"There is a gaping Emily-sized hull breach in my emotional starship."

Friendship, man. Friendship is a pretty damn awesome thing. And in my experience, "going for it" pays off in a big way. I hadn't seen my good friend in more than two years, and when we used to hang out, it was never for more than a few hours at a time, and more often than not it was while we were both working at a café in my hometown. And I just came to stay with him for four days, and it was awesome.

I can feel the sappiness welling up and I'll try to put a stopper in it. Let me just show you a bit more of the trip.

First of all, we went to the Milwaukee Horticultural Domes – three massive rooms (that looked bigger on the inside!) that had different kinds of plants growing in them. One room was the „show room“, so it had a lot of crazy looking plants in a Bayou-ish theme.

The second room (dome) was desert plants, as pictured here:

 

Deserts fascinate me. And the last dome was tropical plants which was INCREDIBLE.

Such a cool thing to see.

After that, I went to a pub with my friend and five more physicists, plus an accountant. It was one of the nerdiest and best nights at a pub that I’ve had at a while. Then, on our long and meandering way to the airport today, we stopped on the shores of Lake Michigan and left our mark.

This area is really quite beautiful and I’m really glad that I got the chance to see it. I do hope to come back. Just such a good trip all over.

And now, Meadville. It’s been a while. We’ll see how it is!

I want my own office like you wouldn't believe.

This is what's on the wall:

This is what's in the bathroom:

Then we went and watched Star Trek: Into Darkness and it was incredible.

Then we went to a restaurant where the beer menu was three times as long as the food menu.

Then we went to the physics building and did this from about 9:30 to 11 p.m.

Then I got to talk about Galois theory.
And today, I get to work at this desk:

Fantastic. No other words.

I should just wear a bell collar the night before I have to go anywhere early in the morning.

Today, I had to leave from Santa Cruz at around 4:15 in the morning, which means I got up to get in the shower at 3:30. But as some of you might be aware, on nights like last night not only do I wake up every hour convinced that I’ve slept through my alarm, but I also sometimes look at my clock and somehow lose all sense of reason. I almost got into the shower at midnight, thinking it was time for me to get ready to go. (I’ve done this in the past. I tried to go to crew practice at 2 a.m. once instead of 5, etc.) It’s not quite sleepwalking, but it is a certain kind of madness. Oh, well. When I realized it (towel in hand, turning on the light in the bathroom), at least my dazed self could still see the humor. “Oh, for ****s sake!” I said to myself. I laughed, and crawled back into bed.

And so I’m on my way! I considered telling the people at the Peet’s coffee in the terminal (when they were trying to be all friendly to me) that I was a mathematician – when can you start saying that? I feel like a BA is too early, though I have that now. I’m done with my BA! Still a crazy thought. Anywho, I thought it would be funny to tell them I was a mathematician just to see how they would react. I didn’t – but someday, I will.

Do you occasionally give a different name at Starbucks? Do you make up stories about where you started your day? One time, at least two years ago, I was in the San Francisco airport waiting for a flight to Germany and a young man started talking to me and in temporary insanity brought on by cooped-upness in an airport, I pretended I was German and, if I do say so myself, charmed him for about fifteen minutes with accented conversation and got him to cheesily say ‘auf Wiedersehen’ to me as he went to get on his own flight. Alas, such tomfoolery did not take place this morning. Just in my head.

And I’m flying somewhere I’ve never been before! Well, I have to connect in Minneapolis, which is a place I’ve been, but I’m going to end up in Milwaukee. I know nothing about Milwaukee except that a certain person resides there – a certain fellow who was a cook where I was a waitress and who is currently studying gravitational physics at graduate school there. One of my dearest friends. I haven’t seen him in at least a year and am looking forward to a weekend of nerdiness, sciency-beauty, and general catching-up. We’re boarding now. See ya!

And so it starts.

I'm sitting at my grandfather's desk in Santa Cruz, watching the waves crash on the beach. I can't decide which size paper to use to write my to do list because of all the things that might be on there, and I want to write calenders, lists, thank-you letters, and read poetry. And dance. And run. Oh, yes - I should study, too. And that internship.

This is going to be a busy summer. But I am just so thrilled about how my college career ended - especially since I realized that it doesn't mean my learning career is over. Not in the least.

On that note, I'm going to learn about linear regression in real estate models. Perhaps it lacks some of the purity of Galois theory, but I'm going to be reviewing that soon enough. Math's got me good. I won't be getting away any time soon.

It's been so nice to see my sister this week. Family get-togethers can be crazy, but this just makes it all worth it.

On our way.

It happened. I graduated. I imagine I will have more pictures soon (from various family), but for now, I just need a dark room and some time to try and figure out all of this. It's been a hell of a semester.

One More Thing

Also, this is where I'm working for the summer. Check it out.

There is no shame in not knowing that which you have not been taught.

Have I already posted about this? Someone said it to me a few weeks ago and I realized that it should be completely obvious that it is true, but for some reason, I have a hard time thinking that. I frequently am ashamed when I don’t know something – something I have no cause to know. How silly is that?

My first day of my internship today was a lesson in that.

Also, I’ve been reading up on probability and statistics since it’s looking like that’ll be helpful for this, and I kept having ghosts of knowledge-once-had floating through my head today. It was the weirdest thing! Reading pages and pages on different distributions and the phrase “central limit theorem” came up. I know I had never read those words together in order before, but they sounded familiar, but not quite familiar. Then, of course, my brain responded “Zentraler Grenzwertsatz”—and I remembered. Brains are funny.

Here we go!

So, yesterday I was in Santa Cruz and on the way back, the view looked like this:

 

As you can see, traffic. Traffic traffic traffic. It gave me a lot of time to think about today, my first day at the internship. Aaah! I'd better go get ready. 

May 11

So, it's 8:21, May 11th, 2013. At 2 in the afternoon today, I will walk into a very familiar classroom, get a piece of paper, write the honor code at the top, and then take my 31st math exam at Mills College - my last one. It's my last final. So, around 4 o'clock this afternoon, I'll be done with my Bachelor's degree.

This last week has been a haze of studying, not wanting to study, realizing how close the rest of life is, juggling logistics and panicking, and honestly appreciating the community that I've become a part of here. There was studying in cafés with chairs that looked really good in my clothes:

 

A gift from my tango professor - a cookie that she used to eat when she lived and danced in Buenos Aires (individually wrapped in these tiny boxes!)

 

And stressed out friends coping by baking.

 

Now, actual graduation happens a week from today and before then--- I will start my internship. I got an internship here in the Bay Area over the summer. After I fly back to visit my friends and family in PA, I will come back and live in San Francisco until August. I can barely believe it!

Now, I suppose I should actually go and DO this final, though I feel done in every sense of the word already. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

So Mills.

So, it's the day before the last day of classes. And we are sitting at our kitchen table, doing homework at 8:30 in the morning. That's how much we care.

Also, summer plans are solidifying and complexifying. Exciting!

5 days, 19.5 hours

In that much time, I will be done with all academics for my bachelor's degree. Most of everything will be done before then, but that is the time my last exam is over. And during this week, there's going to be so many fun things. Thai food with a friend, a last chance to tango with my dance friends, and that lovely air of relief and pride that hangs around in classrooms during the last few days of the semester.

And this weekend, I got to go down to Santa Cruz to visit my grandfather with Carly and Erin, and beautifully enough, I'll get to go back again next weekend when my final is done. And then, a week after that, I graduate!  Some exciting developments have come up for the summer, too, but I haven't nailed the details down yet, so I'll keep mum on that subject for the mo'.

In the meantime, here is how lovely Santa Cruz was this weekend:

Turns out that roses grow really well in Santa Cruz.

Really well! This one was just too beautiful to miss.

Carly and I hung out with some friends of hers at the beach, though it was a bit

 cold for a beach day.

As you can see here, not quite the balmy summer's day.

This morning was a different story.

I love this place. I can't describe it any other way.

Outside Mills Hall

Awards, Family, and Dance

This week has been quite chaotic, and I say that knowing it's only Wednesday morning. Monday was the Academic Awards ceremony and I was invited to attend, which implied that I had got an award. I knew that I had gotten into Phi Beta Kappa, so I assumed that was why, and then I heard whispers that I had gotten something else as well. So, I figured that, if anything, it might the Math and Computer Science award, given to one graduating senior every year. And I was right- but I also won another award - designated technically to the Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and I shared the award with a Biology major who lived next door to me Freshman year, which is rather exciting. Actually, the whole thing is rather exciting! Erin received some awards as well, and yesterday, another friend of ours brought these to us:

 

After that, Erin and Carly and I went out to dinner with Erin's mom, who came out for the ceremony and had a lovely time - a really fantastic meal that made me want to see my family again in a big way. 

Then, yesterday, I did what I have been terrified to do but also required to do all semester long - I went to a Milonga, or social tango place, in San Francisco. It was required for the class and I knew that but so far, hadn't dared to go. Below you can see my tango partner and myself as we got ready to leave.

 

 

We did dance with each other there for a few sets, but I was also asked to dance by another gentleman and once I communicated that I really was an absolute beginner, we had a nice time dancing. A good lead is - is absolutely amazing to find. And so much fun, as a follower. However, I did bring both my following shoes and my leading shoes, and for another four songs, I lead our teacher who happened to be at the Milonga as well - also nerve-wracking, but lots of fun. And when I got home, I looked up places to take Tango lessons and go dancing in Budapest. :)