Zwei tausend und elf (2011), first half

January -- I attended the Joint Math Meetings in New Orleans. I went to lots of research presentations on graph theory and the math or puzzles and games and saw lectures on the math in Pixar and fluid dynamics. I explored the exhibits, left with two new math books, and in general spent a lot of time in the Sheraton on Canal Street. I had beignets at Cafe du Monde every morning, and my father and I always found somewhere delicious to eat for lunch and supper --I love Cajun food -- and we only planned the meals ahead of time three times that I remember.
After we got back, I started school, and had the following classes: American Literature, American History, German I, Organic Chemistry II, Special Topics in Math, Data Structures I, Thermal Physics and Waves and Optics, and Differential Equations. 8 classes, but only one lab (physics, TWO for short). Compared to the semester before, my schedule looked like I had lots of free time.
In January I was in the middle of applying for summer camps. I applied to two research camps and was working on an application for a third.

February -- Math contests: the AMC12A and AMC12B. I did better on the A than the B (well enough to qualify for AIME, the next contest), even though I thought the B was easier.

March -- March was all the other competitions: TEAM+S engineering, Chemistry Olympiad local, and AIME. The junior team for TEAM+S wasn't set until a week before the competition, but we still did very well on Part 2, the free response section, just not so well on the multiple choice. Chem Olympiad Local seemed to go pretty well, so I was hoping to qualify for the national exam. AIME was at the very end of the month -- either on the 30th or the 31st. It could have gone better, but the problems were interesting, as always.
Over spring break I went on college visits.
My parents and I flew to Atlanta and visited Georgia Tech, which I really liked. I'd been worried about the school feeling huge, but I liked the campus, and it's very contained. I like their study abroad, co-op, and internship programs, and they have an active Wesley Foundation (which I got to visit!) and an active fencing team. The only thing that worried me was the size of the mechanical engineering department -- there are more than twice as many people per year in the mechE department alone than in my high school.
Next we flew to Baltimore, and we visited Johns Hopkins and University of Maryland, though we also had the chance to walk around Baltimore, eat in Little Italy, and have delicious crab cakes. Anyway. University of Maryland did feel big to me, and unlike at the other two schools I visited I didn't have the chance to talk to anyone in the mechanical engineering department. Of the three schools, it's the one to which I decided not to apply. At Johns Hopkins I actually talked to the most helpful mechanical engineering person. He took me to see a couple of labs, including a fluid mechanics lab -- so awesome.
At the end of spring break, I learned that I had been accepted to my top choice of the summer camps, so I responded to that acceptance and withdrew my applications from the other two.

April -- I learned early on in April that I had qualified for National Chem Olympiad, so that exam was in the middle of the month. I didn't prepare as well as I could have, and the group from Oklahoma was much smaller this year than it had been in the past. I went with one other girl from my school, who did very well, and we had a lot of fun.

May -- May started with AP tests -- Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, US History, Computer Science, English Lang and Comp, and Statistics. After that I had final presentations instead of exams for Differential Equations and Special Topics in Math, and then final exams for my other six classes. At the end of school, we received our summer homework: for World Literature, Anna Karenina. For Western Civilization, excerpts from the Hebrew Bible as well as the Oresteia.
After leaving school my family went to San Antonio for a family reunion. We ate Mexican food and barbecue (yumm brisket), played lots of 88 (dominoes!), and went to Fiesta Texas and Sea World. It was the first time in years that we were *all* there, so that was cool.

June -- I spent the beginning of June at home writing -- err, trying to write college essays. I think out of everything I wrote this summer, I used one essay. Maybe two. I did get a feel for what I was able to write well about and what I wasn't. I learned I couldn't write a good extra-curricular essay (which has to be very short) about jazz dance or fencing. I couldn't write briefly so well about jazz, and the fencing attempts got too technical. The best extra-curricular essay I wrote this summer? Academic Team. Also the one I ended up using.
I worked one day at a local math workshop for middle schoolers, and this was the third year I had done so (though my first time not working all three workshops). This time, I TAed two classes, which was my normal job, but then before the last class the teacher had to leave...so I taught. The class I was teaching was some simple heat transfer math, which fits for my mechE interest, so that was a lot of fun.
After that, I flew north for camp -- but first a stay with one of my close friends/sister from Mathcamp. I stayed at her house for four or five days, went to a scholarship lunch with her, helped her bake and ice cake and cupcakes for her graduation party, attended said party, and spent a lot of time playing Mancala and variants. We went into the nearby large cities one day to meet up with some other Mathcampers, went to cool museums, ate at a yummy bakery/sandwich shop, and played card games.
Then camp!

Rest of June and July -- All camp. The first week was classes: computer class, humanities (focusing on Frankenstein), engineering (taught by an electrical engineer), and math (focused on some really interesting number theory). At the end of the first week I learned I would be doing mathematics research in graph theory with a grad student.
That was bumpy. I definitely learned that as much as I like math, it's not what I want to do with my life -- I thought I knew that, but now I'm sure. I really loved my project, but my father's description of research to me (you hit your head on a wall for a while, pull back, the wall falls down, and then behind it there's another wall) definitely fits.
I was also disappointed with the social aspect of camp. I had a few good friends, but I had loved Mathcamp people and activities in 2009 and 2010, and camp this year didn't live up to that standard for me.
I still got a lot out of going to camp. I know so much more about writing research papers and giving presentations (even if I'm still not all that good at it), I learned I don't want to be a mathematician, and even if I didn't click with many of the people, I've seen their names come up for all sorts of awards and competitions this year. Most of them want to be research scientists and not engineers (and definitely not industry engineers, like me), but it's still a good group of people to know. I've thought about it a lot, and I've come to the conclusion that even if I had known what camp would be like, I still would have gone.