PENN STATE, PART II

Belli chessiete! ecco la seconda mail di Hannah, che mi racconta altre fantastiche amenita` di Penn State!
n-joy!
a breve postero` nuove mirabolanti foto!!!!

ciao a tutti!!!!

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Dearest Alberto,

I about *died* laughing watching that video! It really cracked me up. :)

I have only been to Birmingham once - and it was a about a year and a
half ago, when I came for the SKA/GAIA/LISA conference. This was how I
met Carlo. I must admit that I was not accustomed to the heavy
industrialization that seems to consume most of England in its
architectural form. It would perhaps be harsh to call Birmingham ugly -
as there are some beautiful and interesting parts to it - but not a
place I would ever want to call my home I suppose.

State College is a little different. The University is quite large
(about 2 miles wide), and has its own zip code. The University is also
one of the strongest sources of employment here, with 15,000 staff
serving 42,000 student at this university alone. As a result, there is
what one might call and economic bubble that surrounds the State College
area. State College is a very clean place - because people here tend to
have quite a bit of money. Things in general are well kept. While I
like this aspect of the town, it has a downside that not everyone can
afford to live here. Affordable housing has been a real issue - and
developers and locals (unfortunately I hate to say) have been keen on
removing what little affordable housing that exists here (trailer parks,
etc.) and replacing them with Starbucks Coffee, Wegmans Grocery, and
whatever other consumer whore outlets people shop at these days.

I will tell you quite honestly that one of the biggest complaints that I
hear from post docs and grad students is that State College and Central
Pennsylvania in general is very white. We have a very low minority rate
here - which is sad. You will quickly find that everyone here more or
less looks the same, dresses the same, and unfortunately thinks the
same. I would not let this bother you though. I think you will find
hat there are strong communities of people from all over the world
here. This is afforded naturally because of the shear size of the
University. Many, many, many of the guys I work with (all from other
parts of the world of course) get together regularly to play soccer.
You will also be coming to Penn State during a time when we will be
getting (aside from yourself) - two other Italians. The two others will
be joining our Theory Group under Abhay Ashtekar. We also currently
have a young Sicilian named Eloisa who works in our Numerical Relativity
Group. She is a pistol. She does a great job of pissing off our rather
metrosexual Argentinian Nico. In short - you won't be completely alone. :)

If you are surviving in Birmingham, I am sure you will do fine here.
This place is at least visually a lot more beautiful (IMHO). I dunno
what you will think of the girls and the bars here. We don't really
have pubs around here like those you are familiar with in Britain. We
used to have a great biergarten, but it burned down in a terribly sad
fire. Lastly - you will hate the food. There is no other way to
describe it. The food here sucks. It is nourishment. That is all I
can tell you about it. ;)

At any rate - an early welcome to you! When you get here, we can take
you to the gun range, get you drunk, and show you how to tip cows.
Physics is overrated anyways. ;)

Take care,
--
Hannah