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.
Tuesday – Day 61
September 28, 2012
Today was a mad rush! Erev Yom Kippur (the evening before) and I had still so much left to do, plenty to arrange and even more to eat. By this point I was feeling rather ill, with little voice left, and was severely sleep deprived due to the combination of retreat and hours of work.
Thus, I dragged myself through the day, through the various meetings I needed to before heading to Hillel for Seudah (feast) with Michael Altit, a Jewish friend from Sydney. (For those Hineni-ites following, he is best friends with Dee Smith’s sister). After that it was up to my room to prepare punctuated by a brief trip to the fourth floor to borrow a shirt from another Jewish guy below.
Michael and I walked along Locust Walk together at around 6:00 for the minyan at 6:15 and as we did so, many other Jews around us walked too; all to Houston Hall where the orthodox service was being held. Kol Nidrei was packed. I estimate around four hundred student, alums and family members attended the service and as a result there was a strong musical feeling to the service with everyone singing with great fervor. A few Israeli’s left when Ma’ariv started but otherwise it was still packed right through.
After shule I chatted for a while to Aviva Koloski, a new friend from the Hillel and, subsequently realized I need to go to PGC rehearsal. Though it may not have been a particularly traditional thing to do on a Yom Kippur, I figured acapella singing is one of the few things that are actually permitted on the day and so excepted myself to leave. However, this turned out not to be so wise as rehearsal ran for five hours, and with a sore throat, no food, no drink and no water, I felt like I was about to perish by the end of the musical marathon.
I trudged back up to my room, lay my head down on my pillow and, instantly fell asleep.