PENGHUI:
I slept, then woke, then slept, then woke again. Then finally slept. This was because I was sitting in the middle seat next to a lady (at the window seat) who needed to visit the restroom every couple of hours. So she gently tapped me awake a few times with an apologetic smile. If you’re reading this, it’s okay! So I didn’t really get a great sleep on the plane, but that allowed me to get a few cool pictures.
My seat
Isn’t this beautiful?
Anyway, the first flight took about 13 hours or so, where we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London!
Sharolyn’s *hmm, what to do with this huge bunch of kids for 6 hours* expression.
Here, we would wait for close to 6 hours till the flight to Boston, so off we went to shop, eat and get the chance to use our feet a bit before the next leg of the journey. (In the end, Sharolyn went off by herself and left us alone :( )
Off we go! |
We finally arrived in Boston! First shot off the plane. |
There we met Dan and Shane (two amazingly nice people from MIT who I unfortunately forgot to snap pictures of) and we went off in two cabs towards our place of residence, Baker House! After registering and getting our keys/cards, we went up to our rooms, and it has an AMAZINGGGGG view.
Utterly breathtaking.
The rest of the day was spent unpacking and travelling around Boston a bit.
Massachusetts “InstitVte” of Technology
And that’s the end of day 1! :D
Eagerly waiting for the next few days to come (playing Bridge and Monopoly deal as I’m typing this out – cheerios!)
KELVIN:
First day, very tired after the long hour flight. Arrived at MIT at about 4pm and checked in at Baker House. The dorm is pretty simple, a double sharing room, there are only two sets of bed, wardrobe, study table and bookshelf. But there is only one fan in a room, I guess the weather here is not as hot as singapore. Life here is totally different from Singapore. Here students get to enjoy more outdoor activity. The scenery is very beautiful, we walked along the river and enjoyed the breeze.
OK. Time to sleep, need to wake up early tomorrow.
JIN KAI:
Transit in london (er I mean Heathrow airport):
6 hours waiting time for our flight from london to boston meant that we had plenty of time to explore Heathrow terminal 3.
Picture taken at a gift shop
Cheers to starbucks:
sipping on starbucks before boarding. There's a price difference between takeaway and eating there (cheaper to takeaway).
Subway:
we walked to Harvard (a really long walk!) before taking the subway back to MIT (2 stops). Fare is the same regardless of distance travelled. I.e. when we exit, we need not tap the subway card.
MIT building:
One of the quirky buildings we saw while walking about.
Other observations:
Sun sets really late, like around 8.30pm. Night is day and day is night so...wahaha you'll probably read this really soon.
KELLY:
It was a long day (2 days? I'm losing track of time) as we set off from Singapore, transiting through London and finally arriving at Boston. But I also got to know my Singaporean friends better as we tried to entertain ourselves during the long wait in transit. Upon arrival, we did some sightseeing and got to see some parts of the MIT campus as well as other parts of Boston. The 30-minute stroll from Kendall station to Harvard station was tiring but also interesting.
Along the way we saw many runners, cyclists, picnickers and people playing various ball games. The summer atmosphere was evident, but the weather at night got a little chilly.
At night we surprised birthday boy JinKai by sending a cake into his room which was quickly devoured. I'm looking forward to 2 more weeks with these new friends (and more to come tomorrow)!
EDWARD:
A brief tour around MIT showed me how well the students appreciated the use of campus space. Runners and cyclists were zipping up and down the narrow pavements. Charles River was scattered with sailors and kayaks.
The field in front of the museum was used for a competitive game of touch rugby.
Even the MIT Museum atrium was occupied by an unassuming group of club jugglers. Every imaginable space in this region was bustling with life and activities. Here, there are no restrictions to one's learning and expression space.
Tim the Beaver. MIT chose nature's original engineer as their mascot for its engineering skills, industriousness, and nocturnal habits. These attributes encompass MIT's education culture and I am looking forward to getting a taste of what it is like over the next two weeks in the IDC Robocon (:
Check out more about Day 1 from Guan Xun, Ian, Tat Leong, Hei Kern and Yong Cheng in the next entry.