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.