Beer in class—but peers afar
Navigating the Freedom and Isolation of Virtual MIT
I sat in class, the professor again repeating the technique we were expected to learn but about which I was still woefully confused. I was immediately struck with self-doubt. I put my head down on the desk and started to cry. The small upside was that at least no one could see my meltdown. Because […]
Playing Avalon on Zoom
How a virtual board game keeps us connected during quarantine
Many of us feel lonely during quarantine times, especially international students who are now outside the US, such as myself. To stay mentally healthy through this pandemic, it’s important to stay connected with friends back at MIT. So recently, we reconstructed a favorite Friday-night ritual of ours — playing the board game Avalon — on […]
Bench, bath and beyond
Transform your apartment into a yeast lab, and have fun doing it!
One of the very first lessons you learn in microbiology is that while countless things can – and will – go wrong, you can almost always count on your microbes to grow. There is some strange comfort in knowing that what looks like clear liquid today will reveal countless gleaming colonies smiling up at you […]
Managing your finances when your spouse can’t work
Being an F1 and F2 couple living on graduate stipend is challenging but manageable
“Are you ready for the change in lifestyle?” That is the question that most of our friends asked when they heard about my plan to go back to school. We had a good life back in Jakarta, and we were about to leave all that and live on a budget in one of the most […]
Shaking hands with death
My clinical experience through MIT
When I entered the room, I took a few moments to look around. The room was lit by a warm, orange glimmer sneaking through the window blinds, announcing the end of another beautiful summer afternoon. I took one step forward as the nurse pulled the bed curtain closed behind us. The patient was an old […]
