Finals Week (Cue: Panic)

Errr... been a while, hasn't it. Sorry about that. But! Let's have bygones be bygones because ... exciting news! As you may have heard, it's finals week here at Mudd and anxiety is in the air. For the upperclassmen, it's the thought of difficult finals and long papers. For us frosh, however, it's more of a general worry for the future. With the Humanities 1 portfolios due last Friday, we have nothing left but studying and tests. These tests are our last experiences of past/fail, though, and that's a titch depressing. After a month away from Mudd (yet another sad thing) we have to come back and remember how to care about grades. We maybe have to stop goofing off and maybe start going to bed before 3 AM. Then again, maybe not. Tune in February to find out (bedtime pushed up to 2 AM?!?!).

If Atwood goes at (5/13)c and East goes at (12/13)c...

So, as you may have noticed, I have not posted  lately. That is because of Mudd's time dilation, as the campus zooms past the rest of the world at 12c/13. Alternatively, it could be because there's been a bunch of homework due lately and sleep is hard to come by. This period of the semester is definitely hectic, as all courses have assignments due regularly and there are no breaks - you find yourself working week after week after week. That of course is the disadvantage of attending a difficult school: the work is difficult.

But, bellyaching aside, there has still been time for fun. And by fun I mean near-midnight runs (literally) to purchase frozen yogurt. I mean forcing friends to watch V for Vendetta on the Fifth because that is the day on which V for Vendetta must be viewed. I mean basking in the pleasure of having our all-frosh quiz bowl team beat our competition. There was indeed much work. But there was also much pleasure.

News Flash: Fall Break Rocks My Socks

Fall Break began last Saturday and continues until today, forming some of the most relaxed (and fun) days at Mudd yet.

To begin with, on Saturday I went to Six Flags with a bunch of friends and we had a blast (which only cost 15$ apiece thanks to the CAP subsidy). I personally recommend Goliath but any of those coasters could rock the socks off of nuns. Disneyland pales in comparison - Six Flags crushed it easily. And the rest of the weekend has mainly been reaction. Which is definitely for the best, as most Mudd weekends are homework and panic filled, albeit just as fun usually.

One thing that Fall Break signals is the end of the half semester, meaning that I change humanity and math classes, and change subjects in physics and chemistry to quantum mechanics and structure, respectively. And now that I have taken classes at Mudd for about a month and a half, I think that I can make some evaluations. The main observation is that classes here are good. I am really impressed by the number of teachers here who are really enthusiastic about their subjects. And before you go "so what," you really need to know that it's difficult to not learn from a teacher who is excited for class every day and willing to put a lot of time into preparing for their classes. Even those teachers who I consider worse than other I would not call "bad." It's good enough that I'm really excited for my new humanities course (which is being taught by my awesome computer science teacher and a physics teacher who is reputed to be good as well). But, must go to bed now. I need enough sleep to do a good math final tomorrow (yay for take home tests).

The Most Mathemagical Place on Earth

As I write that title I realize it applies more to Mudd than its intended referent.

But before I explain that, some back story. I was occupied for the majority of this weekend with some crazy fun events. The first of which was Gay Days at Disneyland. Although I don't plan on discussing my sexuality much on this blog, I am compelled to inform you all that Disneyland is actually quite fun still, despite (or because of?) extremely awkward questions from certain Australians. The second event was my first college level quiz bowl tournament ever! Which was crazy difficult and crazy fun simultaneously. The questions here are much more difficult than those at the high school level, but that also makes the successes much sweeter. However, I think that difficulty increase puts off quite a few people, as the quiz bowl here is much smaller than I would have expected (last year there were only two people from the entire 5 Claremont Colleges for the majority of the tournaments). But we frosh are determined to revive the club, so those prospective students should look out for a rejuvenated quiz bowl ready to rock!


As for the rest of the week, it was mostly entangled in homework. But fear not! I am beginning to see how the "communal working" bit of Mudd's pamphlets functions. There is more a less of a system where a homework party develops in my suite's lounge (Atwood's lounges are becoming increasingly useful) and we actually do work at a decent pace, all while distracting one another with hilarities. Who knew that it was actually possible. I believe it requires some diabolical witchcraft (AKA mathemagic?). Until next time, then!

Edit: Three minutes after I posted this, we "showered" one of my suitemates, providing an opportunity to explain a delightful tradition here at Mudd.On your birthday you are forced to receive a shower at the hands of your friends - after removal of electronics and homework. This does a good deal to relax all parties involved.

Also, I would love questions regarding Mudd! Please send me questions at:  akohn(at)hmc.edu

On the Ways of Mudders

Ah, Mudders... I am increasingly adopting a philosophy which states that Mudders work hard to play hard. Let me explain...

I have experienced sleep deprivation over the past week or so. This has led to some unpleasant feelings in the morning. However, often, I am working hard so that I can do something ridiculously fun later. For example, last weekend I spent much time doing my Hum 1 essay and CS on Saturday so that my Sunday was free. That was so I could attend the latest Magic the Gathering prerelease with a bunch of other Mudders. I worked hard (and stayed up until 4:00 AM or so) so that I could play hard (that prerelease was crazy fun!). And I must repeat again this week. In order to be able to spend my Friday doing Quiz Bowl practice and D&D, my Saturday at Disneyland, and my Sunday at a Quiz Bowl tournament, I must work quite diligently during the week. There are many opportunities for fun at Mudd. But because of the courseload, you must work hard to earn the extra time you could spend having fun.

Zen and the Art of Blogging

Like many students entering Mudd, I've mostly written for AP tests. And as you may or may not know, those essays are highly guided - we're given topics from which we may not stray. This fact is forcing me to give myself a theme for writing the present and future posts. I plan on focusing primarily on the social workings of Mudd at first, until I feel experienced enough to begin commenting on the academic (at least past the half-semester).

I would like to focus this post on the issue of the dorms. The eight dormitories are generally divided into two classes: the inner dorms (named after the cardinal directions) and the outer dorms (Linde, Case, Atwood, Sontag). The inner dorms possess stronger characters. The average Eastie is Geekier, the average Southie is quieter, the average Westie is more pyromaniacal, and the average Norfie is more athletic. However, be careful to note that I said that I referred to the average person. As we were cautioned during orientation, assuming these generalities to be true in all cases is both offensive and incorrect. Now, the outer dorms may not be as colorful as the inner dorms, but they generally have better rooms. For example, Atwood (my dorm, the best of all dorms - it contains three floors), has really nicely furnished suites. And the suites' personalities are actually pretty well unified (for example, my suite is fairly "South," although I'm trying to add some "East"). However, many other suites I would classify as "North." These clashes in suite makeup make it difficult for a single unified culture to develop. But as I mentioned, one merely needs to stay within a single suite in Atwood to find a strong character (making it a synthesis of sorts of the two classes). As my father is fond of saying, "everywhere you live has its pros and cons." And that aphorism is no less true here at Mudd. Inner dorms have their unity, outer dorms have their diversity. Inner dorms have their proximity to academic building, outer dorms have suite couches (caution: pun). And Atwood has the best of everything. And three floors.

It Lives!

And so this blog shambles into some semblance of life. Much like me this morning, really. Because today is Thursday, we (the vast majority of the freshman class) don't have any classes until noon. Which of course means that we stay up late the night before doing whatever we classify as fun. For example, I stayed up until two or so playing Magic last night. And as we all know, most things become more ridiculously fun as sleep deprivation develops. Let me just say that by one o'clock, we were well entertained.

So, continuing on with a weekend prognosis, it looks to be good. Not too much homework - mainly a take home math midterm (woo, honor code). And between an RPG-l meeting (I want me some D&D already!) and a Cracked gaming session (never played Enemy Territories before - new experience ahoy), it looks like there'll be some deliciously nerdy goodness. Look forward to a report on these activities (I command you to)!