(brief) update

So I'm here, in State College, PA. Every second we kept driving over the past three days was the furthest East my car has been since we bought her (it?). My dad and I made it over 1100 miles the first day; on the second, we stopped in Cleveland to visit my uncle Gene and aunt Diana, who I'd seen when they were in LA last spring but my dad hadn't seen in a really long time. While we were there, they took us to see all the places in town you only go to when you have family visiting (*cough* 16th street mall), including the rock and roll hall of fame. It was interesting: all of the music from their generation brought on this wave of nostalgia that was fun to watch, whereas I saw historical exhibits. When they got to musicians and events I remember, though, I felt like I was going through the same thing. It's a funny place, meaning such different things to different generations like that. It made me wonder if other sort of recent-history museums would provoke the same reaction (like the Budapest Terror Museum).

Anyway, I'm just starting to settle in here. Everyone seems really nice; math majors all have those invisible bonds of adversity and occaisional triumph, but I think most of all everyone retains a healthy fear/respect of their subject, which is all too lacking in most college disciplines. Basically, everything at penn state can be accessed through the internet, which would be great, except that setting up the internet connection takes days and lots of errands. Not to mention I still need to sign up for parking, to get a pass for the gym, etc etc.

On the plus side: the math looks great! We had our first little lecture today, and while it was sort of a canned talk, it was self-contained and interesting. I met with the program director this afternoon (everyone does to try and give a sense of background), and I thought I detected a little excitement in his voice as he was explaining the basics of the project I could be assigned. They pay our board plan here, and they go by the points system. That in of itself is nice (free food), but our big shock was finding out that they're giving us 1050 points for seven weeks--a point is about a dollar; the program administrator told us that if we run out, they can get us more. That is completely ridiculous. After last summer, when I subsisted on free food, tofu, eggs, and pb&js due to the cost of food, it's like I got handed the keys to a candy store. Only it's a candy store that sells lunch and dinner, too.