Monday – Day 60
September 27, 2012
Today was a bit of a challenge in that I was trying to get all my work done well in advance prior to Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), the most significant Jewish festival of the year. Aside from my regular class hours, I was frantically trying to complete a few assignments, in particular the usual difficult physics problem sets, which can take me over eight hours to complete a piece.
The main standout from the day was a catch-up lab session with Kostas Daniilidis, a very sweet lecturer and researcher, taking my algorithms class. The private session with him was quite helpful and out of all my professors, he seemed most able to communicate the material in small group sizes.
The evening was a double rehearsal! First up Glee Club with a usual two hour rehearsal, then a quick dinner at the Hillel, followed by two hours of University Choral Society. By this point in time my voice was getting pretty sore…
Sunday – Day 59
September 25, 2012
Sunday morning I woke up and immediately it was time for breakfast and clean up. After about two hours of cleaning we were set to go and we boarded the train back to Penn.
Arriving exhausted back to my room at one in the afternoon, I attempted to get at least a little work done but it was to no avail! I feel asleep at my desk and before I knew it, my alarm rang for me to go to dance rehearsal!
Dance rehearsal was most enjoyable and I even managed the steps this time!
When I got back I went to buy dinner from the supermarket and realized when I came back that I had lost my key. Not great. Anil opened the door to me but this began a somewhat troublesome saga…
Shabbat – Day 44
September 5, 2012
Today was spent sleeping and hanging out with people from the Hillel. Over lunch I chatted to more upperclassmen and was mainly recognized as that aussie-guy-whose-friend-was here-last-semester. Lunch was pleasant enough and I killed time for a while singing Zmirot (Jewish Hymns) with some of the boys. Afterwards Hillel was offering a Jewish walking tour of Penn and I joined on with a few other people I knew and saw parts of Penn that I was yet to discover.
Motzei Shabbat I went out for dinner with Rodin House Exchange and Transfer Students that was funded by the Rodin Dean and was a lovely opportunity to mix and get to know the other new students in my building.
Late Saturday night was back at the Hillel again for pancakes and another social mixer, after which I was so exhausted it was back to sleep. An uneventful Shabbat but an enjoyable.