well, its the end of the first 3 weeks here at SSTP. and it's been interesting.
for my lab, i pretty much sit on the computer all day and i'm suppose to be learning a simulation program to run my lab, but i haven't even seen it yet. so, my days have been spent on the computer mostly checking facebook and talking on google talk. it gets pretty boring after a while.
midterm orals are at the end of next week (a 4 minute presentation of what you've done so far), and i might have enough background information to take up those 4 minutes, but i wish i could talk about my actual experiment.
so that's kinda gotten annoying since, it's 3 weeks in and i haven't started my actual experiment.
lectures every morning is alright. they've mostly been about biomedical stuff, so i get the main point and daydream during the detail parts. and daydreaming is the only way to stay awake during those parts.. the main ideas are good enough because then i can just pick one to write an extension paper on. (which aren't that bad, just some BS and summary of journals. or citing journals and summary of wiki)
the IDH seminars (which are twice a week) are going fairly well. i'm in the Artificial Intelligence one and have realized i will not be working with computers when i'm older. it's all about finding the right method for a computer to follow and i don't think like that. i find whatever method works for me and use it. of course, this class was the only one that was as far away from biology and medicine and had some math in it. the teachers both have accents so sometimes it's hard to understand them. plus they try and teach grad-student level material in an hour - which can be tough. but they did say that if you get over an 80% in the class, they'll give you an A; between 50% and 80% - a B. hopefully i can get above an 80, but idk, because sometimes it's hard to know what exactly they want out of us.
the other problem with the class i have, is the people. some of them aren't understanding the material completely and so just don't pay attention. by not paying attention, they become very rude and sometimes argue with the teacher about futile things. (this happened last thursday and got me really pissed off) other than that though, i am learning stuff about computers and i think i'll learn some programing too, which will be useful later on.
in lab i'm learning how to use linux and some linux commands. haven't done anything else since then (i've just learned the basic commands) but i think i'll be using it more and maybe that'll be useful too. idk. (at this point, i just want to use it)
the people here:
i've noticed, after talking to some people, that i'm one of the smarter ones, which i didn't think would happen. they also are more science-inclined than math. another thing to get used to.
i have to be modest sometimes because i don't want to get what i got at school about being smart and all.. (they thought i was a genius when i said i got an 800 on SAT Math IIC.) i must admit, i miss being surrounded by kids that are 15 times smarter than i am. there are only a couple here, and most of them are the stereotypical geek.
but i've found some cool people to hang out with. mostly my roommates. and our group is definitely the minority there. us girls are all pretty down to earth and chill, while most of the other girls here are very flirtatious, spacey, loud (in an annoying way), and some are materialistic. (the girl from one of the Sweet Sixteen's is here. <- very materialistic). and of course, all the guys are going to flock to them. plus, since you had to pay $3000 to come here, some of the kids here are rich. and don't mind eating out every night or buying starbucks every morning. the sweet sixteen girl said she had already spent $400 so far. wtf? personally, i wouldn't mind cooking my dinner most nights, but it's no fun if you're by yourself. which makes me a bit anti-social sometimes. because some nights i would like to just watch a movie while others want to go out. or play soccer. and soccer is great fun, i just can't do it every night/don't want to. this again, can make me a bit anit-social in meeting other kids.
all in all, so far no guys for Ann yet. there is this very good looking guy here, he's kinda quiet and reserved, but i thought i might still have a chance. of course, then the other day, i found out his SAT score, and stopped pursuing him. now, i know that sounds really geeky-shallow, but, he didn't break 1200.. that says something.. so, no prospects for Ann. but i'm not giving up, there's still 4 more weeks left.. you never know.
i spent an hour in lab typing that up and now i'm home. (that's what i do in lab = nothing. but my study group leader talked to my grad students today, so hopefully i can start something on monday. :crosses fingers:)
one of the best things about being home now: faster internet on my own computer. i'll have to download stuff now. i couldn't before because of my low internet connection in my dorm. but now i can. yay! :-)
off to find something to do - call me before sunday to hang out!
