Wednesday/Thursday – Day 118/119
November 26, 2012
I wish today could’ve been a little slower, but with the final submission of operating systems due to rear its ugly head, today was not quiet. Due to the start of thanksgiving break tomorrow, algorithms was almost desert, with a mere fourteen out of one hundred and five people bothering to show up. After that it was straight to work on PennOS for a solid eight hours with Charu Jangid, one of my team members, in tow. We managed to eke out a little progress however the other two group members were still conspicuously missing.
At around 5PM Charu left and I packed my bags and headed off to the Philly Greyhound terminal with my backpack to catch the 6PM bus to Pittsburgh, another city in Pennsylvania. The greyhound terminal was ridiculously packed with folks trying to get home for thanksgiving. No real lines were forming and people were mobbing the doors to try and get seats on the earlier busses out. I myself managed to sneak on relatively early and moved all the way to the back seat that was notable for its extra legroom. I hauled out my laptop and began to work on project for the next six hours.
At around one AM I arrived in Pittsburgh and transferred to a bus going to Cleveland OH. The bus ride was again spent on my laptop trying to get a little internet signal and debugging my code. Finally I made my last transfer at four and slept for a couple of hours before reaching Detroit, MI (Michigan) at ten to eight. After a short wait during which I shaved quickly (so as to make a fine impression on her parents) Tammy Hsia, my host for the next half week, arrived with in her car. I jumped in and we drove around for a while taking stock of what was open on this national holiday, before heading to the suburb of Troy where she lived, for a quick shower and change.
After that it was off to see the natural beauty in the region and, despite the chilly weather and the gloomy skies I had a wonderful time exploring one of the nearby trails.
Our walked finished relatively quickly due to the conditions outside and so, with everything else closed, Tammy and I decided to go to the movie theatre to see “Wreck it Ralph” in 3D.
After waiting around for forty-five minutes for the feature to start, we settled in for what was a fantastic movie. With a great score, clever plotline (with a twist), and both adorable and strong characters I highly recommend seeing it. So much so that it was almost worth seeing it a second time. We both smiling, even after my shock earlier in the day of having received two sets of very bad marks from Algorithms, what I had considered to be one of my stronger courses.
We returned to Tammy’s place where after attempting to work for about five minutes, I fell fast asleep on my bed. Waking up, it was dark outside and I took a bit of a better look at the room I was in. Beautifully furnished with fresh toiletries bought for me, the Hsia’s were amazing hosts. They took such good care of me and I was quite grateful to feel so at home. I then went downstairs to help prepare for our vegetarian thanksgiving dinner, a little different from tradition. This was due to both Mike (Tammy’s sister Grace’s boyfriend) and I both having dietary restrictions.
Grace and Mike arrived rather late from Ann Arbor, where they lived, however, as soon as we sat down to the meal things were wonderful. I became instantly friends with Grace and Mike and I shared much in common too. I was a little disappointed that they would be going away the next day and so I would have little more time to spend with them. Thus, after they told us that they were going to see Wreck it ralph that evening, Tammy and I decided that though we’d seen it earlier in the day we could go see it again, just to spend time with the two. It was pretty much as good the second time as the first, though this time I paid even closer attention to the great score. Hopefully I’ll be able to find the soundtrack somewhere in the near future.
Getting home at one AM, I remained up for a little while talking to Tammy and her parents, before collapsing from a non-stop 48hrs into the beautiful bed.
Monday/Tuesday – Day 116/117
Monday was meant to be preparation for my big Physics midterm on Tuesday morning! Unfortunately despite my best efforts, I failed to get in all the study time that I deemed necessary, spending too much of the day picking at my other work in an attempt to avoid the more difficult subject. My main consolation was that at least my other work was completed!
Something that I previously forgot to mention was the Glee Club/Penn Dance Semi-Formal that had been announced which required me to source a date from the numerous people at Penn. The rules were a free-for-all, any date was acceptable, man, woman (or sheep in the case of Thomas Nance). As a result I was running through the list of my friends at Penn for someone who would most appreciate coming. My first thought was to Caitlyn Garcia, one of the girls living in Rodin who often worked at the front desk. Many a time I had been given the opportunity to chat with her on my way in and, after many hours spent together discussing the wonderful place that is Australia, she decided to apply for exchange to the University of Melbourne! So hopefully some of you will get to meet her next semester 2. Anyway, after spotting her at the desk in the morning as I was coming in from shopping, I decided to see if she’d be interested. She responded that she’d be very eager to come but that it was pending checking her calendar. Unfortunately for the both of us, it turned out that the very same evening was her sorority’s formal and thus after securing another evening for us to go out, I searched for someone else to go with. The next female friend I came across was Stephanie Li, of choral society, as I made my way there and this time I had a little more success. I greatly look forward to attending the semi-formal with her.
Choir this evening combined with glee rehearsal nearly killed me but I managed to learn a good amount of music and had another good walk with Steph following the end of it. Then it was back to my room to cram for the physics.
Tuesday was defined by the exam. I woke up earlier than usual, 7AM, to get in some early morning prep, eat a full breakfast and, get my mind working. I really made some progress in the hours before 10AM and felt nervous but somewhat under control as I headed into the exam. I sat down, looked at the paper and, panicked. I had no clue how to do two out of the three questions on the paper. Thus, I tried by best on the first and sat without a pen in hand for another few minutes while I tried to figure out how to approach the other two. Thankfully, after a few tense minutes, the insight came to me. Now pen in hand I attacked the other two problems and though I wasn’t confident I managed to carry through with it properly, I was relatively sure that I had at least given enough to get a decent mark.
The rest of the day was a celebration, despite the remaining work for me to do! Immediately after I finished classes at 5 I went to Mad Mex a Mexican bar with Molly to slurp down a margharita (in my case a mini one, in her case a good half litre). We ended up staying there until rehearsal time and were joined by Justin and Steven from PGC!
After rehearsal I managed to convince myself to work a little more but ended up taking a well deserved early night. Success tastes sweet. Even B grade success.