Deeper in

For a few days now I've been telling people that I arrived two weeks ago, but I realize while writing this that it's actually been longer.

On friday the economics department put together an orientation day for the incoming graduate students. We were greeted by a stack of oatmeal cookies, two cardboard cases (?!) of coffee and decaf and a pile of printed name stickers. The day began with some short welcomes and continued with a series of long administrative rambles that lasted through the afternoon. Lunch provided a welcome break and consisted of a bunch of pizzas and salads. It gave us an opportunity to speak with each other, as well as prior students. I also got a chance to meet Maurice Obstfeld - a well known macro economist - whose textbook we used (supposedly) at Tel-Aviv. Later on there was a question and answer session with a group of previous years' students who we met again in the evening for drinks.

As it happens, most of the incoming students arrived only in the past day or two, so they are either knee deep in apartment hunting or else they have temporary setups until late august when they can move into the "international house" (which is essentially a graduate dormitory that is only indirectly related to the university). Having arrived here much earlier, I have already moved in to an apartment and with the more than a little parental assistance I have even furnished and decorated it - quite nicely I think. I haven't taken photos of it yet - that will come - but I can tell you that it's at the edge of downtown Berkeley, within minutes of the university by foot, and that it's bright and colorful. It has large windows facing the street, so I get to see activity other than of the wind and leaves, and on the rear it has a wooden deck that faces greenery down towards the Bay, so I can enjoy both worlds. The floor is wooden, the walls are in different pastels and the color scheme is basically on the blue vs. orange (brown) axis. I like it.

Knowing that the others had just arrived while I already had a home, I waited for people to thin out on friday evening and when only a handful of people near me were left I invited them for lunch at my apartment the next day. As some of you probably realize, this is tricky business, because I tend to eat pasta with ketchup unless someone actively suggests otherwise. Nonetheless I made food and everyone was polite enough to eat it (one person even said it was delicious, but I gather that's just politeness, otherwise it doesn't make sense). Later that afternoon a smaller group of us climbed up the hill behind campus to get a cloud top view of the city (cloud top here is not that big a deal, as the clouds seem to slither near the ground), and on sunday we marched from Market to North-Beach and back, giving them a first glimpse of San-Francisco. As for me, I have been in and out of there several times over the past three weeks and am beginning to get more of a feel for the different areas.

There were four of us including myself: Francois who is from Brussels, and Frank and Martin (Mahh-tin) from Mannheim, Germany. The latter two are exchange students and will only be studying here the first year, although I estimate that one of them will try to stay on. As expected, I am the oldest incoming student so far (some have yet to arrive), but not by much, and it does not seem to be an issue. There are several students from the Far East, quite a few Americans and Canadians, and a large group of South Americans. Aside from the exchange students Francois is the only European and I am the only Israeli. In addition to Frank and Martin there are five (!) more German exchange students expected to join us in late august, so I'm expecting the first year to have a Deutsche sound to it. So far being Israeli has not brought up any negative attention. At one point in the conversation Frank mentioned how on a previous visit to the US he had noticed Americans' exaggerated pride in their nation (and how he promptly proceeded to irritate them on this basis). He explained that he cannot understand pride in something one is randomly born into and that consequently he does not feel proud of his own origin.

The events of the past few days have kept me busy, and thinking surprisingly little about being far from home, family and friends. During the week or so that my parents were here I was worried about the impending feeling of loneliness that was bound to return once they left, but so far it has not hit me. The week with them was, in retrospect, right on the mark. Not only did it help me in the material sense, but we also had a chance to explore San-Francisco and to travel north and south. Apart from the standard tourist sites, we got a glimpse of the De-Young art museum, and its definitely something I want more than a taste of. It is not every day that you get to inspect a Herzog, De-Meron masterpiece up close (A Swiss architecture firm and very much a contemporary bigshot). More importantly, it is one of several museums, so there is still much in store. As for shopping: if consumerism makes a nation fat, then the US is morbidly obese. It is much, much worse here than at home, and despite the usefulness of it, it easily makes you buy much more than you need.

In half an hour I begin my first class. It is a math course that will review things I ought to already know, and as such is not very exciting, but it should be a useful refresher and a precursor of what school will be like later on. Before then I must eat, and figure out where I can print the handouts, so I must be off...