Day 43: Savouring sunsets

What went well?

1. Got my first mid-term back for sociology of mental illness, and was pleasantly surprised by how I went!
2. Got invited to do stuff this weekend. Possibly a party and/or a musical. Friends are good!
3. Had a productive lab meeting. We made more progress on designing the positive portfolio study. Also, the post-doc I'm working with shared her baking with us, and I really admired the fact that she baked for her meetings despite arriving back from Australia yesterday or the day before!
4. Watched a sunset through the windows at Stouffer. It was the first one I had watched here in Philly, and it was beautiful, and so transient - it lasted only about 2 mins after I started watching. Simple pleasures.
5. Went to a Philomathean Society meeting and heard some really interesting 6-minute talks by prospective members. They included India's upcoming election, molecular gastronomy, how How I Met Your Mother steals from Friends, and the Brazilian hippy movement (I forget the name).

What did I learn?

• Molecular gastronomy ($$$$$ gourmet cuisine) may use similar methods as highly processed fast-food.
• I don't think I transferred enough money to the US and might need to do another international transfer. Why? Unexpected costs - I hadn't been planning on taking music lessons as a subject (partially subsidised; $600 for 10 lessons) or going to the mindfulness conference ($240, plus I need to book accommodation). I probably should have left a bigger cushion.
• I've spent approximately $70 on food per week here.

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:

Day 8: Assessment options, cooking, free concert

So today, I went and saw my Intro to Buddhism professor to ask him for advice on what assessment option I should do. Basically, I have the option of either writing 8 one-page reading responses (40%) due each week and a 3-5 page film response (10%), or a massive 20-22 page original research paper (~6000 words!!!!). Hardly any undergrads choose the research option. Anyway, the professor was really helpful and was happy to talk to me about it. I still wasn't entirely sure though, so in typical Jessie-style, made a pros & cons list:

	Pros	Cons
Short paper option	Low-risk option: each paper is only worth 5%, and the lowest grade is automatically converted to an A A chance to improve my writing productivity? Means that I will gain a decent understanding of every topic in the course Realistically, it's only about 350 words of writing a week	Weekly, inflexible deadlines Need to be on the ball every week, whether or not I'm interested in the topic Less depth and opportunity for original research/going outside the course It takes a lot of time to formulate a good understanding of philosophical & ethical issues & produce a good piece of writing in a week My habit of producing only about two extremely high-quality assignments a semester will probably mean that I'd spend a disproportionate amount of time on these small papers
Research paper option	A good chance to develop research, time management & self-discipline skills I enjoy the research process and crafting an original piece of writing Gives me a chance to thoroughly explore the topic that I'm most interested in and that drew me to the course in the first place, Buddhist meditation Could be a good experience to have the independence & autonomy, along with guidance from "supervisors" (professor & TA) It's essentially a chance to learn more from taking this course: I get everything in the course + everything else I read in my research As long as I put in the effort and work consistently and my professor & TA see that, it really can't turn out to be disastrous	It seems like a massive and daunting task when looked at as a whole. i.e. it's scary! Could turn out to be significantly more work than the short paper option because it still requires doing the weekly readings (though perhaps not in as much depth) as well as extra time spent on research each week

Ok, so in summary, the short paper option seems like the safe option, but the research option looks far more interesting, exciting and rewarding. The only thing that would hold me back from the research option is FEAR, I've now realised, so since I've realised that, and since my goal of exchange, after all, is to embrace everything that scares me, I should obviously write the huge paper! Gah, wish me luck...

What went well? 

1. My Intro to Buddhism professor was nice enough to be willing to meet with me this afternoon to talk about the assessment options, even though I'd only emailed him at noon.
2. One of my interlibrary loan books arrived, only 2 days after I'd ordered it!
3. Cooked for the first time here and got 4 boxes of leftovers out of it:
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  #notamasterchef

4. Went to a free medieval music concert, performed by an ensemble called Trefoil.

What did I learn? 

• It is so important to shop for classes. I sat in on an Intro to Opera class today and it was the most boring thing EVER and I had no idea what the point of the lecture was.
• Course readers here are ridiculously expensive. Just gah. I paid $49 for my Sociology of Education reader (so yes, I'm definitely taking it now!)...ridiculous!
• Professors are really awesome resources.
• Be sure to google what events are on around Penn, to find out about free events.
• Check what page numbers are assigned. I spent ages last night reading this monster 29-page critique of the DSM-V, only to realise just now, looking at the syllabus, that we only needed to read pp. 1-13. Oops.

Day 6: First day of class

I had 5 hours of class today (Monday schedule because next Monday's a public holiday, Martin Luther King Day): a Sociology of Mental Illness lecture, an Intro to Buddhism lecture, and a Sociology of Education 3-hour seminar.

I'm pretty sure I'll stick with Sociology of Mental Illness. We'll begin by questioning normality and definitions of mental illness, then talking about social causes, which should be a nice counterpoint to the Psychology perspective I'll surely be learning more about in the coming years. The lecture hall was literally a hall, with all chairs on the same level and the professor on a stage. This is the biggest class I'll be taking here - about 100-150 students.

Intro Buddhism looks like it's going to be absolutely amazing. The professor had such a captivating presence and charisma about him, he just commanded everyone's attention. (also, we weren't allowed to use phones, laptops etc. in class so that may have been part of it) A really interesting personality. We'll be challenging our impressions of what we think Buddhism is, and trying to understand the internal diversity of Buddhist schools and the "real" vs the "ideals". This class has about 70 students.

Sociology of Education was also quite interesting. We discussed what we thought the top 3 goals of schools should be - Literacy (15/17); Academic excellence (3/17); Occupational/vocational skills (2/17); Promoting good work habits & self discipline (10/17); Personal growth (9/17); Promoting human relations skills (10/17); Promoting specific moral values (0/17); Promoting multicultural awareness/understanding (2/17). (The numbers in brackets indicate the number of people who put that goal into their top 3.) The exercise was meant to illustrate one of the central themes of the course, which is that even among a relatively homogenous group of people, we can't agree on what we want out of the education system, and we can all make strong arguments for competing positions. In the past, this wasn't the case - people expected less and had more consensus on what they thought education should be about, but now we have far more goals and far less agreement. The professor really challenged us to defend our views, and basically everyone in the class engaged and contributed actively, compared to the standard <5 people who usually talk in tutorials at UniMelb. For once, I didn't feel like I was over-contributing! The course looks pretty good, but I'm only about 80% sure that I'll stick with it, so I'll be auditing some more courses (Crime & Human Development, History of Opera, Medical Sociology) over the next week.

After class, I signed up for the gym ($162) and then went and auditioned for an early music ensemble, Ancient Voices. I got in, yay! What's funny about this is, the director told me that literally 20 minutes before I sent him the initial enquiry email about auditioning, he had sent around an email asking the members if they knew any sopranos who could replace a soprano who had left. It was obviously meant to be! :)

Then I got lazy so ate out at HipCityVeg, which was awesome but not that cheap (~$9), because I couldn't stand the idea of going grocery shopping and then cooking in one go. So I did the fresh grocery run, and am definitely ready to start actually cooking on Friday (my residence has a meeting over dinner tomorrow). Sigh, cooking just feels like such an onerous task, even though I value health. I guess I just need to remind myself of that! (but I suspect I will get gradually lazier as semester revs up)

When I got back, we had a section meeting, then cookies at Phil & Amy's (a weekly event at the Faculty Master's house). It was really nice, heaps of people showed up to the cookies event.

Tomorrow, I'm super-duper looking forward to my first Contemplative Sciences & Human Development (henceforth, "Mindfulness" for short) class! I'll also be meeting a post-doctoral research fellow from the Positive Psychology Center, who my mentor at UniMelb very kindly introduced me to, so I'm really grateful for this opportunity.

What went well:

1. Really engaging Intro Buddhism lecture.
2. Got into Ancient Voices!
3. Had a nice random conversation in the kitchen with a couple of Stouffer residents about what they like about Penn.

What did I learn? 

• The students here are really engaged in the classroom.
• I have a lazy attitude towards cooking.
• I need to automate routine activities like grocery shopping and cooking.
• I have a badass Intro Buddhism professor. He's as awesome as everyone's said he is!

Day 3: Settling In (aka "buying lots of stuff")

Today was a day of buying lots of stuff. Seriously, look at how much stuff I bought today. 

I started the morning off with a grocery run. I was a bit over-ambitious in the amount of stuff (including several bottles of soy milk & cans of beans) that I thought I'd be able to carry back. The good news is, the check-out lady double-bagged everything so none of the bags broke!! It definitely wasn't a breeze though. Also, I laughed when I saw this at the grocery:

Notice the sign: "Healthy Dinners". Now look what's inside the freezer. Cheese pizzas, cheeseburgers, pies...so, uh, what's "unhealthy" then?

Something funny: I ran into someone coming out of the building on my way back in, and asked if he lived there. Turns out, he's the Faculty Master of the house! Woops. Anyway, after having some breakfast, I walked to the Dr Martens store about 30 mins away and bought a pair of boots, which will hopefully withstand the rain a bit better than my current ones. Some scenes from the walk:

Squirrels!! So cute.

Football practice. Very American.

The water in this river is browner than the Yarra. That is saying something. It is actually brown!

Immediately after dropping those boots off in my room, I went on the Target trip organised for the exchange students. There was a bus to take us there and back, which was much needed. I bought a ridiculous amount of stuff there - kitchen equipment, towels, bedding, bin, lamp, etc…basically everything you need to move into a new house!! Which is basically what I was doing here, since the room only came with a bed, desk, chair, drawers, and shelves, and the communal kitchen is very very sparcely equipped. It was amusing to see how much stuff everyone managed to fit onto the bus (e.g. including furniture like chairs and mirrors).

Yellow bus. Just like in the movies.

After unpacking some of the stuff, I went and joined the exchange students for dinner. Most people went for American food at Copabanana, while I went and joined a group of people at Mad Mex, which was very vegan-friendly (they even had vegan cheese & sour cream!). It tasted great for about the first half, then I realised how large the portion was. I think one thing I need to learn is that I don't have to always finish my plate. It's actually a terrible habit to have when portion sizes are oversized.

The exchange students were all really friendly, and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with them. I met people from Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Hong Kong, England, France, and SO MANY people from Australia. Literally, there are two guys from Sydney at Stouffer with me, and I met another guy from Melbourne (there should be another five from Melbourne too), another from Sydney, and a couple from Brisbane. I think I've met more Australians than Americans so far!

After dinner, we met at Copabanana for a "party", which was slightly awkward when it turned out that they wouldn't accept foreign non-passport IDs, even for people who were legit over 21 (aka not me). So we sat there awkwardly for about 30 minutes until the rest of the exchange students arrived. They are really, really serious about policing the drinking age here. Anyhow, some people went back to their colleges to get their passports, and it was still a nice gathering. I hesitate to use the term "party" though :P

What went well:

1. Having a bus to take my stuff back from Target. It would have been much more difficult with public transport.
2. After lugging two loads of "lots of stuff" back to my room, I am extra-grateful to be living on ground floor.
3. Having my room set up and settled in, so hopefully I won't have to buy and carry lots and lots of stuff again, and will be able to start cooking soon. It's especially good that this has been sorted well before class starts on Wednesday.

What did I learn?

• I need better earplugs (or need to adapt to the noise). It is much noisier in University City than at home in in suburbs of Auckland or my room back at college in Melbourne, especially because my window faces the street. Lots of traffic, shouting, and sirens at night.
• I need to be realistic about how much stuff I can actually carry back relatively comfortably when shopping.
• I don't notice hunger when I'm active and busy all day.
• It is sometimes a bad idea to finish off an American-sized portion size.
• How to use blinds!! I have struggled with blinds all my life. I generally manage to avoid the ones at home, but now I am faced with using blinds daily since my room has them. I just couldn't figure out how to get the blinds down on both sides (not just one, making it an awkward slope with one side refusing to come down), so I decided to Google it, and found this: Problem solved! The 45° angle tip worked!
• How to connect to AirPennNet (campus wifi) on my MacBook. To connect, you had to launch an SetUp Wizard by connecting to the AirPennNet-Help network, but unfortunately it didn't pop up on my computer, and I wasn't able to access the link to the wizard since it wasn't connected to wifi. So I used my phone as a hotspot, and entered the address for the setup wizard on my MacBook, and voila! It worked!

By the way, if you're mentally screaming, TL;DR!!!, don't worry, this loquacity won't last for long. Once class kicks off, I will definitely be keeping my updates short and sweet! :)

Cheaper Textbooks

I was having a look at some of the required textbooks for my courses, and looked them up on the Penn Book Center website, then on Amazon.

Book	Penn Book Center	Amazon
An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices	$32.99	$22.98 + $3.99 shipping
An Introduction to Buddhist Ethics: Foundations, Values and Issues	$33.99	$19.98 + $3.99 shipping
Wherever You Go, There You Are	$15.99	$14.39 (free shipping)
Child's Mind: Mindfulness Practices to Help Our Children Be More Focused, Calm, and Relaxed	$16.95	$11.84 (free shipping)
The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress and Become Happier, Kinder, and More Compassionate	$15.00	$12.16 (free shipping)
Total:	$114.92	$89.33 (savings: $25.59)

I think there's a pretty clear winner here!

I only had to pay for shipping for the first two books because the cheapest option was by a non-Amazon retailer selling through Amazon. The rest of the books, sold directly through Amazon, came with free shipping because all students are entitled to join Amazon Student (for free - but make sure you cancel before the end of your free trial if you don't want to continue and pay!) and get the free two-day shipping benefits of Amazon Prime. Also if you refer friends to Amazon Student, you get $10 credited to your account for each friend who joins. I would be very grateful if you decide to join through my referral link! :)

Immunisation & Health Requirements

Ok, so I'm a perfectly healthy person, but have had to visit my family doctor four times in the past five weeks. This is because I've been scrambling to fulfil Penn's immunisation requirements for students living on campus. This includes vaccinations for Hepatitis B, MMR, T-Dap, Meningococcal (A, C, Y & W-135), and chickenpox. 

Seriously! I'm going to the US, not sub-saharan Africa or India!

Anyway, I've had to get three shots - two for chickenpox and one for meningococcal. No biggie, except it is definitely a cost to take into consideration in your budget - the chickenpox ones were $78NZD a pop and the meningococcal one was $62NZD. I'm sure they would be more expensive to get over in the US though! Well, at least I am now officially immune to most bad things!

[Edit 08/01/14: It turns out that my immunity had expired for T-Dap, so I got another shot today. Yay, 4 shots in 5 weeks.]

Cheaper Health Insurance

One of the mandatory requirements for studying at Penn is health insurance that meets their very high requirements, which includes coverage up to $2,000,000, and for pre-existing conditions and mental health conditions, just to name a few. You have to either buy Penn's own insurance plan, the Penn Student Insurance Plan (PSIP), or buy an alternative plan that's approved by Penn, and apply for a waiver. I thought the PSIP was pretty damn expensive - $1,677 for the Spring Semester (January 1 - July 31) or $1,196 through May only. (And obviously, if you're staying for a year, it'll be even more expensive.) Surely there had to be a cheaper alternative to the PSIP!

So I Googled "upenn health insurance alternatives" and found this CollegeConfidential post that pointed me to PSI International Student & Scholar Health Insurance. It's only available for international students (F1 or J1 visa holders and their dependents), and you just select which school you're going to and it finds the appropriate plan. Their Diamond plan is tailored to Penn's requirements, so I promptly bought coverage for 5 months (January 10 - June 10) which will cover me for the Spring semester, as well as my travel afterwards. It came to $625 with a $0 deductible (it's $50 cheaper with a $500 deductible, but I didn't think that was worth it). And in the unlikely case that Penn rejects my waiver application with this insurance, PSI will provide a full refund.

Message: Do some basic research, save nearly $600.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying that PSI insurance is superior to Penn's insurance. All I'm saying is that it's a cheaper option, which already has very high standards (as set by Penn) and will probably cover anything that could conceivably happen. I am also not being paid by PSI to write this, I just wanted to make sure that students on a budget (by definition) like me are fully aware of the more affordable options that do exist out there.

[Edit 08/01/14: Got an email from Penn yesterday, and this insurance has been approved! So it works!]

[Edit 17/01/14: Another exchange student said that this plan also works, and is about $85 a month...]