MIT in a Year
How to make the most of a brief MIT experience
Nine months. The length of a human pregnancy. Also the length of my time at MIT. To clarify, this is not a story about pregnancy. Ask most MIT graduate students how long they plan to be here, and two years is the minimum. Many will be here well beyond four as they pursue a PhD. […]
How to Pass a Harvard Class
What it’s like to be a cross-registered student
Shopping Day is like speed dating for courses at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Herds of students filter in and out of classrooms. Nervous chatter splinters out across the students until the professor sweeps in and quiets the crowd. There I sat in a room, staring people in the eye that I had seen […]
BYOB or… Bring Your Own Bowl
How we could all make our lunchtimes at MIT zero-waste
I don’t know about you, but I like to take a break at lunchtime. When, two years ago, I started my PhD, I used to walk everyday out of building 54 to go to the Stata Center cafe, Sebastians, or the irreplaceable Saté Grill food truck. I would put in my order, and in no […]
The Simple Pleasures of Gardening
Reaping actual fruits and vegetables while at MIT
There are few things in life as satisfying as eating home-grown food. Whether it is flavorful herbs, juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumbers or other delicious produce, it is simply delightful to consume freshly picked fruits and vegetables. This is especially true after the endless supply of greasy pizzas one inevitably ingests as a grad student. Moreover, […]
Grief
Feeling at MIT
My dead dad emailed me today. I was sitting in a shared office along with a postdoc when I saw my dad’s name pop into my inbox. My breath caught in my throat. Is this a message from beyond? A beat passed. I clicked. I was sure the note was written by my dad. Alyssa, […]
