose storage (boxes that can be stacked into a table, a footlocker/trunk can hold stuff and can be sat on, etc.) is especially good. But enough about storage. That can be a whole other post!

What types of clothes should i bring?

This starts to be more based on your personality and style. . .you should bring both casual and dressier clothes. . .i suppose that's a given. . .. I tend to have a lot of comfortable clothes, like drawstring pants and loose jeans. I do have a few pairs of khakis and am a huge fan of jeans as well. But it's also a good idea to have clothes for interviews, nice dinners, parties, formals, etc. hmmm, shoes, i would say dont bring too many, just sneakers, dress shoes, sandals. Oh, and dont forget flip flops for the shower!

hmmm, this makes me think I should tell you about other stuff to bring. besides clothes. I mentioned storage. . .I guess bedding, pillows, etc. you get a bed and a matress as part of your room, but they dont really supply bedding (except perhaps during orientation, when you are in your temp rooms so you dont have to unpack. . .contact the house manager for whatever dorm you are temped in). Towels (bath, washcloths, hand towels) are good, and random other toiletrees. hmmmm, i think maybe I'm being obvious, but. . .hmmm. well, dont forget your computer, and maybe keep a few things around to eat with, like a few plates, forks, knives, etc. and if your room isnt part of a suite with a kitchen, maybe consider bringing a fridge.

Okay, maybe I'm starting to get excessive with all my suggestions? I don't know. If you are thinking about maybe bringing something, and you're not sure if you should bring it or not, and I can give you my opinion.

One last question I'll answer was about if you can go home for winter break. The answer is, YES! First of all, over winter break, you can just go home, leave all your stuff at your dorm (unlike other schools where you have to move out and such), and enjoy yourself. But you also don't HAVE to leave, either. And in terms of other times of the year. . . College is not like high school: theres no real mandatory attendance. So, if you have to go home to see your little sister perform in her school play (like I did) or if you have any reason (or no reason at all) you can leave. I mean, sure, you'll miss class (or whatever happens on the weekend for you) and just plain leaving when you have a test or other mandatory attendance event will get you in a buttload of trouble, but you're free to do what you want. However, some classes do have mandatory attendance, so skipping those isn't reccomended (although Professors are rather understanding at times if there is something that requires you to miss class. . .so, don't be afraid of them!)

Well, I do have another "book review" to discuss, but I figure this is enough for now. Maybe I'll post it tomorrow. Keep the questions coming!

-Stephanie

warning, long post! questions answered and update on life

srs — Mon, 20 Jun 2005 22:44:00 GMT

So much to talk about! First, answers to your questions you posted (thanks Laila and Saad). The first answer: I live at Next House. I really like living there! The second question: how do u spend weekends at MIT, and how often can I go to New Jersey per month. I'll answer the first part first. There's lots to do on campus and around Boston. Usually, though, I'm kinda lazy on the weekends if I can help it. Basically Saturdays I'll sleep in, and then clean my room a little, look at my homework a bit (yeah, I know, BORING!) Sundays are usually my busy days. I usually have Resonance rehearsal, attend Church at the MIT Chapel. The chapel is really great to be in, if you haven't visited it yet. A lot of different religions have services in there, and even if you're not religious or anything, it's really nice to just see (architecturally and acoustically). There are actually concerts held there as part of the MIT Thursday Noon Chapel Concerts Series.

Okay, so I've realized that I start to ramble when I start thinking about stuff to talk about. Anyways, besides tooling and attending meetings, I do try to have fun! Many fraternities have parties on the weekends that you can go to. I often visit Theta Xi, one of the fraternities that many of my friends are members of. It's kinda funny, me telling you all this, because there's often a difference between what I want to do, what I should do, and what I end up doing on any given weekend! Let me think. I mean, a lot of weekends (or weeknights if I'm really lucky) I will hang out with friends, maybe order in some takeout, or go out to eat. And now that the Student Center has Anna's Taqueria, it's easier to get cheap, good food on the weekends (dorm dining halls are open for dinners Sunday through Thursday, and Lobdell is only open for lunch on weekdays). I mean, there's also a lot of other options, but I can go into those at a later date if you want.

So there I've gone again, rambled on about a topic that I meant to only talk a little bit about. I think that's the usual with me. lets see, I mean, there's lots to do. sometimes I'll watch movies with my friends, or just spend time alone in my room cleaning, arranging songs for Resonance, or singing along to music. Of course, I do work sometimes too, but I try to have a little fun while I'm at school! Oh, one more option (actually I have a ton of options, but I can go into those at a later date, too) is to go to LSC. LSC stands for Lecture Series Committee, but most of the time they show movies. The tickets are $3.00 a person (last I looked) and you get to watch the movie in a movie theatre-type atmosphere (big screen, good sound system, etc.). Usually, these movies are shown in 26-100. And they're actually good movies, recently shown movies, so you know that you can see something that you didn't want to pay $10 to see at a local movie theatre. A few other options for stuff to do are listed in my "fun links" section to the left.

Oh, and about going home to NJ. I do that occasionally. I come home for holidays, and if there's an important event happening at home. I usually take Amtrak to NY Penn Station, then NJ Transit from there to home (because it's cheaper to do the rest of that, and it gets me closer to home than taking Amtrak all the way home. Some people will also take a bus to NYC. There are the Chinatown Buses, which take you between Chinatown in Boston and Chinatown in NYC, as well as Greyhound. The most famous Chinatown Bus (that I know of) is the Fung Wah bus.

I still haven't updated about all the fun stuff from this weekend! Let's go in order:

Friday night I went out to see a movie with my mom. It was a really cute movie, Après Vous. Even though it was made in 2003, for some reason it was showing at this little theatre about 20 minutes away from my house. Definitely a good movie (as long as you don't mind reading subtitles!). After that, my mom treated me to ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery.

Saturday I got a haircut. I think I took like 6 inches off, and it looks a lot better than it has looked in quite some time. When I find my digital camera (or someone else with one) I'll post pictures (because I know Katelyn wants to see them!) I also bought a laptop Saturday evening. It's a Compaq Presario Notebook. I spent the rest of the night setting it up (and by setting it up, I mean downloading all the software I needed!) It's giving me a bit of trouble, freezing up every once in a while, but I'm going to look at it later and try to figure it all out.

Sunday was Father's Day! We went to Lancaster, PA and the surrounding area (Amish Country). We shopped a bit, then had dinner at Miller's Smorgasbord. Oh man, that is some good food! Afterward, we went back to NJ and gave my Dad his presents. My little sister and I got him tickets for "Whad'Ya Know?", a quiz show that is broadcasted on NPR. They're taping it at the Trenton War Memorial, and we figured since he likes the show, we would take him. So yay. My older sister and her husband got my dad the Spamalot CD (and a promise to take him to the show!). My mom got him something MIT-tastic! My dad went to MIT way back when, and we've been looking for plates for a while. There are special MIT plates (like, good china) that have different images on them of different places around MIT. So, my mom got him a bunch of those. So cool! There was a picture of Senior House, and the Gray House (president's house).

Whew. I talk way too much about stuff here! okay, well, you all can let me know if you have any more questions.

-Stephanie