<p>Cocaine is pretty big at most top schools, because some kids are insane and will do anything to stay up all night studying. Then it becomes a habit. Shame.</p>
<p>Tommers:</p>
<p>Smoking up is prevalent around campus but the quality certainly is incomparable to the **** we can get in norcal =)</p>
<p>Yikes, crazy stuff.</p>
<p>Cocaine isn't a hugee thing on campus, there are just a few groups that are really into it.. (The rich frats.. the Castle is notorious, though i'm sure a lot of others have groups within that do it.. also Thetas (sorority) alway seems to be on something..) But I've never actually encountered it when i've gone out or anything.. of course if I wanted it, I could have gotten it i'm sure. </p>
<p>As for weed, it's not that huge either.. I have some friends that smoke up constantly, but again, it's mainly concentrated within a few frats/other groups. It's not totally wide spread.. I actually didn't smoke all year (due to various reasons such as having to pass a drug test to go back to work at home...) but we nearly did one weekend and it was incredibly easy to get stuff.. </p>
<p>Either way, no one is going to pressure you into doing cocaine/weed or even drinking.. people do what they want an pretty much respect other people's ideals.</p>
<p>im way too poor for cocaine. it sucks.</p>
<p>how are language courses at penn? are they really hard or a lot of work? do a lot of ppl take more than one language, especially if they enter already knowing much of another language?</p>
<p>thanks:)</p>
<p>From cocaine to language. I love CC.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the language you take.</p>
<p>For example, I've found Chinese to be substantially more difficult than Spanish ;-)</p>
<p>Penn has a TON of languages to pick from. I suggest you stay away from the beaten path and try something new. I've tried Chinese, I'll be trying Korean, why not learn Arabic?</p>
<p>I was thinking about Russian. But whats the use in that?</p>
<p>Maybe German or Japanese.</p>
<p>German is far more worthless than Russian. Germany's economy and population are shrinking.</p>
<p>Russia has a large (though also shrinking) population, and unlike Germany, has the ability to be a world power.</p>
<p>Japan is so 1980s...if you want to do Asia now, do Chinese ;-)</p>
<p>heheh, i might be taking chinese and hoping to meet the language requirement freshman year... i think its easier to take chinese... but of course i'm biased cuz im chinese <em>wink</em></p>
<p>Penn has anticipated you, and made special Chinese classes for Chinese students who spoke Chinese at home but never really had any reading/writing experience.</p>
<p>Thank God they did, or you Chinese kids would ruin the curve :-P</p>
<p>Johnny...lol...that's great! do they have any classes like that in hindi/gujarati? </p>
<p>i'm planning on finishing french and learning to read/write in hindi and gujarati and possibly starting spanish or italian</p>
<p>anyone have thoughts on how hard those languages are? i sat through a hindi class, btw...i've never had so much fun in class! :p</p>
<p>Sorry, my expertise as to Penn's language offerings are limited to those in East Asia, as well as a general disdain for people who learn French :-D</p>
<p>may i ask from where does this disdain arise?</p>
<p>lol johnny... luckily for me, i went to "chinese" school for 7years (only graduated elementary school). it wasnt much study cuz it was only one day a week for 3hrs, but still, i can read/write... well sorta :)</p>
<p>Are the Chinese classes taught w/ simplified or traditional characters? </p>
<p>And how hard are the reading/writing classes for native speakers?</p>
<p>The books used in Chinese class are printed in dual simplified/traditional versions. You can learn whichever you prefer.</p>
<p>As for disdain for those who learn French, I think it is a waste of time given its small and ever-decreasing relevance in the 21st century.</p>
<p>Well, that can be said of all European languages except Spanish. However, if you had to learn one, and didnt want to take Spanish (which I agree is much more applicable for Americans) then French is undoubtedly one of most useful- not only is it spoken more worldwide than any other European langauge, but to this day it is still considered the "diplomatic language". I believe that the only 2 official languages of the UN are English and French.</p>
<p>Of course, this may be biased coming from someone who is taking his 4th year of French. But then again, I only took French cause the teacher was awesome, I was sick of Spanish, and 2 of my friends were taking it.</p>
<p>The actual diplomatic language is English. Even in the EU, most international discussion is done in English. Over the last 10 years, EUrocrats have attested that the vast majority of paperwork has switched from French to English.</p>
<p>Additionally, The UN has six official languages. English, French, Chinese, Russian, Arabic, and Spanish.</p>