Expanding Horizons

Today we got to sleep in a bit longer since it is finally move in day! I packed all my things in the hotel and headed out to the Quad to check in. When we got there, not many people were checking in yet so the line was practically nonexistent. Our welcome packet consisted of two keys, one for our dorm dorm and one to get into the building itself. They also gave us our schedule for today and tomorrow.  

Once I checked in two very nice volunteers helped me bring all my heavy luggage to the second floor in Lippincott where my room is. To my surprise my roommate was already there getting settled. Her name is Yebin and she is from China. Most people can't pronounce her name so she goes by Betty. She will be doing the Bio-medical course because she is interested in the pharmaceutical industry. Betty seems like a  very sweet and intelligent girl.  I am sure we will get along and become friends during the upcoming 3 weeks.  

For our last lunch together, John took us to a BBQ place called Baby Blues BBQ and we sat in the exact same spot that last year’s cohort sat in. What a coincidence! I got the pulled pork sandwich and ate the sides that John ordered for all of us. The Hushpuppies were my favorites because they were crunchy yet soft in the middle and the sauce they came with complemented them really well. In no time our main courses came out and we ate and talked about school and how tenure is very unfair to young teachers just beginning their careers. When we finished our meals we walked over to the bookstore to get our UPenn sweatshirts and said bye to John and went off on our own. 

Once in the Quad we went to each other's dorms rooms and met everyone's roommates. Allona and I are the only people that have roommates while Kamillah and Chris have singles. They even have a sink in their rooms which I think is very convenient. Chris helped me move my dresser around in my room to free up some of the outlets that were behind it and make my side of the room seem a bit more spacious. This took a very long time because the dresser was very heavy and would not budge at all. By the time he moved it, it was almost time to go out and look for our RCs. My RC was at the airport so I got to hang out with RC Sam and Rife. They were both very nice and played some ice breakers with us. 

When it was time for dinner, we stayed behind for a bit since the dinning hall was incredibly crowded. Rife had a friend on dining common watch who told us when it was the best time to go so we actually had chairs and tables to sit in. I grabbed a burger but it wasn't the tastiest so I only ate half of it and some french fries that made up for the burger. We then came back to the Quad where I finally met Jenna, my RC. She is really short like me and seems like an adventurous person. We got to know our floormates and kept playing icebreakers that turned into a all out rock-paper-scissors tournament.   

After all that fun we got around 30 minutes to relax and unpack before we had another meeting about the rules of the dorms. We have to be in the Quad by 11 PM, be on our floor by 11:30 PM and in our rooms by 12 PM except on the weekends. Jenna also told us about the laundry machines that are free to use and the activity board where we can sign up for many things. After that meeting we came back to the dorm room and I finished unpacking. The room got very cold because for some reason the AC just stays on and can't be turned off. Good thing I brought a very warm blanket! 

I am excited for tomorrow because we will get to celebrate 4th of July by having a cookout and watching the fireworks with all our new peers.