Since I went to sleep so late last night, I didn't end up waking up today till a time I'd rather not discuss on this blog because it was just slightly ridiculous. I spent most of my day just cleaning up my room (since Pradeep will be arriving tomorrow) and getting started on my work. Since most of my classes are for third year students, I have a lot of reading that I need to finish for them, which is technically optional, but strongly recommended if you want to fully understand the topic. The reading will also help a lot when I have a supervision with the professor, which is basically a private session with two or three other students before which you prepare an essay on the lecture topic that presents an original view. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is, but once I've gotten through one, the rest will be a lot easier. This is the only thing that could prevent me from getting credit for my courses while I am here, so I need to make sure I do a good job on them. The hardest part of a supervision is arranging a group of two to three students to have the supervision with since I don't really know anybody in my classes too well, and professors won't agree to have one unless you have arranged the group ahead of time. I'm slightly worried about the whole thing, but I know it'll be okay in the end.
The main event that I had to go to today was an American exchange student dinner that an undergraduate from Columbia had planned. I didn't really do much else, being the lazy bum that I am. Starting to watch a new tv show (that I will also not discuss on this page, but Mahima you know exactly which one I am talking about) was probably a terrible decision. I just have a lot of downtime right now, and instead of doing something more productive with my time, when I am being particularly lazy, I just end up watching tv :(
Anyways, this was the view through one of the entrances to the college while I was leaving for the dinner. I walked by it, did a double take, and then decided to pull my camera out and take a picture. For some reason, it feels very surreal and almost like a painting to me. I might just be weird, but I really really like this picture. It kind of shows how breathtaking every single view is here, and how my surroundings continues to amaze me.
The dinner was at Giraffe, which is this burger joint about a five minute walk from St. John's, because we are American, so the assumption was that we like eating burgers. Our waiter was, as he described himself, a lovable Indian guy, but actually really funny and entertaining. He even got us a 25% student discount! The people sitting at the table, going from the left to right are Sc (Columbia), Lorna (Columbia), me, Masha (MIT), Dorothy (Columbia), Yifei (Caltech), and Laura (University of Arkansas). We all mostly randomly ran into each other at various events, and so we decided to have a weekly dinner together. None of us are actually at the same college; therefore, I probably won't see any of them on a regular basis. Although there is a girl from MIT in one of my PDN classes here (physiology, development, and neuroscience - the subject I am studying here), but she couldn't make it to the dinner. I've invited the group to St. John's for formal Hall, since none of them have actually been to St. John's yet and its supposed to be one of the nicest. I really like the group and it felt good to bond over the fact that we all face the same difficulties and issues. We also just got along really well with each other.
It is now 11:53 p.m. and I have a LOT of work to finish so I should probably get started on that, especially since I have lecture at 9 a.m.!
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