It’s 8:56 in the morning, four minutes until the start of class, and I haven’t left my room yet. I can feel the sweat form on my body the second I step out into the hot, dry New Mexican desert that the city of Las Cruces was built on. Terrified, I begin sprinting to Domenici Hall, where morning lecture is just about to start. Heart thumping, legs aching, I make it to within 100 yards of the front door when suddenly, I trip, fall, and wake up with a start. Relieved that I had just been dreaming but still shaken by the experience, I checked the time. It was 8:15 in the morning. I even had time to go to breakfast, a rare occasion for me lately. After getting ready, I knocked on Joey’s door to see if he’s ready to go to breakfast, but he is still asleep. Sleep is an invaluable commodity at SSP, and no one ever seems to have enough. After grabbing some snacks from the Piñon lobby, I walked peacefully to class and reflected on my experience so far at the program. I have met some amazing people in the past four weeks that I will remain friends with throughout college and beyond, and life at New Mexico State University has become the new normal for me. It is hard to believe that this is a temporary state of being, and in just a few short weeks, everyone will go back to their old lives all across the country.
The lecture was on quantum mechanics, a subject that I’ve been interested in recently, and was given by Dr. Andersen. I was fascinated but also quite confused, a sentiment that was echoed by most people I talked to. After the lecture was lunch at the dining hall, and then Dhanush, Gio, and I decided to work on problem sets. After finishing all four questions on the physics problem set and even the first question of the astronomy problem set, we decided to head to the library, where we ate ramen and talked about physics and life. As we exited the building, we noticed that in New Mexico, all it took was 45 minutes for it to go from a clear sunny day to a dark and cloudy rainstorm.
After dinner, Joey, Eric, Hardev and I took a break from work and decided to make paper airplanes. We tested them from the second floor of Domenici Hall and then watched YouTube videos to improve our designs.
After working a bit more on physics, astronomy, and asteroid determination code, we left Domenici Hall at 11:00 PM, significantly earlier than normal. The fact that we are just over a week out from the end of SSP is surreal to me, and while it will be sad to see everyone go, I can’t wait for the memories that will be created in the next 10 days!
I’m Jason, and I’m a rising junior from Cincinnati, Ohio. My favorite subjects are math, physics, and chemistry. I also love riding my bike with friends, playing video games, and swimming.
