June 12-14 - Pre Departure

Everyone will be boarding a plane and traveling to Los Angeles.

Emotions run high and people are excited, nervous, elated, scared.

This discussion board is a place to discuss our Daily Challenges and the math and science related to those challenges. Explanations are more than just a solution — they should explain the steps and thinking strategies that you used to obtain the solution. Comments should further the discussion of math and science.

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Stay on topic — we're all here to learn more about math and science, not to hear about your favorite get-rich-quick scheme or current world events.

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Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `$` ... `$` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$

Comments

Strangely enough, I wasn't nervous at all. I just wanted to get the plane journey over with.

Everything went smooth at the airport, immigration and boarding gates.

I have learned one thing from my first plane journey out of Bangladesh: It is freaking hard to just sit down and doing nothing at all!

You get bored as hell. Your legs get cramped. You have nothing to do.

It's hard, really hard.

I had a total of 19 and a half hours of flight [including wait-times]. During this I watched 3 movies and the entire season 7 of 'The Big Bang Theory'. Despite that I still had 6 hours of flight-time left. Waiting for the plane to arrive at LA was one of the worst things in my experience.

I arrived at LA at the 14th, one day before the official camp-starting date. I met all of the Brilliant international nominees, @Sadi Kneipp Neto, @Thaddeus Abiy , @Beakal Tiliksew , @Christopher Boo , @Ritvik Choudhary, @Milun Moghe and @Petru Lupsac it was incredible meeting them. Our chaperons took us on a short tour of the Occidental College campus and pictures of it are coming soon [as soon as I charge the batteries of my camera]!

I'm jet-lagged though. I've been feeling sleepy all day long. My sleeping timings have been flipped upside down, literally!

Now I'm going to go get some sleep and keep thinking about the awesome week waiting for us.

Until then,

Mursalin.

Mursalin Habib - 7 years ago

I just want to add that I kept my streak on Brilliant in between flights :)

I can also cross 'flying over the international date-line' off my bucket list.

Mursalin Habib - 7 years ago

@Mursalin Habib How y'all have been Selected? Was there any competition interview or any procedure...? At last who were the organizers...?

Archiet Dev - 6 years, 12 months ago

@Archiet Dev – Brilliant made a partnership with Adventures of the Mind, and they selected 10 people for the event. We applied through this website, and after passing the first selection (basically writing a very short essay) we had to take an interview with @Peter Taylor. That was it.

Petru Lupsac - 6 years, 12 months ago

@Petru Lupsac – & the essay was based on?

Archiet Dev - 6 years, 12 months ago

@Archiet Dev – Basically you had to ask yourself (and answer ofc) two/three questions and tell something about yourself, and what sets you apart from others, why should you be nominated to AoM and not somebody else...

Petru Lupsac - 6 years, 12 months ago

Hm, using public wifi can be dangerous

Agnishom Chattopadhyay - 6 years, 2 months ago

Ooh La La! Enjoy! ;)

Krishna Ar - 7 years ago

This was the first time I was traveling abroad by myself, so I was very scared during the week before the flight. Oddly, on the day of the trip I wasn't.

The main flight(São Paulo-LA) was very tiring. The first four hours went smooth, but after that I started to feel cramped and a little dizzy. The final hour was the worst, as there weren't any nice movies left to be watched. I said main flight because I also had to get a plane from Fortaleza(the city where I live) to São Paulo.

I don't have a real problem with jetlag, so getting used to the local time is not a big deal. Also, Occidental College is a very nice place! Not to mention the awesome people(both alumni and mentors) that are here.

Sadi Kneipp Neto - 6 years, 12 months ago

This is my second time travelling aboard, I was so excited! I've met @Petru Lupsac , @Beakal Tiliksew and @Thaddeus Abiy in Frankfurt, Germany. Then, we are on the same flight to LAX. Fortunately, I don't get serious jet lags and the foods here are fine to me. @Mursalin Habib has the worst jet lag among us, so he may need some rest. By the way, he's a pretty cool guy to talk with! He is also the only one who is able to continue his streak. I've lost mine :(

Christopher Boo - 6 years, 12 months ago

Isn't this exciting!

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years, 12 months ago

Thanks! :)

Mursalin Habib - 6 years, 12 months ago

Me too.

Thaddeus Abiy - 6 years, 12 months ago

Whaht is this journey for? What is going to happen at LA?

Muhammad Abdullah - 7 years ago

We are going to take part in the 'Adventures of the Mind' campus, a one week event in which 200 students get the opportunity to meet 50 mentors, i.e. some of the greatest people of today - writers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, etc.

As for me, the flight wasn't bad, I am used to 22-hour-drives, so my 13 hours flight was a piece of cake. And, most of all, I've learned a very important lesson: Never eat all that airplane food again!

Petru Lupsac - 7 years ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$