Spring Courses

Non-stop hip hop, courtesy of Greg's Pandora station, envelops me in The Tech office. I'm tired and usually this is not what I listen to, but the constant beat combined with catchy melodic hooks and homogeneous lyrics about love and heartbreak make for mind-numbingly easy listening, effective therapy to relax me. I've been here long enough to hear several songs twice. It's a bit after midnight, but I'm here tonight to work.

It's the first Friday of the spring term. Four days of school have passed. Classes are just revving their engines, throwing their first spats of gravel at me as their wheels slip and spin.

I'm taking three and a half classes this term: Math for Computer Science (6.042), Signals and Systems (6.003), and Software (6.005), and the half - Chamber Music (21M.445) as usual. It's a moderate load, though I expect to spend a lot of time on each class, particularly 6.005 (which reportedly takes 30+ hours per week) and 6.003 (which really smart friends have described as "challenging").


6.042 is taught TEAL-style, which I find good for this subject matter. With TEAL, we work in groups and spend most of the class solving problems on the board, and learn actively by doing. Lab assistants and TA's circulate and point out our many errors, from glaring logic flaws to nitpicky stylistic nuances. We're writing mathematical proofs now, something I've never done. It's been fun though - the readings are very clear, and the problems are like puzzles. As such, I'm enjoying this class a lot more than any of the math classes I've taken. 6.003 has released a pset for this weekend and I finished a 6.005 lab this afternoon, but so far I don't have as good an idea of what to expect from them.

In chamber music this term, I'm playing Dvorak's Piano Quintet Op. 81 with some awesome musicians: David (violin), Stephen (viola), Bina (cello), and Amanda (piano). I'm pretty excited for the semester after even our shaky sightreading session, because I know it will be good in the end. David Deveau is our coach, and I'm looking forward to rehearsals; I've never had him but have heard good things. Also, during dinner with Patrick Winston, my 6.034 professor last term, Winston inquired if I did any music, and asked me to tell him about my concerts in the spring when I responded that I was in the Emerson program. He may come to hear the Dvorak - I've given him a heads up, and Winston could kill two birds with one stone at this performance, as David the violinist is also an Emerson student and was in 6.034 this past term.

I hope this semester is the most sane one I will have had so far. I've been getting seven hours of sleep a night, and want to keep it that way. (Why yes, it's hard work getting enough sleep.) Somehow though, yet again, I've got the feeling it's the calm before the storm.