Hutchins Travels

Wordpress

Michael hutchins — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:26:51 GMT

I sort of stopped updating this blog once I returned from Scotland. I don't know why, but I could never find the creativity to continue it. I think it is because I was no longer traveling in Europe and Iattachedthis blog to that type of travel.

So I have started a new blog atWordpress .

I am not sure what will happen to this blog, maybe once I start traveling again I will come back to it.

Or it could have been destined to be short lived.

One Week

Michael hutchins — Mon, 12 May 2008 16:38:15 GMT

One week left.

Between me and home lies five hours of exams, twenty hours of studying, kilt shopping, seven days and a three hour layover in Heathrow Terminal 5.

Last Saturday I arrived back in Edinburgh after a week long trip to Ireland (new pictures in the photo gallery). I am glad I took the trip otherwise I would have just hung about in Edinburgh doing nothing and thinking about all the time I have to study but am not using.

I look forward to the flight home if for no other reason then the fact that I will be moving forwards.

Off to Ireland

Michael hutchins — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:47:17 GMT

I am leaving for Ireland today inbetween exams and long term concerns.

In the end I was not accepted by any summer internship program but I plan to spend that time doing equal parts nothing, grad school application preparation, GREpreparationand e-mail professors until I find a research position in the fall.

Only two more exams remain, Entrepreneurship (only need 1%!) and Physics 3 (optics, condensed matter, particle physics and nuclear physics rolled into one class). I just finished Astrophysics yesterday, it was as hard as I expected and Electromagnetism was done earlier in the week.

A week in Ireland, two exams and fifteen days until I am back on the sunny shores of California.

Grad School?

Michael hutchins — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 02:22:15 GMT

Between(and Idare-saysometimes instead of)studying for exams I have been reading PhD Comics. This has made me start thinking about graduate school.

Of course looking into graduate school is alegitimateactivity to participate in instead of studying so I thoroughly embraced this idea. I started by going to sites much like these.

I have realized that what every university seems to look for as a top requirement is previous experience at research. I then looked at how my prospects have been fairing and realize that I may be in some trouble.

Now I am going to take one less class during the fall quarter to focus on graduate school applications, GRE's and hopefully spare time to work in a professors lab. I just need to find a professor who would take me in and let me do some useful (though I will also take mindlesslyrepetitiveif it is doing something vaguely important to someone). I have also found a physics REU at North Carolina State University that has a simple online application open until Wednesday, so I applied there as well.

I know it is a long shot applying this late to a program but the program actually looks really nice and it would take me to a part of the country I have never been close too.

Now I am going to try to put off thinking about grad school for a while and focus on studying. Eventually I will need to ask myself important questions such as "what do I want out of graduate school?" and "if I even want to go where and what type of school?".

I should really get back to revising for my upcoming exams.

Pass/No Pass

Michael hutchins — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:06:29 GMT

For the first time in my academic career I am taking a class pass/no pass. The class in question is called Innovation and Enterprise for Scientists and Engineers. Sounds neat right?

Not really. The class and the material were quite mundane with nothing new, exciting or even worth learning. I felt inundated with marketing and business buzz words. I learned more from just sitting at the table with my parents and their friends.

In the first week of the class I heard that half of the grade would be a group project. I hate group projects. Well not group projects with friends or in a class (such as Physics) that I like, but in a class that I am taking just for the units I was not looking forward to a group project.

So when it came time to sign the classes up through the UC Study Centre here in Edinburgh I chose the pass/no pass option. In order to get a pass I need a solid C or better in the class. Well I could manage a C. So I went on with the semester.

The group project was saved to the very last minute as they tend to be. After a group member dropped out we eventually cobbled together something that resembled a business plan (for that was our project). I led for the entire project (it was my business idea) until the last week when I essentially said "screw this" and sort of gave up on everything. I had my section done at this point so I gave up on the rest of the group getting it together. But they did and we turned it in two days before I left for Europe.

I just got the grade back for it. Combining the group portion and my individual portion I received a 75%. A solid C you may think, well not quite. The British system has a slightly different grading scale. This is half of my overall grade, the second half will be a test two days after I return to Ireland. So with this C I have 37.5% in the class.

In order to get a C back at UCSB and this get a pass I need a whopping 38% or higher. This is the part of study abroad that makes it easy. I need to learn, remember or not forget enough material to get 1% on the final. I am sure if I show up and fill in my name I can get a 1%.

I do love Slacker Math.

Contact Info

Michael hutchins — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:27:45 GMT

Michael Hutchins

Physics Student

UC Santa Barbara

michutch42 (plus) PNN (at) gmail (dot) com

Spark of Hope

Michael hutchins — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:13:05 GMT

It seems that every year I spend my fall and early winter preparing and sending out applications for one thing or another. Four Falls ago I was stressing and worrying over applications to college, Two falls ago I forged through the mountains of paperwork involved with study abroad and last fall I slogged through six applications for physics research positions for this summer.

While the college and study abroad applications ran smoothly the internships have not. At first there was the several month lull between submitting papers, pdfs and transcripts until finally I started to hear back.

The first was a rejection from Caltech, fine I was not sure I wanted to be in the L.A. region anyway.

Then a few more rejections came in cutting out Oregon and the south bay. Well there is till Washington I thought.

Whiletravelingamidst Europe I heard back from the two universities in Washington, neither required my presence.

Now one is left. The previous five were through the NSF REU program so there was about ten to fifteen spaces for the several hundred applicants. The others gave a window of about two weeks in which they would send out acceptance e-mails (one actually sent a real letter). This last one has a window of one to three months. At least such a broad window keeps the spark of hope alive.

The last one is NASA.

When I filled out my applications last fall I filled out the one for NASA just so I would not regret never applying to work at NASA, I did not expect to get in. In fact it was my weakest application in my eyes. I also expect it to be much more popular then Universities in Washington and Oregon.

Except for a small optimistic part of me I do not expect to get in.

I now look forward to my four months of pure uninterrupted Summer.

My last Summer.

New Photos

Michael hutchins — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:47:46 GMT

Some new photos and slight HTML update in my photo gallery.

I added in Copenhagen, Paris and St. Andrews from my library. I also added the photos I took in the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Skye.

The Season

Michael hutchins — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 21:13:46 GMT

It is that time of year again, a season filled with fear and hope, tears and joy, tension and relief; finals are here.

This next month brings with it exams, books, notes and worry. It also carries the relief of finishing a class, the prospect of a care free summer and the sadness of leaving friends.

For me the worst part of finals has always been the waiting. I study for a class and eventually reach a point where I either know the material or I don't. It is between this critical moment and the exam itself that I often linger. But it is more pronounced here in Edinburgh instead of having maybe a day, perhaps two, I have an entire month for tests I would take within a single week.

My first test is Statistical Mechanics on Thursday and it only goes uphill from there.

Photography

Michael hutchins — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 01:51:26 GMT

I updated myphoto galleryto include photos from Switzerland, more from Keukenhof and some close up photography I tried in my backyard last summer (with my Dad's camera and not my own).

I would put up higher resolution images but I am limited on storage space. If anyone would like a higher resolution version of any of my photos let me know and I would be happy to either e-mail or create a high resolution request gallery.

Reading List

Michael hutchins — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:04:54 GMT

Traveling around I always carry a book or two with me. Currently I am carrying with me and reading two books:

On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Innocence Abroad - Mark Twain

Sprezzatura

Michael hutchins — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:48:54 GMT

Thinking about topics to write about I realized that what I should have really done to start out is to say something about myself.It is hard to define oneself in a few phrases or facts but I suppose that it is a good a place as any to start.

I am currently a third year physics student at the University of California Santa Barbara (as can be seen from my photo gallery site) who is currently spending the year abroad at Edinburgh University in Scotland. I also happen to be twenty years old as of this writing.

When I initially thought about starting a blog I assumed I would have nothing to say or write about but I started anyway with the idea of forming a place to consolidate my travel writings and photos. Once I started setting this site up I realized that there a lot of topics I could write about that may not be interesting to anyone save myself.

While a few people may read this (like say my mother) I see it as more of a medium for me to develop and practice my writing in a non-narrative and non-academic setting.

So here's to a new medium for myself, the blog.