Energy

It's clearly been a while... My apologies for that, everyone. I could give you a million excuses, but I'm not going to. I could also give you a lengthy update on my life, but the details even bore me. Instead, here's the short version:

• Spring term sucked. I hated my classes, I passed all my classes, and I realized I want to go back to MIT.
• I'm taking summer classes - physics and vector calculus. More along the lines of what I'd take at MIT, and I'm so much happier.
• I have a job at a local pizza place washing dishes some nights and serving pizzas/cleaning up after people on other nights. I work weekends, which is unfortunate, but the people are awesome and the pizza's delicious.
• I'm going to be on the newscrew for the National FFA Convention in October! Needless to say, I'm beyond excited.

There really haven't been any other major things going on, unless I'm forgetting something. Anyway. Expect more regular posts here! Well, hopefully. I'm toying with the idea of switching to a tumblr site that's a little less text-heavy and energy-intensive (the thought of sitting down and writing out a blog is a little boring these days), and continuing writing about focused topics on another site. I'll keep you all posted!

Take Me Back to the Tech

Week six has just started here at Oregon State, which means that I've spent the last six weeks wishing I were back at MIT. Don't get me wrong, I like living in Corvallis, I love being near family and friends, and it's a nice break. Unfortunately, it's too much of a break.

My classes leave a little something to be desired. I tried to take fun classes, and to some degree they are, but they're far from intellectually stimulating. Ornithology is just a different application of really basic biology principles; Wine in the Western World lectures usually consist of our professor going off on a lot of tangents about yeast. Dendrology is interesting and very memorization-intensive, but isn't necessarily anything new to me. Continental European Literature is proving to the most difficult of my classes simply because there's a high volume of reading and lengthy class discussions where I have only minor things to contribute. I don't have homework, just a lot of reading to get through. There are a few papers coming up, however, so that should break up the monotony a little. Moral of the story: I'm bored. As much as MIT made me feel like I wasn't learning anything because it was over-the-top challenging and there was too much to do, I would take it any day over feeling this bored. Fortunately the term ends soon, and then I'll be taking a couple of classes this summer that are hopefully a bit more difficult (vector calculus and general physics with calculus).

In general, life has been pretty busy. It's just been school, sleep, cleaning my apartment, and seeing friends on occasion. I wish I had a more exciting update for all of you that still actually read this, but that's all that's been going on!

Recovery Plan

Things have been surprisingly busy post-MIT. Moving to Corvallis, figuring out OSU stuff, and helping out with FFA contests has taken up a lot of time, and otherwise I'm hanging out with friends, appreciating my time at home without classes.

Oregon State took their sweet time getting back to me, and I finally deduced that I was accepted only a week and a half before the start of spring term. Fortunately I have connections and was able to register for classes before I received the official letter (which showed up at my house last night). And I could not be more excited about classes. They're not anything special, but they're such a departure from what I was taking at MIT. I'm excited for a change of pace and a chance to recover and feel intelligent again. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy Ornithology, Wine in the Western World, and Tree and Shrub Identification. I'm going to try to take a math class, and maybe an English comp class, but a ton of classes are full so I need to find something I can get into. Regardless, with just those three classes I'm going to have a fun term.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything back on the job front. I've applied, so now I just get to wait... Some friends have given me some good suggestions, though, so I'm going to explore a few different options. Classes start in a mere five days, so I guess I'll see just how busy I get and go from there!

Oregon FFA's state convention was this past weekend at Oregon State. I helped judge Marketing Plans, and helped out a couple of teams. I was definitely reminded of just how much I love FFA, and how important agriculture is to me. It was very strange to be there, though, without the stress of competing, or a million things to do. Also, I wasn't in the blue corduroy jacket. Needless to say, I felt a little out of place. My advisor always hinted to me in high school that she thought I should be an ag teacher, and after this weekend, I'm definitely considering a little bit more seriously. Just another reason it's a good thing that I'm taking time off, I suppose, so I figure that out.

At the end of the day, I still miss MIT (and everyone there) a lot, and I'm not sure how long I'll be back here in Oregon. But being back in Oregon is definitely fun, relaxing, and the perfect way to recover from the stresses of MIT.

Press Conference

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. That's a black turtleneck.

That's also my empty closet. In my empty room.

Empty. As in devoid of my things. Those things are now in cardboard boxes that are patiently waiting for the nice UPS employee that will be coming on Monday to pick them up and set them on their way in an epic journey across the country, toward their final destination of my family's front doorstep.

I guess I should provide some backstory. When I was first admitted to MIT, I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to come here. I was seriously considering going to Oregon State to major in something related to agriculture. But, you don't say no to MIT. So I came here, and every term was far from perfect. I loved certain things about MIT - the people, the culture, the location - but I certainly hated the academics.

This past term was especially far from perfect. Swine flu, stress and a million other factors contributed, and it was clear that this was not sustainable.

As such, I'll be taking at least a couple of terms off from MIT. My game plan is to attend Oregon State and explore majors related to botany and horticulture (definitely not options available at MIT), catch up a little, and take some time to figure out what I really want to do. It pains me, because I am going to genuinely miss my friends around campus, at WMBR and my sisters in Pi Beta Phi. Unfortunately, this seems to be the best option for me, so I can get back on my feet. Thanks to everyone who's been so supportive thus far! And thanks to Zoe and Ahmed for helping me pack this afternoon.

Time for the countdown...

Okay, so it's December 31st and 2007 is winding to a close.

And three of my college applications are due TOMORROW.

So, of course, in typical Kelsey fashion, I'm stressing out, putting it off and then complaining. The usual.

I think I'll be okay though. I have so many essays finished already, it's just Stanford's bajillion "300 character limit" essays. Okay, so maybe there's only ten of them, but honestly! Character limits??? It's been kind of difficult to cram two summers worth of activities into 300 characters [Camps, showing at State Fair, 4-H Forestry]. Or what I feel is a significant challenege that society faces today [Lack of adequate science education in rural areas]. I guess I shouldn't complain that much, I do only have two left after all. But the two left are the hardest ones for me to answer. "What five words best describe you?" and "What historical moment or event do you wish you could have participated in?" I DON'T KNOW. This is all rather frustrating.

Stanford's supplement to the Common App is really what I'm stressed over. Cornell's is nice because [Oh man, hold on. CNN is repeating what they said 15 minutes ago. Must. Change. Channel.] [Back. Whew. Changed it to music. And they are definitely playing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Amazing!] they only want one essay based on the college you're applying to. The Ag and Life Sciences department's essay is pretty much begging me to talk about FFA. *Happy dance!* And MIT's application is actually finished! It's a beautiful thing. And I'm suprisingly happy about my responses to the questions. I even have two different essays for the one about what I like to do for fun. That was definitely the most difficult essay topic for me, but after sitting down and evaluating what I actually do for fun, it was suddenly very easy - hike and bake. So, I wrote two essays, and I'm making my dad pick the one I'm submitting this afternoon when I head down to the coffee shop with my laptop to submit everything.

Once those three applications are submitted, I'll only have Oregon State's, Purdue's, and Willamette's applications left. My Willamette one is due the 15th, and the other two are due on February 1st. I really cannot wait for February 2nd. So much less stress! And I'll be flying to Boston a couple of days after that to visit MIT, so it will be a wonderful world once I get all of my applications finished!

Now all I need is for CalPoly to send me something! They only have a few days left within their "30 Working Days" limit to send me something letting me know if they hate me or if I need to send them more materials.

*breathe*