Hearts Chocolate

Like many young people (perhaps a disproportionate number from the fields of science and technology), my relationship with the recent romantic holiday is somewhat apprehensive.  I don’t mean to say that I’m luckless in love, or that my Valentine’s Days have been perennially poor, but the idea of having one day so very focused on romantic love doesn’t quite appeal to me.  Sure, later in life an annual celebration of one’s (presumably stable) relationship status must be nice, but with the romantic volatility at this stage of life the holiday is a bit of a tossup – and as a scientific individual I must question its methodology. 

Imagine a student returning from winter break only to be dumped by a long time significant other.  Alternatively, imagine a different student suddenly finding themselves embroiled in a fiery romance mere weeks before cupid’s cameo.  In both of these situations, the snapshot offered by Valentine’s Day would be a poor indicator of broader romantic trends.  I therefore...

All's Fair in Love and Prank War

One thing that can get frustrating in engineering school is that all the coursework tends to feel somewhat removed from reality.  Because students need to be able to complete their assignments in a reasonable amount of time and their solutions need to be somewhat uniform and grade-able, engineering homework and test problems will often be very narrow and/or unrealistic.  For this reason I think it’s beneficial to pursue extracurricular projects related to engineering, both to solidify concepts learned in class and also to remind oneself of the usefulness of the information.  While there are a variety of such activities that students can and do engage in, perhaps none are more entertaining or satisfying than messing with your friends.

One of the guys I live with enjoys waking up in the morning to the smooth intonations of NPR personalities.  As such he has a radio alarm clock permanently set to the local public radio station.  Unfortunately he is an early riser, the walls of our house are...

Our Class

This weekend I went to see the Drama Department's winter production of "Our Class: A History in XIV Lessons." Here's the description of the show from the Facebook event:

Never Been to Campus?

I was lucky enough to visit Tufts before applying but I know not everyone gets that chance. Let me be the first to tell you that it is BEAUTIFUL. Seriously. I love our campus. If you want to see Tufts at its finest, watch this video. My friend posted it on Facebook and it offers a bird's eye view of my favorite place during my favorite season. 

The comforts of normalcy

My aunt died on Monday. I don't think I need to explain how much that sucked, but let me backtrack. I went to visit her over the weekend, in Atlanta. She wasn't really...there when I got to see her, pretty much knocked out on all the pain pills. It seems a little weird to write that, since I've only said it out loud once, to my math teacher, in between tears. I didn't go to the funeral, since it was midweek. But here's the thing: I think it was better that way. I made the decision to not tell any of my friends about her, and I'll tell you why. Knowing that the majority of my dad's family had congregated n Dallas to mourn, I kind of wanted to keep all that melancholia separate from my life here. Not having my support system, I decided I'd rather keep the normalcy of my day-to-day life. I didn't want the pity and the kid gloves, didn't want the sad to seep into my life here. And guess what: Tufts came through.

With carefully placed smiles, my normal life stayed normal, my safe haven stayed...