Brown

I went to Brown for Shabbat and it was phenomenal. I stayed with a girl named Shlomiya [cynara_linnaea, she knows you] who was really nice.

On Friday we set up the candles, and then hung around after lighting because services didn't start until 6. Kabbalat Shabbat had a lot of singing [Penn people you should take a hint] as did ma'ariv.

It was faculty Shabbat, so a lot of professors were there.

Everyone ate in Hillel for Friday night dinner, and there was a big crowd. And I got to meet the famous Benj, the singer of the long lost Lecha Dodi. I basically introduced myself and told him that he was my "favouritest person in the world." Which was true enough if you consider that's a title which changes daily based on the coolness of a given person on a given day. And I told him the story of the long lost lecha dodi. So either he was amused or he thought I was weird. But he knew who I was because apparently desh told him about me. What did you tell him about me?

Saturday services were long and songful, and I was very happy. We had a small crowd of around 20 people for lunch, which was mainly leftovers. Afterwards we sang for a really long time. And we did bentsching to a bunch of different tunes, including the shiny long lost lecha dodi tune for the ending part [from migdol on]. And they knew the Penn chad gadya!!! This is the point where I lost the ability to speak Engish and just squeaked.

Saturday afternoon we went for a walk to the playground and chilled out on the swings. Then we went back and talked some more. And then we had shalshuddis and then havdallah.

Overall, a really chill shabbat, with a bunch of awesome people. Can I keep the Brown Hillel and bring them to Penn?

(no subject)

After Shabbat, My family [Mom, Dad, Jon, and Grandma] went to Boston for Chinese food. And over dinner, Grandma told us that Grandpa had gotten veteran's insurance [he served in WWII] and Grandma didn't need the money, so somehow Jon and I are ending up with umm... a lot of money each[Let me put it this way- would cover a year of Penn's tuition, though not room and board as well]. It's supposed to go to grad school, but Israel pays for your master's if you make aliyah. So I could use the money to buy an apartment. And then I'd have a place to live. Permanently. This means like actual security, and then it doesn't matter that it will take me almost another decade to finish my education.

And then I can marry a starving artist or something and finances won't matter so much.