Katie: The First Round of Horrors
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
The First Round of Horrors
Well, I have officially survived the second round of horrors. Getting through three tests and a chemistry lab within three days wasn’t easy, but it was definitely worthwhile. Because this horror week was right before Spring Break, I got to spend nine whole days relaxing and not doing schoolwork! The knowledge that I was about to go home was the only thing that kept me motivated to constantly study. After our tests, I officially decided, as did many of my fellow classmates, that Physics I is the most difficult class I have ever taken, and that I will never be an Engineering Physics major. The class average on our last test was a 61%, which most Mines students, who are used to sailing through all their exams, found disappointing and appalling. It was definitely surprising in any case.
Studying for the physics exam in the common area. Despite all my efforts, it still didn’t go very well.
Other than that physics exam, all my classes seem to be going pretty well. My epics project, building a battle-bot, is coming together slowly but surely. This weekend I’m actually going to design our drive system. Chemistry labs are difficult, but my lab reports are going very well. In Chemistry II, also known as Quant Lab, we’re not only graded on our lab reports but also on the accuracy of our results. Luckily, at the end of the semester we can choose to redo our lab if we don’t do as well as we wanted on our data grades. I will definitely be taking advantage of this helpful opportunity. Calculus is just lots of math all the time. The information on the first test was new to me, but now we’re relearning stuff I did in AP Calculus my senior year. It’s definitely nice to have a small break from brand new ideas and to just review math I already know and love.
Spring Break was a total blast this year. The only bad thing was that a lot of schools back home in South Carolina and Georgia don’t have the same week off as Mines does, not surprisingly of course. Luckily, my boyfriend was off school too. I spent a lot of time catching up on sleep and television shows I just don’t have the time to follow during school. I also got to bask in the delightfully warm weather and bright sun of the south. We went down to Savannah, Georgia, for a day and built some nerdy sandcastles at Tybee Island. All in all, I can definitely say I was a little sad to come back to Mines, the land of math and science.
Our rendition of The Watcher in the Water, the creature that lives in the lake outside the doors to the underground dwarf-realm named Moria in JRR Tolkein’s Fellowship of the Ring
Of course, as soon as I got back here the weather became absolutely gorgeous and warmed up a good bit! As I write this, I’m sitting on a quilt in the grass outside of m dorm with my roommate and the girl across the hall, all of us wearing shorts and tank tops and praying for nice tans to take away our pasty winter complexions. I have officially decided that from now on Colorado is not allowed to snow or have a day with a high below 50 degrees. It is officially spring!
With spring comes a brand new and exciting round of Mines activities. Next week is E-Days! All students get next Friday off classes, which is totally awesome. E-Days is Mines’ huge annual celebration of, you guessed it, Engineering! There are countless activities to do: from a concert and a dance party to an undie run and a race down Clear Creek in cardboard boats. I can’t wait to check out all the fun events! Other than that, my floor has been walking downtown for frozen yogurt, which is a lot more enjoyable now that the weather is warmer. We’re also planning a tye-dye party before E-Days! Now that I’m here, it’s nice to come back to school with all my friends and all these different activities to do! Here at Mines there are always fun things for us to do around campus, after we’ve done our homework, of course.
