Last weekend I drove back to Grinnell for the second time since my REU started. While there, I ran my longest run yet this summer--18 miles: out to Krumm, around, and back. It was really tough, but the run got me back on pace with how much I had done last year at this time, so I'm pretty confident I can make my 650 mile goal for the summer again. It was fun to spend some time with Mom and Dad, too--we had some good meals (different from the pasta, frozen pizza, and PBJ that I've been living on in Ames) and played a game of Scrabble, which surprisingly ended with Mom and me tied for the win over Dad--truly a rare occurrence. I also was finally able to attend one of the infamous Grinnell Summer Ultimate Frisbee games. It was great to see so many old and new faces there, and I loved the return to the familiar athletic, competitive sort of game that we play in G-town.
The REU has been going quite well. Sean and I are way ahead on our work--we started our paper the first week, and have been working on it continuously ever since. We've also solved some of the main problems we were working on, and most of what we have left to do just involves writing and polishing up our paper, before sending it off to be published in the Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra. It's really cool, because we've actually found new results which, though a little obscure and not really imminently important, are quite simple to understand, intuitive, and elegant.
That's not to say that we've been working very hard. Or at least, for long periods of time. We get in to work at 9 AM, meet with Leslie and the grad students from 10-11, take a lunch break from 12-1, and generally wrap up what we're doing by 3 or 4. So we average maybe 6 hours of work a day, and none of that is very intensive--mostly logical reasoning and dinking around with Mathematica.
The social side of the REU has also held up. We've been keeping at the games and group sports, going out to movies, and of course our weekly potlucks. Every morning, we meet outside of the apartment to walk to the Math building together, and we always have group lunches together at one of the campus dining options.
I've had enough things to do to keep me busy during my free time. I'm just finishing The Brothers Karamazov, which I started reading last winter but almost never opened while in Budapest. I run most mornings, lift weights every other day with Steve and others at the campus rec center, and take the occasional bike ride or swim. I've also been following the World Cup pretty closely. I watch some (but a healthy amount) of TV and movies. And I've been keeping in good correspondence with friends far away, especially Julia in So Cal.
So, in summary, I have a very content life here in Ames. At the same time, I feel sometimes like counting down days--I'm REALLY excited to get back to California. It's been seven months since I've seen most of my school friends, and as much as I hate the sleep deprivation and constant mental and physical exertion that come with my overloaded college schedule, I also miss the excitement and momentary feelings of accomplishment that intersperse themselves among the tough times. Can't wait!
Happy Fourth of July!
Waiting outside the apartments to walk to work
Action shot of Sean LaTeXing in the office
One of our twice-weekly "Pop & Cookies" sessions
Friday potluck!
My contribution to the potluck: real Iowan sweet corn. Oh yeah.
2 comments:
Is it actually the best race shirt in Iowa?
Actually, the race that claims it has the best shirt in Iowa is Midnight Madness on July 15. But the Four on the Fourth one is pretty cool too. It's yellow!
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