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theonceapeiron
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Name: cassi
Country: United States
State: Massachusetts
Birthday: 11/20/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: Physics rocks my socks. Also: salsa, AI, fiction writing, travel(!)
Occupation: Student
Industry: Research
Message: message me
Member Since:
9/23/2003
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| Trip to UIUCWent to the Urbana-Champaign physics dept visit, and I gotta say I really liked it. I was surprised at just how massive their condensed matter group is, and the kind of resources they have at their disposal. The department was very friendly and the city (cities, I guess) was bigger than I expected.
Advantages:
- Great condensed matter program (ranked #1 in the country)
- Large town with lots of neat stores
- Lots of salsa dancing venues (woo!)
- Amazingly huge farmer's market
- Cheap cost of living--I could actually start investing in property
- ~3.5 hours away from home
- ~1.5 hours from Purdue, where my bro will be
- ~2.5 hours away from Chicago
Disadvantages:
- Concentrations besides condensed matter and high energy physics are smaller in variety
- Definitely will need a car to get around
- Surrounded by cornfields O_o
- Drunk undergrads
Okay, so that last one is endemic to all college campuses, but I gotta say, seeing the town at night was hilarious. College students owned the streets. Apparently there are certain places that the undergrads go and certain places that the grad students prefer. Actually, the whole thing reminded me alot of Cambridge, UK. The lines forming outside certain dance clubs/bars. The hordes of undergrads. The late night food joints (nothing like Greek at 3 am).
I got delayed going home so I basically spent all of Sunday in airports. Blegh. I rolled up to my dorm at 1am. My cabbie found out I was a physics major, so I got sucked into another discussion about someone's pet theory of the universe that they think is grounded in physics. I had fun with that stuff when I was 12. Gah. I swear, as soon as someone finds out you're a physics major, they just feel compelled to share how all atoms are psychically connected and how quantum mechanics gives us free will.
Spare me.
He was fun to talk to on the way, grant you. I didn't mind then. Kept me from falling asleep. But when we reached the dorm, he felt compelled to talk to me for another 15 minutes, just sitting outside my building. I would have cut him off, but my bill was $30 and I'd given him two $20 bills and I wanted my damn change. When he finally wrapped up, I left so fast I forgot to get a receipt so I could get the ride reimbursed. Grrr.
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| I don't feel so good...Last night had to be one of my worst "sick" experiences ever. I'm pretty sure it was food poisoning. All of a sudden, I felt completely exhausted. Like my energy had been sapped over the course of less than five minutes. I crawl into bed as the nausea hits. It wasn't typical nausea either--it felt like my stomach was on fire. I go to the bathroom for a bit, barely able to stand, not sure which end to stick over the toilet. But no success. Still feeling like crap, I crawl back into bed. Tossed and turned. Spontaneously woke up in the middle of the night and puked my guts out. Blegh.
But at least I felt better. I'm hoping its over now. Yuck.
In other news, I got into Urbana-Champaign! Yay! Basically I have an interview for Caltech next week. I got an email from Rana, a guy I met last summer at a LIGO meeting, wanting to talk about what I was working on this year and what I wanted to do with LIGO at Caltech next year. He's a cool guy, new faculty at Caltech. It would be awesome to work for him.
Nothing else to report on the grad school front. It's good to know I have a future, lol. UC is #1 in condensed matter, which is probably what I'll end up doing if I go there.
Snow is piling up outside. I'm supposed to meet a friend for lunch, but between the sick and the snow, I just want to curl up and sleep. Yarg.
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| Updates on Chatterbot DevelopmentCheck out my chatterbot blog if you're interested.
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| More UpdatesWell, I just finished the last of my graduate school stuff. You'd think I'd feel like a load has been removed, but mostly I just feel trapped. Now there's nothing I can do. Should I have done more? What could I have done differently? Is it enough? Am I enough?
In two months, I could be found utterly wanting.
What a sensation. Looking back through my old Xanga posts, this is the same sort of emotional ringer I went through after my undergrad apps were sent in. But comparing the level of competitiveness I was at then versus now, I think I've declined. Or rather, not inclined enough...? Anyway you look at it, I feel completely average. Back then, I didn't know where I stood. Now I feel like I do know, and it's not encouraging. :(
What a depressing post. Blegh.
On an upside, I'm learning guitar. And by "learning", I mean I can kind of sorta play a few chords, but not one right after another quite yet. Hopefully I'll have time to progress farther than that before winter break ends and my life gets eaten again. Woo!
EDIT: ROUS!!
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| WhiningI was about to get on here and complain about the lack of updates from my acade-homies, but then I noticed that my last update was Dec. 21st. Nicht sehr gut.
Sooo, general update time:
Christmas worked out well. There was a brief epic battle over an hour on Christmas morning. Had I been 8, I would have been scarred. Being 22, I found it hilarious. It was a hard transition time. My parents both had this attitude that what happened this year would basically set the tone for all of eternity. So we had to get it right this time. Yarg.
What was really annoying was that my dad put on this whole song and dance about wanting to start a tradition of opening presents with Candy's family. That in itself is no big deal--in fact, I thought it was a good idea to spend a holiday that is traditionally considered "family" time working out this new dynamic. What pissed me off is that for however much Dad wanted this, Candy (or, more likely, her kids) didn't seem to give a crap about bending a little to make it work. Dad wanted Ryan and I to crash on Candy's couches so we could all wake up at the ass-crack of dawn and open presents. Apparently, Candy's son Andrew is really into this. But frankly, I didn't want to give up all of Christmas morning with my mom, and I wanted to sleep in my own bed. Sooo, Ryan and I get there fairly early, but with plenty of sun in the sky, and sure enough, Candy's kids had already opened their presents. So it was just Ryan and I opening presents with everyone just kind of looking at us.
Really family-bondy, people. Not awkward at all.
Then it was a matter of sitting around for another two hours until Candy's family whisked into the house, hung out for two hours and opened more presents, then whisked out again. Then we went over to visit my dad's side of the family (visited Mom's the previous day). All in all, it was fine. And I really enjoyed seeing my family. I even had some fun hanging out with Candy's fam. But for all the angst...sheesh.
Okay, more update later. Gotta see an adviser about a fellowship.
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