Ohana means family
Finding a community outside of MIT
I was freaking out. My whole body was shaking from a massive adrenaline rush. No, I hadn’t just seen the data that would complete my thesis work. I had just been hit by a car. Honestly, it was more of a “love tap” and I was okay, but there was real contact by a real […]
Volunteering in a home away from home
Is it possible to volunteer while studying at MIT?
When I was accepted to the Comparative Media Studies Master’s program at MIT, I had spent the previous five years working on technology for social justice nonprofits in Mexico. This work exposed me to and involved me in hundreds of projects with all sorts of collectives and organizations, and it showed me that my very […]
Strange lands
On being a (foreign) grad student mom
“So how’s everything? How’s the baby?” This is the opening line at almost all of my meetings. And I really can hear the emphasis on the second part. Growing up watching my own parents complete graduate degrees and then becoming a grad student myself for many years did not prepare me for the life of […]
MIT-isms
Crack the Code to MIT Conversation
“Are you a first-year grad student?” “Yes, I am! What are you studying?” “Oh, I’m a Course 2, working on my SM – I’m taking my last 24 Units this semester. What Course are you?” “… ah, well, I’m taking statistics this semester?” To fresh recruits to the graduate community at MIT, this conversation may […]
Vacation time!… What to do? What to do?
Opportunities for graduate students during pandemic and non-pandemic periods
When packing my suitcases to do my Master’s in Engineering and Management at MIT, I was not just thinking about which classes I was going to take, but also about what I was going to do over the vacation period. Three months of summer vacation is a lot of time to travel around the […]
