Stories from LMF Alums

On Thursday, May 30, around 25 LMF alums attended the LMF 50th anniversary online reunion on Zoom. Attendees came from various class years, from 1976 to 2020. Hearing alums share all kinds of stories was a great and enriching experience. Although Zoom isn't the same as in-person, the reunion was fun and is something that LMF should do every year right around Tech Reunions, considering that not everyone can make it in person. 

This blog is a compilation of interesting stories alums shared. I did not transcribe the meeting, so the stories below are based on the notes I took. I am not sure how to organize these stories, but for simplicity's sake, I will organize them in chronological order based on people's graduating years. Unfortunately, this blog does not include all the interesting stories told in the Zoom reunion. Nevertheless, I think it's a good selection of stories. 

Barbara Miller '76 

What makes Barbara's story interesting is that she was originally in Russian House for two years, but decided to move to French House for her last two years. Barbara took Russian and French, and was "ready for change." Considering that the dorm community was founded in 1974, the early years of French House had few upperclassmen, as Barbara said that there were "four juniors that year."

 Construction of New House wasn't completed by the fall of 1974, so French House and German House stayed in Ashdown (now Maseeh) for the 1974-1975 academic year. French House and German House shared the same kitchen, but not surprisingly sat in separate rooms to eat. 

A funny story that Barbara shared is that French House and Russian House came together to invade German House because France and Russia were allies in World War II. At this time, WWII happened around 30 years ago, which meant that WWII was still considered as recent history for people in the 70s. 

Barbara met her husband Jim Miller '76 at French House, making them the first LMF couple! They enjoy long-distance cycling, and will bike across the U.S. this summer. 

Dan Halbert '78 

Dan was one of French House earliest residents and lived in Ashdown his first year. He jokingly said that French House "outnumbered the Germans quickly" in Ashdown, so it was called French-German House instead of the other way around. As the food steward, Dan went to the Stop N Shop along Memorial Drive (now Microcenter). Buying groceries was quite an ordeal, since he had to walk to the grocery store, fill the shopping cart with lots of groceries, then call the taxi to go back to New House. Nowadays, the food stewards order groceries online, which makes logistics easier. 

Jon Morrow '85

Jon talked about water games/wars in French House during his time, which we don't do nowadays. Back then, MIT had a tradition of "showering" the freshmen at the start of the school year, which meant surprising the freshmen by bringing them to the showers and getting them wet. He said that there was a "strict social code that you could not get water in people's room, but everything else was fair game." Jon also mentioned that people used rubber hoses and surgical tubing to make "industrial" water balloons, which could be "sprayed at the enemy." Although French House does not take part in that kind of tomfoolery nowadays, we still enjoy doing silly things such as meme posters. 

Another story Jon shared was how French House convinced the regional telephone company to install a telephone closet near the dining room in House 6 by convincing the company that New House was an apartment with a room number. While calling fees were expensive during this time, after 11 pm, they went down to "10 cents a minute," causing "everyone to use the phone during that time." Given that so many residents used the phone, the treasurer was also responsible for keeping track of people's phone bills. 

James Wooten '93

James discussed various things about French House, from French House's language requirement to French House's relation with the other language houses. 

Back in the old days, French House was a lot more serious about speaking French. French was spoken not only during dinners, but also in house meetings. French House held a French marathon, a language game in which the person who outlasted everyone else by only speaking French won the game. The basic rule was that the public area (kitchen, lounges) were French only. If you spoke "two words in a row in another language (except asking for definition)," you were out of the competition. The game ended up going on for several days, and finally ended when two residents were declared as winners. James credited Yves '94 as a great resource for French because Yves is a native French speaker. As Yves once said, "There's French French, and French House French." 

French House interacted quite a bit with German House and Spanish House, something that we should consider doing more in the future. French House shared a broken oar with Spanish House because French House and Spanish House had a joint intramural crew team. Spanish House liked taking the broken oar, causing French House to go to Spanish House every Friday at midnight to get the oar back. In terms of German House, French House shared a border with German House that was nicknamed the "Alsace" stairwell boundary because Alsace is a region in France that borders Germany. 

One memorable dish James made that Krista '93 said was the "best dessert ever" was a dessert he learned from his grandma. Consisting of four layers, the dessert contained butter, pecans, flour, cream cheese, and chocolate pudding. I wish I had an image of the dessert in my mind, but based on James' description, I can agree with Krista that it must be a delicious dessert. 

Allison Patton '09

Allison shared a hilarious story about a German House prank that caused a lot of French House German House drama to the point that French House president Michael '09 considered talking to the housemaster about the situation. In the wee hours of the morning, German House removed the shower doors in the French House bathrooms. This angered the French House residents because they couldn't shower, though German House assumed that French House residents would go somewhere else like German House to shower. The incident led to a very long email thread, which involved calling for a "peace summit" with German House. 

Daniel Levine '12 

Active in Dormcon, Daniel helped convince HRS to renovate the kitchens in New House, because back then the kitchens were smaller and unideal for cooking large meals. New House didn't undergo major renovations during this time, but the kitchens were renovated before the building renovation in 2017. 

Daniel said something about the French House experience that struck me for being reminiscent: "French House was a very formative part of my life. It was so in the moment and felt like a timeless thing. But you are gone after four years and everything is different." 

Alan Xu '13

Alan shared a funny memory about an interhouse event that a German House resident organized. The event was "Swiss-themed" because Switzerland speaks French and German. The guy in German House got stinky blue cheese that took up the entire fridge, which had a pungent smell. 

An interesting fact is that Alan introduced the French House GRA opportunity to Rebecca Kleinberger, a PhD student at the Media Lab. Rebecca was a great GRA and helped with the move out of LMF in March 2020 when COVID was declared an emergency. Uyen '22 remembers Rebecca for her fun charcuterie board event. 

Jesse Chang '18 

Jesse shared a lot of insightful information about what it was like to experience the New House renovations in the 2017-2018 school year. None of us current residents saw New House pre-renovations, but New House was structurally quite different compared to now. Before, New House allowed each house to paint a section of the column on the ground floor. Now, New House doesn't allow murals. 

As part of the negotiations between houses, French House moved from the fifth floor of towers 5 and 6 to the fourth floor of towers 1, 2, and 3. The renovations have connected all the towers, which makes the numbering of them outdated. In other words, current French House occupies the eastern side of the fourth floor. Although the renovation year had challenges, French House was fortunate to stay in New House during this time, though this meant having to move from towers 5/6 to 1/2 during IAP. For context, renovations were staggered, so parts of New House were still inhabited. 

Conclusion

LMF has a rich history of 50 years, from its early days to recent years. It was wonderful to hear people share all kinds of stories, from the German House rivalry to memorable meals. I will be graduating in a year, which means that I will step down from historian in 2025. Despite this, I hope that my interest in learning about French House's past will be passed down to future class years. 

MIT LMF Spring 2024 Report

Introduction

Hello, this is Vivian '25, the current historian of LMF. I can't believe that the school year has gone by so quickly, and that LMF is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year! As always, lots of interesting things happen in LMF, so I thought it was important to document them in this blog. 

Broccoli Menu 

Teo was the head chef for the broccoli menu, and they made many posters to make us excited for the event. Unlike last year, there was no broccoli war (posters from the opposition party). The entire kitchen was filled with festive decorations, including green balloons, green tablecloths, and green streamers. 

Caption: broccoli quiche 

Caption: featuring Alfonso's sister Miriam 

LMF/La Casa Social 

In March, LMF and La Casa had an interhouse social, which was very fun! LMF residents went to the La Casa kitchen to have wine and cheese. The charcuterie board was wonderful, and there was a lot of food. Before food was served, there was a competition in which one representative from La Casa and another from LMF had to close their eyes and guess the type of cheese based on the taste. I participated, and I had no idea what type of cheese I had. I don't remember if there was a clear winner, but the competition was fun. Overall, the event was wonderful because we got to talk to La Casa residents and have conversations on all sorts of things. 

Solar Eclipse 

A group of 7 LMF residents drove for many hours to see the solar eclipse in Vermont. The trip involved first taking the commuter rail to Newburyport, then picking up the rental car from Newburyport to go to the path of totality. The commute time was very long, but people had a memorable time. Another cool thing is that they ended up crossing the Canadian border! 

Caption: U.S. Canada border. Photo courtesy of Ivy Liu '24 

Meme Posters

As usual, a 2026 made some interesting posters of some residents. Some of them had to do with elections, others were inside jokes from a spring break trip, and the rest were just plain tomfoolery. While poster-making last year was primarily you-know-who's behavior, this year we had contributions from other residents, including Alfonso '24. Will this semester's pattern of making meme posters become a tradition as ingrained as jotting down quotes or making charts? The answer isn't certain, but there's definitely a chance, depending on what LMF looks like in the next 5 or 10 years. 

Top row (left to right): Alfonso '24 and Dien '24 vs. Brian Smith, Teo '26 for LMF president, QR code for LMF Spotify playlist 

Center row (left to right): Melissa '24 photoshopped with Kim Jong Un's bodyguards, Fiona '24 a.k.a. 'lil banh', Melissa '24 for environment chair (but is graduating) 

Bottom row: Andrew '24 a.k.a. 'lil bao', Kimi '24 and Alfonso '24 parody Valley Girl, photoshopped NYT headline featuring Kate '25, Alfonso '24 ur mom meme 

Senior Menus 

What makes the 2023-2024 academic year interesting for French House is the large graduating class consisting of 13 seniors. As a result, LMF had lots of nice dinners this semester. Unlike previous years, some LMF residents made nice posters for their menus and printed them. It was wonderful to eat a diverse range of foods, from Dien's Vietnamese menu to Melissa's Mediterranean menu. 

Caption (top to bottom): Melissa's Mediterranean menu, Melbourne's best of LMF menu, Dien's Vietnamese menu

Another thing I appreciated about the menus was how much effort the seniors put into preparing their menus and how creative they were with designing the menus. For instance, Ivy and Alfonso used the grills in the New House courtyard. Another interesting meal was Melissa's because instead of serving ourselves by lining up for food, we sat at the table for a three-course meal. Last but not least, it was cool that Melbourne invited music lecturer Dr. Teresa Neff for dinner, something we haven't done in a very long time. Bringing faculty and instructional staff to French House dinners is something we should consider doing in the future! 

Senior Brunch 

As stated before, there are 13 2024s in LMF, which means that senior brunch had a record number of toasts. The toasts were touching and heartfelt, as some moved people to tears. After senior brunch, Alfonso '24 and Kimi '24 had their fake wedding in the courtyard. Unfortunately, Eileen '26, an ordained minister, was not there to ordain the marriage, but it was great to see Alfonso 'propose' to Kimi. After the group pictures, LMF residents decided to run cross the busy Memorial Drive (not advised) to enjoy the Charles River. We will miss our seniors and wish them the best for the future! 

LMF Class of 2024 (left to right): Dien, Melbourne, Alfonso, Melissa, Fiona, Christy, Lingyi, Clara, Kimi, Nicole, Ivy, Andrew. Not pictured: Lennie  

Alfonso and Kimi 

Archives in the Lounge 

As a good historian, I decided to rummage through the quiet lounge after finals ended because a couple of LMF residents found an old scrapbook in the middle of the semester. Besides uncovering the 1986-1988 scrapbook that had over 200 photos, I found the following documents in some binders and folders: 

• Meeting minutes from the 1995-1996 academic year 
• Email threads about the early days of LMF, as told by Dan Halbert '78 
• A thick binder of printed GRT applications in the late 90s
• Old constitutions of New House and French House 
• Postcards from the 1990s to the 2000s 
• Photo album with pictures from mid 2010s and late 2000s 
• LMF meeting quizzes in French, with responses in French 

Going through these documents was quite enriching, as I got to see how some things have stayed the same (nettoyages, gardes) while lots of things have gone through major changes. Honestly, I am kind of surprised we still have these old documents in the quiet lounge, and I am glad that we preserved them quite well. Unfortunately, I couldn't find documents after the 1990s, but it honestly may have to do with the rise of the internet and how we started using the LMF wiki in the mid 00s. 

50th Anniversary Reunions 

One main highlight of this semester was the LMF 50th anniversary reunion. There was a Zoom reunion on 5/30 Thursday, and an in-person reunion on 5/31 Friday. The combined attendance of these two events was over 60 people, and it was great to meet people across all the decades, from the earliest residents to recent grads. 

The Zoom reunion consisted of lots of storytelling, as well as a virtual house tour. The in-person event had lots of food, wonderful conversations, and a house tour. Dan Halbert '78 brought a selection of LMF documents from his days, and some alums like Kevin Wilson '99 wore their iconic Lambda Mu Phi shirts! 

Caption: LMF 50th anniversary reunion in the courtyard 

Caption: LMF documents from the 1970s, courtesy of Dan Halbert '78 

Caption: Costco half-sheet cake personalized for LMF 

Conclusion

Overall, the 2023-2024 spring semester for LMF was great! We not only made lots of great memories packed in a single semester, but also got to hear former residents recall past memories of LMF. Although LMF has changed a lot ever since 1974, one thing that has remained the same is how LMF is a tight-knit, friendly community. 

GTL Italy Week 2 and 3

This post is rather late since GTL Italy ended almost a week ago. Anyway, I wanted to write a second blog about GTL Italy because I didn't touch upon some cultural experiences in my first blog. Of course, I will also cover the teaching experience too. 

Teaching 

After the first week, I kind of got used to the process of preparing my lessons and teaching them to students. One good thing was that I ended up recycling a lot of content since I taught eleven different sections, but all of the teachers wanted me to teach biology. As a result, I taught topics like cancer biology and biotechnology many times. The downside was that I had to spend some time reviewing content like genomes and sequencing because I took 7.03 a year ago. I came in hoping that I would get to use the lab, but unfortunately, it was quite limited. As a result, the only lab I did was DNA extraction. 

One frustration I had when teaching was that the level of engagement varied a lot. One class was on the noisier end, but asked lots of questions, which I liked. Some classes were quiet, but a couple asked questions. Others did not ask any questions and some did not take notes at all. To be fair, I used lecture style to teach, which explains why students weren't as interested. I had some games like Kahoot at the end and animations from HHMI, but it wasn't the same thing as doing a live demonstration. 

This sounds stupid, but it wasn't until the third week that I realized that some students weren't engaged not necessarily because they didn't like science, but rather because their English proficiency wasn't advanced enough. I'd imagine that throwing a lot of scientific jargon at them in English made learning more difficult. Despite the language barrier, it was nice to see the students brighten up when they got to do the DNA lab activity or play Kahoot. 

Class 3ALSSA 

Food and Dining 

Growing up in the U.S., I have had exposure to Italian food, but Italian food in the U.S. is probably not the same as Italian food in Italy. Breakfast consisted of yogurt with granola and fruit. My host family liked eating marmalade on toast and dipping biscuits into coffee or tea. Lunch consisted of spaghetti or pasta as the starch, salad with vinegar and olive oil, and meat or seafood. I got to eat a lot of cheese and some local vegetables, like Italian chicory. I also liked the bread rolls. I was surprised to find homegrown kiwis in the mountains of Italy since I assumed all kiwis came from New Zealand. A pleasant surprise. After lunch, I drank a small cup of coffee (think shot glass size) with my host dad.

Dinner was similar to lunch, except for the coffee part. At first, I wondered how did people in Italy not feel hungry before 8 p.m., but somehow my stomach adapted to the situation. I had a few digestifs (drinks after dinner), which were interesting because they tasted unlike anything I had before. Genepy had an interesting herbal taste, Meletti had a strange licorice taste, and vin santo had a low ABV of 16% but was very strong for me.  

One thing I was very excited to try was pizza in Italy, since pizza in the U.S. is so ubiquitous. There were some similarities, but also some differences. For instance, the vegetable pizza had thick slices of zucchini as a topping, which I didn't quite find in the U.S. An interesting pizza I came across was one with French fries on it. I was pleased to not see pizza that looked like Dominoes or Costco, specifically pizza that only had cheese. I liked the pizza crust in Italy a lot because of how thick and warm it was.

An interesting observation is that in the restaurant, each person orders their own pizza. Obviously, pizza is a food eaten by hand, but people also use forks and knives to eat small slices of pizza. I was not used to this concept, as I was under the impression that people would share pizzas already sliced into sixths or eighths. Not surprisingly, eating an entire pizza for myself took a very long time because my stomach's normal limit is say three slices, not six. 

French fry pizza! 

Something I got to try for the first time was eating rabbit meat with polenta in Bergamo. I was very curious about what rabbit meat tasted like, and it turned out to resemble the taste of chicken, except the rabbit meat I had was a bit tougher and leaner. 

Rabbit meat with polenta 

Sights 

One small regret I have is that I didn't travel that much, partly because I was far from Milan and the local train only came every hour. Originally, I thought of going to Brescia, but that didn't happen. Nevertheless, I got to see some beautiful places. I had a great time exploring the town of Lovere by Lake Iseo with a teacher and enjoyed walking around the whole perimeter of Monte Isola, an island in Lake Iseo. 

Monte Isola around sunset 

Bergamo, a regional city in Lombardy, was an unparalleled experience because I got to see a panoramic view of the city underneath on top of the fortress. It's no surprise that Bergamo was the Italian Capital of Culture in 2023 and a UNESCO heritage site. I was also excited to see where Call Me By Your Name was filmed in Bergamo, though I will need to rewatch the film to connect the dots. 

Plaza in Bergamo 

In my local town of Breno, I got to visit the 11th century castle on the hill, which was very cool because it was empty and quiet. From the castle, I got to see the town. As a runner, I was happy that Breno had a local river with a bike path, allowing me to run in the countryside and farmland. 

Breno Castle 

Conclusion 

Although being a foreigner in a small town in Italy felt isolating at times, I will never forget the hospitality and warmth of the teachers and people I met there. If I have another chance to go to Italy, I will be more than happy to see my host family again and explore more places in Lombardy like Lake Como. 

GTL Italy Week 1: First Impressions

My first week of teaching for GTL Italy is over. Two more weeks, and then I will be flying back to MIT. GTL Italy so far has been pretty interesting. Not only have I learned a lot about high school in Italy, but also life in Italy. I still don't know much Italian, but at least now I know some of the basic phrases like buon giorno for good morning and grazie for thank you. 

The first day was very disorienting and stressful, mainly because transportation from the airport to the town wasn't super smooth. For context, I am teaching in Breno, a small town in the mountains of Lombardy, a province in northern Italy. The town is 45 minutes north of Lake Iseo, which is a local tourist attraction. I am 2 hours away from Milan by car. Airport passport control and baggage claim were smooth, but I almost missed my bus and train because I didn't know any Italian. The trip to the town was quite lonely, since I didn't really know my surroundings well. But once I saw my host family at the train station, I felt much better because they were so warm and welcoming. 

This will be a long post, as I have so many thoughts about the various aspects of GTL, from my host family to teaching. 

Teaching

My GTL Italy assignment was to teach biology and chemistry to students ages 17 to 19 at Liceo Golgi. The school was named after Camillo Golgi, a Nobel laureate who discovered the Golgi apparatus (fun fact for you!). Originally, I was supposed to teach 18 hours this week, but a few teachers didn't need my help, so I ended up only teaching 15 hours this week. 

In total, I taught 10 sections of class, as some classes wanted me to teach 2 hours instead of 1 hour. Each teacher requested me to teach different topics, but there was a lot of overlap. This week, I taught cancer, DNA, stem cells, and CRISPR cas9. I would say that lesson planning wasn't as bad, since I used material from other classes. Also, I spent 15 minutes of class introducing myself and talking about MIT. 

First day was a bit of a disaster because I ran out of content to teach for one of my classes, so I ended up teaching what I knew about CRISPR on the spot for the rest of the class. From that experience, I learned to prepare more ahead of time like making Kahoot and using HHMI Biointeractive for lesson planning. On a side note, HHMI is an amazing website. It gives me hope that people will stick to the life sciences. Anyways, going back to GTL Italy. 

I wish I didn't have this thought, but sometimes I wondered what was the point of me doing GTL Italy when some of the students didn't really understand me and the teacher had to translate what I said into Italian. I guess having me teach provides a different perspective and lets them meet a college student in the U.S., which isn't an interaction they get that often. I think incorporating more simulations and lab-based experiences will quiet those negative thoughts. The teachers' excitement and enthusiasm for me to come warms my heart. Sometimes, I wonder how much the students benefit from me, but all I can do is try my best to show my passion for the subject. 

High School

Students here go to school from 8 AM to 2 PM. There is no lunch break, so students eat lunch afterward. Before coming here, I wondered how on Earth was I going to survive because I couldn't stand being hangry. Somehow, my body adjusted better than I thought. Another interesting thing is that students stay in the same classroom, with teachers rotating classrooms. This aspect is what schools in other countries also have, such as China. 

It took me a while to understand what the class codes meant, but the first letter is the year. High school is 5 years, so the 5th year is ages 18-19. The letters in the class code mean the following: linguistics, classics, science, applied science, arts, etc. Students here choose a track for high school, so to some extent, it is a bit pre-professional. By doing so, students can have an education that's more technical or arts-focused. I can see the logic behind this, though I wonder if this may further reinforce a fixed mindset in students that students in the humanities track aren't good at STEM. Personally, I think it is better that in the U.S. students regardless of what they are interested in choose their classes. 

Like lots of countries, college results are primarily determined by examination results in the last year. As a result, there isn't really a concept of extracurricular activities because they aren't part of the college admissions process. Based on their responses, it seems like there isn't a lot of participation in music, sports, etc. Maybe it is just me, but I was sad to see only a few of them raised their hand when I asked if any of them liked a) running b) listening to classical music c) writing. Unfortunate. I am sure they have hobbies, just ones that are different from mine. 

I don't know if this is just my school, but I wondered why the classrooms had no posters or student's work. I think that's one feedback I would give to the school, just cause I personally liked it when my high school teachers had inspirational posters, even though some of the quotes were a little cheesy. 

Something that makes me envy the school a bit is how their vending machine has chocolate like Kinder at a reasonable price of 1,00 €. I am sure that the vending machines at MIT have chocolate, but none of them seem too appetizing to me, and even if they do, they are probably slightly more expensive than here. One cool thing is that the school has coffee vending machines where students pay 0,50 € for like 100 mL of coffee. 

It was funny to ask their thoughts on what they think of high schools in the U.S., as a few of them said that they think American high school students have an easier life because their impressions are that they don't have to study that much compared to them. I think this preconception comes from the fact that movies and TV shows portray high school life in the U.S. to be relaxed, which isn't necessarily the case. And while we do participate more in activities, it isn't because we have more free time, but rather well-roundedness is emphasized more in the American curriculum. 

On a more random note, the students here have a better sense of fashion compared to my high school and MIT, honestly. I wouldn't say their fashion sense comes from wearing clothes that are on the more smart casual end of the spectrum. For instance, no one here really wears sweatpants or running shoes. The winter wear is sweaters and jeans, not so much long sleeves. Somehow, rectangular glasses with more fashionable frames are more popular here. On the other hand, I would say I dress pretty casually, like wearing free shirts and running pants. Also, I noticed that the brand Eastpak dominates the high school backpacks and pencil cases here. Kind of like Jansport in the U.S., I suppose. 

Language 

One challenge of GTL Italy was not knowing Italian. I am glad that I know a bit of Spanish of French, as some words in Italian sound like words in Spanish and French. Still, comprehension is an issue. While I can pick up some words here and there, they never come together as a sentence in my head. As a result, I am a lot more quiet and observant here, but I don't find it to be that much of an issue. 

I had a few mind-blowing moments from picking up Italian, which have to do with the fact that the American pronunciation of certain words is different from how Italians pronounce them. For instance, it's pistachio in English, but pistacchio in Italian. We say ch, but in italian it is a k sound (I don't know IPA, this isn't a professional way to explain). Another example is the name Lucia. In U.S., lu-see-a is acceptable, but in Italy it is lu-chee-a. 

Google Translate is now my best friend. It's a blessing that such an app exists. While Google Translate isn't perfect, at least it can translate the main ideas and I can get what the other person wants to say.  Using Google Translate with my host family's daughter is pretty interesting. It's not convenient, but it's one way to have a conversation. 

Host Family 

My host family is wonderful. They are friendly and helpful. This helped me adjust to life here relatively quickly. Living in the apartment is similar to my living situation in the U.S., with a few differences like round outlets that I still find odd (Italy uses type C) and a friendly pet dog. The only issue I would say is that I can somehow hear the people above me, but it's not disruptive, just the phone ringing or people talking. 

Conclusion

I have written way more than I expected for the first week of GTL. I will have another blog with more updates on how teaching goes. Hopefully, it will be better than the first week. I want my students to become more interested in the life sciences and understand that what they are learning isn't just in the textbook -- there are real-life applications and what they study matters.