Another year of my college career has passed. Where did all the time go? It flies by faster than I thought (as usual). This year was like the last in a lot of ways but I wouldn’t bother writing this if was the same. New apartment, new classes, and new people made this year memorable.

Nolan, my roommate from last year, and I decided to stick together and got an apartment. We had our own kitchen so I did some cooking this year with varying degrees of success. Lots of mac and cheese and pasta sides, but I made legitimate meals every once in a while when I had time and wanted to get a way from the computer screen. I even made dinner for all my friends a couple times. I take their willingness to eat my food as I sign that I’m a passable cook (or they just want free food). I also made some pretty epic brownies that disappeared quickly every time I made them. Weird how that works.

There are some downsides to living off campus like having to walk farther to class everyday, but it isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I had an 8:30 class first semester so it was a little rough in the mornings sometimes but that had more to do with waking up at an ungodly hour than walking to class. Thankfully I only had one of those first semester and none second semester.

None of my classes first semester really standout. I took C & Unix (15-123), Data Structures and Algorithms (15-211), Technical Communication (15-221), Physics I (33-111), and Microeconomics (73-150). I learned some interesting things in 15-211 and wrote a chess AI that I couldn’t beat but I can’t say I fell in love with the class.

I will probably remember this year mostly for what I did and didn’t do second semester. I took Principles of Programming (15-212), Intro to Systems (15-213), Cognitive Psychology (85-211), Physics of Musical Sound (33-114), and Calculus 3D (21-259). I’ve mentioned 15-212 before and I absolutely love that class. The things you can do in functional programming languages are amazing and it completely changes the way you think about problems. On the other end of the spectrum is 15-213 which I hate with a fiery passion. I could rant about everything that is wrong with that class but it would make for uninteresting reading.

Enough about classes though. The things I will remember about this year were all outside of class. This semester CMU cancelled class because of snow for the first time in over a decade. I went sledding way too much and built a snow monster. I also fell in love with Settlers of Catan which I previously refused to play. I can’t even count how many nights I spent playing Settlers this semester (I’ve gotten pretty good at it recently).

Nolan and I went to Philadelphia (Exton actually, but close enough) over spring break and stayed a friend’s place. We went laser tagging at the Laserdome. It was the first time I had ever been laser tagging and I think I’m going to have a hard time beating the Laserdome. The arena has a two level structure which makes for some serious fun. I even got top scorer a few times.

I’m on a plane headed home as I write this. Unfortunately I won’t be staying for long before I’m off again. I will be working at Amazon in Seattle this summer. I’m not sure what I’ll be working on yet, but it should be a good experience. I’m going to try to update this blog more often. I know I’ve said that before and failed, but I’m really going to try this time, honest.