moving out

moving out On Friday, May 22, I put on some waking-up music and started packing down my room. My finals were done, and move-out day was tomorrow. I only lived in East Campus G212 for half a semesterjust barely two months. Temporary as it had been, my room was a home and a safehouse. With a west-facing window, the sun slanted in past the Green Building in the afternoons and filled the high ceilings with a gentle in-betweenness, half out and half in, half exposed and half enclosed. Occasionally, loud voices and running footsteps, from the stairwell on the other side of the north wall. The door was always unlocked and often open, leaking music into the hallway. Friends wandered in at odd times; sometimes to say hi, sometimes to share a hug, sometimes to tool in the comfort of silent company. I spent many hours there alone, and just as many not: nights with food, drink, and the chatter of sixteen Toons; afternoons working on group projects; evenings of popcorn movies or quiet conversation. A friend once told me that my room felt welcoming, and I knew Id done something right. It was emotional, then, to strip these four walls of my existence. Photographs make a poor substitute for the sensation of interior space, but I grabbed a few anyway. north wall: aerospace postcards, AeroAstro patch, feathers, prayer cards, buttons, necklaces, swiss army knife, keys, Friendly Toast postcard, tambourine, photos, posters desk + window under loft: zip-tied power strip, airplane pushpins, rental applications and receipts, computer, lamp, speakers, watch support wall: letters, cards, friendship bracelet, a portrait done by a friend, an email from Petey about my CMS.400 final project It will be a while before I return to MIT. Following in the footsteps of many other  admissions  bloggers, Im withdrawing from MIT  next semester, with plans to return in spring 2016. Over the summer, Im interning in structural analysis at Northrop Grumman in San Diego; then, Ill be spending 4.5 months in Seattle working for Amazon. It will be the longest time in my life (since preschool, anyway) that I have spent being a non-student. I anticipate that learning to be a non-student will make me a better student when I return. I hope that I will return with a better sense of whats Out There in the Real World, and also a better sense of What I Dont Know That I Dont Know. Im looking to find a better understanding of myself: my motivators, my work, my interests, my dreams. Im trying to shape myself into a better person. For nowone day at a time. Eat three meals a day, sleep at least seven hours a night, exercise two to three times a week. I probably wont be blogging much while Im away, but Ill be on social media. I may resurface here occasionally with news from the outside. See you soon. Twitter: @allank_o Tumblr: xeaphyr Email: ask-allan [at] mit [dot] edu Moving Out At the end of last year, I transferred from Burton 2 to Burton 1, and while rooming in Burton-Conner is done on in a complex floor-by-floor system based upon class rank and whether youve lived in a double or single the previous term, I moved in last and thereby got put into a pretty tiny single. So tiny, in fact, that its called a coffin single, because you have just enough room to extend your arms all the way. Coffin singles are not for the claustrophobic, the faint of heart, or in this particular case, people who dislike the color purple because the girl before me happened to paint it a hearty violet shade. Still, I like to decorate, so I did spruce it up a bit: This picture really doesnt adequately represent how small this room is. Its smaller than my AP Chem teacher. She was like 43. Basically, it was a pretty big step down from my double during freshman fall, but most people move out of doubles freshman year into singles if they choose to stay in the dorms (about 50% of MIT guys pledge fraternities, and a large percentage of them move into those houses). Still, mine wasnt especially ideal, since it had a view of the other side of the dorm. The design is a pretty big downside to Burton-Conner most of its residents can see most of its residents, and while that works out great for Martys dad in Back to the Future, my main purpose behind living in Burton-Conner is not checking out the ladies. Fortunately, the senior who lives in the room around the corner from me moved out at the end of IAP, and the floor held re-rooming for her room specifically. And this entry would be really anticlimactic if I hadnt gotten her room, so luckily, I did. You can all send Kaitlin thank you letters for saving the plot from certain death. (Although we couldve buried it in my coffin single.) First step to moving in: the room required a paint job. Getting to paint your room and walls is a pretty big upside to Burton-Conner (as well as in Senior Haus, East Campus, Bexley, and I believe Random?..), so although Id moved twice before (from Next to Burton 2 to Burton 1) I was REALLY excited to get this new room. The coffin never really quite felt like mine, since I didnt get to pick it or paint it, so I got to remedy that with the help of my dad (my parents were visiting that weekend) and Gillian 10: The pre-roomwarming party went through several stages: from just Gillian and I loudly singing Ingrid Michaelson, to Rich 10 and Praveen 10 serenading us, to a personal Ben 11 concert (one of the most musically talented people Ive ever met, Ben can play pretty much any instrument and pretty much any song, after listening to a few measures i.e. Hot in Herre on the acoustic guitar), to a tea party, to a cleaning party. People will be talking about the pre-roomwarming party of 08 for YEARS, I swear. A note on that back wall: Gillian and I couldnt decide on a color for it, since I had a great teal color that went well with the light blue of the wall to the right (which I later used on that very wall, for the mural), but Gillian was a big fan of the light orange. So we both painted swatches and decided the swatches themselves looked cooler than just a solid color. The wall became a subject of great controversy between Gillian and my mom later that night. They both, however, liked the mural: That particular image (printed on a sweatshirt I bought last term) was the result of an internal struggle between that dinosaur and this dinosaur. I was initially leaning towards the latter because of my great affinity for sandwiches, but I went with the former because it seemed like itd be a little easier to sleep under. Ready to see the final room? I dont think youre ready for this jelly. I HAVE A FLOOR NOW. I can flail my arms wildly about in circles FOR NO REASON! Man, its great. I know the photos dont really represent it well, but you can sort of tell this room is a lot more spacious in the first photo, my bed is lofted and the futon/chair are underneath, and the desk is basically a foot away from that entire structure (nicknamed the PLANETARIUM FORT.. the reason behind that is kind of a long story, but basically it implies I have a really small room). But here I have enough room to just put my shoes under my bed, and leave the futon and chair against the back wall.. so the PLANETARIUM FORT name no longer really applies. Which is where you come in. What should I name the new room? Examples of other rooms on Burton 1 include TREEHOUSE (for the tree mural painted in the corner), UNITED NATIONS (for its diverse residents) and LOVECAVE (for obvious reasons). Right now Im thinking JURASSIC PARK, but Im definitely open to suggestions. So those are the new digs. Coming soon: Burton 1 Cribs, an inside look at the other super sweet rooms on my floor! (Also an entry about the classes Im taking this term Im cross-registering two at Harvard and Ring Premiere, which on Monday. Im personally more excited than Evan.) Speaking of my floor, the boys surprised all the girls yesterday with valentines on their doors: I almost died from the cuteness; seriously, nearly went into cardiac arrest. Hope your Valentines Days were all similarly lethal! (Send me your room suggestions. Itll be your Valentines Day gift to me. Also, questions!) Post Tagged #Burton-Conner House