Still Breathing...

So the term is underway and I seem to be managing everything OK. Although Prof. Melrose is a fantastic lecturer, I'm dropping 18.102. Funky Analysis will have to wait its turn. This was inspired by my decision to register for, and do the problem sets for 18.905 (Graduate Level Algebraic Topology). This has made life interesting and honestly it is my most interesting and stimulating class. So I'm taking 6 classes for credit, which is something I've never done before. I might actually make it through the semester, studying for GREs and applying to grad schools alive.

To be perfectly fair, my schedule isn't that crazy, as I'm doing a double dose of Algebraic Topology (18.904 & 18.905), and having the overlap makes me feel like I'm really just working on one really intense class instead of two. Furthermore, all my lecturers are really good and 18.701 (Abstract Algebra I) and 18.101 (Analysis on Manifolds) are welcome review of my Cambridge courses last year. This is a nice change of pace as I feel like doing an intense year of Cambridge maths, puts me on the giving rather than the receiving end of MIT.

21W.775 (Writing about Nature and the Environment) is proving to be a lot of reading and writing, but man, it is hard to complain when the assignments are naturalist essays like the work of Lewis Thomas. Reading for this class has really proved itself to be a nice break rather than another assignment. I guess it just replaces my leisure reading for the semester, but who can complain? It still amazes me that for some people this stuff IS their major and for them it IS WORK. I suppose this really feeds into the philosophy of education, but when I find myself procrastinating by reading Dante, I imagine what my academic life would be like if my work consisted of just reading and appreciating fine literature. Phew!

I don't mean to sound arrogant. Often classics programs at universities are ridiculously difficult just by design. Instead of spending hours thinking and doing mathematics, some people toil away picking out tone and mood changes in a 200 page book of poems every night. Let's be honest, universities like Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, MIT, and so on, could make basket-weaving the most difficult and intense course you've ever taken. It really makes one wonder: To what end?

This brings me to an interesting editorial I recently read in The Tech. It argues simply that life is hard and MIT is purposely difficult to help prepare you for life. I suppose that I'd forgotten about how getting knocked down to just get up again "helps build good character." On a humorous note, I laughed at the observation, of how only at MIT can you get into a fully packed elevator and yet everyone manages to avoid eye contact. I suppose the MIT's #3 ranking for "best undergraduate experience" was well earned the year I applied for admission.

Well, I'm out of breath and a whole world of dreams awaits my slumber.