index.md (7337B)
1 +++ 2 title = "Stanford Quarterly Reflection (Y1Q1)" 3 date = 2024-01-09 4 [extra] 5 type = "post" 6 +++ 7 8 Life changes slowly and then all at once. I started at Stanford 9 University on September 19th, 2023, an "all at once" day that began the 10 rest of my life. It is no small thing to leave the home you've known all 11 your life for a place as strange as Stanford. I am profoundly grateful 12 for the opportunity to do so and for the people who have made that 13 possible. It turns out to be a wonderful kind of strange. 14 15 <!-- more --> 16 17 This past quarter felt like being thrown onto a bucking horse, breaking 18 it, and immediately turning it toward the racetrack and joining a heat 19 that was already underway.[^1] It was immediately fun. 20 21 ### General Philosophizing on the Subject of People 22 People are supremely important. Having people you care about to eat with 23 when the evening comes—this one thing can make anywhere feel like home. 24 This is not a profound realization, but it is one that I have come to 25 through my time here. 26 27 I have been extremely lucky to be joined at Stanford by one of my best 28 friends from high school. It's completely cheating: I am certain that 29 the transition would have been far more difficult on my own. To leave 30 home and be totally alone is an experience I still have not had: when I 31 moved to Stanford I had Vivek. 32 33 I have been further showered with folks who I am grateful for, new 34 friends that—as anyone who has gone off to college will tell you—I 35 already feel like I've known all my life. What I most want to say is 36 this: when I went off to college, it was my most sincere hope that I 37 would meet remarkable people. I have found this sort of person at 38 Stanford in abundance, and nowhere more than with you, my friends. 39 40 Thank you Jack, for welcoming me into your home—and giving me a potato 41 for my shelf. Thank you Josh, for debating with me the linguistic 42 intricacies of Hebrew curse words. Thank you Daniel, Riya, and Amalia, 43 for hanging out with me in far-flung cities; it's remarkable to land 44 somewhere strange and have friends there to welcome you. And thank you 45 Kelly, for introducing me to [Corner], and more importantly being 46 everything for everyone in difficult times. 47 48 And to all those with whom I shared food, ran around in the cold, stayed 49 up into the wee hours of the night, and woke up for in the early morning 50 to go lift; it's been a lifetime these few short months and I am amazed 51 I have been able to spend it with you. 52 53 ### Specific Commentary on the Subject of Academics 54 I took six classes, which I found after a confused two-week sprint where 55 I picked up and quickly dropped, among others, a three-hour long 56 comparative literature class.[^2] My schedule eventually settled into 57 the following: 58 59 1. CS 106B: Programming Abstractions 60 2. ARABLANG 1A: Accelerated First Year Arabic 61 3. HISTORY 81B: Contemporary Middle East 62 4. CS 7: Personal Finance for Engineers 63 5. PHYSICS 59: Frontiers of Physics Research 64 6. ECON 3: Big Ideas Lecture Series 65 66 I loved this schedule, and am quite lucky to have stumbled into it. 67 Sean, my 106B professor, is wonderful and an endless well of millennial, 68 self-deprecating positive energy. I hope nothing ever stays that spirit. 69 My Arabic professor Khaled has an incredible tendency to launch off on 70 half-hour long tangents in the middle of a lesson. It was in his class 71 that I saw my name for the first time: 72 73  74 75 We had already learned the alphabet when Khaled used my name as an 76 example. I looked up at the chalkboard in amazement.[^3] When did I 77 first see my name in English or Hebrew? This time, I snapped a picture. 78 79 HISTORY 81B fell into the trap of most Middle Eastern history courses: 80 it taught the same old Arab-centric narrative, depriving all characters 81 of agency and giving the state of the region an air of inevitability. I 82 took it to hang out with Vedant and Hassan—which I did! Our post-class 83 coffee routine caused me to be late to Arabic on many an occasion. I 84 also enjoyed our final project, which [I published here][war-of-return] 85 as stylistic practice for an eventual submission to the ACX book review 86 contest.[^4] 87 88 The final three classes were all speaker series. Whenever I tell this to 89 upperclassmen, they universally respond with a shoulder pat and a 90 wistful gaze as they reflect back on when they were young and naive and 91 took speaker series. I hope I never come to adopt this position: I think 92 they're the greatest. In PHYSICS 59 I heard the sound of a single atom 93 moving. CS 7 filled a huge gap in my knowledge and helped me 94 contextualize my finances.[^5] And ECON 3 is one of those classes that 95 can only exist with the unique resources found here. 96 97 ### Other Rattlings of the Mind 98 The observation of change is a difficult thing. I find it almost 99 impossible to embody the version of myself that was once living so 100 differently. 101 102 The blank slate of college is a canvas for personal change. I'm trying 103 to use it to live as intentionally as possible.[^6] When you are in 104 control of all the facets of your life, why not design it? 105 106 The amount of distinct events that occur each day in my life on this 107 campus is incredible. Perhaps one of the things I appreciate most about 108 Stanford is this compression of time and space. There are so many people 109 doing so many things here, that each day doesn't truly feel complete 110 until something unique and memorable has occurred. Last night, for 111 example, I spontaneously dropped in on a class in the law school a 112 friend of mine is taking that just so happens to be taught by the father 113 of a high school friend.[^7] How glorious! 114 115 ### Looking Forward 116 The second quarter is already upon us. This time around there will be a 117 lot more writing of papers. And yet, I am sure it will be—as this last 118 quarter has been—genuinely exceptional. 119 120 עם ישראל חי 121 122 --- 123 124 [^1]: I have never done anything remotely like this. It is a metaphor. 125 Your horse-wrangling mileage may vary. 126 127 [^2]: *COMPLIT 214: Shipwrecks and Backlands*, mostly 128 inspired by an excellent course on surreal Latin American literature in 129 high school; thalassic Iberian literature seemed like a good next step. 130 Ultimately, I thought the discussion format combined with the extended 131 duration made it not a good fit for what I would like to do at Stanford. 132 I was also briefly in *SYMSYS 1: Minds and Machines*, but was 133 told that I would receive several zeroes on the first week's work and my 134 grade would suffer. I believe that's not how the shopping period is 135 supposed to work, so I dropped out in search of classes excited to have 136 me. 137 138 [^3]: I know, right? Chalkboard! I'd never really seen one of those 139 before. Amusing that in the middle of Silicon Valley, the chalkboard is 140 alive and well in the depths of Main Quad. 141 142 [^4]: *War of Return* was not assigned specifically, we were just tasked 143 with writing a book review. The review I will eventually submit to the 144 ACX contest will likely have decreased usage of "Ibid." 145 146 [^5]: Let it also be known that the lecturer, Adam Nash, is extremely 147 cool, has nice hair, and writes [a blog of his own][nash-blog]. 148 149 [^6]: Sleep well, be jacked. 150 151 [^7]: Because, it seems, taking law school classes as an undergraduate 152 freshman is something you can do. If you're insane. 153 154 [corner]: https://www.corner.inc/clouds 155 [war-of-return]: @/reading/war-of-return/index.md 156 [nash-blog]: https://adamnash.blog