The push to the finish

Hi everyone,

The end of the semester is near, but the work is never finished. I will be working until the very last day before I fly home to California. I have been working off fewer hours of sleep and more frequent power naps throughout the week. Essentially I have a paper to write and finish every two or three days. To power through all of these papers, I have picked up a small habit of getting Starbuck's tea latte as my motivation/caffeine. I don't drink coffee or energy drinks so this tea latte is as close to caffeine as I will get.

I still make time throughout the day for small breaks to keep my mind sane. Though I will say I cannot wait for winter break to just sleep in everyday. I find myself surfing the web and shopping for X-mas gifts every so often to distract myself from the work I have to do. I think always looking ahead and staying in good spirits will go a long way in staying healthy throughout the stressful finals times.

The higher education division is hosting an end of the semester celebration this week and I am very excited to go to that and hang out with all of my lovely cohort members before we go our separate ways for winter break. Several of my cohort members will be done early next week and will be going home before I finish my classes. It has been a stressful time for all of us and so I haven't exactly hung out with too many people these past two weeks. Hopefully this upcoming higher education celebration will be a good time to catch up with friends outside of the classroom for a bit.

I cannot believe that I am 50% done with my Masters. Although it's only been a semester, I feel like I have been here for over a year. I have learned so much in  this one semester than I would have ever hoped. People say that one year programs are short, but the immersive experience that the program offers you makes up for any extra time you would have spent otherwise. I am just soaking up all the knowledge and making the most of my experiences here, because I know this will definitely be an important chapter in my life.

WINTER BREAK BLOGGING

**So this may be my last blog before winter break! I want to wish everyone happy holidays and happy new year! I will try to blog a few times during the winter break and let you all know what I am up to. If I do not get to the blogging, I will definitely recap everything when I get back! Thanks!!**

These boots are made for walking in the winter wonderland!

Over the past couple of days we have had over 6 inches of snow. FUN TIMES!! It is a very exciting time for me because it's been a LONG time since I've seen snow. The only times I see snow in California is when I go up to the mountains with family or friends to snowboard. But SNOW in an urban setting? First time for me!  I woke up very happy and eager to walk outside to experience the snow underneath my shoes and the cold crisp air in the morning. I had my monster jacket ready (refer to my previous post to see a pic of it!) and was ready for the cold! I loved the weather and I can't wait to see more snow in the near future!

The view outside of my window!

That's a lot of snow!

My first pair of boots ever also came in a few days ago (perfect timing) and now I will be wearing this everyday. It is so comfortable. I have never imagined myself as a person who would wear boots. You are talking to a guy who has been wearing slip on skate shoes (something like Vans) and boat shoes (something like Sperrys) pretty much since middle school. I am learning about all these new winter attires such as the "right" beanie to buy, the "right" scarves to get, the "right" jacket to wear, and ultimately the "right" shoes for the weather. Let's just say...I can get used to this!!

This is my new pair of boots

I am a person who usually wears something like this

Sibling Thanksgiving - delayed edition

So this Thanksgiving I was not able to fly back home (the airplane tix was ridiculously expensive) so my sister and I decided to have our own sibling Thanksgiving together. My sister is currently studying Animal Science at Cornell University so she essentially hopped in a carpool and drove down to Philadelphia to stay with me for a few days. It's been years since she visited Philadelphia so it was nice to be the tour guide again and take her to the usual tourist attractions like Independence Hall and Liberty Bell. We also stopped by China town and had some delicious noddle soup (because we were craving some authentic Chinese food).

On the day of Thanksgiving we cooked together after our mini adventures into town during the day. We made kale and mushroom, stir fry orange chicken, and baked sweet potatoes. It wasn't a typical or traditional Thanksgiving dinner but it was still a full meal made from whatever we could find in my refrigerator.

Since we are both approaching finals week, we then had a study session together in the library the day after Thanksgiving. (haha, we are a nerdy family)  We also skyped with our mom during Thanksgiving night and chatted with her about our adjustment to the East coast and everything. Overall it was nice to see family during the holidays and get some time to relax and not think about schoolwork (even though we did for a little bit). And now I have two weeks before I fly home for the holidays so it's time for the final push!

If you are near the Chicago or New York area...

We are planning to have Holiday Reception/Meet the Dean events in both Chicago and NYC.  It will be a great opportunity to meet leaders from GSE, find out more about our degrees and programs, network, and enjoy some delicious food. You can register/RSVP for these events by visiting our events page: 

http://www.gse.upenn.edu/admissions_financial/events#off_campus

Here are the details for each event: 

Chicago
Tuesday, December 10th, 6-8PM
Gleacher Center at the University of Chicago
450 North Cityfront Plaza Drive
Room 420 (South Lounge)

New York City
Thursday, December 12th, 6-8PM
Grand Hyatt New York
Park Avenue at Grand Central
Uris Room

My first 76ers game!

Hi everyone

I just want to recap a little bit on what I did over Thanksgiving weekend. Besides hanging out with my sister (you can read about our adventures in another blog post soon), I went to my first 76ers basketball game! I love basketball, especially the NBA, so it was really nice to find some friends to go with me. The graduate students center actually sells discounted tickets to Penn students. I got my ticket for $5!!! The seat wasn't the best, but for $5 I am not complaining!

Getting to the Wells Fargo Center was also another adventure in itself. My cohort members and I had to take one trolley line to 15th street, then transfer and go south on a different subway line to get to the AT&T station. It was pretty cool to see all three major sports stadium located right next to each other (football, baseball, basketball/hockey).

When we got inside I felt an immediate sense of joy as I glanced around at everything, from the concession stands to the fancy suites. It was all very exciting! We also saw a deal for ONE DOLLAR HOT DOGS. As graduate students, we just could not pass up that deal. So as we sat down and watched the game, we naturally got 11 hot dogs (to split among the four of us who went). It was glorious. After the game we all walked down to court side to take pictures! I will post more when I find them but here is one of them!

we walked to near court side after the game to take pictures!