My musical journey in Boston
How a fortuitous encounter started my musical career
An Instrumental Encounter “I am a musician.” I did not expect to hear those words during my lab rotation for the Health Science Technology program. I clearly remember the day. It was a chilly winter afternoon of 2018 at Lansdowne Street in Cambridge when I was introduced to a lab administrator, who showed me around […]
Does this make Epstein my boss?
How MIT handled the Epstein scandal, dirty money, and why I’m still here.
MIT’s Money Mistakes Just as I was starting graduate school at MIT, my pride in coming here was tainted by a national scandal that made me think twice about sporting that MIT hoodie. The arrest of Jeffrey Epstein in July of 2019 may seem like a lifetime ago, considering all the issues we grappled with […]
Unleashing my inner rockstar
Becoming a BollyX fitness instructor during grad school—and a pandemic
How can we have work-life balance when the “work” part is infinite? This was my excuse for not prioritizing exercise when I came to grad school. In reality, I was drowning in insecurity. I despised every form of exercise while I was growing up. In school, I always had the slowest mile (by far), and […]
This isn’t Canada, eh?
The times Americans thought I was crazy
Born and raised in Canada, I wasn’t expecting a big societal change coming to MIT for grad school. In my mind, Canada and the US had essentially the same culture. But in this post, I wanted to share some of my experiences in the US that left me deeply confused. This isn’t going to be […]
A journey through time: Voyaging into Boston’s “other” history
Personal Growth Outside of MIT
When you read the words “Boston” and “history,” what do you think of? For most folks, two events typically come to mind: 1) The Boston Tea Party, or 2) Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride (contrary to popular belief, he never actually shouted “The British are coming!”). Boston is often considered “the birthplace” of the American revolution: […]
