It’s been such a long week! I’ve been trying my best to make food and not eat out, but it’s been hard. I’ve also been spending way too much money on coffee. In other news, the weather finally started cooling down and feeling like autumn on Thursday, though it’s due to warm up again on Wednesday, but I’ll enjoy it while it lasts! I’ve started wearing my Lorenzo Magni Christmas sweater in the early mornings and late nights at my apartment (I haven’t yet worn it out because I’m afraid of getting attacked by Halloweenies and Thanksgivers). Also I realised that the colour of my “Christmas green” (labeled as such on the tag by the thrift store) Timberland sweater I bought for $5 at a thrift store at the beginning of summer is very similar to the colour of the bleu paon Hermès Halzan bag my mom gifted me this summer!
Monday // Snuck in a morning swim. My only class of the day got cancelled (7:30-10:00PM), so I spent most of my day doing homework before heading to UPenn for the evening to do more homework! We had a project due the next day, so Louise, Stephanie, and I stayed late in the lab. Quite a few of our classmates showed up after midnight. I ended up sleeping over at Steph’s because it was too late to catch the train back (2:30AM!). Her bed is a loft, so I brought a sleeping bag and slept under it, though it was already furnished with blankets and pillows because Steph sometimes sleeps on the ground too haha.
Tuesday // I left Steph’s room around 8:30AM to catch the train home. On the way home, I bought a rosemary olive oil bagel with honey walnut cream cheese and a latte from Bruegger’s Bagels. I felt a little bougie for getting a latte from Bruegger’s; next time I’ll just get a normal coffee. Had a bit of downtime before I headed to campus to meet Felix, a prospie! We connected at the end of summer through my friend Kelsey, who is working at a place that helps students looking to apply to colleges in the US. Felix and I are both interested in linguistics and ASL, so she thought to connect us. Anyways, we met up before my first class, then he came and sat in on the class with me, which was Speech Synthesis. Unfortunately for him, that lecture was more computer science than linguistics, but I hope he enjoyed his time at Haverford overall! Afterwards, I had a quick lunch then headed to UPenn for class. After turning in our projects, Louise, Stephanie, and I celebrated turning in all three parts of our first project by grabbing dinner at White Dog Cafe, which will be on the blog on Wednesday!
Ooh also on Tuesday, my article for Her Campus on SEPTA hacks went live. I don’t mean to brag, but I think it changed some people’s lives. If you’re from Philly and ride the SEPTA, you’ll definitely want to give the article a look (especially tip #7!).
Wednesday // I don’t have any classes on Wednesdays, so I usually spend Wednesday doing work, as I’m always too exhausted after my UPenn class to work on Tuesdays or Thursdays. This Wednesday was no different. For my design class, I needed to make a GIF of a social situation, so I enlisted Georgina and Victoria to be characters in my social scenario whilst I filmed. It was pretty hilarious and they got pretty into it. You can see the fruits of our labour below! Honestly, the exercises we’re doing for this second project is making me feel like an internet troll. (I’m thinking of sharing my design projects on the blog at the end of the semester maybe??)
Thursday // Snuck in another morning swim. This day was a blur. Went to my two classes. Then stayed up until 3:00AM binging Gossip Girl instead of prepping for my senior seminar presentation (for my thesis) the next day. Which is why I’m now swearing off TV shows!!!
Friday // Luckily I had until 1:30PM to prep for my presentation. I had done all my readings and had the content I needed for my presentation, but I never got around to organising that information for my presentation because I was overwhelmed by all the information. I prepped for my presentation at Starbucks with Kat, who brought me cinnamon doughnuts for breakfast from the dining hall. The presentation went smoothly. My classmates appreciated how I was able to break down the computer science parts of my research so that they could understand it (I was presenting for my linguistics senior seminar, so my classmates were all linguists, not computer scientists); honestly, it was as much for them as it was for me. The question and answer part of presentations is what really make me nervous though, but that went well too. I clarified some things for them, and I received helpful feedback to move forward. The way it should always be for presentations! After class, I headed straight into the city to meet Kat, Steph (different Steph), and Ann for dinner in Chinatown. We had the spiciest fried chicken at Bonchon and it was an experience. We ended the night with a house/dorm-warming party for Ann, Malini, and Sohini.
Saturday // I spent almost my whole day at Green Engine Coffee, a coffee shop just a minute walk from my apartment. I was there from around 10:00AM to 4:30PM. I didn’t even realise that I had spent that much time there; I blinked and it was 4:30PM! I just did work the whole day and it felt good to be productive. When I got back home, I relaxed and started decorating my room (one of my goals for senior year).
How was your week?
(And another question for you: How do you like this format? Usually I just post highlights, but this week I went day by day. This format was calling to me this week, I think because I needed to process for myself all that happened this past week. I’ll probably go back to posting highlights next week.)