The Masochist's Institute of Technologyanecdotes of an ambitious MIT student

The entire past week would have been horrible, had it not been for some lovely presents that kept on appearing at my door every day..

On Monday, I woke up at 6am to finish work on my paper. Imagine my surprise as I opened the door to head to the restroom and instead found a shimmering package staring me in the face! I took the box back inside and unwrapped it to reveal a box of beautiful Italian chocolates. My first present from my mysterious Alpha Chi Omega big sister had arrived at the perfect time – what better to help you through a brutal paper revision? (Trust me – cutting down 3150 words to 2000 is hard work!)

On Tuesday, I was greeted by rectangularly-shaped package, which I hastily unwrapped to find a book of Guillaume Apollinaire’s selected works! Anyone who knew me in French class knows that I’m absolutely obsessed with Apollinaire’s works (he is my absolute favourite poet). I even found some time to read a few of the poems before I settled down into studying for my economics test.

Wednesday, a happy, leaf-printed bag found its way to my door. Mere moments before, I had been irritated for some reason or another, but the moment I saw the present my eyes brightened. After digging out the neon green tissue paper, I saw a colourful stuffed animal grinning up at me. And not just any stuffed animal either, but a parrot! Along with the present, she dropped off the interesting hint that her favourite animal was a dolphin. Quite the opposite from my favourite (any kind of bird), but even more interesting was her selection of a parrot, the bird with which I identify most =) Like a parrot, I am loud and excel at imitation ;)

Thursday, a package nestled itself between the umbrella and boots that I had left outside my door. Inside was a handmade photo frame (in black and pink, my favourite colours!)

I found it beautifully appropriate, especially since we had also decorated photo frames to give to our big sisters! Since I didn’t have any interesting craft items, I found myself being a bit innovative. I grabbed some hot glue from Angela downstairs, dug out all the markers I owned, and set to work affixing a manner of interesting charms to the frame.

In addition to an earring (no worries – I had lost the other one, so it was relatively useless anyways), a button, some word magnets, and a silver heart charm, I included some thin strips of paper that discretely sported interesting phrases:

Friday morning, right when I was about to head out for class, I opened the door to find my final Inspiration Week present – a gorgeous silver lavalier bearing the greek letters A, X, and Ω (Alpha, Chi, and Omega, respectively). I ended up wearing the necklace the entire day =)

That evening, we all arrived at the house for Revelations, in which our bigs would be revealed to us! All the new members gathered on the stairscase (we extended from the first to the third floor!) and, one by one, we walked into the circle of current sisters and were promptly tackled/pounced upon/hugged by our bigs. When my turn came, I strided into the center and paused for a few anxious moments before someone to my right skipped to my side and wrapped me up in a big hug. A glance over the bouquet she pushed into my arms revealed the identity of my big – Minh, a senior I had admired since the first time I met her (fall of freshman year!)

Left to right: Vivian (me), Veronica, Lily, Minh, Christine, Lauren

After all the reveals were over, Minh introduced me to her lineage, the Alpha Pearl family – chocolate lovers, classy, and awesome! What follows below is a very rough current family tree in the format of [Name (year initiated)]:

Minh-Phuong Huynh-Le (2006)
– Sam Marquart (2007)
—- Lauren Sless (2008)
——- Christine Lai (2009)
– Veronica Wilson (2007)
—- Lily Xu (2009)
– Vivian Lee (2009, me!)

As you can tell, due to the years in which we were initiated, this leads to some interesting hierarchal relations. Namely, I’m technically on a higher level than Lauren Sless even though she 1) is my same class year, and 2) was initiated before me!

Is it just me, or do Minh and Veronica and I look strangely alike in this picture? =)

The past week has been hectic as ever. In addition to finishing my move-in process (I finally have a raised bed!), helping out with some REX (Residence Exploration) events, representing MIT Asian Dance Team at the Activities Midway, going through sorority recruitment, attending a few Rush events, and finishing a last-minute batch of data for my job at Harvard Business School, I’ve barely gotten any time to rest!

What my room looked like before I tidied it up…

Thankfully, I did manage to take some time out of my busy schedule yesterday to play some Mafia and Apples to Apples. Seeing all of our old White Rabbit Lounge bunch together again made me rather nostalgic for last year, when we could just sit in the elevator lounge doing nothing at all – a time when p-sets were more a social function and grades didn’t matter that much; a time when we were still learning everyone’s quirks and personalities; a time when secrets were shared and friendships forged. There will never be anything quite like fall of freshman year, and I look back on it with extreme fondness every single time.

Alas, I am a sophomore now, and I suppose I should really be sitting tight and prepping for my upcoming semester. It’s hard to imagine that tomorrow is actually registration day! Here is my proposed schedule:

As you may see, I definitely have a conflict with my Japanese I class (21F.501). I have decided that I will be taking it during IAP instead of the fall, in order to make sure my schedule works. I also plan to add a 6-unit seminar (15.821) which counts towards the Marketing concentration in my Management major. It only lasts for half of the semester, so it shouldn’t be too bad!

In other news, I’m starting on Regina Leeds’s One Year to an Organized Work Life program:

This super handy-dandy book basically leads you through a 52-week program to improve your work life. Even though I’m not actually a working girl (yet!), I find that the tips and activities presented are applicable to student life as well, especially at a university level. Since I’m starting in September, though, I’m shifting the entire program nine months, so that I start out on the first “lesson” – January 1st. This, combined with my list of resolutions for the new semester, should help me work better overall. I will make progressive posts each week detailing my progress =)

Coming up soon on a blog near you:

• Sorority recruitment – how it works, and how MIT sororities defy the stereotypes
• First-hand look at some of my sophomore classes (complete with photos!)
• Backdated post about my fabulous 19th birthday! (see above comment!)
• Equally backdated post about the Britney Spears concert I attended!
• Ranting and raving about East Asian dramas – I’ve slipped back into a phase..