Friday/Shabbat – Day 277/278
May 8, 2013
One positive thing that has started since the end of exams, aside from much cooking on my part, is that I have begun to go running again. I’m not sure quite what motivated me this time, but Ariella is keeping track to make sure it happens every day. Hopefully I can keep it up.
Friday and Shabbat were spent again, trying to enjoy the company of those close to me. Ariel Menche, Aviva’s boyfriend, was again visiting this weekend. At each meal I felt so privileged to be so surrounded by people I cared about. Lunch was predictably a little quieter, but Friday night dinner the table was full of all the most wonderful people I had met during the year. Tonight I truly felt like a Penn student.
Following dinner we surprised Ariel with a birthday cake in his honor, and a little party in Aviva’s room. A friend of Ariel’s from school, a french exchange student came along to and we got along very well (though she didn’t seem to like the USA much). After that I went to a tish upstairs where Louis was complaining that none of the songs were transliterated, however he still seemed to be having a great time. It confused me just a little.
The next day lunch was much the same in terms of people and feelings. However, afterwards I had the opportunity to meet someone new: Eliana Holm, a Ramaz girl with all that entailed. Very sweet, very opinionated. I walked with her and Dovie ‘Barry’ Rosenberg (a bit of a genius too) down to Penn Park and talked about our experiences at Penn. The discussion soon turned to what it was like dating within the Hillel scene and a few interesting articles on the community were discussed (one unfairly attributed to Rivka Holzer). Turns out I still had much to learn but was perhaps happy being in the dark.
After my walk, I chilled on the Hillel porch for a while with Emily Weiss (a student of mine) and Ariella, chatting about CIS and assorted other topics. Then to sleep for a few hours before going out in the evening with the usual crew.