Ep. 13: When Harry Met Sally...

Notes from the 17th-28th of April

Comfort Food

This week, I am happily the bearer of good news. I finally went to Harry's! The PASSPORT group¹ organised for a bunch of us to go on Friday night as a sort of end-of-semester thing. Given it was the Friday of Dead Week², the line was...well, it was very, very long. If I thought 90 minutes was a long wait, I was in for a treat this time. Some 3 hours after joining the queue³,we finally got in. Not that it was a bad wait - as before, there were plenty of fun conversations and people to observe to pass the time.

Was it worth the wait? I'd be hard-pressed to say that any bar is worth that time cost, but Harry's came as close as you could.

I loved the history of the place, how old yet well-enough maintained it was. And the atmosphere was terrific. You had some couple hundred people cramped into a bar and walkways that accommodated half that number, yet no one seemed to mind. And yes, we made sure to grab a bag of free popcorn from the machine and order a drink off of the secret menu.

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Two further expeditions from the week.

The beautiful thing about living on campus is that there is a plethora of house parties on every weekend. And whilst I have had precisely zero success getting invited to a frat party, it is a relative cake-walk to go to basically anything else. I caught a bus out to one of the off-campus residences with a few friends to go to such a party, and as previously the connection to the people hosting was extremely tenuous. Moreover, we rocked up to find it was themed - Hawaiian - thankfully there were a few leis at the door so we could totally blend in.

By some sheer coincidence, the vast majority of the other exchange students I had become friends with all showed up independently, so it was a really good time. That was until someone decided to take leftover spaghetti and pasta sauce and toss it up as high as they could in the middle of a large group of people...gross. Everyone within about a 3 metre radius was covered. Thankfully I happened to be just outside the splash zone, so I only had to contend with some splashes of sauce on my shoes. I felt pretty bad for whoever had to clean up the mess off of the roof, though.

The other outing was a far cleaner affair: karaoke with some of the people I had met at dance classes and gone to Indy with.

Despite accusations of my being tone-deaf from friends back home, I actually got up there for a couple of songs: Live Like You Were Dyin' by Tim McGraw and Let Me Love You by Mario. The first one went pretty well - I had chosen it intentionally because I was banking on everyone else knowing it and singing along - which they did. I think I had a bit of a blood rush to the head when I said I'd do the second one because it's just not in my wheelhouse, musically. Not that much is.

Dancing in the Red?

This week sadly marked the final round of dance classes for the semester. Of all the things I have done here at Purdue, the decision to start learning salsa and bachata has to be one of the best. First consideration is given here to the fact that I have met so many wonderful souls in these classes, many of whom have become dear friends of mine. But beyond that, I actually really enjoy the dancing. Which is something I never thought I would have said at the start of 2023.

So finishing up was pretty grim. It did, though, provide opportunities to thank many of them for making that experience so enjoyable for me, in particular the teachers. It also marked the first of many opportunities I would have in the coming two weeks or so to capture the treasured faces of the many people I met along the way.

Above all this, I was also pretty happy with the progress I had made. From not knowing a single thing to being able to do some routines like the one below - I was pretty happy!

After the final bachata class, I went and got bubble tea with some of the others. Apart from giving me a chance to regale one of them (who was from Chicago) about how much I loved their city, it also led to me getting invited to go do some more classes the next week in Indianapolis. You know, at a proper dance studio. That ended up being a pretty fun outing - we did a Reggaeton class and then a sexy dancing one...which I was kind of mortified by my involvement in, but also found really, really fun(ny). Think Magic Mike here.

Gentleman, Start Your Engines!

If you don't get the reference, here's some prerequisite viewing before you read on.

The Saturday just gone marked the 66th running of the Purdue Grand Prix, and it is surely one of the biggest events of the Spring semester. And no, we are not talking F1, nor F2 even. We are talking go-karts. And if you read that and immediately wrote off the magnitude of this charade, perhaps like I initially did, think again.

The whole ordeal is of such proportions that the entire week leading up to it is known as Grand Prix Week. This is (a) a sign of respect for the teams participating in the event, and more importantly (b) a guise under which to throw week-long ragers from dawn 'til dusk. I kid you not, that from Monday to Saturday, the campus streets were generally overrun by a deluge of people heading in one of two directions - leaving a party, or going to the next one.

As for the actual racing itself, I was really, really surprised. But when it comes to Purdue engineering, what's new? For one, the preparation and commitment from drivers and crew was somewhat mind-boggling. A friend of mine from a control systems class was racing⁴ and he spent every afternoon for about 3 weeks leading up to the race down at Purdue's go-karting track clocking practice lap after practice lap. He even had software and computers on the kart that showed every metric under the sun, from deceleration zones to corner trajectories.

The actual setup for the day was something. Aside from the fact that I did not know there was a shuttle service running to the track and so had to walk a couple of kilometres to get there, the atmosphere, even hours before the start of the main race, was electric. And as I marched up there, the sun was out and shining⁵.

I spectated some of the time trials to start the day with some friends from Spain, which included me desperately trying to figure out which car my mate was in, a challenging task with helmets donned. Sadly, with two races down, and some hours before the main start, the heavens opened up and with it came a mass exodus from the track - including the Spaniards and I. I felt dearly for the karts caught racing as the rain started, left to helplessly spin out on just about every corner.

Whilst it was a shame to miss out on the rest of the action⁶, the group ended up going to get ramen for lunch on the main street and I was deeply honoured to join! I got the impression that they very much enjoyed hearing about Australia; I certainly did about Spain.

Say. My. Name.

For reasons I do not fully understand, I have ferociously put off watching a TV show that I know is incredible⁷, and that everyone I know who has ever watched it says it's incredible. I speak of course of Breaking Bad.

For reasons I do not fully understand, the other week I finally began watching it. Finally. And, ugh, yes, it's absolutely incredible. The thing about me is that I don't watch TV shows very often; I am more of a movie buff. But when I watch a TV show, I watch it really, really quickly. Case in point - within about two weeks I watched the entire thing, all five seasons, from start to finish. To make matters worse, this was throughout the weeks where a number of final assignments and projects were due⁸ - don't worry, I got them all done just fine!

There is so very much that can be said about this show, and perhaps at some stage I will say it all. What I will say, globally, is that, in contrast to watching a movie over the course of an afternoon, the process of progressing through a TV show is markedly different. It appears to define a chapter in your life, each day being defined as being absorbed in any given episode(s), and then the rest of your life happening parallel to that. It is truly a bizarre feeling.

Final takeaways? I need to work on my impulse control and not binge-watch things. And if you haven't seen Breaking Bad yet, do yourself a favour and watch it.

Also, also, my favourite episode in the entire series has to, without a shadow of a doubt, be the third-to-last episode of Season 5: Ozymandias. Absolute chaos, and you sit there in awe watching as everything falls apart around Walter. I am slightly biased here, I might add. The eponymous poem by Percy Shelley is probably my all-time favourite. It's a short one, well worth a read here. And you'll quickly see how fitting a title for this episode it is. An excerpt here:

And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Studying Abroad?

One point I have been considering in recent days as I finish my final projects and assignments is the optimal approach to adopt for the upcoming finals. In contrast to Monash, my final exams at Purdue are waited somewhere between 15-25%, and for one class I don't have one at all⁹. Moreover, Monash employs a pass/fail paradigm for study exchange programs, meaning that, from their perspective, getting a C+ is as good as an A/A+¹⁰. The good news for me is that, having done well enough across the semester, I would have to essentially receive a 0 on my finals to not pass.

As this fact has come into view, my commitment to putting in a ruthless two weeks of revision has faded rapidly. But this should be a positive thing I think. I will have a few more opportunities to go through the "riveting" process of exam revision, but my days here at Purdue are fatally numbered. To me, it would be a shame to waste those precious hours couped up at my desk pouring over notes and past exam questions. To be sure, I will make certain that I revise the core topics and patch up areas that need patching. But I will not be trying to go the extra mile. Not this semester.

A similar directive extends to some of my additional commitments I have taken up whilst here. I have gotten a lot out of being a part of Purdue Orbital this semester. The people there are lovely and fiercely intelligent, and in particular I've become really good friends with one or two of the other exchange students who joined up for the semester. So, in the effort to maximise the sorts of experiences and relationships that will be permanently lost upon my departure, I've been opting to miss the team meetings the past week in deference to meeting up with said friends for food. And I must say they have been such fulfilling conversations that I couldn't possibly have regrets about this.

Housekeeping

It's been a while since I offered some general observations about life here in America, so let this be me clearing out the backlog that I have been accruing:

1. Grocery shopping is a seriously inconvenient experience. In West Lafayette, you have really two options: (1) the small and expensive Target just past the campus centre, or (2) the Walmart (cheap and large) which is about ~20 minutes away by bus. There are other options, but all of these are even further abroad and/or necessitate getting there by car. Which brings up an important point - if you do not live in a big city, you really need a car here. Living in an Australian town, it is convenient to have one, but it is not necessary. There will inevitably be small local grocers and a Woolworths/Coles within walking distance. And these are entirely sufficient to get access to (reasonably) affordable and healthy food options.
2. Since the basketball season has concluded, I have found myself at a bit of a loose end as to what to do with my weekends. Before, at least a Saturday or Sunday would be dedicated to a match, but now both linger, unfilled on my calendar, at the end of the week. Perhaps I am not looking hard enough, but I have struggled a little to find worthwhile things on campus to do on the weekend. Understandably so, given the majority of people are not adopting my loosey-goosey study policy (see above). Happily, however, with the improving weather there is ample opportunity to sit outside and be content with just that - not having to constantly be doing anything.
3. A few days ago Purdue had their annual day of giving. And no, the direction of giving is not from the university, but rather to it. Remarkably, they raised in 24 hours some $110,000,000. This is compelling on a number of levels. For one, the magnitude of it begins to make sense when you consider just how many students are here, how big the alumni network is, and how deep the pockets are of many associated with the university. But on the other hand, it is a little galling to see. I am sure Purdue does great philanthropic work, and they are by no means the worst offenders when it comes to college funding, but I can't help but think that we would be achieving a lot more if even a percentage of that number went to other causes.

Footnotes