Sunday/Monday/Tuesday – Day 72/73/74
October 11, 2012
Sunday was a mad rush to try to get a little more work done before the chagim started again. In particular, studying for a difficult physics midterm that was later in the week. At eleven AM I woke up to work with Jonothan on our Operating Systems project and pounded away at that for a good few hours. Anil was away for the weekend and thus lunch was lonely by myself in the apartment (Hillel is closed on Sundays) and then back to pounding out equations.
As the sky darkened I found myself worrying more and more about the physics midterm and I’d later be proven to be right in my fears.
After chag came in, as per usual, I couldn’t be privileged enough to just be able to go to shul and relax. This time it was dance rehearsal with Penn Dance interrupting what otherwise could’ve been a quieter night.
Following that I read a bit of my books and went to bed.
Knowing the difficulty of the midterm ahead of me I decided to walk and listen in on my 9AM and 5PM physics tutorials/recitations/sections. Though I felt I understood the gist of the material being presented, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to repeat it under example conditions.
Other than that my day was spent at the Hillel as to be expected, eating and drinking and of course, kvetching.
At five PM was the normal PGC rehearsal, delightful as always, followed by a trip back to Hillel for Simchat Torah. Simchat Torah (another Jewish festival again!) at Penn was one of the best simchat torahs I have had. The energy and passion were fantastic, especially in the OCP (Orthodox Community at Penn). The hakafot (dance circuits) went for over three hours! Unfortunately I could only stay for one of the three as I had a rehearsal for University Choral Society up at 8:10PM in which I was singing a Requiem Mass. Quite the contrast to dancing around the Torah. By the time I made it back to Hillel at ten, things were still going on and people were sitting down for dinner. I joined them and then got a full nights sleep in prep for the upcoming midterm.
Thursday/Friday – Day 6
October 3, 2012
These two days marked the low point of my health on the trip so far. With a racking cough and rain outside to complement, I painfully worked my way through these two days. Highlights included a mixer with Penn Dance at the Glouse (Glee Club House). The Glouse is the residence of a few senior members of the Glee Club who have devoted it to worshiping the history of the club and its traditions. The Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, where all students groups perform their shows has a policy that each group gets one full performance and one shared performance free of charge in the space, due to demand and costs, per year. Thus, traditionally the Glee Club shares its fall show with Penn Dance, a group that is what it sounds to be. Aside from shared rehearsals, there are a limited number of social events that take place in order to try to integrate the two different student groups. This one was a house party like any other, only Glee Club members were banned from singing in the fear that we might intimidate the girls. Forrest, one of the other Newmen consumed his fair share of drinks that evening and was trying to convince me to adventure and ‘find the Penn Dance girls’ who at that point had left. I responded with ‘run Forrest, run’ at which point he bolted out the front door.
Other than that, college has settled into something of a routine, with my twenty hours of rehearsal and more of study a week, adding up to give me very little free time!