A friendly neighborhood elder’s guide to enjoying your program
When you’re insecure about your creaky knees but excited to be here
The second week of classes, I was hanging out with some people in my cohort in the student lounge, when the topic of siblings came up. “Do you have a sibling?” “Yes.” “Are you the oldest?” When I shook my head, their eyes widened in shock. By the way I carried myself and what I […]
Mayan, what else?
Take the time to breathe and do what you like
I was tired. My first semester at MIT was tougher than I had expected. I still have vivid memories of that defining evening of November. I was making my way back home with research ideas spinning in my head and started to feel anxious about the three p-sets I had to finish by week’s end. […]
New England-themed reading list
Weathering this Winter with Literary Escapes
First Impressions I grew up in southwestern China and Singapore, two sweltering hot places on Earth. In 2015, when I graduated from a college in Connecticut not too far from here, I decided that never again would I venture back to the New England climate and promptly moved to California. Well, fast forward to 2020, […]
Welcome to the CandE shop
Building an Online Community for MIT Climate and Energy Enthusiasts
I came to MIT knowing exactly what I wanted to pursue: ensuring reliable, secure, clean, and affordable energy for all. You’d think that it would be easy to find a community of similarly minded peers in MIT’s large climate and energy ecosystem. And in a way, it was. My master’s program, Technology and Policy, has […]
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 […]
