Thursday/Friday – Day 133/134
December 12, 2012
The stress levels keep going up and up and up!
Thursday was the next major assessment in store for me with a ten minute singing test of the music I had learn for choral society. This consisted of about two hundred pages of music; Haydn’s Thereisenmasse and Vivaldi’s Magnificat, both substantial and fairly beautiful works. Thus, I spent much of today with earphones in one ear, the other listening attentively to my own pitching and music in hand, repeating certain passages over and over.
Other than that, I worked on tidbits here and there in prep for submission of a few larger project over the next week.
A highlight of Thursday evening occurred at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where small groups consisting of PGC members went around the wards to bring ‘holiday cheer’ to those who might otherwise be lacking it. And, though our singing may not have been our best and we were carrying our binders with us, people’s faces really did light up and they clamoured to hear us, some even getting out of their beds to sing and dance along.
Following that, from 7PM to 10PM was a dress rehearsal with the full orchestra for the next day’s choral society concert.
Friday was my final lecture in algorithms and final singing lesson. The singing lesson went excellently and I felt that looking over the semester I had made real progress which was a great feeling.
Friday night was shul at Shira Chadasha in Hillel. The minyan was lovely as always but still missing something compared to home. Hineni shout out to all of you. Afterwards I quickly scrambled for dinner with Aviva and Michal and a few others before heading out with Adriel Koschitzky, an orthodox soloist, to the choral society performance.
The performance I believe sounded pretty great, however I was way too nervous and started feeling sick partway through, partially due to the fact that I was struggling to hear anything other than my own voice, which made pitching somewhat difficult. However, it went well and ended well.
After the show finished I walked back with Aviva who had come to see the performance, Stephanie Li, and a friend of hers. Up to my room, I managed only a few steps before collapsing on my bed.
Tuesday/Wednesday – Day 131/132
December 7, 2012
Finals period is fast approaching. Though, for some reason it seems like it’s already here. I have so many tests and assignments due that I feel as if the exams crept up on me and then even passed by without a chance for me to jump on the horse. Tuesday saw the submission of my last Operating Systems homework, along with a final lecture that was a combination of revision and just fun presentations, to mark the end of semester. However now that that was over it was a bug in my algorithms code that was driving me to distraction!
The Glee Club rehearsal in the evening was quite enjoyable with more directors being trialled and more theatre sports and games played. Also, final prep for our concert on Shabbat, that though the music is perhaps not my favorite, I’m still looking forward to.
Wednesday saw me in two almost empty classes. Apparently everyone but me had already realized that midterms placed in the last week are in fact, exams by another name.
At this point in semester, every spare moment was spent working on something or other, jumping between the various things that needed completing.
Tonight after Glee Rehearsal I interviewed one of my favorite baritone personalities, Mr Mychajlo Kosyk, of a definite notoriety. It was a fantastic opportunity to get to know him a bit better and I was sorely disappointed when our time ran low and we both returned to our respective workloads. In my case this meant preparing for both the final physics assignment and, the OS final exam the next day. Needless to say, as much procrastination as work followed and I didn’t get all I wished done.
Penn Drug Culture
From my time at Penn, one darker side of it’s character that I have observed is the abuse of a certain kind of drug. Amphetamine misuse is rampant, and in this case the source is dodgy prescriptions. Some students take ‘aderall’ (ritalin) by the bottle-load and ofttimes even in the open, discussed amongst general peers. It’s a sad phenomenon which is chronicled from a different perspective in this opinion piece from the DP (Daily Pennsylvanian), Penn’s student run newspaper.
Thirty minutes later, I was standing outside CVS, washing down 40 milligrams of Vyvanse — an ADHD treatment — with chocolate milk. I was eager to do something — anything — to get my life together.
I found the article most insightful, especially as I try to avoid involving myself with that sort of culture and so am mostly oblivious as to the internal struggles that people on such drugs face.