Sunday/Monday/Tuesday – Day 272/273/274
May 6, 2013
Sunday was the festival of Lag Ba’omer though by the lack of celebrations taking place, it could’ve better been the festival of studying. I too had hopped on the bandwagon, grossly intimidated by the Physics exam upcoming on Tuesday. However, I can say that I truly enjoyed studying in Hillel with Ariella and Louis. They kept my spirits up and were sufficient entertainment when breaks were needed.
In the afternoon I attended a BBQ to celebrate the Hillel Dining workers union card check that they had been fighting for. Following that it was back to Hillel for dinner and learning, this time with Louis. We learnt the first few letters of the aleph bet and a word or two, but he wasn’t so enthused, despite assuaging his guilt at getting free bagels.
Monday was a repeat of Sunday, just more intense. I was getting pretty scared by this time. My practice exams were all printed out and I had run through each of them a half dozen times.
The afternoon held yet another technical interview, nothing particularly significant. Another cool startup, another hour long talk!
I got to bed early, which was much needed before waking up bright and early for final study on Tuesday. The exam itself wasn’t tooo terrible, the questions were all familiar, even though I had difficulty with a few that I should’ve found easy. Nevertheless, after the exam I was in high spirits and spent the rest of the day bugging Ariella and Louis and distracting everyone from there work. A day well done.
Friday/Shabbat – Day 270/271
May 3, 2013
Today was nothing special, just lots of prepping for 121 grading. A few more miscellaneous tasks and some physics study. In the evening, I had a meal at Hillel with many close to me, followed by a brief visit to the Glouse to say hi. One notable feature of the meal was the presence of Rivka Holzer, who at first seemed a little quiet but. However this actually spirited friend of Ariella’s managed to leave quite an impression by the end of the weekend .
Shabbat was lovely, it was a goodbye OCP lunch for me hosted by a few friends, though there were so many others who I wish were invited, my friends unfortunately had limited table space and limited food. I would have to arrange more meals with the others after.The meal was one of the best moments I’ve had at Penn, with so many people I appreciated present.
The evening was spent at The Penn Pipers’ concert. The Penn Pipers are a subset of the Penn Glee Club and are a much tighter (musically) group. They perform barbershop, do-wop and the occasional modern acapella piece. I genuinely enjoyed their concert, their sound was superb and their performance lively.
Following that, I ate a speedy dinner, and then got dressed for “Kegfault”, the bi-annual CIS house party. As much as it isn’t particularly my scene, I was drawn my the company, a whole lot of people I knew, all together having a (hopefully good time). Much to my surprise, Rivka dragged Ariella and Louis along. Something I would not have expected given my prejudice of her as a typical religious Jewish girl (sorry Rivka). Turns out, she was a qualified bartender and was soon mixing drinks for us. Over the weekend, my view of her and changed quite dramatically and I only wish I was able to spend more time with her to kindle a stronger friendship.
Wednesday/Thursday – Hey Day – Day 268/269
May 2, 2013
This post is probably going to be quite the disappointment for all those extra readers I seem to have suddenly accrued. No delicious stories of malicious manipulation. At least for the time being…
Wednesday was “Hey Day” – the day when Juniors become Seniors and all undergrads shift to the next class year up. This tradition reaches back to 1916, modelled after Syracuse University’s ‘moving up’ ceremony. It is best characterized by the large numbers of rising Seniors marching around campus in red shirts with canes and fake straw hats.
Today I felt like a senior, part of the graduating class as, at least for the meantime I would not be returning to the “majestic halls with ivy overgrown” for at least the near future. I was with a heavy heart that I joined the seniors in their final celebration. Waking up in the morning, I was greeted to site of people having early drinks in my living room, courtesy of my two roommates.
I readied myself for the day, dressed up in my best blue, as all seniors were doing and headed off to the party Penn was throwing for us. I stood in line, worrying that I might not really be a senior, but it all worked out in the end. I even signed up to be an interviewer of future Penn applicants! What excitement!
After that it was time for Amy Gutmann’s speech and the actual ceremony, which was to precede mass, campus wide intoxication.
Penn Police as usual were out in force to prevent any problems, but everything seemed under control. I hung around the part for a while before heading off to Hillel to chill with people and then a nap.
Wednesday night, I unsuccessfully tried to study and just ended up hanging out with friends. Not too bad at all.
Thursday was another day that went without significant study. I accomplished a large number of small tasks that I’d been waiting to finish, worked on a few client webpages and overall just took it easy. About midday I was invited by the talented Amalya Lehmann to attend the symphony orchestra with her in the evening to hear a performance of Brahms 2. I eagerly took up the offer and soon we were off! The company was superb. Little did I know it at the time, but alongside the refined Rami Sharif and the understated but excellent Hannah Dardashti (more on her soon too), we were accompanied by a man of mystery, Emil Pitkin, who I would soon come to discover was much more than he appeared.
After the performance I started walking home when I was accosted by a few members of PGC heading to Bacchanalia, a party for students involved in performing arts at Penn. The eventually convinced me to go, but I spent much of my time there playing piano in a side room. I wasn’t quite in the partying mood.
As I walked back from the party I received a text message from a friend close to tears. I raced off to find them and spent the next few hours with them talking before trying to head back to my place. At this point I ran into a slight issue. I had lost the key to my room. This ended up with me waiting outside my apartment for another hour for the locksmith to get there. I need to brush on my ethical lockpicking.