Introspective

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually enjoying the chill. Granted, it's still early days - averaging in the 50s, on the odd day down to 40s - though the days are getting shorter. The fall foliage was beautiful, but it only lasted a few days; now the colours are much more muted. My apartment keeps the cold out surprisingly well, and when I do venture out the air is fresh and crisp and wet after the rain (it has been raining a lot) - I just love it. It's the kind of weather that makes me want to go on a long, long walk from 69th St to 1st St to take in the whole city. Unfortunately, I'd likely be courting disaster going on my own. I live on 38th, and there's been 2 shootings on 40th in the past month.

I did, however, get a precious glimpse of the city at night yesterday - a group of us went to see the Philly Orchestra at the Kimmel Center along the aptly named Avenue of the Arts - it was breathtaking. I've been feeling pretty lukewarm about Philly - most of the time it's old, dirty, dangerous - but that night, walking back through the mist, my mind lifted in a swirl of music and enveloped in the rich red glow of the theatre - I felt an uncontrollable burst of appreciation for the city.

Everything is so much better after the rain.

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We weren't allowed to take photos inside the theatre, so here are a few scoured from the web.


The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and home of the Philadelphia Orchestra. [Source: www.gophila.com]


Inside the Center. [Source: www.gophila.com]


The cello-shaped interior of Verizon Hall. The program for the night - Beethoven's 8th Symphony and excerpts from Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. [Source: www.phillymag.com]

Part 2 - Philly and Beyond

Indeed, I could not have picked a better time to come to the states. Events of note in reverse chronological order:

ELECTION DAY TODAY!

Everyone is excited and the whole campus is abuzz! Based on my unscientific poll of yard signs, buttons and T-shirts seen today, McCain doesn't stand a chance here in University City, and especially on campus. In fact, according to a friend, the few closet McCain supporters have taken to emerging only in the middle of the night, chalking "Vote McCain" on the pavement and sticking up the odd McCain poster. Otherwise, it's one big Obama party! Cars are honking outside because volunteers are standing at the curb with signs saying "HONK FOR OBAMA!", the mood is upbeat and I just can't believe it's election day. I can barely fathom what both camps must be feeling right now, having invested almost two years of their lives in the campaign. This is the make or break. I mean, wow. I can't wait to see how this plays out tonight. It will be monumental.

One of the many yard signs I polled.

HALLOWEEN

I knew Halloween was big here, but I didn't know it was that big. Lots of pumpkin carving too. This was the day I had my 15 hour assignment marathon so you can guess that I wasn't out partying, but rest assured, everyone else was. People really took the effort to dress up, and I spotted some pretty awesome costumes on my way to poker at 12am. No pictures though. Instead:

(Photo from the internet) It took me half a minute but when I realised what was going on it cracked me up. One of Obama's campaign slogans is "Yes We Can!"

PHILLIES WIN THE WORLD SERIES!

So I was a baseball noobie, and still am, but I understand at least that winning the World Series, and more so after a 28 year drought, is a BIG deal for Philadelphia. While I wish I could appreciate the Phillies win a bit more, the unbridled ecstasy that ensued was infectious. For 3, 4 hours straight that night after the win, people ran down Spruce St (one of many, no doubt) screaming and jumping and celebrating, cars honked and flashed their lights as passengers stretched as far out as they could from the windows waving, laughing, cheering with everyone around them. The next day everyone - security guards, cafe staff, students - were decked out in Phillies gear and congratulating each other. There was also a huge parade in Center City.


THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

Unfortunately I have two group meetings lined up tonight with the first starting in 10 minutes so I will have to come back to this. Happy reading!

Part 1 - Penn and Wharton

It's been a solid two months since my last post, and possibly the longest lull in blog activity yet. I have 43 days left till the end of semester - 43 days! Unbelievable. So a ton of things have happened in my two-month hiatus, most of which I will attempt to account for in this epic two-part series.

I apologise in advance for the uninspiring quality of photos - most were taken in a hurry, and grand plans to go back and capture the earthy red of Huntsman Hall against the dappled morning sun obviously never materialised.

Life at Penn

I don't want to bag Melbourne Uni too much, because if I think hard enough I can conjure up some passable merits of studying in Australia, but my time at Penn, however short, has made me realize the extent of what I'm missing out not studying in the US.

I love the academic experience here - unlike the maximum of 24 subjects you can take at MU over a 3 year degree, at Penn (Penn being a proxy for any good school in the states) you pay your tuition and take as many subjects as you want or can handle. Compared to the apathy and disconnect at MU, people here seem that much more interesting, more motivated, more curious, more enthusiastic and more inspired. There is so much in way of learning for the sake of learning, whether through guest lectures, preceptorials or forums. And as a bonus, they get to listen to lots of famous people. I've caught Vikram Pandit and Bill Chen so far, whereas previously on campus: Admiral Michael Mullen, Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Colbert (!!), Steve Ballmer etc.

Anyway, enough words for now, here are a few scenes from around campus:

Locust Walk, my favourite strip of campus. My favourite places always involve a little footpath flanked by big leafy trees. There are quite a few of those in London.

The Penn Bookstore, my second favourite place on campus and the most impressive university bookstore I've had the fortune to set foot in. One half is a full service Barnes and Noble, with a Starbucks, reading areas, elevators and restrooms, the other half sells dorm essentials and houses the Penn Spirit Shop, which sells a mind-boggling amount of Penn merchandise in every form imaginable. Not satisfied with Penn and Wharton hoodies, shirts, notepads and binders? How about Penn boxers, Penn flannel pajamas and Penn children's clothes?

The footbridge leading into Locust Walk. On the right of the bridge and just out of view is Huntsman Hall, which is the main Wharton building.

A statue of Penn's founder, Benjamin Franklin. He is everywhere on campus. Evvvverywhere.

The Quad on the left of Spruce St, where most of the freshman year live. I live on the right of Spruce St, a little further up and opposite from the Quad.

The Quad Tower.


Life at Wharton

Life at Wharton has been the main reason why I haven't had time to update. While I have the same number of contact hours as I do at MU, the out-of-class workload is several notches above anything I've ever experienced. First of all, Whartonites are workaholics, all of them. Huntsman Hall is open 24/7, group study rooms are booked out everyday (see below) and people are studying/thrashing out a group assignment in there at odd hours of the morning.

The circadian rhythms of your average Whartonite. All work, no sleep.

Compared to some, my workload is actually decent. There are days where I'm in meetings till 2am, sleep 4-5 hours a day or work on the same group assignment for 15 hours straight starting at 7am (this 15-hour marathon was topped only by me returning to my room to nap an hour, then playing poker till 6am the next morning), but then, there are days where I watch half a season of Scrubs instead of doing homework and write two-part epics on life in America.

So, all in all, I am having a fantastic time at Wharton. I love the challenge, I love the intensity, I love the people I've been working with, I love the group projects and I love that I am learning so much more in one semester here than in the 2.5 spoonfed years at MU.
Huntsman Hall, the missile silo. It looks bigger and better in real life.


/Part 1.