A Toast to Independent Activities

This is the last week of Independent Activities Period.  In honor of the 'Tute turning 150 years old this year (and qualifying for membership in the AARP three times over) various alumni groups around the world celebrated "a Toast to Independent Activities Period", in a bar or pub of their choosing.  IAP, as it is known, is a one month period of downtime between the Fall and Spring Semesters at MIT when students can relax, take four week non-graded courses on quirky subjects sometimes invented by the undergraduates themselves, or take a few bong hits and play mah-jongg until the sun comes up (which in Boston in January is not until 9am).  IAP can also be used to catch up on a few things...

I once went to Manchester, New Hampshire, during IAP (I may have been the only undergraduate who didn't go there to ski).  On other occasions, I also did cold-call sales in a boiler room in Houston, dug out from five feet of snow and spent time in the Infirmary with a busted ankle.  I even wrote about my experience being laid up with a cast on  my leg in a gag issue of the newspaper we called wednesday.