E-Week
We are currently in the midst of E-Week: National Engineers Week. It's kind of a big deal. Every year at MSU, engineering student organizations partner to put on a number of events and companies come and sponsor stuff. Every night this week, there's something to do.
This Sunday, we kicked off E-Week over at the Impression 5 museum in Lansing. It's this really neat hands-on science museum downtown that I didn't know about before. Student organizations could volunteer to have a table set up in the museum with some sort of demonstration. Kids would be coming through the museum learning about engineering, particularly, how it relates to the environment and how we can be green. I offered to help SWE with their table. We had supplies to make 'ecosystems in a cup.' Basically, kids got to plant a seed in a cup of dirt, water it, and place another cup on top, upside down, with the cups taped to each other. By enclosing the system like that, it makes it a stand-alone ecosystem. And you don't have to water your seed, just leave it in the sun by the window. I was pretty excited; I got to plant a marigold seed. But then we ran out of supplies, so I gave up my ecosystem to a cute little girl who came by.
The thing at the museum ended up taking about 5 hours out of my day. That was a bit frustrating since I needed most of my day to study for my philosophy exam on Monday, the next day. This is only the first exam I've had so far this semester. It was an essay test. Our professor gave us a study sheet with 8 possible essay questions, 5 of which would be on the exam. And we only had to choose 4 of the 5 to answer. So I knew exactly what to expect on the exam. I chose the inefficient way to study: write out well-thought-out answers to all the questions and memorize my answers. Well, I only wrote out answers to 7, since I had no idea for one of them; and anyway, if it appeared on the exam, I would just choose that to be the unanswered one. I have a pretty good memory, but memorizing seven essays isn't easy. I woke up an hour early this morning since I knew I had a busy day and wouldn't have much time to study during it. Plus, I still had 3 essays to memorize. My brain is just aching now from overuse; I am so relieved that the test is over. I could probably still recite to you a number of essays about justice and Plato's Republic.
Tomorrow, I'm participating in another E-Week event: the charity date auction. I volunteered to be auctioned off two years ago and ended up going for $70 to this guy named Andres. We had an average date. He was nice enough, but couldn't say much except, "This is awkward," which of course made it very awkward. It was only afterward that I was looking at his Facebook profile and discovered he liked to cook. Perfect! I've been looking for a chef! (since God knows I can't cook--see previous blog entries from while in Germany)
So I don't know what to expect this Tuesday. Hopefully no creepster attempts to bid on me. The date auction is kinda a weird situation; I mean, who comes to these things? Guys looking for a date? Having people bid on you can be a little objectifying. I'm doing it for charity; and because I'm president of the organization that's hosting it.
This Sunday, we kicked off E-Week over at the Impression 5 museum in Lansing. It's this really neat hands-on science museum downtown that I didn't know about before. Student organizations could volunteer to have a table set up in the museum with some sort of demonstration. Kids would be coming through the museum learning about engineering, particularly, how it relates to the environment and how we can be green. I offered to help SWE with their table. We had supplies to make 'ecosystems in a cup.' Basically, kids got to plant a seed in a cup of dirt, water it, and place another cup on top, upside down, with the cups taped to each other. By enclosing the system like that, it makes it a stand-alone ecosystem. And you don't have to water your seed, just leave it in the sun by the window. I was pretty excited; I got to plant a marigold seed. But then we ran out of supplies, so I gave up my ecosystem to a cute little girl who came by.
The thing at the museum ended up taking about 5 hours out of my day. That was a bit frustrating since I needed most of my day to study for my philosophy exam on Monday, the next day. This is only the first exam I've had so far this semester. It was an essay test. Our professor gave us a study sheet with 8 possible essay questions, 5 of which would be on the exam. And we only had to choose 4 of the 5 to answer. So I knew exactly what to expect on the exam. I chose the inefficient way to study: write out well-thought-out answers to all the questions and memorize my answers. Well, I only wrote out answers to 7, since I had no idea for one of them; and anyway, if it appeared on the exam, I would just choose that to be the unanswered one. I have a pretty good memory, but memorizing seven essays isn't easy. I woke up an hour early this morning since I knew I had a busy day and wouldn't have much time to study during it. Plus, I still had 3 essays to memorize. My brain is just aching now from overuse; I am so relieved that the test is over. I could probably still recite to you a number of essays about justice and Plato's Republic.
Tomorrow, I'm participating in another E-Week event: the charity date auction. I volunteered to be auctioned off two years ago and ended up going for $70 to this guy named Andres. We had an average date. He was nice enough, but couldn't say much except, "This is awkward," which of course made it very awkward. It was only afterward that I was looking at his Facebook profile and discovered he liked to cook. Perfect! I've been looking for a chef! (since God knows I can't cook--see previous blog entries from while in Germany)
So I don't know what to expect this Tuesday. Hopefully no creepster attempts to bid on me. The date auction is kinda a weird situation; I mean, who comes to these things? Guys looking for a date? Having people bid on you can be a little objectifying. I'm doing it for charity; and because I'm president of the organization that's hosting it.
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