Day 41: Spring Break is Booked!!

What went well? 

1. Started the morning with 45 minutes of deliberate singing practice. Am really trying to work on relaxing the tongue. The process of deliberate practice itself is rewarding to me.
2. More hilarity in my intro Buddhism lecture. While talking about the 5 precepts and intoxication, the professor demonstrated a "drunk walk", the "most focused walk in the world" (because you are completely self-absorbed - tunnel vision). It was amusing. (Also, told us that Korea is where they really drink. Plus, another badass quote: "everything you've done, I've done it and its evil cousin". Make of it what you will :P) More importantly, I felt like I gained a much more nuanced understanding of what these precepts entail. See below.
3. Using the Notebook Method to write several permutations of my potential research question, I made more progress on my thinking for my mindfulness research paper. At this stage, I think my research question will be: What are the similarities and differences between mindfulness-based and positive psychology-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs, and (how) can they be integrated to form a more effective SEL curriculum? So my potential working title will probably be "Mindfulness-Based Positive Education: An Integrative Approach". It's looking like a promising research direction.
4. My tingsha bells arrived from Amazon! I'd been thinking of getting a set for my mindfulness practice for awhile now, so finally decided to go for it since I'd use them every day and eventually when leading group mindfulness sessions.

5. Planned my Spring Break trip with my friend, and we booked our bus tickets and flights. We'll be in Washington DC 10th-11th March, Richmond, Virginia on the 12th, and spending just an afternoon in Durham, North Carolina on the 13th to visit Duke University, before I fly back to DC for my mindfulness conference on the 14th-15th. It feels great to have it all booked now! And it's always fun planning and anticipating trips with friends. Also, since I visited her in her apartment in Rodin College House, I took the opportunity to take some photos of the apartment. Rodin is one of the high rises, so it's really, really nice. If you're an exchange student, it will be highly unlikely (i.e. impossible) that you'll get a single room in a high rise, but you can still get a double.



Shared lounge for a 4-person apartment.






Shared kitchen.

What did I learn? 

• The 5 major precepts in Buddhism are commonly translated in terms that sound a lot like the Christian commandments: "do not lie", "do not kill", "do not steal", etc. But there is so much more to the original ideas than just simply "do nots". For example, it's not simply "do not lie", but rather, to do with "abuse of speech" - being aware of the effects of your speech on others. Indeed, sometimes little untruths may be appropriate if the short-term and long-term effects justify it. Also, it is not just "do not steal", but about "abuse of possessions", which may include hoarding, exploitation, slavery, wasting, and allowing others to be poor. Once again, it's about being aware of what your possessions do and where they come from, so it encapsulates ideas about taking more than you need and accumulating things just for yourself, generosity vs selfishness, and making ethical decisions when buying things.
• A nice quote shared by the professor in the positive psychology lecture today, on the topic of overlapping theories in psychology and yet different researchers simply ignoring the work of others: "Theories are like toothbrushes. No self-respecting psychologist would ever use somebody else's." Oh god. Unfortunately, this is too true.

Day 26: Monkey mind

Today was a bit of a mindless day, where I just wasn't entirely present. It happens to everyone from time to time though; some more than others, and I think in general, I've become a lot more present over the past couple of years. Despite this scattered-ness, a lot of good things still came out of the day.


What went well?

1. Got started on the next project for  positive psychology research, and managed to get some coherent thoughts down on the study design. While at the positive psychology center, I hung out with a couple of guys there on their lunch break and really enjoyed talking to them.
2. Finally got my bank card...3 weeks later.
3. Went and saw my Intro Buddhism professor for more guidance on my research paper, and now I actually have a solid direction, thanks to his helpful suggestions. Basically, I'm going to trace the history of the word "mindfulness" - how often it's been used in different years and how the meaning has changed across time, and therefore when it started being used in relation to Buddhist ideas. Apparently noone's actually done this before, so it'll actually be a unique scholarly contribution, hopefully. I also managed to write my research proposal straight afterwards, so feel like I actually got something done today and that I finally know where I'm going with this.
4. My phone fell out of my pocket in the library onto seat, but I realised 5 mins into my walk back and it was still there when I went back. Maybe there is a benefit to mindless email-checking after all??

What did I learn?

• Fresh Grocer does indeed sell tofu! I think I finally know my way around it now, so it shouldn't take as long to do a grocery shop in the future.
• Putting on gym clothes gets you in the gym mode. I changed into some gym clothes to do my laundry, and suddenly I felt like going to the gym (I had been planning to go tomorrow). So I did - even though I never go at night. Lesson: if you ever feel too tired or unmotivated to go, just put your gym clothes on. Seriously. You can decide to not go after you've gotten changed, but you probably will - what you wear is a powerful cue (unless you're one of those people who just wears gym clothes everywhere) and it'll feel silly to have to get changed back without going.
• The paper size is different here. I should have caught on when I noticed that the paper at the library was different when I was photocopying stuff, but I thought that it was a quirk of the photocopiers there. Nope! US Letter seems to be the standard here, and I realised when I printed something off and the top got cut off (US letter is shorter).

Miscellaneous thoughts

• There is so much free food around here. Where there are dorms or clubs and societies there are events, and where there are events there is food (seemingly a huge incentive for people to go!). So it's quite possible to spend negligible amounts of money on food if you are super skint and don't care about what you ingest :P Case in point:

The events board in my dorm. There are at least 5 events involving free food on here.

• Another difference that I don't think I mentioned is their approach to research papers over here. The reason that I was in such a kerfuffle about where I should go with my research is that they give you basically no restrictions (or guidelines, for that matter) on what topic to write on. Whereas in Australia it's normal to be given an entire 1-2 page assignment brief including a list of topics to choose from, here you just get told how many pages (not word count) the research paper should be...everything else is up to you! As long as it's related to the course somehow (and it doesn't even have to be closely related, unlike in Australia where in my experience, your assignments are often supposed to be grounded in the course material). The flip side is that professors are therefore much more accessible as advisors for your research paper, and it's normal to check in regularly with them for guidance during the process of researching and writing the paper.

Day 17: Egypt Tour at the Penn Museum

What went well? 

1. Visited the Penn Museum. I was extremely impressed by the size and quality of the collections, and am grateful that I can go back whenever I want because entry is free for all PennCard holders (students, staff, faculty)! Enjoyed the guided tour through the Ancient Egypt exhibits. Here are some scenes from the museum:









In the China gallery. 



The second-largest crystal ball in the world. It's just so perfect...

2. Found out that Icebreaker Merino upholds really high animal welfare standards (thanks to An Ran for bringing this to my attention!!). I feel a lot better now about having bought their merino thermal leggings which I've been wearing every day since I got here. Good thermals are definitely a necessity here, and I'm glad that they can be obtained through relatively ethical means.
3. Finish reading The Loss of Sadness (Horwitz & Wakefield 2007) for my Sociology of Mental Illness. I can honestly say that this book, much like Anatomy of an Epidemic, has been a game-changer for my views about how we should conceptualise, diagnose, educate, and treat depression. It was surprising, disturbing and utterly compelling. I'll probably write a book review about it for my other blog, but have a look at these Amazon Reviews. I highly recommend it for mental health practitioners, physicians, policymakers, researchers, and laypeople alike, because we all have a stake in this issue.

What did I learn? 

• The Penn Museum is just awesome. It's huge - I think you could definitely spend a couple of days there - and incredibly well-resourced. Fans of the ancient world and archaeology in general should definitely check it out.
• Bits and pieces about Ancient Egypt.
• It took 70 days to mummify a body.
• The Egyptians were very literal about things. For example, they decorated the floor of the throne room with the faces of their enemies, so that whenever they walked across, they'd literally be stepping on their enemies.
• They liked symmetry in their architecture, because it gave them a sense of order/security.
• It is easy to fill your schedule up with events! There are so many opportunities to be engaged here. Next week, as well as class, choir & gym, I'm going to a student-led morning meditation, auditing a lecture, going to two psychology talks, going to a public speaking meeting, a philosophy club (Sermo Humanita) meeting, two Philo events, and an exchange student event. Look:

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Oh, and just as an aside, since my friend Andy wanted to know more about the dorms, here's some preliminary thoughts about Stouffer, one of the many College Houses here. So far, my impressions have been that it's quiet and a great place to study, though a little bit unsocial. It doesn't have quite the same feel of community as my college back in Melbourne, probably because it's 3x the size and I'm new. However, I have also met some really nice people here (like that GA I mentioned a few posts earlier, and the guy who helped me open that can!). What I like best about Stouffer though, is that it offers a lot in terms of events and activities. There is something on nearly every day, whether it be home-made cookies at the Faculty Master's apartment, movie night, more food at another Fellow's place, free yoga starting next week, outings, Fellow's night (informal dinner and conversation with a Professor)...Like anything in life, you get out what you put in. Here's what Stoufferians have to say about Stouffer, when asked to describe Stouffer in three words:

And here's a photo of the Section E lounge, where I spend most of my time because it's generally very quiet and perfect for studying: