Exchange to the University of Melbourne
April 10, 2013
My dear friends; Aviva Koloski and Caitlyn Garcia were accepted to come on exchange to the University of Melbourne today (Wednesday 10 April 2013)! I’m so super excited! Additionally, Aviva’s boyfriend Ariel Menche of NYU will be coming too.
From Left: Me, Aviva, Ariana Schanzer and Shlomit Heering
Pictured above was ice-cream garnered for free today from Ben & Jerry’s with Aviva and I celebrating and Ariana to her left, who will be potentially coming at a later year. We are above pictured with another friend of ours, Shlomit.
Unfortunately I’m lacking photos with Caitlyn and Ariel but I’ll be sure to take some and put them up (especially as I’m meeting Caitlyn for lunch tomorrow!)
For all of you reading from home, doubtless you will get the chance to meet these exceptional people as they pass through our town and I’m looking forward to spending the next months at home with a little bit of Penn brought back.
Wednesday/Thursday – Day 247/248
Today started in the usual manner, classes that were unremarkable for the most part, the usual stresses of work etc. However, in the afternoon an exciting gig was planned
We were meant to be performing for the resignation party of the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company, UGI Energy, and being paid a hefty eight thousand dollars for the privilege. Supplementary to that, we were being offered spots and the party and our travel covered.
Unfortunately for all us lay-clubbers, this turned out to be a clever April Fool’s joke perpetrated on us (and even the business manager!) by the President Scott Ventre. However, as I will not detail here, this had far reaching repercussions. One must be careful about taking pranks too far…
Thursday was meant to be a little more relaxing but my day was packed full again! In the morning I proctored the CIS-121 midterm on which my students did pretty well. I also watched a pre-recorded physics lecture on electrodynamics and the derivation of optics from first principles. Fascinating stuff.
The afternoon was packed full with the usual work, but mostly trying to get as much of my group project work done as possible, before my study for the Physics midterm, upcoming on the next Tuesday.
Dinner post-hillel dinner, with the Glee Club was at Zach Costa’s (our Publicity Manager) family’s restaurant; The Blind Pig! Famous for their Thanksgiving Balls, they served pub style foods that were greatly enjoyed by the PGC. I for one, had a delicious cider that was on tap. However, dinner was slightly marred by internal politics within the PGC, that although eventually came to nothing, were worrying for a short time.
I got back far too late, and had far too much work to get done, but midterm grading was to start early the next day and so I took a relatively early night.
Panic Mode
April 8, 2013
Physics midterm is on Tuesday. I’m not prepared. Expect posts to be sporadic for a few more days. If I survive this, I’ll be happy with my semester.
Best
— Shaanan