Saturday – Day 78
October 16, 2012
Today can be described very simply. Sleep. I need it fairly badly by this point and sleep I did. After waking up late at around 11AM I read the autobiography of the previous conductor of PGC, Bruce Montgomery’s “Brother’s Sing On” and then headed to Hillel for lunch.
There I met Aviva’s parents and had a lovely conversation with her father over lunch before returning to my room to sleep for the rest of the afternoon.
After Shabbat came out I quickly set to work preparing for my midterm, an interview, and lots of other assorted homework.
At 10PM I decided I had worked hard enough and went upstairs to the Rodin Rooftop Lounge to watch The Avengers with about one hundred others from the college house!
As soon as the movie finished I headed back to my bed and promptly fell asleep.
Friday – Day 77
October 15, 2012
The dreaded lurgy hath returned! I’m currently quite sick and so don’t have the same amount of energy to put into blogging that I normally do. Lest to say, Friday was tiring. Evidently having a drink or two, working for a few hours and then sleeping for two more isn’t a wise strategy for good health. I barely survived Friday’s classes and then rehearsal from four to six nearly killed me.
Following that it was a quick performance with the PGC for International Ivy League students before swallowing a quick Shabbat dinner and going to meet Jonathan who was still struggling with the project. Due to Shabbat I couldn’t really code anything and so I helped him to find bugs in our code that was due at 10PM. Needless to say it was a bit of a failure and we ended up submitting a half baked project. Fingers crosses we still do ok.
After that we and a few other students went up to my apartment to drink a little of the Australian wine I had bought for my birthday and then after a glass each, all returned to get some sleep.
Thursday – Day 76
October 12, 2012
Thursday (my birthday) didn’t start to well as I woke up feeling awful and exhausted thanks to the late night of coding. Physics, expectedly, didn’t improve my mood. Lunch at Hillel was no better and very few of my friends were in today. Operating systems in the afternoon was marginally better and I slept through most of it, waking only to answer questions from the lecturer. Towards the end of the lecture my phone buzzed and I raced outside seeing the +972 country code and was very grateful to speak to my brother Adi for a few minutes.
Following that Jonathan and I went to office hours to try and fix up some of the bugs in our code. After a little help, I was soon on my way again, this time for a walk by myself for a little soothing me time. I walked all the way across the Schuylkill River and into center city. This was the beautiful view of the Philly Skyline from South Bridge.
After that I just wandered through suburbia for a bit just enjoying myself, before popping into a liquor store to buy a mini whiskey bottle (Jack Daniels) and a nice bottle of Australian wine. I just kept walking and walking till I came across a nice little cafe and bought a fresh sandwich on whole wheat. However, I still have to say, Americans have no idea how to do food. Nothing is as fresh or as crisp as it should be, and everything is slathered in sauces with all sorts of extras no one needs.
Returning in time for dinner at Hillel, which was not spectacular either, I met up with Michal and Arianna who took me to Ben and Jerry’s after dinner for a free scoop of birthday ice-cream!
Back to my room again for a few hours, just working hard at it, before at 10PM I decided to call in Rigel, my neighbor and Anil, for a celebratory glass of whisky. We toasted to health and a successful semester and chatted for a few minutes.
I also received an email inviting me to a party for the cast of Legally Blonde and went there for a good two hours, having a smashing time and was again, toasted, by the cast, and sung a few songs kareoke.
At 1AM I returned to my room and still needed to work with Jonathan! Up for another while working before finally, at three, I was able to get to sleep.