Table of Contents

Fall

Courses

I took a very easy set of classes this semester:

• MATH 383: Complex Analysis. I was live-TeXing notes while doing the homework during the class, and I managed to follow the lectures, write up a really neat set of notes (with diagrams!), and do almost all of the homework during class periods. The material itself was a bit mundane, but that’s probably because I’d seen most of it before. In the end I got some review but didn't learn much new material.
• MATH 419: Algebraic Number Theory. A very chill class overall: low stress, manageable workload, and clear lectures. The homework and exams were all reasonable. If anything, I kind of wish we had pushed further into the material, though that likely would’ve come at the cost of the class’s relaxed pace.
• SOC 101: Introduction to Sociology. I went in expecting an easy A, which it was, but it ended up being more engaging than I’d anticipated. The readings were short but actually interesting, and the last lecture about Spy Plane was the highlight.
• ECON 110: Principles of Microeconomics. The most stressful class I’ve taken. There’s basically no content, and what is there is very straightforward, so there was like nothing to study. But the exams made it ridiculously easy to make one dumb mistake and get dropped to an A− every time. So I’d just sit there staring at a single page of material for 20+ hours in the week leading up to an exam, only to walk in and make another stupid mistake and end up with an A− again. Somehow I miraculously saved my grade on the final.

I TA'ed a course for the second time:

• STAT 341: Probability. My TA sessions were co-run with another TA, which made everything much less stressful, and having access to a solution manual this time (unlike last semester) made things run a lot smoother and faster. Early in the semester, attendance was high, but most students eventually switched to the professor’s office hours, so by the end I had very little work to do.

I also took two PE courses. I need four by end of my sophomore year. I thought I would get credit for club hockey last year, but apparently club hockey isn’t considered a club sport, so I didn’t get credit.

• Wellness. This class was kind of funny. We talked about how to be healthy while sitting in a circle a few times, went to the gym to watch other people work out once, and I walked a mile once.
• Squash. By far the best PE class. Squash is boring to watch, but it’s actually really fun (and exhausting) to play. Plus I had it in the mornings which motivated me to have a better sleep schedule.

Other

With so much free time on my hands, what did I end up doing?

• Research: My project with Professor Yang really picked up. I started getting strong results, and it looks like we may have enough for multiple papers. I solved both problems I was working on, which felt great. There’s still a lot left to do, especially organizing and writing everything clearly.
• Harvard 213a/231a: A friend at Harvard was taking these classes, and I ended up spending more time on their notes than on my own math courses. We met once or twice a week for a couple of hours. The algebraic topology material was tough, but I started to get a sense of how to approach computations. I didn’t do many problem sets, so I still need more practice. The notes were informal, but I focused on the big ideas rather than full details. I especially liked the advanced complex analysis material and admired how much was communicated with so few words. I also visited Harvard for a weekend, which was fun.
• Morse Theory: I got interested in Morse theory and spent about ten hours a week reading Milnor’s book.
• BIMSA Courses: I tried to audit as many classes as I could. Looking back, I would have learned more by focusing on fewer. Still, I really enjoyed the spin geometry class and hope to post my notes someday.

Winter

• Skiing: During winter break, I went skiing at Okemo. There were a few great runs on Jackson Gore. This was the first time I consistently skied black trails, which are very fun.
• Floer Homology: My winter study was a reading course on Floer homology. It turned out to be too hard to learn in a month. I worked through some prerequisites but didn’t get very far into the main topic. Still, I’m motivated to keep going this spring.
• Research: This was probably my most productive research period ever. I worked up to 12 hours a day for weeks. Outside of that, I only ate, slept, and played ice hockey.
• Visited Harvard (Again): Between winter study and the spring semester, I visited Harvard for a few days to see my sister. The museum was surprisingly cool: they have incredibly realistic glass models of plants that are hard to believe aren’t real. I also went to a CMSA talk and a McMullen lecture, both of which I enjoyed. By chance, there was a hackathon at MIT at the same time, so I unintentionally ran into a few people I hadn’t seen in a while.