Why I like Princeton.

I wasn't expecting to.

I came here two years ago, only I showed up to the Institute for Advanced Study. To be honest, I wasn't impressed. Don't get me wrong, the academic records of the people there are staggering, but the place itself was kind of underwhelming. There was usually nobody in the common room, and when there was, they were usually reading quietly. And there were no blackboards! Most of all, the place cleared out by 5:00. Where did everyone go? Surely not to explore Princeton's nightlife.

This time, I showed up to Princeton itself (both the university and IAS are in the town of Princeton; within walking distance of each other on a day with pleasant weather). What a great place! I walked into Fine Hall, was welcomed by my collaborator Takashi Taniguchi, and soon ran into lots of other people I knew. The atmosphere was buzzing, with people talking excitedly about math problems and also about much else. I got to play Arul Shankar at chess (and I lost badly), and I was assured the common room is buzzing at midnight. After being there for a few days, I fully believe it.

I had some specific work in mind, and I've worked on that, but that hasn't been the interesting part. I've taken part in a normal of informal and semi-formal math discussions, and also attended a lecture by Peter Sarnak, which turned out to be two and a half hours long (no break) and staggeringly good. And I haven't even met with Manjul yet.

Beyond that, I even got invited to a graduate student party (I have an old friend from San Francisco here), and the grad students have quite a lively life here. The people were pretty awesome -- clever, energetic, and just downright fun. (And, needless to say, seriously smart.)

This place is awesome.

First semester in Columbia.

So I'm basically done for the semester, the calculus exams are graded. Tomorrow evening, like the undergrads, I'll leave Columbia for the entire break. To Princeton for a week to meet some collaborators, home for the holidays, then the AMS Joint Meeting, back in time for my first class.

I've meant to blog more. One day I took my camera around, and took a bunch of photos, and was going to write a blog post about "Things I like about Columbia". The obvious -- beautiful residential neighborhoods -- as well as the nonobvious -- a very useful bike/pedestrian shortcut in a town where few walk or bike. But, there is a special gizmo I need to connect my computer to my camera, and I have no idea where it is. It's in some box I haven't unpacked yet.

I've been variously asked if I've gotten "settled", "adjusted", "used to" Columbia. My dean was told, "Yes, thank you," but the truth is no. I haven't unpacked most of my boxes and South Carolina doesn't feel like home. But then again, I don't -- yet! -- want to be settled. For now, after living a few years each in a couple of amazing places, and knowing all sorts of interesting people who came and went, and getting used to constant change, "settled" doesn't seem to describe anything that appeals to me.

So far anyway, I've kept extremely busy. I have a 2-1 teaching load this year, and I requested the 2 up front. So I taught calculus and analytic number theory, both of which kept me busy. There are some things in my department I don't really like -- a lot of students who come in with very weak backgrounds, and a fatalism on the part of the faculty that much can or should be done about it. However, I have much more good than bad to say about USC math. My fellow professors have been unusually kind, consistently offering me suggestions and helpful advice, telling me what they would do but also letting me know when I don't have to follow their advice. Committee work has been kind of a drag, but it's also illuminating, I've gotten to learn a little bit about how universities run.

I've been on the road a lot. Indeed, I think I've spent less than half of the last four months of weekends in town. I've been to four (four!) conferences over weekends and have travelled elsewhere to give talks as well. Montreal especially was tremendous. I also hosted some visitors, which is a blast.

And on top of that, I wrote an NSF grant proposal, finished two papers, etc. The list goes on. Work is very, very good.

Outside work? I've tried and seen a lot. I went to the State Fair (fried Kool-Aid, anybody?), I saw Gamecocks football (I started feeling pity for our opponents), I played in a (weekly!) duplicate bridge tournament (1.9 MP's!), I went ballroom dancing (mostly older people, but they're very nice). All pleasant and enjoyable -- but, unfortunately, all kind of forgettable. Everything I've done so far compares to something else I've done on a bigger scale. The one thing that has been genuinely unique is my yoga studio -- I've been to excellent yoga classes before, but this place has a unique Southern twist to it. It annoyed me at first (c'mon people, bound side angle is not that hard), but it's grown on me, and one day they coaxed a full side crow out of me (which Yoga Tree in SF never did).

Now there is a lot that I know about that I haven't yet explored. I haven't yet been to the UU congregation in my neighborhood, nor the Buddhist meditation circle which meets on Wednesdays. I've been to Art Bar a couple times, but it seems to be home to the local counterculture and I haven't fully explored it yet. There is also apparently an excellent karate teacher in town, and I have badly missed the martial arts.

So in the new year I hope to have it both ways. I hope to keep up the serious math -- which has been a huge solace this fall, as I have left behind so much that I love. But I'll be looking for some serious distractions, in whatever form (people, activities, organizations, ...) -- the kind that grab on your heart and wrench, hard. ;)