Monday, July 6, 2015

It begins at UPenn

 This morning I woke up at 9:00 a.m. feeling excited and scared all at once.  All because I knew today was the day that we would be moving into the campus. I had no idea what to expect but I knew that I was going to have fun. We met downstairs at the front desk to check out and begin our walk to the university.



As we walked we talked about how we hoped our roommates would be like if we had any. Everybody basically just said they hoped their roommate(s) were nice. We all just hoped for the best when it came to dorms, roommates, and location.  

When we made it to the Quadrangle the first thing we saw was a huge line. The closer we got the more hectic it seemed but fortunately there were summer discover staff all over the place to help keep things organized. A young man came and helped us load all of our luggage into cardboard baskets (with wheels). Then we went and stood in line to be checked in with our program. As I was standing in line one of the staff came and asked me if I had been checked in yet . And because I hadn't she asked for my name and checked me in while I was in line which was really cool.


After, we all checked in we went to another tent in the quad (center of campus) to check in again and get a backpack, lanyard, tee shirt, and wallet. We also received an undergraduate Identification card to get our food and to have access to certain facilities. In my personal belief, I feel as though this I.D card is more than an I.D card it is a key to a whole new world.


With that being said when we entered into the campus one of the summer discover staff came to help us locate our dorm locations. Which happened to be the hardest challenge I hope to face. I say that it was a hard challenge because we had to locate the building, open the "old" doors, and haul all of my luggage upstairs (with the help of the staff member). For it being a Sunday it was a little overwhelming.After, I brought my things in to my dorm room I went back downstairs to find that I didn't know anyone there. The reason being was that it was the first day and all of my cohort lives in a different section of the quad, but we are relatively close to one another.

When I didn't see any of my cohort I went and sat down at a bench by myself waiting for everybody because we were going to go to lunch with John. The first person to comeback outside was Rudy but he went back inside after about 5 minutes because it was hot, so I sat there alone for a little while. In a couple of minutes I had met my dorm counselor and then everybody came back from there dorms and we went to lunch.Before, we went to lunch we stopped of at the class of 1928 building which housed students as well as the summer discovery office.

There we met Eli Lesser the director of the non-degree programs. He is a very nice man who also knows great places to eat. I say that because he told John where they have donuts and fried chicken. Our original plans were to go out to a barbecue restaurant but when we go there it was closed. So, we made a bad decision to go to an "East-Coast Mexican Food restaurant". The food wasn't at all good. I hoped for a more evident presence of flavor in my steak quesadilla.But, it was what happened to be opened at the time.

After, we ate we walked back to the quad because we had to be there to play icebreaker games with our group (shared the same counselor) and room counselor. In the beginning , like with any group activity everybody started off shy but as we did more we all began to open up a little more. A twist then catches everyone off guard, that was another group coming to join us. Which made it awkward again. And that pattern continued until every student and staff in the summer discovery was standing in a gigantic circle in the quad. We played icebreakers for nearly 3 hours which was really fun but I was tired because I had just moved in, yet I didn't feel as tired as the people who flew in internationally.

When we finished the icebreakers I had met so many new people and that was really awesome. Everybody has been really nice to each other as far as I know. I feel like everybody in my building is going to be nice to each other for the entire program because we are so "laid back". 

Later on, my cohort and I decided to go see each others dorms and meet each others roommate if they had one. The only people who have a roommate in my cohort is Chiamaka, Rudy, and Joanne while Jun, Justeen, and I have singles. My dorm is in Fitler hall an it closest to Jun's, her dorm is literally two hallways away from mine. My room is right in front my counselors room which is kind of funny.

As we toured each others dorms I saw my counselor and she said for me to meet her and the group in front of the Hopkins building. At the time I had no idea where it was but as we continued to walk around I realized that the building was right next to mine. When we met we had to discuss the rules and regulations of the dorm.When we completed that she took us on a walk around the quad to show us the sign-in room, laundry room, and the office. Quite conveniently, all of this happens to be in the '28 building. After, she showed us everything we had to sign-in and once we completed that we got to leave because she had sign-in duty too. 

It was at least 10:00 p.m. when everything was over and my cohort and I had to do laundry because of our previous travels.One of the girls in my group had over heard us planning when we were going to meet to do the laundry and she asked me if she could come with us. I told her that she could along with another girl in my group. When we went in there was a very little amount of washers available so I had to wait until about 10;45 to wash my load of clothes. At that point I was really beginning to get worried because we had a rule that said for us to be back on our floor at 11;30 and I knew I wouldn't have enough time but I had to wash my clothes. I took the chance but fortunately the washer only took 22 minutes but I ran into a real time issue with the dryers those take 50 minutes. The only person who had to finish there washing was Chiamaka but Joanne decided to wait with us until 11;25 because we were in her dorm building but ours were across the courtyard. It felt like every minute was taking forever yet the time seemed to be going by extremely fast. At 11;27 I made the conscientious decision to just take my clothes out and just run back to my dorm. Right when I stepped on to my floor (the 3rd floor and I ran there from downstairs in the '28 and up both flights of stairs in my building)the clock said 11;30.

Although, me running up the stairs wasn't as interesting as a girl who stays across the hall from me putting like a hundred paper towels on her floor. I looked into her room and I realized it was water from her sink so I went into check my sink. Only to sadly discover that I had the exact same problem as her and two other girls on my floor.In total 4 sinks back up simultaneously. It looked gross but the counselors came and helped clean it all up and plus it didn't have a smell. After, all of that cleaning and running I took a shower at 11;45 but I knew I had to clean the stuff of the floor and most definitely, take a shower. I again took a time risk and got in. When I got out I had a enough time to start brushing my teeth before a counselor came and knocked on the door.I checked the time and it was only 12;08 yet it didn't give me grounds to be late. Although, the cleaning of my floor did.

Although, all of that happened I still had a fantastic first day and I know tomorrow will be even better because I start class!  





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