mandatory beginning-of-term post
Well, I just got back from Europe. Yay! Kim, David, Jimmy. Germany, Austria, Slovenia. One week. Fun!
For next term, it looks like I will have to take 8.03 again. Ugh. 8.03 exemplifies all the ways in which physics is normally taught and done that I really dislike, and it's hard enough for me to do really well in classes that I like right now, forget about classes that I dislike. I feel like a silly little kid -- like last term, I was like, "do I reaaaaally have to do this? I don't want to!" and now the physics department is like "YES YOU HAVE TO" and now I'm all like "aargh". But I think I'll do much better the second time around. The one good thing about this is that Ashoori won't be lecturing next term, and hopefully Walter Lewin will be around again. And oh well, retaking a class isn't the end of the world, and having to retake the class isn't what I'm most concerned about -- I'm more concerned about how it's going to work with my schedule this term, and whether taking 8.03 will mean that I have to sacrifice some other classes that will be a lot more fun and keep me sane. And talking to my advisor about it tomorrow will be kind of awkward, because he wants to know "what went wrong". The only reason I can give him for "what went wrong" is that I just really didn't like the class and was shooting for a C and missed, and that might end up prompting a "well, maybe you should think about not being in physics" discussion and I really don't want to go there right now for several reasons.
On the bright side, it looks like I'm being phased out of LCS -- Meghan and Allison seem to have been making decisions without me all IAP, and hopefully this will put me on a track of not being needed for pants anymore! Wheeee. Unless they keep needing me to bail them out like during this IAP, in which case, I will go back to my original plan of officially not doing anything for the club. So I win either way.
Actually, reading this over, things seem really depressing. Right now they kind of are -- this is the first time I've ever been sad about having to go back to MIT, but our trip through Europe was just wonderful, and I really didn't want it to end. Mostly it was because things were simple and we were mobile -- tired of Salzburg? Let's drive to Ljubljana! Want to see more mountains? Okay, we'll spend a day in the Alps instead of in the city. etc. And I'm happy to see people back at Random, but I miss having that freedom and not having to deal with all these messy things like classes and LCS for a while. Maybe I'll travel again next IAP, but for longer. That would be fun, although I might miss out on fun IAP events that way too.
anyway, I'm rambling, and I need to sleep so I can go to all my meetings tomorrow.
For next term, it looks like I will have to take 8.03 again. Ugh. 8.03 exemplifies all the ways in which physics is normally taught and done that I really dislike, and it's hard enough for me to do really well in classes that I like right now, forget about classes that I dislike. I feel like a silly little kid -- like last term, I was like, "do I reaaaaally have to do this? I don't want to!" and now the physics department is like "YES YOU HAVE TO" and now I'm all like "aargh". But I think I'll do much better the second time around. The one good thing about this is that Ashoori won't be lecturing next term, and hopefully Walter Lewin will be around again. And oh well, retaking a class isn't the end of the world, and having to retake the class isn't what I'm most concerned about -- I'm more concerned about how it's going to work with my schedule this term, and whether taking 8.03 will mean that I have to sacrifice some other classes that will be a lot more fun and keep me sane. And talking to my advisor about it tomorrow will be kind of awkward, because he wants to know "what went wrong". The only reason I can give him for "what went wrong" is that I just really didn't like the class and was shooting for a C and missed, and that might end up prompting a "well, maybe you should think about not being in physics" discussion and I really don't want to go there right now for several reasons.
On the bright side, it looks like I'm being phased out of LCS -- Meghan and Allison seem to have been making decisions without me all IAP, and hopefully this will put me on a track of not being needed for pants anymore! Wheeee. Unless they keep needing me to bail them out like during this IAP, in which case, I will go back to my original plan of officially not doing anything for the club. So I win either way.
Actually, reading this over, things seem really depressing. Right now they kind of are -- this is the first time I've ever been sad about having to go back to MIT, but our trip through Europe was just wonderful, and I really didn't want it to end. Mostly it was because things were simple and we were mobile -- tired of Salzburg? Let's drive to Ljubljana! Want to see more mountains? Okay, we'll spend a day in the Alps instead of in the city. etc. And I'm happy to see people back at Random, but I miss having that freedom and not having to deal with all these messy things like classes and LCS for a while. Maybe I'll travel again next IAP, but for longer. That would be fun, although I might miss out on fun IAP events that way too.
anyway, I'm rambling, and I need to sleep so I can go to all my meetings tomorrow.