8th Week
Alvin gives an update on how his term is going.
Alvin gives an update on how his term is going.
The term is certainly flying by. Within a week, my term has seemingly completely transformed, with my final projects starting, final exams looming, my soccer season ending, and the weather completely changing. We got a few inches of snow a couple of days ago, and with dropping temperatures combined with the conclusion of playing soccer outdoors, it almost feels as if I’ve been thrust into winter term. Although it felt as if it were just a couple of weeks ago that the term was just beginning and we had warm, sunny weather, the term has really passed by quickly, and we are only a couple of weeks away from our long winter break.
Coursework has really been ramping up, but I’m still enjoying myself. We’ve been working on building a Scheme interpreter written in C in my programming languages class for the last couple weeks (with a couple more weeks to go), and while it has been tough, it has definitely been a good learning experience. In my astronomy class, we have a final exam, a final poster about dwarf planets, as well as an observing session in the observatory to look forward to, and I’m still busy learning dozens of Chinese words each week in my Chinese class. So there’s certainly lots going on!
With our soccer season drawing to a close, I have a lot more free time, which is really helpful since we are in the busiest period of the term. We had a good season, and while the wait until the next season will be tough (it’s around 8-9 months), the off season with the team is always fun and being able to focus a little more on schoolwork is great as well.
So for the last couple weeks, outside of schoolwork, I’ll try to take as much advantage of possible of the snowy weather, time with friends, and rural Minnesota scenery as the term comes to an end. Due to my abroad program, I’ll be off campus until August, and will spend a lot of time away from the things I’ve come to appreciate so much this term.
Until next week!
Alvin is a west coast kid at heart (coming from San Jose, California), but is loving his time in Minnesota. He plays for the soccer team here at Carleton and loves exercise. If he’s not on the soccer field, in the gym, or out on a bike ride during his free time, he can be found in one of the lounges playing Exploding Kittens, or in the music building playing piano. He is a Computer Science major with an interest in Economics and Statistics. Meet the other bloggers!