in an alternate univers(ity)

i'm pretty sure i already mentioned that sabine talked me into joining the university choir, and that they were going to mit in boston. well, that was last week, and let me tell you, it was a pretty cool trip.

okay, so mostly, it was just a eerily deja-vu sort of experience, because the host student i was assigned to lived in the dormitory called "east campus," which for most intents and purposes could easily be dubbed "bizarro dabney." seriously, the only significant differences were: 1. the size, 2. the straight hallways, and 3. the locks not only on the outer doors but also from the stairwell into each floor (that last one was a bit annoying, since we didn't have keys and had to call people to come down and let us in).

seriously, though. paintings on the walls, random ill-advised mechatronics augmenting everything imaginable, the laid-back "dirty hippy" stereotype of the people who live there (who also have a proclivity for attending classes barefoot)... somebody shoot me now; i'm getting sappy and sentimental and it's making me sick. but it's really true: it felt like home. i really miss living with other people. especially cool people (well, people that i think are cool, anyway; i guess at engineering schools we're all technically social misfits).

and granted, i was only there for a week, but i spent a lot of time with them in that week, and got to know a little bit about them and their habits and their classes. and sure, there were the requisite handful of freaks, but as far as i'm concerned, techers are techers whether from the northeast or southwest---the caltech kids who loved to ignorantly boast about how they could transfer to mit at the drop of a hat and be on easy street were pretty much full of shit, as far as i can tell. the kids i was with worked every bit as hard as we did, and actually had significantly better morale. i also noticed (to my own shame and chagrin) that they seemed to even be slightly better at following through on pet projects than i was, or than i remember most of us being. pressure sensors under the mural in the bathroom controlled the music player when you pressed on various features. my host had servos and gears and springs and strings all hooked up to his light switches and his computer such that he could control all the lighting (some six or seven different fixtures) from the touch screen on his bedside table. and then you have to admit the "disco dance floor" on first east is pretty damn badass no matter who you are. i really hope that for next year's drop day they do something similar on a larger scale in dabney. i think it would be really awesome.

it probably bears mentioning that they don't have the same type of "house system" that we did, but in a sort of self-organized manner, a very similar dynamic has arisen nonetheless. there's no real concept of "membership," but there is a temp housing trial period for new students who eventually choose where the want to live, and tend to stay there, though there's nothing preventing them from moving. i found that kinda interesting.

by the end of the week, i was very sad to have to leave. i was also insanely jealous of jessie and markus (yes, our old house presidents) who are the resident advisors (called "grt"s at mit) on second west. i know i have a pretty sweet deal going for myself here in switzerland, and i definitely appreciate the benefits of having my own apartment, however small (chiefly, my own bathroom and properly equipt kitchen), but god i miss living in close proximity to friends. don't get me wrong, i've got quite a few friends here, and good ones, too, but there was something special about living together and just seeing people and spending down time together even when there weren't specific events or activities planned...

maurice and i were talking over lunch one day, and he mentioned that he's thinking about finally moving into lausanne (he currently lives in yverdon, and takes the train for an hour each way every day), so i hit him up for the usual "hey, if we pool our resources, we could swing something pretty sweet," and i think he actually bit. at least he asked me again later that afternoon if i had been serious, so it seems like it might work out. i'm trying not to get my hopes up to high, but it stands a decent chance of being awesome. hrm... this has kinda grown into an entry of its own, which doesn't seem to be a summary of the week's events, so i'll wrap it up here, and try to do the recap tomorrow or something.