Who else is on summer break and already bored?

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A student expresses boredom during their summer vacation after a week of free time, contrasting with the excitement many feel at the start of break. They mention plans to start self-study and share their upcoming internship at Fermilab, which they hope will alleviate their boredom. The conversation shifts to suggestions for productive activities, including writing blog posts about the internship experience and engaging in physics-related studies. Participants discuss various academic pursuits, including reading advanced physics texts and working on coding skills. There is also lighthearted banter about hobbies, music, and the challenges of summer boredom, with recommendations for physics problem books to keep engaged. Overall, the discussion emphasizes the importance of finding meaningful ways to utilize free time, particularly through academic and personal interests.
QuantumCurt
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Here I am 1 week into my summer vacation. Many students are overjoyed to be done with school for the next 3-4 months. Me? I'm just getting bored. During finals week I was so ready for break to get here, and after a week I'm finding myself doing little more than listlessly scrolling through Facebook.

Sounds like it's time to start doing some self-study.
 
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I got a car needs washin'.

Car's in the drive, pail & faucet in the back.

Third St. Toronto. Canada.

Gate's unlocked. No need to wake me.
 
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How can you be bored when you have PF? :)
 
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DaveC426913 said:
I got a car needs washin'.

Car's in the drive, pail & faucet in the back.

Third St. Toronto. Canada.

Gate's unlocked. No need to wake me.

Sounds like a plan. I charge $30/hr, plus a flat rate of $1000 to cover my transportation costs from Illinois to Toronto.

Greg Bernhardt said:
How can you be bored when you have PF? :)

A fair point. Maybe it's time for me to start getting a post together for the Insights. ;)

I was considering doing some kind of series of posts for the Insights blog throughout my internship at Fermilab this summer. Just some kind of general "this is why you should get an internship" kind of topic covering the general internship experience and the research I'm doing.
 
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QuantumCurt said:
A fair point. Maybe it's time for me to start getting a post together for the Insights. ;)
oh now we're talking! :)

The internship experience would be a huge hit!
 
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I think so. I know I have had a lot of questions (and still do) about what exactly an undergraduate internship like this entails. Throughout my time here at PF I've seen several people start threads with topics along these lines, so hopefully it could provide some useful information.

I'm arriving there on the 30th, so I'd likely have the first installment done a week or so after that.
 
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QuantumCurt said:
Sounds like a plan. I charge $30/hr, plus a flat rate of $1000 to cover my transportation costs from Illinois to Toronto.
Hey, you said you were bored, not broke. :biggrin:
 
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I'm a work-study, so school being out means that I'm also broke.

I accept PayPal. Send as a gift so we can avoid PayPal fees, if you don't mind.
 
Curt, oh, Curt. One day you will no longer have entire summers off of school or work. And on that day, I will find this thread, and send it to you. :rolleyes:
 
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  • #10
e.bar.goum said:
Curt, oh, Curt. One day you will no longer have entire summers off of school or work. And on that day, I will find this thread, and send it to you. :rolleyes:

Yes, I suppose this is quite true. I've actually never really had entire summers off though. This is my first summer without any classes since I started college. I've had at least two classes the previous two summers. It's a bit weird not having school work for once. I'm ready to start my internship next week. I think that'll alleviate my boredom.
 
  • #11
QuantumCurt said:
Yes, I suppose this is quite true. I've actually never really had entire summers off though. This is my first summer without any classes since I started college. I've had at least two classes the previous two summers. It's a bit weird not having school work for once. I'm ready to start my internship next week. I think that'll alleviate my boredom.

I think it will. So, in the meantime, relax for a bit. Go for a walk! Catch up on TV. Do whatever you do as a hobby.

Students these days.
*shakes cane*
 
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  • #12
e.bar.goum said:
I think it will. So, in the meantime, relax for a bit. Go for a walk! Catch up on TV. Do whatever you do as a hobby.

Students these days.
*shakes cane*

I actually did earlier! I went and played a couple rounds of frisbee golf with some friends, then went for a short hike. I spent most of my hike thinking about neutrino oscillations and neutrino beam generation too, so it was a productive afternoon. :smile:

ETA - Your cane shaking skills are quite on point. You've been practicing lately, haven't you? :-p
 
  • #13
QuantumCurt said:
I actually did earlier! I went and played a couple rounds of frisbee golf with some friends, then went for a short hike. I spent most of my hike thinking about neutrino oscillations and neutrino beam generation too, so it was a productive afternoon. :smile:

If you're looking for something to do, you should work out the survival probability of a neutrino in neutrino oscillations for the case of two neutrinos (if you've not done it before), three if you're feeling brave. I can even give you a problem sheet. :-p

^ This is the PF version of "if you're bored, I have chores for you" from parents.
QuantumCurt said:
ETA - Your cane shaking skills are quite on point. You've been practicing lately, haven't you? :-p

Every day.
 
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  • #14
Last summers I always got bored. But this summer I'm going to read Schwartz's QFT and standard model. Also I've left some parts of the Padmanabhan's Gravitation: Foundations and Frontiers, unread. I should read those too. Then if I do good, I may move to Mukhanov's Introduction to quantum effects in gravity. I also want to further my skills in programming. So I have much to do and no time to get bored!
 
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  • #15
I'm feeling brave. I feel like it would be in my best interest to take on such a chore since I haven't done this yet. So far I haven't actually done anything quantitative pertaining to neutrino oscillations. I'm currently reading through some papers on neutrino mixing and the PMNS matrix and such, so it would fall right in line with what I'm currently doing. If you've got a problem sheet, bring it on. :wink:
 
  • #16
Physics undergraduates usually do research over the summer; you could look into that if it's not too late. It certainly has kept me busy the past two summers and will probably keep me busy this summer as well. Throw in a reading project and you'll be pretty much occupied the entire summer.

If I still feel bored I usually just try to learn some music theory. But the Eastern Gravity Meeting is coming up so I won't be bored for a while haha.
 
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  • #17
QuantumCurt said:
If you've got a problem sheet, bring it on.

Check your inbox. I've given you the two neutrino case, you can generalise to the third from there. :)
 
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  • #18
WannabeNewton said:
Physics undergraduates usually do research over the summer; you could look into that if it's not too late. It certainly has kept me busy the past two summers and will probably keep me busy this summer as well. Throw in a reading project and you'll be pretty much occupied the entire summer.

If I still feel bored I usually just try to learn some music theory. But the Eastern Gravity Meeting is coming up so I won't be bored for a while haha.

I've got that part covered already. I'm starting an internship at Fermilab in about a week, and I'm doing a more thorough self study of K&K's Introduction to Mechanics as well as a bit of a self study of coding in Python. I haven't started digging into them too much yet, but I think I'm going to spend a good chunk of tomorrow on K&K.
 
  • #19
e.bar.goum said:
Check your inbox. I've given you the two neutrino case, you can generalise to the third from there. :)

Excellent! I'll give it a look now. It's going on 3 am here in my neck of the woods though, so it's going to be a quick look for tonight. Thanks!
 
  • #20
QuantumCurt said:
I've got that part covered already. I'm starting an internship at Fermilab in about a week, and I'm doing a more thorough self study of K&K's Introduction to Mechanics as well as a bit of a self study of coding in Python. I haven't started digging into them too much yet, but I think I'm going to spend a good chunk of tomorrow on K&K.

That sounds like a fun and occupying plan to me! I don't think I'm going to be doing any work tomorrow myself haha. I'm just going to play guitar the entire day and listen to Pink Floyd until I get hungry :p

If you're really bored check out: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0521774802/?tag=pfamazon01-20

There are some really fun problems in there to solve if you're bored at 4am and can't sleep (like right now).
 
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  • #21
This is an interesting book too.
 
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  • #22
WannabeNewton said:
That sounds like a fun and occupying plan to me! I don't think I'm going to be doing any work tomorrow myself haha. I'm just going to play guitar the entire day and listen to Pink Floyd until I get hungry :p

That sounds like an excellent day. I haven't been playing guitar too much during the last couple of years since I started college. I've been getting back into it more lately though. And I rarely go more than a few days without listening to some Pink Floyd. :wink:

If you're really bored check out: https://www.amazon.com/200-Puzzling-...sr=8-1&keywords=200+puzzling+physics+problems

There are some really fun problems in there to solve if you're bored at 4am and can't sleep (like right now).

That looks like a cool book. I might have to pick that up. I often find myself bored late at night and thinking about physics. Something like this could be nice to have on hand.
 
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  • #23
Shyan said:
This is an interesting book too.

That really does look like an interesting book. After looking at the preview on Amazon I'm quite intrigued. I might have to place an order with Amazon soon.
 
  • #24
QuantumCurt said:
That really does look like an interesting book. After looking at the preview on Amazon I'm quite intrigued. I might have to place an order with Amazon soon.
This is for those who look at physics as their girl friend, like me!:biggrin:
 
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  • #25
Shyan said:
This is for those who look at physics as their girl friend, like me!:biggrin:

What?
 
  • #26
*makes note never to buy any used books from shyan*
 
  • #27
micromass said:
What?

DaveC426913 said:
*makes note never to buy any used books from shyan*
It seems you guys just think about the naked part of the relationship!
Anyway, just forget what I said.
 
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  • #28
Shyan said:
This is for those who look at physics as their girl friend, like me!:biggrin:

I don't think that book is going to sell very well then broski.
 
  • #29
If physics was a girl, it would be the kind of girl I'd definitely bring home to meet my mom.

Sadly physics is not a girl. Which makes a girl who loves physics the next best thing. :wink:
 
  • #30
:oldlaugh: You guys are killing me.

reevaluating reasons for past wives.
 
  • #31
I suppose you are staying at Fermilab right now. No more boring days!
Best of luck.[emoji1]
 
  • #32
Not quite yet. I arrive there tomorrow and start on Monday. I can't wait!
 
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  • #33
I'm bored :p
 
  • #35
Shyan said:
This is for those who look at physics as their girl friend, like me!:biggrin:

Physics is my mistress. Since my wife has degrees in physics, my wife and I sometimes have conversations about my mistress.

JorisL said:

This post is too random for me.
 
  • #36
George Jones said:
This post is too random for me.

That should keep one busy for a while, and it has some great insights on thermodynamics+mathemagical physics.
 

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