Short, Sweet, and to the Point MIT in five senses or less (Guest Entry)

Short, Sweet, and to the Point MIT in five senses or less (Guest Entry) By Robert Kapaku 12 We are, we are, we are, we are, we are the Engineers, We can, we can, we can, we can, demolish forty beers, Drink rum, drink rum, drink rum all day, and come along with us, Cause we dont give a damn for any old man who dont give a damn for us! 1. Hearing While at MIT CPW, I had the wonderful opportunity to sample all sorts of auditory goodness. Im a musician myself, and met several awesome members of the MIT Marching Band and MITs vocal groups. As it turns out, MIT has an active and talented a cappella scene, with many different kinds of music represented. The Chorallaries wowd the crowd (yeah unintentional rhyme!) with the Engineers Drinking Song (see below). The Toons (I am biased towards them because they let me sing with them in Lobby 7) Boston was astounding. All other groups were also simply awesome beyond all reason (koodos to Cross Products, muy bueno Muses, first rate Resonance, and of course gotta love the ladie killin Logarhythms). 2. Smell What could a man possibly talk about smelling at MIT? Well, you probably think hed make some pathetic attempt to personify a big, philosophical theme into a smell in a sad justification of his self-imposed theme. And you would be right. Lets just say I smelled the smelly smell of [Insert your own smell here, but it was probably a fusion of tangerine, liquid nitrogen ice cream, Spring weather, sweat from underground CTF, and a million other smelly smells] wafting throughout the campus. And it was all incredible. 3. Taste Quothe the Bryan, If youre paying for your food, youre doing something wrong. The man couldnt be more right. I happened to be staying at the ridiculously awesome Theta Delta Chi, which was chockfull of food and video games. I even ventured out to explore some frat parties across the river, and they were all awesome. I could go into great details of Goldfish eating, glow-stick dancing, midnight raving, and Top Gun rocking, but instead Ill just leave you with this crucial idea: When they say Work Hard, Play Hard at MIT, they mean it. And it is awesome. 4. Vision There was too much to see to really take it all in, and I think thats what MIT looks like overall. If youre not sure what I mean, allow me to tell you about my check-in experience. Me: Kapaku, Robert. MIT: OK, heres your folder, your booklet of 600+ activities, and this card to give us when you check out Sunday. Me: Cool! Now what? MIT: Haha, well, now you go wherever you want to go! Enjoy, and call if you need us! From Thursday check-in until Sunday check-out, I was free. FREE. For a kid with strict parents and curfews and schedules and day planners and high school and work schedules and this that and the other, this was truly bizarre. Ive never truly felt freedom before, and besides, at home theres only so much to do. Suddenly Ive got this kaleidoscope of crazy activities to do, and the freedom to do (or not do) whatever I wanted. There was a ridiculous amount to see and take in. I could sample any color or pattern from this kaleidoscope, and had to report to no one to do it. I think thats what life at MIT is like. A million opportunities and possibilities, and only yourself as the ultimate guide (with a friendly MIT support staff there should you need a little help). See the sights! 5. Touch Thus far Ive only really addressed social-type things that I encountered at MIT. However, Im told that the tute is also pretty good at science and engineering and whatnot. My goodness, theyre not lying. Hearing Prof. Amy Smith talk about getting HANDS-ON (Get it? Im writing about this under Touch. If youre still reading and following my gimmicky theme, thank you and Im sorry.) was positively amazing. D-Lab definitely sounds like the kind of place where I want to be: a place where you take your talents and then DO something with them. This was just one example of many at MIT that contributes to how the overall campus felt (har har, more theme punning) to me. It was just this feeling that everyone there is bright, everyone there is capable, and (heres where its different than other colleges) almost everyone there wants to DO something about it. People want to research on projects supervised by Nobel Laureates, people want to travel to small villages in third-world countries to engineer solutions, people want to create a thermite reaction in the backyard of their frat (Heres lookin at you TDC!) just to see the molten explosion because its wicked cool and slightly dangerous. In this realm of IHTFP, I dont know if Ill love or hate this effin place. But I love the feel of it. And now, a small sampling of my CPW Vika 12 at Simmons Instructables. Something about tattooing cell phones. Yummy liquid nitrogen ice cream at Random. Another photo blogger? Leanna 12 at TDC dinner. More ice cream with fellow prefrosh Mary 12, Isaac 12, and Phil 12. Authentic delicious burrito from Annas. Mmmmmmm. Blogger alert! Snively 11 raffles (as opposed to rofls?) at the Burton-Conner party Scott 12 and Lindsay-Paige 12 cross the Smoot Bridge into Boston! Maryam 12 and Lindsay-Paige 12 wait with me for a tour. A citrus tour. Something about tangerines *ahem* Kickin it with the other natives (Im part native Hawaiian). Among the cool people here is my ridiculously cool host, LeVon 09 on the far right. John 09 and Rob 08 let me sing with them as Toons serenaded Lobby 7. And finally, the MIT Chorallaries sing the Engineers Drinking song. Sorry the video isnt great quality. The lyrics, by the by, are a couple of variations on some found here. Cheers, Rob http://www.xanga.com/tomorrow_infinite