Fourth of July, I think?

Today once again, I was lucky to be able to sleep in until 8 AM. I’ve gotten to catch up on my sleep and I don’t feel jet lagged anymore which is a huge improvement because I can fully enjoy my days now. At around 9:30 AM my floor mates, RC and I left to go get a tour of the part of Philly we can be in. It goes through a lot of food shops as well as some interesting bookstores like The Last Word bookstore That I have to go check out. The tour was relatively short since Jenna and Rife only showed us the boundaries and not everything inside the lines.

Leaving for the tour

When we got back to the Quad, we got some free time to freshen up before we went to the LOVE statue to get some delicious D.C donuts. I left around 12:30 pm to go to the statue. The promised donuts had not arrived yet so me and a couple of floor mates decided to chat to pass time. With me were Betty, Helen, Therese, and Amber and we talked about various topics like musical preferences and culture in our respective schools. We also talked about where each of us are from; Betty and Helen are both from China, Therese is from New Jersey, and Amber is from New York. The donuts had finally arrived and we got the ones we wanted and went back to chatting. I had a great appreciation for the small schedule I had as we compared schedules. Some of them had up to nine classes and little to no break time in between. Once our donuts were finished we headed up to one of our dorms where we all hung out for a while before we headed out to a barbeque. I got a hot dog, a bit of potato salad, and a slice of watermelon. We chitchatted a bit more and when we finished Therese, Betty, Helen, and I went for a small walk.

Safety portion of the orientation

where the orientation took place

We got back from our walk just in time for the orientation. The orientation was just a big “do’s & don’ts” led by a guy named Eli Lesser. He also talked about responsibilities and keys to good decision making. There was also a talked on safety with more keys to good decisions which swayed along to things that will cause an expulsion. That’s just the usual “don't do drugs or illegal activities.” Rife also talked to us about activities that we can participate in on the campus. I wanted to sign up for some that took place from Monday through Wednesday but I was too late as the sign ups for the activities had opened earlier and by the time I got there they were all completely full. I’ll be sure to make it on time come Wednesday so that I can do the activities planned for Thursday and Friday. Orientation had just wrapped up and I was still eager to explore so Amber, Therese and I went to walk around some more, despite the fact that it started to drizzle.

Amber, Therese and I decided to go to Shake Shack  but we forgot to check if it was going to be open so when we got there, lo and behold, it was closed! Our hunger however did not close shop and leave to celebrate the 4th of July so we went to Cosi. A restaurant that is in a way a cross between Chipotle and Panera Bread (not a very good one at that). When we got there we had to wait for a pretty long time for them to take our order and there wasn’t even a line of people. The food itself wasn’t completely horrible but it was bland to me. After that very unpleasant situation, we went to get gelato at Capogiro that was a few blocks away. I got the Champagne Mango and Banana flavors which were amazing. We kept chatting and having fun until it was time to leave.

Fireworks where nowhere to be seen

After the delicious gelato, we came back to to freshen up since we were a bit damp from the drizzle. I put on my jacket and was ready to go when it was time to leave for the fireworks. The only problem was that it was raining even harder than before! Still I believed and went to see the fireworks either way. After a long and wet walk, we got to the waterfront and the sky was full of grey clouds making the festive buildings looks depressing. I was really disappointed because I was really looking forward to it since I got accepted to UPenn. Even when it wasn’t raining it didn’t feel like 4th of July because there wasn’t anything festive  throughout the program or city for that matter.

Amber, Helen and I walking back to the dorm

With sad faces we came back to our dorms and relaxed for our big first day of class tomorrow. I am going to still see Amber because we are both in social justice but Therese is in the math course. Even if I didn’t get the celebration for 4th of July that I was expecting,my day was relaxed yet very fun. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me and my class. I am ready to hit the ground running!