Archive for school

the last stretch

2010/08/15 at 03:11 · Filed under japan, school

10 days before the start of exams, and i finally got through an exam in a timely manner. now it’s 8 days before the start of exams, and i still can’t do most of the crazy fluid mechanics problems on past exams. [really, the fluid mechanics problems seem disproportionately hard compared to the other exams, even taking into account the fact that i haven't really finished studying it.]

outside, the weather is perfect – rainy, almost cold – but the inside of my room is still hot and humid and sticky. these dorms couldn’t fail much worse at life. i move in two weeks.

i think caffeine has a similar physiological effect on me as alcohol. it’s rather bizarre. but this could begin to explain my inability to study effectively.

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毎日勉強

2010/07/30 at 21:11 · Filed under japan, lab, school

Entrance exams are taking over my life. I have new respect for people who have to take comprehensive, multi-subject exams to gain admission into their schools of choice. Like med students. And Asian people. (I don’t think it’s just Japan that has entrance exams, but I could be wrong.)

石 is also applying, but to the doctorate program. Sometimes I make him solve problems for me that I can’t do on my own (but actually, I can’t do most of the problems on my own in a reasonable amount of time; it’s rather depressing). Every time someone shows him a problem, he’s all 「超簡単」 [sooo easy], but then when he’s actually asked to solve the problem, it becomes 「ちょっと待って」[... wait a minute]. It’s nice having a なかま, and I feel a little bit better knowing that the problems are hard for other people besides me. (中 claims he has no idea how to do them, but supposedly gets 100s in his classes. i bet he secretly knows.)

In any case, I am currently the most boring person in the world for another month, unless studying at Mister Donut makes one interesting. (it doesn’t. lots of people do it.) Which is what I’ll be doing soon. Blogging + being in lab is probably enough distraction for one day. (lab temp << dorm temp; can’t concentrate in 30 c and humid)

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me, in one sentence

2010/07/14 at 17:15 · Filed under life, school

part of the grad school process for a foreigner applying to tohokudai is to get a recommendation from a professor at the school you attended for undergrad. i’m in the process of writing a blurb about myself to help a professor write a recommendation. i have 3 main points – japanese, tkd, and 20.380 (the senior project class for bioengineering undergrads. our project was awesome.) – and now that i’ve written about what i accomplished, i figured i should write about why i did them.

after some thinking, i realized i could summarize half a page in one sentence:

i like things that are difficult.

so simple, yet it describes so much about me and my motivations. in case anyone was curious.

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