Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday – Day 239/240/241
March 31, 2013
Tuesday with the Koloski’s was great again! The goers to synagogue in the morning at the local Chabad institution had their interest aroused by the presence of a new unknown individual in their midst and an Australian at that. An elderly Hungarian cohen was also interested in how such a small boy had a decent sized voice to sing with, and told me that I should come more regularly.
Following that, lunch was back at Aviva’s grandparent’s, and was comprised of some excellent Moroccan fish, alongside some excellent spreads and salads. Absolutely delicious.
The rest of the afternoon was spent both napping and play bananagrams, an old favourite of mine that involves creating crossword like structures from scrabble letters. I didn’t rest until I had won a game against Josh and Jeremy, Aviva’s identical twin brothers, one of whom shared my name as his middle name. Quite exciting.
Seder that night was pretty similar to the one the night before, but was equally as enjoyable. I got even more into it this time as the tunes were now familiar and the people too. We finished even later this night, at around 1:30AM and I was glad to get into bed, waking up a little late for synagogue the next day.
Lunch on Wednesday was Moroccan lamb, something that brought me back to my own grandmother’s cooking and made me feel a little sad I wasn’t back at home with everyone, regardless of the fact that Aviva’s family had made me feel incredibly welcome. Following lunch, Aviva, her mum and I walked over to her friend Michelle’s house and on the way gave me a modern history of Philadelphia. I was quite shocked by some of the neighbourhoods we walked through and the stories of gangs and crime that we told to me. It made me realize quite how lucky I am to live in a place such as Melbourne and in the country of Australia. We really are blessed the way things are at home. Low crime, strong education, healthcare, a sense of enduring mateship that even though it may not seem apparent at home, is definitely put in perspective once overseas. Spending time in Philadelphia reminded me of why I want to live in Melbourne.
A large portion of the conversation at Michelle’s centered around couples marrying and moving off. Very few decided to stay in Philly, understandably, and many were moving to Israel. It was a little sad to hear of a community being so depleted!
After chag ended, I rang home to tell them of my news from Monday, and they were considerably excited. Possibly even more so than me. I’ve decided to hold off publishing here exactly what it was for another week or so, but needless to say, it was a dream come true. We then drove back to Penn and life resumed as normal.
Wednesday night I was frantically trying to catch up on everything I had missed and the one hundred and forty odd emails I had received in the two days I had missed. Thursday was much the same, albeit the morning contained a physics lecture that I really enjoyed and managed to grasp sufficiently.
The afternoon was work work work, a quick interview, and then office hours from six until midnight. At least I’m slowly building up some savings, despite the various costs associated with Glee Club, my rent and of course, tuition.
Wednesday – Day 226
March 17, 2013
Wednesday was one large trip to the stratosphere. I had a midterm in the morning, for which I studied a sum total of 40 minutes after waking up in the morning. Was a little worried as I thought I only knew the material at the most cursory level. I raced to the lecture hall, just a little worried. Despite all this, when I actually sat down with the paper, I completed it with little difficulty. A few small things here and there I knew I marked incorrectly, however, I left it with the confidence that my performance was at least average. Ok, not a bad start to the day.
Next up was security, and while the class was mostly just repetition of stuff that I had read about during my exploration of cryptography in my gap-year, it was still enjoyable hearing it all again. After the class the professor motioned for me to come talk with him in his office. What came next was a little surprising. I was quite bluntly encouraged to come and do my PhD at Penn, but more than that, he was interested in exploring which other University might be best for me. Cambridge was raised as a strong possibility, along with a few others. Apparently I had attracted enough attention to be seen as a good candidate for research! He also mentioned to me that he had a colleague in Google NYC who would potentially be interested in having me as an intern for summer. How exciting!
Next up was rehearsal for Glee, mostly the same as always, a little dancing on top. However after its conclusion at 7PM we were given an hour to change into Dark Suit and Tie (one of the Glee Uniforms) before a special mandatory event that evening. I have been instructed that unfortunately, for the purposes of ritual, the events of that night must remain secret, however, to my great pride I can say that I am now a ‘Oldman Nouveau ‘ of the Penn Glee Club. A member for life. Additionally I have been granted the club nickname of Croisan++, which this is my name, I am yet to discover.
Tuesday/Wednesday – Day 211/212
March 5, 2013
Things are revving up to a dangerous level here. Too many projects due, too little time. Physics this morning was difficult as I was low on sleep but the majority of the day was spent on project work. Networking was becoming quite an issue. Rehearsal was a welcome break from work, and as previously stated, I’m really enjoying it. Tonight I also grabbed coffee with a non-Penn friend who takes dancing lessons off campus and had a wonderful time. The music selection committee for PGC met and I suggest a few of my favourite choral, barbershop and more modern pieces for consideration. hopefully at least Bogoroditse Devo will make it through.
Wednesday was nuts. I skipped all my classes to code through the day straight. Networking still wasn’t coming along at nearly the necessary pace. The group had been quite problematic and unfortunately we weren’t coming together as a whole fast enough by any measure. Some members contributed far more while others close to nothing. A complete disaster. Thus the day from 11AM to 5AM the following morning was spent desperately trying to salvage what marks we could. Pretty exhausted and barely finished with the minimum for the project, we submitted late and I, exhausted, walked home and fell asleep almost immediately for the brief few hours I would get.