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Journal

Week 1
I arrived at College Station with 3 other Vassar companions, Eli Schutze, Stanton Wong, and Plamen Ivanov. We had a few days of orientation with the other REU students and met with our faculty mentors. Since the area was completely new to us, we decided to do some research on ways to travel, places to eat, and places to shop. We looked at the shuttle paths and determined which grocery stores were more reasonable to travel to. I recommend H.E.B. just fyi. Since we didn't have projects yet, we explored our dorm, The Tradition at Northgate. First floor: cafeteria, Second floor: pool and ping pong tables, Fouth floor: kitchen, Fifth floor: gym and theatre. We were pretty much just adjusting to College Station life...

Week 2
We still weren't assigned projects but had many many papers to read so we would be up to speed on the research. We were also shown how the hexsim simulator works. We met the other students who lived on our hall and bonded by watching movies in the theatre. :) Each week we got together with the other Comp Sci REU students for lunch and lecture.

Week 3
We decided that we wanted to cook for ourselves rather than eat in the cafeteria. Our mentor was kind enough to take us to the store to buy supplies and food. We ate dinner at the Asian restaurant somewhat close to IHOP. I don't recommend it... On another day, we ate at Freebirds. Highly recommended! Still not exactly sure what the research is going to be, but getting more familiar with the macbook, research vocab, and living arrangements starting to look at code...

Week 4
After work, we hang out with the comp sci people in our hall. We watch tv or movies, or hang out in each other's rooms. Stanton's birthday was this week, so Eli and I took the shuttle to Dairy Queen and bought him an ice cream cake. We had a tiny surprise party that night. continuing to look at the code and trying to understand what is essential. modularizing, organizing, and commenting the file we're going to be working on...

Week 5
We met the math camp students at the July 4th celebration! They're the best people I've ever met! haha. This is gonna be a fun rest of the summer. We stayed the whole time at the George Bush Library and had fun meeting new people, watching the performances, and watching fireworks. thinking up an algorithm that will do the task... coding the algorithm... fixing the algorithm...

Week 6
The math camp students are still awesome. We're hanging out so much now. We ate, went out, watched movies, and mostly talked in the lobby together. They definitely made this stay worthwhile. freaking out because we need to start writing our technical papers and thinking of our poster presentations. We got food from our new favorite place, Freebirds. more fixing of the algorithm. bridges being used to fill the goal configs whether they are needed or not. working A LOT on the website... contemplating creating an iphone app... being motivated to get the algorithm done by the weekend!

Week 7
Lots of bonding with the math students. Oh here are great places to eat: Ihop, Freebirds, Chipotle. I visited my friend in Houston for the weekend. Houston's so much livelier than College Station, and there are museums, shops, cafes, stores, etc. You'll always have something to do. If you ever get the chance to go to Houston, take it. We kept getting stuck. The algorithm was getting way too large and unreadable, so we decided to step back and try to make the function simpler.

Week 8
We went with a bunch of people to see Toy Story 3. It was so good I saw it twice! It was restaurant week in Houston, so a few friends and I drove to a 4-star restaurant this weekend. So much fun. Such a different restaurant experience. We kept working on the algorithm so that it worked for any admissible case.

Week 9
Math Camp left this week, but before they did, we gathered up all our friends and went out to eat at an amazing hibachi grill. Definitely the best dinner that summer :D I miss you guys! Sooo much work! working on the technical paper, poster, and preparing for presentations! Our poster came out beautifully though! :D

Week 10
Poster presentations in front of all the comp sci students = nervewracking Poster presentations with everyone = lots of fun Poster competition = a little of both Finally being done = priceless