frustration. I then went to talk to the staff head of peer advising, voicing my doubts. She showed me back to Hilbert Space. I felt I had nothing to contribute and didn't want to be a burdon. Nevertheless, she found a fellow peer advisor who was also taking the class to help me along. He had prior experience with proofs and put the idea of proofs into terms I was more familiar with. Soon, I was spending more of my in-between-class time in Hilbert Space, still intimidated and mystified by the chalkboard graffiti. I dedicated much of my resources to overcoming the obstacle of number theory. Too much, perhaps, as my multi variable understanding suffered in consequence. I digress. Over the term I understood more and more of number theory and eventually was able to help others. Long story short, I brought number theory up to a B and let multi variable slip to a B. But I now had a place in Hilbert Space.
    One year later, Hilbert Space has evolved for me. I now understand what that first day was, what many refer to as "homework due day." What I saw the first day was the result of my intimate companion, procrastination. Now on any given Friday you can find me and a number of other students furiously scrawling the final touches on homework we should have started Monday.
    One of my fondest memories of Hilbert Space was the night about six of us spent cementing Abstract Algebra's first term into our minds. We went through each isometry bit by bit following the transformations until the answer presented itself, solvitur ambulando. Not only did we know the answer, but we also knew each step to get there. The chalkboard played a huge part of that for me. By term's end, the consensus was that study session was legendary. Figuratively, I went from clutching to a life raft to piloting the ship thanks to that session, and to the safe haven of Hilbert Space. It may take us time, but it feels like no problem is insurmountable in the wake of a few motivated students and a chalkboard. The answer is inevitable.
    There are some drawbacks to Hilbert Space, I must confess. When someone is working a problem on the board, I can rarely keep myself from participating, often at the expense of my own studies. The chalkboard draws me in, enticing me to illustrate the

geometry of a problem. The running joke goes: Shawn can't work out a question without the chalkboard. The problem comes when it's test time; not many professors will let you work out a problem on the chalkboard in front of the rest of the class taking the same exam.
    Hilbert Space has definitely changed me. Each day in Hilbert I found myself knowing more and more about the questions people might ask. Now there aren't many questions asked in the space that I don't have at least some idea about. But as with most things in life, once close to understanding and feeling comfortable, it is time to change. Thus goes my affair with Hilbert Space, people think me helpful and competent and geometrically gifted while in Hilbert Space, but as graduation hastens near, so too must the day I say goodbye to Hilbert. We've come a long way. From the formidable and foreboding first days in Hilbert to the imminent sentimental farewell, wherever I go from here I'm going to miss the chalk dust and the inevitable answers.
    Thanks, good friend, the new carpet suits you well.

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