At MIT, January is termed an "Independent Activities Period" where students are allowed to spend the month in whatever manner they see fit. Some students take classes, some travel, some intern, and some choose the perfectly valid route of staying home and spending extra time with family. For me, this past January was my first IAP, and although I dropped out of one class, passed another class by 0.01%, and cried multiple times due to stress, it was an amazing month worth writing about.
When I look back at exactly what I accomplished and how productive I was, the above demonstrates that my classes didn't go exactly as planned. Nonetheless, a lot happened during IAP underneath the grades (or lack thereof since I "No record"-ed my class). During January, I set a goal of learning web development, and subsequently took the corresponding class. In the class, you and your partner were supposed to finish the course with a final website/product that demonstrated your newly learned skills and followed a criteria of features. For the first week of IAP, my partner and I attended every weblab class before concluding that no matter how hard we tried to pay attention, the lectures were not resonating with us and attending them was a waste of time. So, week 2, we got up in the mornings and tried to power through the web development module on our Codecademy pro 7-day free trials. The two of us were learning at our own pace and according to our own style, a luxury we don't get during the regular school-year. Next, I learned something about quality over quantity. I entered IAP and bit off way more than I could chew. It turns out, I hadn't learned my lesson when during semester one, I also bit off more than I could chew and had to go through a commitment-cleansing process. I knew I was missing the last week of IAP and had to finish classes early, and yet I signed up for three classes, registered for a PE, started a UROP (Undergraduate Research ~something~ ~something~ or attempted to), and tried to have a great social life. It really didn't work out. I wasn't getting in enough free-time, and I was not waking up excited to literally die from stress. So I cut a class, explained to the UROP professor my miscalculation, and tried my best in the remaining two classes. I’m more confident that by now, I understand that doing more at 25% potential each is far from best. Away from classes, I learned a lot about friendship. More specifically, I had a lot of moments when I realized how kind and generous so many people in my life were. Like Michael who would come back to campus from his internship at 6:00 PM and still help me on the weblab project from 6:00 - 10:00 PM despite it not being his assignment at all. Or A who showed up in my room at 2:30 AM when I was having a life crisis filled with dissatisfaction and the rude awakening that life wasn't going to stay rainbows and butterflies forever. And then, there was this weird idea of accountability that started popping up. Accountability to do the dishes and wash communal pans in a timely manner, even when life gets really busy or you're (lowkey) lazy. Accountability to friendships that could be better if you put in more effort -- like being a more responsive texter and following through on plans. And an accountability to be honest to yourself and others. Lastly, initiative. Over IAP, I moved into a new dorm of people who had already established a community the semester before. It was my chance to define myself and I realized how important it is to "introduce yourself." I introduced myself to the people on my floor, to the front desk worker that I kept running into, and I kid I had always seen around but had still never said hi to. At the end of IAP, I think I became a better friend to a lot of people. I think I was also able to recognize the friendships that needed more appreciation and attention, and form so many new ones that I know are going to really define next semester I understand better the idea of balancing my work with my happiness and realize that it's not the longest resume that wins. But okay, let's be real, going to Limered Teahause with Linda, riding a BlueBike for the first time, going to Café Nero and Newbury shopping with Nina, ordering sushi and watching the Three Idiots with Traders, making matcha mochi waffles with Julia, spending 6 hours to make truffles with Julia, going Hmart shopping with Helen and Brigette, getting up early to make Michael lunch, making my suite dinner, baking without a recipe with Andy, and oh yeah, going to Hawaii for a week, also played a giant role in why I loved IAP so much. Either way, IAP's over, school's starting, but it really was a very special time of the year :)
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June 2020
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