CPW-ness, or Kelsey's Adventures in a Big City: Thursday: Let the Adventures Begin!

We took the T from Braintree, where we had stayed Wednesday night, to the MIT stop. Emerging from the wonderfulness that is the T, my dad and I found ourselves on the MIT campus. I fought the urge to freak out and called my host, Tayina, because I had no clue where we were in respect to everything else on campus. Luckily, she's amazing at giving directions and soon I was checking my luggage in at the Student Center.

Registration went smoothly - I was informed by one person that I was in the perfect state with my last name (it's Kennedy) which I thought was pretty funny. The folder I was given was chock-full of amazing things, like a TechCash card preloaded with $20.12 (clever, no?) and a Bible. No, not the kind with religious writings. It was the kind with a schedule. Just like what we get at FFA Conventions! It was a rather fat booklet, and there were fifty million things to do, as well as a handy map.

While I was trying to figure out just what was contained in that magical booklet, my dad pointed out that my friend Tess was over at the registration booth! I ran over and kind of attacked her (sorry about that!) because I was so excited. Tess was talking to an admissions staff member, and I just kind of hung out for a second. And that's when I realized that it was Macgregor, who had called my house about CPW travel stuff, and I guess he had read my application too! I was rather excited and introduced myself. He was shocked to learn that Tess and I knew each other from a Society for Range Management conference, and he then informed me that pictures of sheep, goats and pigs had been taped to my file. Which I think is awesome. He also informed me that I had a nickname in the admissions office (do they really have time for that?). After assuring him that I had far worse nicknames than anything they could come up with, I learned that I am known as "Goat Girl." (Sidenote: this really isn't all that random - I've shown a goat a fair before and it was on my application)

Tess headed over to Simmons with her host, and I went to Burton-Connor to meet my host. Burton-Connor was... interesting. I don't know if I like the whole suite-setup. My host had a Spanish class, and I hate Spanish, so I decided to wander around campus for a little while. I lugged my suitcase and sleeping bag over to BC and then found my dad again. We wandered around, I tried to stop impending hyperventilation and then we went to our financial aid appointment. Pretty much, the financial aid people at MIT are amazing. I still don't even have an estimate of what my family's going to have to fork over for an MIT education, but they were so nice and helpful!

Burton-Connor:

Things discovered when wandering around campus:
-The "In case of zombie attack..." hack (Just a quick note: That is one wimpy chainsaw.)

-The apple tree descended from Newton's famed apple tree

-Stata Center!

After a dinner at my host's sorority, and the CPW Opening Welcome, more fun followed!
At the CPW Festival, we had a miniature Oregon-party. Stephen, Brian and I all met in person, which was neat. After sitting and chatting for a while, the exploration of campus began.

It was decided that a trip to the awesome Engineering Library (blogged about here by Snively) was in order. Unfortunately, it was closed. Here's a picture of Stephen to prove it:

Mostly, we just wandered around the hallways and I just learned a bajillion things I didn't know about MIT from Stephen. It was highly educational.

Here are some of the things we came across:
-The Toy Lab! We couldn't really see inside though...