Thursday/Friday/Shabbat 305/306/307
June 3, 2013
Today was boiling hot. NYC had reached a sweltering forty degrees celcius but yet, I ventured out for my tour of Venmo. My lunch there was really interesting as startup ideas were flying back and forth over the table and markets were analysed. The brightest and most technically capable were all in one room, passing around ‘disruptive’ ideas for critique and trying to refine them over a meal.
After lunch, I walked around the city for a while before meeting up with Molly Hutt and her boyfriend Luke (an awesome guy) and sitting down in a Mexican place for drinks and a chance to escape the heat.
That evening I picked up Ariella after her day of study on a program called “Drisha” and took her to a speakeasy in NYC called ‘Raine’s Law Room’, which was hidden behind a black door in an unmarked building downtown. After a drink for the both of us, we headed to the Port Authority and waited for the bus that would be taking her back home to NJ.
Friday I spent most of the day in due to the heat, aside from a three hour long venture to pick up a suitcase from Dovie Rosenberg, who was apartment hunting on the upper west side with a few other OCPers.
Friday night and Shabbat were spent pleasantly with my cousins on the upper east side, piling my way through a number of books, one of which, “The Guide to the Perplexed”, was highly enjoyable. After Shabbat, I stayed in again, though this time due to my inability to arrange anything in time but, I enjoyed that too.
Tomorrow is my last full day in the USA. That’s scary.
Tuesday/Wednesday – Day 303/304
Tuesday I woke up pretty exhausted, checked out from the hotel and headed over to see Mum for the last time in the US. After lunch together, I caught BART with my belongings to the airport and after a few delays, landed safely in Philly at 1AM.
That night I slept in the Glouse before waking up decently early in the morning to meet up with Ariella and Raymond Habbaz at a house being rented out by a few members of the OCP. After breakfast and a few errands, we all set out to Holmdel, NJ, where Ariella lived, dropping Raymond off at his place just before we arrived. Ariella took the luxury of a shower and change before we continued onward to NYC for an event hosted by dreamit, a startup accelerator invested in a few Israeli companies.
I thoroughly enjoyed the event, getting to mix with both technologists and investors, and make a few good links for my future. One guy I met there, Nuesir Yassin, worked at Venmo, an online payments start-up and, offered to give me a tour the next day. I eagerly accepted.
After the event, Ariella’s mom, Sarah, again took me out to dinner with her before inviting me back to stay overnight. After much convincing I eventually agreed to stay on the basis of getting a chance to watch some of the new Arrested Development season with Ariella.
Sunday/Monday – Day 301/302
Sunday was a big day in terms of performance, probably our most important this semester. Today was the day of the San Fransisco Giants game and our performance of the national anthem for it. The game was especially big as it was Memorial Day weekend and the stadium was filled out to honor the soldiers and see the game over the long weekend. Mum and Dad came along.
It was most exciting to perform for so many people but unfortunately, the TV broadcast began just minutes after our singing and so other than the video taken by dad, I have no recording of it.
Following the game, I went with Mum and Dad to their hotel so that I could take Dad to the airport and see a close family friend ‘Aunty’ Shirley in the afternoon. After packing up the bags we headed down on BART (bay area train), dropped off Dad at the airport, and the continued on to Palo Alto, where I grew up.
Shirley drove us around the area, first taking us to the house that my family lived in while my dad was doing his post-doc, a small student apartment. Next up was my elementary school, where Flora and I had met and spent first and second grades together.
A final surprise just as we were pulling in to her house; Shirley pointed out the house of Martin Hellman, a cryptologic hero who had invented a large portion of modern cryptography. After an hour of chatting with Shirley and her genius husband Mark, Shirley, Mum and I set off for dinner nearby.
After dinner I headed back to SFC to go out to a local bar with Dan Torrington, Scott Ventre, JHo and C. Erik Nordgren (our conductor). The bar was the single bar in the area that wasn’t touristy. It was filled with blue-collar workers and was a little dark and dingy. This was to the delight of Dan who much preferred local watering holes to expensive done-up spots.
Monday was the final day of tour, to be spent at Alcatraz. Most of club had brought their ties and tails with them in expectation of a group photo to be taken in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Unfortunately, due to the weather, they were never used. The weather however did suit the tour of America’s first supermax prison.
After the tour I hung out with Dan Torrington for a while, walking over to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, two big tourist destinations, before heading over to Ghiradelli Square, the original site of Ghiradelli Chocolates.
After returning to the hostel I took a nap before the final night activities which due to their secrecy I can again, not write about here. Needless to say, there were plenty of tears.