Pittsburgh is a Winter Wonderland

Pittsburgh has been getting a lot more precipitation this year than last. Although it was incredibly warm up through October, we got our first snow early on, and it has since been snowing quite frequently. I recently invested in new batteries for my camera, so here are some photos from Pittsburgh's Winter Wonderland:

When I walked to my 18-240 final last night, rain steadily turned to snow. When I walked back, the same event occurred. Events like these are what makes scraping the frozen snow from vehicles such as Andrey's difficult.

It's snowing! Just believe it.


One fascinating thing about winter that I enjoy is the appearance of birds' nests in the trees.

Snowy Shadyside, as seen from my apartment.

Christmas trees right outside our window!
St. Paul's Cathedral. Even Pittsburgh has some old-style architecture.
I did not know this at the time I took the photos (I took them because of the bagpipe band playing in the corner and the decorated people standing on the sides), but apparently there was a memorial service for Special Agent Hicks, the FBI agent from Pittsburgh killed in a drug raid last month.

The fleet of Port Authority buses to transport people to the memorial gave the event away as something important (if the bagpipes and decoration rifles didn't give it away already).Streams of people.

Snowy campus. Administration had to tie down their beloved "Walking to the Sky", since it was swaying in the wind too much.

Snow!

Welcome to Finals

Today was the last day of classes.

It's slightly depressing, since this means that finals start on Monday. If today were not the last day of classes, I'd have at least one extra day to study.

Here is what my finals schedule looks like:

12/8 5:30PM Physics II
12/9 8:30 AM Econ
12/10 10:00 AM Concepts of Mathematics (moved from Tuesday night since I had 3 exams in a 25-hour period; thank you university final exam policy!)
12/11 5:30 PM 18-240
12/15 5:30 PM Stats

This schedule makes me with CMU had a reading week between classes and finals, like many other universities, instead of a reading day in the middle of finals.

I'm not so worried about Econ or Stats. I have some topics to brush up on in 18-240, but I've already figured out that the best preparation for that class is a good night's sleep the night before and a flexible mind (and remembering to check your work!).

The exams that I am more concerned about are Physics and Concepts. Physics covers a broad range of applications. Concepts covers a broad range of topics. Plus I've been scoring on the borderline in both classes, so there is more pressure going into the exams.

Ah, study break is over! Time to finish up some hot chocolate and study more math!

'Til December 15th!