Midterms and Mid-Term Fun

The last few weeks have reminded us that we really are in school, and that school involves midterms.  It seems like October is a midterm month, with at least one test every week and sometimes a couple.  So far we've had Accounting, Organizational Processes, Economics, and Logistic Systems.  One more to go (The Airline Industry, next week).  As I've said before, none of the topics are particularly challenging on their own, but the combination of classes means that there is a lot of information to learn in a short time period.  It has all been manageable so far, but I'm definitely starting to understand the MIT mantra of Drinking from a Fire Hose.

Now of course it hasn't been all work and no play.  Some of the highlights from the last few weeks:

Climbing:  Cynthia is an avid climber and we finally made it out to the new Brooklyn Boulders climbing gym in Somerville last week.  She also made it to the real rocks up in Rumney, NH to get a bigger challenge (I'm not quite there yet!).

Brooklyn Boulders - A Climbers Paradise

Lead Climbing in Rumney, NH - Now that's some real rock climbing!

BAA Half Marathon:  Lots of LGOers ran in the BAA Half Marathon last weekend, and the weather could not have been better for a run through the fall colors of South Boston.  This was Cynthia's first-ever half marathon but I have a feeling it won't be her last!

BAA Half Marathon LGOers

Trip to the Berkshires: This was definitely the first time that I've gotten Columbus Day off, and to sweeten the deal MIT gave us both Monday and Tuesday off.  So after a weekend of studying, we headed out to the Berkshires in Western Mass to relax and check out the fall colors.  Along the way, we stopped at the MASS MoCA museum in North Adams to check out some large-scale modern art.  We also had time for some exploring and driving to the top of Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts (which lived up to its name as it was completely locked in with grey fog!). 

MASS MoCA - Colorful walls by Sol LeWitt!

Would you believe that these are all pencil sketches?

Close-up of the above picture - amazing!

Xu Bing's "Phoenix" - Made completely from scrap construction material from Beijing

Fall colors in the Berkshires

"Bridge of Flowers" in Shelburne Falls (A great little town!)

Driving up Mt. Greylock

Rowing Events: Cynthia was on the crew team here at MIT for all 4 years of her undergrad, so I've been learning all sorts of stuff about rowing.  A couple weekends ago we went to the MIT Crew Alumni event where she looked right at home in the boat.  There were enough alumni to fill four 8-person boats for the race, and it was lots of fun to watch from the shore.  Then this last weekend was the annual Head of the Charles Regatta, when rowers from all corners of the world take over the Charles River between Boston U and past Harvard.  It turns out that this is the largest 2-day rowing regatta in the world, with over 9,000 athletes, 1900 boats, and 61 events.  It was definitely hard to tell what was going on in the races as it was such a long course, but it was quite a sight!

Alumni Crew Race - Cynthia's 4th from the Right

Head of the Charles Regatta

More Head of the Charles