MSRI week 6- closing

So I’m back in AZ now. I’ve been here for a while, but when I got home I discovered/remembered that my mom had disconnected the internet and given up cable since she didn’t utilize either, really. I find it kind of hard to believe that the past six weeks and my whole trip to California are already over. But time, if anything else, always surprises you by how fast it goes.

So this week we were in urgent mode trying to get our data collected, and to present it in some kind of articulate fashion. For the most part, we succeeded. We weren’t happy at all with our results- I think it was possible that we goofed up somewhere, but that’s what research is: figuring out stuff. The last two days were especially hectic, and then, just like that, after our presentations were done and our reports handed in, it was over.

I had had it in my head the notion that I was leaving on the 29^th to come back to Tucson. Then, on Wednesday, on a whim, I check my email on my roommate’s computer and, what do you know, I leave on the 28^th. Obviously this made me sad- I was actually looking forward to going to Saturday night church with my Catholic posse. But seeing as I didn’t book my flight (Berkeley did) it was out of my control.

After we were done on Friday we all went to this pub on Telegraph Avenue. The ambience was pretty cool, especially the outside patio where we ate. The food made me long for real Mexican cuisine, but I enjoyed the company of everyone in the group. Most of those over 21 drank to no surprise. What did catch me off guard was Dr. Cortez and Meza were with us, and more importantly, they paid the tab. After that most of the people went to hang out at this other bar down the street. I and a couple other people were too tired to boogie. Plus, you know me, I’m not a people person, I’m a person person, so the notion of hanging out at a place with rowdy music and drunken twenty-somethings wasn’t catchy to me. So we went back to the dorm, watched a couple Youtube videos, and I crashed into bed.

One thing that I noticed was how attached I felt to everybody. Not just the people in my group or in the program, but everybody. I almost cried when I paid the pharmacist for my allergy meds the very last time. With my bottle of cherry soda in my hand, I held it in as I walked through that sliding door. I don’t know, I just feel a great deal of gratitude to all the people who helped me through. Even on Saturday morning when I told the cafeteria people I was leaving I started getting emotional. Plus it didn’t help that I had breakfast by myself. For most if not all six weeks we all tried to eat with everyone else, and as the time came to part it felt like I was already distanced from the rest of the group.

I packed and somehow managed to fit all of my stuff in the bags. I knew I had a shuttle coming to pick me up early in the afternoon, but there was a lot I wanted to do with people. I went with Natalie to the Campanille clock tower. The view was amazing. You get a good feeling of why they built such a beautiful campus in such a beautiful location. Natalie and I talked a little bit about grad school on the way back. She goes to Harvey Mudd- I’m sure she can get into any place she sets her eyes on. She and Patrick were the people I looked up to the most in terms of mathematical ability. Plus they were just genuinely good people. I went to lunch with most everybody 90 minutes before my shuttle was supposed to pick me up. Cortez was there, too. He looked surprised to see me there. I ordered a sandwich and pretty much had to hightail it back to campus. I said my goodbyes to the people who were there, and began heading back, alone, sandwich in hand. I was eating it on the way uphill, thinking about all the awesome people I had gotten to know these past few weeks. I got choked up. No, literally, I started choking on my sandwich. But I just stayed calm and threw away the rest when I found a trash can.

The first person I saw on this whole trip, a girl named Gina, wound up being the very last person I saw. Her family was in the neighborhood, so she was with them and gave me an awesome hug as my shuttle rolled up the hill to pick me up. I thought it very apropos, very full circle type of thing. It helped me relax as I was heading to the airport. Plus I knew that I wasn’t actually alone.

Let me just say, I hate airports. I hate flying. I wish I could drive everywhere. I’m a “If man were meant to fly, he’d’ve been born with wings” type of person. I guess that comes from my self-proclaimed earthiness. Oh, and on that note, we had to go to this fancy banquet lunch to hear a talk on Tuesday. There were two forks. So I’m thinking, why do they need two forks? They don’t even look the same. So it turns out one of those was a salad fork. For the record, I am not a person who believes you need more than one type of fork. Some people were talking about a special fork for eating caviar. I call that a spoon. I know I’m not money, and I’m glad I’m not money. If going to California makes you money, then I don’t want to go to California. Okay but back to the airport business I had to pay 12 bucks for a personal pizza and a Coke. Something’s wrong with that equation. But so I made it to the airport, had a stop in LA, and then made it back into Tucson safe and sound.

The plane ride was beautiful. It was everything you wanted a plane trip from Oakland/SF to LA to AZ to be. I find it hard to express the majesty of it in words.

But so I’m back in Tucson. I miss everybody from MSRI a lot already. We only had six weeks to know each other, but if you live with, eat with, work with the same people all day and all night, you get used to them very quickly. You learn about them, where they’re from, their stories, their likes and vices. So I already miss Patrick, Sean, Thomas, Luis, Donavion, Sofia, Natalie, Carmen, Talea, Gina, and Greta, in no particular order. And Dr. Cortez, too. We called him Papi.

So what has six weeks of intensive math done for me? Well, it kinda makes me want to stop being an Engineer and focus more on just taking math classes. But I don’t know how much it makes me want to stop being an Engineer. I mean I know I’ll have my minor after this semester, but I always somehow wind up having more questions than answers. But such is life. School starts in a few weeks. Ugh. So much for having a summer vacation. So much for hoping for something exciting and nothing happening. But in its own way in California everything happened, if only for a short while.