It has been a while since I posted. The day after my return to Boston, my cousin Mark and his mom arrived to move him into MIT. I am getting pretty decent at this whole chauffeur/tour guide thing, if I do say so myself. It helps that I’ve hosted quite a few visitors now. I must admit that moving into MIT is much worse than moving into Stanford. I remember we had all sorts of music blaring, tons of friendly faces, and loads of signs all over campus.
When we first got to his dorm, it was dead silent, the lights in the hallways were all off, there was an excessive amount of security, and overall it just wasn’t very inviting. Most everybody we’ve talked to have been pretty friendly though, if naive. I find it pretty amusing to report that many of the MIT kids I’ve run into this weekend have fit the stereotype of having close to no practical or street smarts…
My cousin, aunt and I were all in his room unpacking all of his stuff when this girl from down the hall walked in and asked for some duct tape to put her letters on the door. She asked if Mark and I were both freshmen, even though I was wearing a Stanford hoodie, and I couldn’t resist. Without skipping a beat, I answered yes and we struck up a conversation. I asked her about the math diagnostics and she told us about the clickers and textbooks she wanted to sell. The entire time, Mark was just rummaging through his backpack with his head down because he couldn’t keep a straight face.
At one of the parent orientation sessions I was at with my aunt, this freshman came and sat down next to me. I asked where he was from, and he said California. After that, I asked him where in California, and after three questions he finally gave me the city. He then asked me if I was from California, to which I answered, “No, I went to Stanford.”. About a minute later, he turned to me and asked if I had decided what I was going to major in. I was simply speechless…
Throughout the entire day, nearly all of the student helpers (but none of the adults, interestingly) just assumed I was an incoming freshman… even though I was clearly wearing Stanford gear. I guess I have a young face, and MIT freshmen can be somewhat eccentric sometimes, so my trolling was plausible for the gullible :D. All in good fun.