Roger and Dottie Mark, Sidney-Pacific Housemasters (Courtesy of SP Photofile Committee)

We are honored to be your housemasters, and we extend our enthusiastic greetings to all residents of Sidney-Pacific, especially to those of you who are joining us this year! We want very much to help build our community into a safe, supportive home where we can grow intellectually and socially. We strongly support the theme for this year – “Better Together!” We wish that each resident would build connections with others through small group activities and the development of new friendships. Don’t be a passive resident here – jump into the active life of SP!

Housemasters are faculty mem­bers who live in community with students in MIT dorms. We are ap­pointed by the President of MIT and report to the Dean of Student Life. Our goal is to facilitate the building of community within the living group, to represent and advocate for the needs and desires of students to the administration, and to communicate the policies of the administration to the students

It is our great pleasure to support and advise the officers of the SP student government, but they take full responsibility for poli­cies, strategies, and programming in the dorm. The officers are a dedicated and talented team, but they are not a “closed” group. We strongly encourage everyone to get to know them, and join in to help!

SP is an unusually diverse and in­ternational community, generally with representatives from more than 50 different countries!  As a resident here, you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from and connect with others from all over the world! We are particularly excited about the SPICE (Sid­ney-Pacific Intercultural Exchange) program! We hope you will get involved in this unique opportunity to build intercultural bridges!  There are other ways to connect as well: check out the interest groups, and take the initiative to propose an activity – subsidized by the house budget! And jump in with your colleagues in helping behind the scenes with the launching of programs. There is no better way to make friends than to work together! Join the SP-Helper email list to be informed of opportunities to volunteer!

As housemasters we are eager to meet each of you, and to be available to you both professionally and per­sonally. We will certainly try to be visible at coffee hours, social affairs, and will host a number of house­master dinners in our apartment. It is our hope that each resident will attend at least one such dinner dur­ing the year.

Housemasters, as experienced MIT faculty mem­bers, are always available to residents for advice or counseling on academic and/or per­sonal issues, and we are particularly pleased when individual students contact us for private discussions. Graduate school can be exciting and fulfilling, but there are also times of high stress, loneliness, disappoint­ment and uncertainty. Sharing a cup of tea to talk over anything would be our pleasure – knock on the door (#568) or email (rgmark@mit.edu or dotmark@mit.edu)!

By Roger and Dottie Mark, Sidney-Pacific Housemasters

How will you show off Boston to your family or friends when they come to visit you? Fortunately, Boston has lots of interesting places to go. Don’t forget to show them the MIT main building; they’ll likely want to take a photograph in front of it.

If it’s sunny, cross the Charles on the Harvard bridge and turn left on Beacon St. Your mother will enjoy the brick houses.

Boston Public Library

After you wander through the Boston Common, continue onto Boylston and peak inside the Public Library at Copley. I hear the Sargent Murals inside are beautiful. Avoiding streets like Newbury St. would be a wise decision if you go with ladies, unless you wish to transform their visit into a shopping event.

Take the T or walk to the Museum of Fine Arts. It is not like going to the Prado, I know, but there is something original to see within the American wing. My sister, the interior architect, really enjoyed the furniture.

Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Source: http://travel4all.org/?p=974)

The next day is a good chance to visit Harvard. I suggest that you take them to the gardens of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. John Harvard looks handsome, says my mother. It’s then time to go through JFK Street and cross the river towards the Business School.

If they are coming in autumn or spring, be certain to take them to the Arboretum near South Station. It is one of the most original botanical gardens in the World.

We took the commuter rail to Concord, where the American revolution started, in order to visit the North Bridge Visitor Center.  On the way, my mother remarked about the great difference between the old, fast moving and loud talking people of New York and the young, calm and quiet students of Cambridge.

Concord (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bootbearwdc/39037236/)

When it comes to the choir on Sunday mass in the MIT chapel, it surpasses the one in our church in Madrid, with a wider variety of instruments and voices.

That is the reason why I decided to take them to the Boston Symphony Hall the last day, so they could enjoy one of the best orchestras in the world. Places like the Boston Symphony Hall and Berklee College, admired by dedicated guitarists like my brother, is a sign that Boston is a city for the arts.

Don’t forget to taste the famous Boston clam chowder at any of the restaurants near the water before you leave. The only thing I know after coming back from New York is that people generally like it for a sole visit, but Boston is a more charming place for a European educated mind.

And what about me? I used to live in a big city where I had to drive every day.  I really enjoy a place that allows me to go walking to class. I wish I could stay here for more time!

By Jose M. Arias

Xiaolu Hsi, MIT Medical Psychologist

Finals week is stressful.  One of the most effective way to help maximize your good testing performance and to reduce your stress is ensure you get adequate sleep, regular sleep and good sleep.  Sleep deprivation impairs attention/focus, processing sleep, working memory and cognitive flexibility, critical to learning and problem solving.  There is empirical evidence that whether you get adequate sleep (that’s at least 8 hours) and if you get it regularly (that’s at least a week before the exam) significantly affect your grades. Here are some simple tips:

1. Get 8 hours of sleep every day.
2. Get up as close to the time of sunrise as possible (count backwards for 8 hours to note when you should go to bed).
3. Set an alarm on your phone an hour before that to remind yourself you should get ready for bed.
4. For those of you who have trouble falling asleep, turn off your ceiling lights an hour before bed time and stop using laptop and any other mobile device for reading an hour before bed time.
5. Open your shades so day light would naturally come into your room in the morning.
6. If you exercise regularly, you should not exercise within three hours before your bedtime (or at midnight). Rather, you may get more out of it if you exercise in the morning.

For research on effect of sleep deprivation on cognition, search “Robert Stigold”, a renowned sleep and cognition researcher and father of a MIT student. Good luck on finals and get adequate sleep!

By Xiaolu Hsi, MIT Medical Psychologist

Samuel and Joshua, Junior Housemasters

Q: I’m hungry – where can I get good food?

A:  Well, we mostly like pizza and chicken nuggets.  But here are some places our parents go on “date nights” without us…

Budget:

Clover food truck – Chickpea sandwich for $5

Good value: 

Helmand – Afghani food (http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-helmand-cambridge)

Top of the Hub – Prix fixe lunch ($22). Great food and view without having to pay for the observatory (http://www.yelp.com/biz/top-of-the-hub-boston)

Special occasion:

Oleana – Fantastic fusion Middle Eastern food.  Book online, or show up early to grab a table. (http://www.yelp.com/biz/oleana-restaurant-cambridge)

Note: Junior Housemasters’ an­swers have kindly been translated by their parents Annette and Roland

Annette Kim & Roland Tang, Sidney-Pacific Associate Housemasters

Welcome to Sidney-Pacific!  As Associate Housemasters, we look forward to sharing with you some of things we love best about living here in Boston and Cambridge.  The following are some not so well known, but great places to visit – bring a book and lunch to enjoy! Contact us at sp-housemasters@mit.edu if you can’t find directions!

By Annette Kim & Roland Tang, Sidney-Pacific Associate Housemasters

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• Boston Main Library Courtyard at Copley Square
  
• Rose Kennedy Greenway
  
• Rooftop Garden in Kendall Square
  
• Weeks Footbridge, Cambridge
  
• Charles River Canoe and Kayak at Kendall Square—rent a kayak here to explore the Charles River!