The Septa,Downtown,Philly Cheese-Steak,and The 4th of July

I had a fantastic day today, we did so many things. To start my day I woke up “late” well 9:30 a.m. to be exact, although I planned to wake up at 9:00 a.m. But that didn’t stop us from doing everything we planned to do.

The very first thing we did was catch the Septa, from 34th 2nd street. We did a bit of “ touring” ( courtesy of John Hillyer) of Historic District and the Old City of Philadelphia. Before we went on our tour we had breakfast at The Continental. I had french toast with a side of turkey bacon it was pretty good but I think the french toast could have been a  little sweeter and the bacon was fairly greasy to be turkey bacon. After, we ate our breakfast right when we were leaving the restaurant and a parade started. We watched it for awhile but it was raining the whole time so, we left.

Independence Hall

In the Historic District we saw Independence Hall. It is known as the famous birthplace of the United States because the Declaration of Independence signed and the Constitution was debated and signed there. We also, went to Carpenters Hall which is located a few minutes away. This hall is known for hosting the first Continental Congress meeting in 1774. The inside and outside were gorgeous and well kept. My favorite part of Carpenters Hall was the fireplaces at each end of the room.

Carpenters Hall

When we were in Old Town we saw the First National Bank of the United States. And because our chaperon is a US history teacher he was overjoyed to drop some history on us. We also, saw the second National bank Of the United States. As well as the excavation of Ben Franklin's house. Next, we went to the mall for awhile which was cool.

We went back to the hotel for 3 hours and then we left again to go watch the fire works by the Schuylkill river. The fire works were beautiful and I had a really great time!

In the end I had a great 4th of July in Philly and I would do it again. A billion times over!

First Place Winner! Undefeated Champion at Rock Paper Scissors!

Today was an amazing first day! I started my day at 8 a.m. it was a great morning I called packed all my bags, posted my blog from the previous day since I didn't finish because was dead tired the night before from all the fun we had. I then texted john to figure out breakfast. He gave me about 30 minutes to get ready. He invited everyone but the girls were busy and didn't make it. We had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, it was my first time there and the change of food felt great. We checked out CVS and then headed back to the hotel. We were downstairs in 10 minutes since it was already 11 o'clock.

Hopkinson Dorm is Where I Am Staying.

Our walk to the dorms was not bad at I thought it would be. Since I had to carry all my bags I though it would be a pretty bad walk but it was pretty decent. Once we got here I was full of energy and went signed in and got to my dorm as fast as I possibly could. All the summer discovery RCs were wonderful they were all so cheerful and nice! Especially my RC, Gervon, that recognized me at first sight. It felt really welcoming and I thank him for taking his time and memorizing my face and name! I dropped of my things and organized my luggage fairly quickly. Then we all went to the summer discovery office and met Eli! He was awesome! He  was very nice and courteous, he asked about our blogs and talked he even joked around about the food posts previous ILC students had done. It felt great to meet someone someone who was this exited to read our blogs! I would like to thank everyone who takes time out of their busy day to read our blogs, you are all so very wonderful and we appreciate it very much!

My Feelings Towards My Readers! 

As we were heading out we saw Eli yet again. He gave us advice and told us about a great donut place that also sold fried chicken. We went to check it out and the donuts were scrumptious. Not everyone wanted fried chicken so we went to another restaurant that was sadly closed today, but john was prepared and took us to Mad 4 Mex, we had a lovely lunch and then went to CVS again to get essentials. All I needed was sunscreen so my shopping as quick and small. Meanwhile I felt left out from all the things the girls got, everyone had gotten so much stuff it made me wonder if I needed anything else.

Our Dorm Looks Amazing!

We headed back to our dorms after we finished shopping. We said goodbye to john and all said we would miss him. Our life for the next three weeks had officially started! I came to my dorm and got to meet my roommate for the first time! As soon as I saw him I instantly knew it would be a great summer! His name is Stephen Lee, he is from So-Call and he is an awesome guy! He is very friendly, nice, considerate and just an amazing roommate. He was okay with my cohort checking out my room and even nice enough to join us on our quest of room seeing. We all had a great time checking out everyone else's rooms. We saw Josh, one of Stephens first friends here this summer and he also joined us. We made it to Jun's room and split up. The guys and us went down to check out the pool table. We found it and were joined by Will another friend I go to make today! We played until 5, dinner time.

Dinner went well, we walked about three blocks down to the cafeteria and the food was great. Especially the way you could eat till you were stuffed. I sat with all the friends I made. We headed back to the dorms, Stephen, Will and I walked alone since we lost sight of our RC at the cafeteria. We got to the dorms where all the groups were having icebreakers. we found our group and joined another group in doing icebreakers! We played move your butt if, it was basically the post man game, a game where you said something about yourself and whoever was the same had to switch spots and the last person in the middle got to be the post man. It was an amazing game and by the end of it people knew my name. Basically everyone joined us and we all formed a huge circle. I challenged myself to speed walk across the circle and not be last everytime. The game ended well and we transitioned into a Rock Paper Scissors game that was an elimination game so only the undefeated could move forward. I somehow ended up undefeated and went for the first place. We were tied and I was sweating, with the unforgiving sun beating down on me I looked straight into my opponent's eyes and for the last nerve wreaking pick I picked scissors and she picked paper. I could not believe my eyes! I had won! With a roar from the crowd and my very supportive RC cheering for me I celebrated with a cheer. We had some more icebreaker in small groups and then headed in to have a meeting with my RC and dorm friends who are all amazing by the way. We went over all the basics and things we needed to know and then check out the office, post office inside the dorms and a meeting room. To get to the meeting room we walked to the top floor of our dorm and made our way all the way around, in though a library lobby and into the meeting room which also happened to be the pool table room where we played earlier.

Top Floor Hallway, Gorgeous 

We headed back, I took a shower and went right to bed after I posted my blog. Thank you again for reading our blogs!

First Day = New Experiences

After yesterday's outing, I was so exhausted that I could not open my eyes. I had about 6 hrs. of sleep, which could've been worse, but I just wanted to lay in my bed for a couple more hours. I woke up at around 9:30 AM, which was perfectly fine, considering the fact that we had to walk over to campus by 11 AM. Sadly, this did not allow time for breakfast, but our lunch at Mad Mex University City made up for it. 

We first dropped off our things at the Quadrangle dorm, and we also checked in and received our ID cards, our keys, and a free bag that says "Summer Discovery." When I saw my picture on the ID, I was so embarrassed. That was definitely an unflattering photo. Anyways, once we checked in, they made us go through these gates where you had to slide your ID and enter a pin number to go through. My first couple of tries didn't work, but I eventually got the hang of it.

We then brought our luggage inside through a giant crate that was made out of cardboard, and we each went our separate ways to our dorms. I was placed into the Morris dorm, and I also had some difficulties here. When I tried to unlock the door to the building, the key felt like it was going to break because of how difficult turning it was. With the help of one of the Summer Discovery counselors, I was able to go in. The entrance didn't necessarily give off a luxurious feel, but you get what you get. I entered the elevator with my luggage, and we went all the way up to the 4th floor. A lot of the counselors were talking about how the elevator was broken, but we still went in anyways, which was pretty terrifying.

I finally found my room, and I was having problems yet again. This time, my key did not want to turn, and was really difficult to open. I managed to do it after a few tries, but I knew that I had to learn how to do it in one try. Once I went inside the room, I had a lot of mixed feelings. On one hand, I was disappointed that I was in a single, but on the other hand, I was glad that I was able to have a room to myself. It's kind lonely being by myself, but I'll definitely be fine. I just hope that I won't lock myself out of my room. 

After we set our luggage down, we all met up with Mr. Hillyer in the quad area, and we walked to the Summer Discovery office. There, we met Eli, one of the head officers in charge of the entire program. We briefly talked a bit, and he mentioned that he was going to start reading our blogs. Hopefully, everyone enjoys our blogs.

Mounrain of Nachos

When we finished chatting, we then went out for lunch at the Mad Mex that I had mentioned earlier. We were actually supposed to go eat barbecue at a restaurant, but both barbecue places we had walked to was actually closed. Also, for some reason, our cohort was rowdier than usual today, and I'm guessing it's because it was going to be the last time we would all be together with Mr. Hillyer for a while. While we ate, we laughed and joked more than usual, which made me think about how much I'm going to miss spending every single day with them. I would still be able to see everyone, but we would probably be in our own groups. Anyways, I didn't actually enjoy this restaurant too much. Although the food was great, the serving sizes were much too big to eat. It was mostly because of their service to us, since we were practically ignored the entire time and our food took extremely long. Nonetheless, it was still an enjoyable meal with our group.

On our way back

After lunch, we finally walked back to the dorms and said our goodbyes to Mr. Hillyer. I was still going to see him around, but it doesn't change the fact that we were all going to miss him. We went to our dorms first to finish packing, then our cohort regrouped to explore the area. During this time, I was able to meet a lot of different people in a lot of different programs. What I noticed was that most people were going to be attending the Law and the Social Justice courses. I was trying to find someone that was going to attend the Physics course, but I couldn't seem to find anyone. I actually wonder how many students are going to be in the class.

We visited each other's rooms, and when it was finally 4:30 PM, we went back to our own rooms to wait for the meeting time with our Residential Counselors (RCs).  My meeting time with my RC was at 6 PM, so I ended up just exploring the floor and fixing my room. I looked around the bathroom, only to find that there were only two stalls and two showers for an entire floor. I went back to my room to finish unpacking, and found that I actually liked having the room to myself. After I was done, I simply said hi to all of my neighbors, and we just chatted until it was time to go to dinner.

Everyone on my floor walked with our RC to the 1920 Dining Commons, and I was surprised that the line was long, considering the fact that dinner started at 5. The food wasn't as good, which was expected, but it was decent enough. After eating, we just went to the quad again to do some ice breakers with other groups. We ended up throwing a ball with questions on it, and we answered the  question that our hand touch, and many other short games. These were great ways to get to know each other, even just a little bit.

Afterwards, we did a mini orientation, and everyone went their separate ways. The girls on my floor decided to hang out, so we just went in Shanon and Kelli's (my neighbors) room and play the human pretzel. It was almost 10 PM at that time, and so I decided to do my laundry before it was time to go to our dorms at 11:30 PM. At the laundry room, I was joined by Elexis, Joanne, Jun, and Chiamaka, and we just had a short "blogging party" while we waiting for our clothes to be dried. I finally made it back to my dorm at around 11:20, and I just got ready for bed.

Today was a very long and exhausting day. I learned so much about the diversity of the people attending this program, and I can't wait to finally meet my classmates in the Physics course. I hope tomorrow will be amazing!

The beautiful campus of UPenn

Not a Great Start

Disclaimer: Due to the WiFi shortage, I will be posting pictures shortly. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Update: Here are the photos!

Last night's trip to downtown Philly drained the  last bits of energy from me. I woke up at 9:30AM but was reluctant to get up because it would then mark the end of our college trip. I got ready to say goodbye to our hotel room for the last time and headed downstairs to meet up with the rest of the cohort. At 11AM, we started heading down to our UPenn dorms to check in. There were unexpectedly a lot of people already there checking in.

Upon entering my room, I felt something odd. Real odd. It smelled bad. Real bad. The carpet absorbed all kinds of smells and the AC just made it worse. I guess I'll have to get used to the smell. I  settled in and took all the space available since I was assigned a singles room. There's bound to be lonely times but I do enjoy the quietness at night.

Before heading to fill our tummies, we visited the head coordinator for this summer program, Eli. His humor very much reminded me of Don, our ILC coordinator. Our cohort very much appreciated his interest in reading our blogs and thanked him for his time to introduce himself to us.

Mr. Hillyer took us out to lunch for the "last" time and originally we were supposed to go to a delicious BBQ restaurant but they were closed for the holiday weekend. Mad Mex, a Mexican restaurant, was picked at last. I ordered Wings-O-Rito which consisted of classic buffalo wings within a burrito. To be honest, I had expected it to be saucy and scrumptious but that definitely wasn't the case. It wasn't the flavor I was hoping for but I guess it was because I'm from California.

Interior of the restaurant

Large servings of okay nachos

Looks scrumptious, but not really...

Our floor's RA, Amber, took us to dinner at 5PM and that's when I got introduced to the Penn commons. The food was decent and it protrays typical dorm food. Our floor members headed back to the Quad ( the center grassland for all our dorms) and played several ice breaker games to lighten the mood. We played several games "Move Your Booty" was played to get to know each other within our dorm but later on it turned to a massive circle of Ro-Sham-Bo. Later on Amber reviewed the rules and regulations for these three weeks. The pre-orientation ended around 8:30PM and I decided to make use of this time to take a shower before heading to check in at 9:30PM. This was when things got crazy. I had everything I needed and headed down to the shower stall. The moment I hung my things onto the hook, the water suddenly sprung to life and soaked all my clothes wet. I was horrified as my current clothes and my night clothes were wet. I tried closing the shower head but luck was not coming my way. Turns out that it was broken and now I had to walk back to my room soaked. Thank god my room wasn't that far.

Nothing was going right because my WiFi decided to suddenly stop working. I eventually had to type my blog on my smartphone while waiting for my laundry to finish at 11:20PM. This was not the best way to start my academy experience but I will not let this get into my way. Tomorrow is a new day and new adventures coming my way so who's got time to be feeling down! Not me!

First Day at UPenn

Today is the day that we checked into the program. Of course I’m very anxious and all the worst case scenarios are crossing my mind, but I try my best to push it to the back of my mind in order to be positive. I had an extra couple hours of sleep today just to make sure I would be well rested. Once were downstairs, we walked a couple blocks over to sign in.

I was the first person in my room so I got to claim one of the beds in my room. All I did was make my bed before I met everyone else down by the quad. We walked over to lunch but the place John planned for us was closed. I was really disappointed because I was craving barbecue but we settle for a Mexican restaurant. I ordered a burrito that was way too big for me, and I had butterflies so I just wasn’t feeling food at the moment.

We made our way back to the quad and said our final goodbyes. I think that’s when it finally hit me that this was it. No more traveling and sleeping in hotels with our cohort. It’s sort of bittersweet, but mostly bitter.

I was mostly nervous about what my roommate would be like but I had nothing to worry about. My roommate, Lisa, is from China and heard about the program from the internet. She came to Philadelphia yesterday with friend. She plays the flute and travels a lot with her Orchestra. She is a very frequent traveler, and has been to Europe, Japan, and different states around the country. She’s very easy going and it’s not hard at all to have a conversation with her. I think I lucked out and I’m happy with who I ended up with so far.

After our dinner in the 1920 cafeteria, we all met in the quad and played some ice breaker games. I don’t think the ice breaker games were very efficient because I don’t remember most people’s names. The groups were too big so it was hard to remember so many names at once. My roommate and I sort of stuck together throughout the games. Most of the people in my RC group are all still kind of awkward but I guess that’s what happens when you meet people for the first time. I just can’t wait for the awkwardness to stop so everyone can be comfortable with each other.

Our laundry/blogging party

I met up with Jun, Justeen, Joanne, and Elexis to do some laundry and blog. We decided to make a pact and try to hang out with each other whenever we can. We are looking at the calendar provided and trying to do some of the events planned together.

Overall, I’m very excited for the new experience. I’m nervous for my class tomorrow but I guess that’s a problem for tomorrow. 

Walking in the Light and Shadows of Philly

I slept at 2 A.M. last night and took advantage of the fact that we didn't have to wake up early in the morning. I already knew that it was July 4th and wasn't quite excited about the date. I was more excited about the stuff we were going to do. There's a lot to explore in the city and it's very historic so  there's a lot of learning to do. The weather was like a regular day in the Bay Area, in the low 70s, except more humid. 

Everyone met at the lobby and we went off to eat breakfast. Mr. Hillyer took us to the subway which was underneath the city. He said that every ride was $2.25 no matter how close or far we went. We left on 34th Street and our destination was on 2nd Street. The subway felt like there was no ventilation so it was very humid and hot. It looked run down and old but the trains arrived very fast.  Mr. Hillyer found a restaurant called The Continental which was a bar and restaurant. I ordered a Belgian Waffle with seasonal fruit and a side of bacon. I usually don't eat food other than eggs and bread in the morning so this was new to me. The food was refreshing and made me full. Time after time, Mr. Hillyer does not fail to disappoint with food! 

Lucky for us, after we walked out of the restaurant the parade had just started. We stood on the curb watching the parade and got to see the Mayor of Philadelphia, Miss Philadelphia 2015, Miss USA, Miss New Jersey 2015, the police commissioner (who was named Charles Ramsay), and much more. It had started to rain but thankfully the rain was light. It was great to watch the parade because it showed us how diverse Philadelphia was and how special each group was. After watching the parade for about an hour and a half, we walked to Old City in Philadelphia. We went "inside" the structure of  Benjamin Franklin's house and looked under these glass windows and saw remnants of Benjamin Franklin's house. Mr. Hillyer told us that in the colonial times, people had holes dug outside their home in order to use the bathroom and then would cover it. Their version of a plumber was somebody who removed all the waste from the well occasionally. It's nice having a history as our chaperone because Mr. Hillyer told us a lot background information about the buildings. 

Group pic in front of the parade

Independence Hall

Every historical building was within walking distance and it took us at least 5 minutes to walk to another historical building. We went inside the Carpenters' Hall which held the first Continental Congress. Everything was well preserved and there were even people portraying famous leaders from the colonial. I talked to the impersonator, whose name I forgot, and thought that he was Benjamin Franklin. If he was Benjamin Franklin, I was going to say "Can you get me some Benjamins?" but he said that he was not and I could find 18 other Benjamin Franklins on the street. Mr. Hillyer took a group picture of us with him and thanked him for all the things he told us. Mr. Hillyer took us to see the very first national bank of the United States but unfortunately it was not open. I was impressed by how the beautiful the columns were and that they were hand crafted because nowadays most are usually carved by laser. Then we walked to a small courtyard and rested for a little while. The courtyard was dedicated to President Lyndon B. Johnson's wife; it was well maintained and calming. 

Carpenters' House held the First Continental Congress

The bathroom

Mr. Hillyer could see that we were getting hungry so he took us down to the subway and decided to get Philly Cheesesteaks in North Philly. He took us through the subway, which was like a maze, to get to the train that would take us to North Philly. All the subways were very dim and narrow and almost felt like there is no room to stand or sit if it was full. When we got off the station, the Philly Cheesesteak was in front of us. I ordered a mushroom steak with Provolone cheese. We saw how the cooks cooked it and it seemed very simple but making it ourselves is one thing and observing it is another. I remember Mr. Hillyer said that the neighborhoods in Philly change very quickly and while sitting down and eating my cheesesteak, I could see that on the left side there were nice buildings towards City Hall and on the right side the building were run down and abandoned. It was a very eerie sight to see because of the inconsistency. 

An authentic Philly Cheesesteak

We went back to our hotels and rested for the next three hours. Rudy decided to go to the pool to swim while Chiamaka, Jun, Elexis, Justeen, and I decided to have some fun in the fitness room. We pretended to work out but really we were just testing out the equipment and having fun. Everyone met up at 8 P.M. in the lobby and walked from the hotel to the Museum of Art to see the fireworks. We walked towards the food trucks to a large T.V to see the concert which was almost inaccessible.  I wasn't familiar with the bands who were playing in the concert tonight. We waited until 12 A.M. to see the fireworks and it was amazing. But too bad they didn't do a firework that had the American flag because that would have been very awesome and right for the occasion. Right after the fireworks, we walked back and the whole streets were crowded. People kept pushing and shoving each other and drivers were being so aggressive to the point that their cars were on the crosswalk. 

Happy Birthday America

I Saw The Lights!

 Today I woke up to a horrible phone call from my friends in California, I was kinda happy they called even though they were rude and called me at 7 am. I went back to sleep and got up at 9:35. I goot ready and went downstairs by 10 as told by John. I was feeling a bit sleepy but nonetheless I was feeling great! We had a little meeting and went to 30th station which was on 30th street. We took the train down to 2nd street and it was a very different experience than that to taking Bart or Muni in the bay. The stops were much closer together and they were much quicker.

And So Begins Another Wonderful Day Without Sunshine!

Once we got to 2nd street we were all hungry and ready to eat! We found a diner and had a very lovely breakfast. As soon as we exited the diner the parade passed by! We changed plans and stayed to watch the whole parade, it was my first time watching a 4th of July parade and it was awesome! We saw everything from a wawa sponsored floats to all the fire trucks in Philadelphia. Although it rained through most of the parade we had a lot of fun and even danced with some people that were in the parade! The fun didn't end there, we then went to see Benjamin Franklin's home although it wasn't there there was an outline of where it would have been and we saw the excavation of the original house. We then walked through the historical parts of Philadelphia and saw many places that were old and beautiful as well as important like the first continental congress building or the first American bank building. We went to try to see the liberty bell but the line would have taken ages to end so we just waited and listened the 13 rings today. They sounded wonderful and smooth with a low tone. We walked to the mall where we explored and then headed back to the hotel, on our way to the hotel john asked if we wanted to eat Philly cheese stakes and we all agreed to go get some. It we switched trains though what seemed like a maze and got to the right spot right away.

There is Beauty in Everything

Broken up Panoramic

The Fresh Prince of Bell Air was Right! Philly Cheese Stakes are The Best!

The stakes were no joke, they were scrumptious! We finished relatively fast and headed back to the hotel. It didn't take long even though we missed the second train when we transferred, they only take about 5 minutes to pass. We got to our hotel and had 3 hours to ourselves, I spent that time by going swimming for half of it and then coming back to work out a little before taking a shower. I then watched Netflix till it was time to leave. We left and walked across the bridge and at the side of the river. When we were passing by the river john told us that there were fireflies there. I looked but didn't see anything yet until the whole grass area was lit up by three radiant green lights that dashed up and sideways on top of the grass. It was beautiful and it was followed by more shinning green lights the whole grass area was filled with them! I saw the lights and everything else and it was all so very beautiful. 

John and I being silly

We continued walking to the concert and took a bathroom break before we entered the most crowded area. The concert was fun and exiting although I don't know all of the songs that were played and couldn't make sense of most of the lyrics. We all had fun for a while and then headed back to see the fireworks that were supposed to take place at 10:30. It wasn't that way but we got to hang out with each other as group for a bit longer. As we were giving up hope and started walking back we heard a loud sound wave and looked back at various stripes of light. The fireworks had begun! The show was amazing there were happy faces and even an "A". It went on for about half an hour and the last part light up the whole area, it was like a rain of multi-colored lights making the atmosphere happy and cheerful as well as beautiful.

Our Cohort!

We ended our night with a slice of pizza and we were all exhausted. Once I got to my room I turned off all the lights, put music on, said goodnight to my loved ones and worked on my blog but fell asleep before finishing. What a great way to spend America's birthday!!!

Happy 4th!!!

Guess Penn Rained on Our Parade

We had sort of a late start to our day, meeting down at the lobby at around 10:20. I was very excited about today because Fourth of July is one of the best holidays out there. Everyone does it big and there is always something fun to do. I had very high expectations for today and almost all of them were met.

at the train station

I coordinated my outfit today so I had a little bit of Red, White, and Blue going on. We first took the train down some blocks to a cute diner. I ordered a Belgian waffle with a side of bacon because John said it would be a good idea to eat light due to the heavy walking the day had in store. Once we finished our breakfast, we walked out of the diner and was surprised with a parade. Different groups, such as firefighters, beauty queens, and bands walked the streets despite the light rain. The parade made me fall in love with the Philadelphia area even more. There is so many different communities in the city and I believe that they were represented pretty well in the Parade. My personal favorite part of the parade would be Rudy's short dance contest with one of the performers.

Where Benjamin Franklin's house would have been

We walked around Philadelphia for some sight seeing. We saw the First and Second National Banks of America, Benjamin Franklin's house, and the Liberty Bell. All of these really small parts of history was really cute to witness in person. I like learning history and being in the center of where America was essentially born was nice. I also liked looking at the architecture and locations of buildings where "big" things happened for our country. Overall, Philadelphia is a really cool city. I think that I am a Philadelphian at heart. Everything about the city impresses me, there is always something to do or see.

We stopped by Jimmy G's Cheese Steaks up in North Philly. I have never had a Philly Cheese Steak before so it was nice to actually try one in Philadelphia, where it was authentic and delicious. We took the rest of our food with us and made our way back to the hotel for a small break. The girls decided to utilize the hotel's Fitness center, but we just ended up sitting and talking on the patio. Jun and Elexis actually worked out a bit. We also got a head start on our blogs. Our blogs were hard to start up and the Sheraton's WiFi wasn't making it any faster for us. The WiFi is very weak even with Ethernet cables, and is very hard to work with.

On, the bright side, we all got together at around 8 o'clock for the concert. I thought that the line up for the concert was kind of weak, and there was only about 2 artists that could possibly put on a decent show. Miguel was the most anticipated artist so he probably performed last. We didn't stay long enough to find out. The smell of smoke and greasy food made it hard for me to focus on the concert itself. We separated ourselves from the crowd and looked for a a place to sit for the fireworks. The fireworks started later than we anticipated and we were on our way back to the hotel when it started. Most of our view was covered by trees but the part that we did see, was beautiful. For me, Fourth of July fireworks are not always the best part of the holiday. I like seeing everyone else's inner patriot showing. We witnessed a group of college boys shouting USA, USA, USA, at the top of their lungs; and that's what I think Fourth of July is all about. That is probably why it is one of my favorite holidays. We stopped for Pizza on our way back to the hotel, and I guess one could say that I got to deal with someone with authentic "Philly-tude." The man serving us our pizza just did not seem happy, I guess when you think about it, who would be happy serving a bunch of strangers pizza at 12 o'clock at night, on a Holiday?

Our second day in Philly was definitely an adventure and I would not change a thing about it, even the things that went wrong. The rain during the parade, the rowdy teenagers, and the bad music is probably what we'll remember in a couple years and laugh. I like making memories, and this will probably be marked as a good day for me in my memory bank (was that cheesy?)

Happy Fourth

Tomorrow is our check-in day for our academy and my only fear is that my roommate won't be nice. I've already accepted the fact that my class will be hard, however, I can deal with a hard class; I can accept the challenge. But, I don't know how well I can deal with a bad roommate for three weeks. Hopefully my anxieties are not proved right when I meet her for the first time tomorrow. 

Celebrating Like It's 1776

After last night’s “blogging party,” we were all exhausted and ended up sleeping at around 1 AM. If we had to wake up early, I think I would’ve died today, so I’m just happy that we were able to sleep in. I ended up waking up 30 minutes later than when I was supposed to wake up, but it’s not much of a big deal because we still got out on time. I just quickly took a shower, and we headed out for breakfast by 10 AM. It was weird getting up and not having to lug our luggage to a shuttle, but I still have to haul it over to UPenn tomorrow.

Septa token

Mr. Hillyer had a lot of plans for us today, so we first went to the Septa train station on 34th street to get to downtown. This train system was pretty straightforward, but once it got to the rest of the stations, that's where it got confusing. The train we rode on was similar to BART, but not quite. Instead of a ticket, we used a token, which was worth $2.25. On the train, it opened and closed the door much faster than at BART, and you only had a few seconds to find a seat or hold on to something because it was going to go whether or not you were ready.

Yum!

We got off on 2nd street, and we found a restaurant called the Continental. I expected this place to have huge portions because of all the restaurants that I've seen here in the East coast, but they were actually reasonable sized. I ordered french toast with a side of bacon, and I am positive that I made the right choice. Their bacon was cooked to perfection, and their french toast had just the right amount of sweetness. It was delicious.

After breakfast, we walked outside and we were greeted by the sound of a marching band playing on the street. We really do have the perfect timing, because right when we walked out, the parade was just about to begin. There were so many marching bands playing, as well as different groups and organizations walking right behind them. Firetrucks and police cars from different cities were even joining in on the parade. Seeing this actually made me miss home for once, because I would generally watch the parade in Vallejo for the Fourth of July every year. Anyways, while we were all watching and enjoying the parade, it began to rain until around the time it ended. It was truly unfortunate, but the show must go on! This is where I realized that people in Philadelphia, or the East coast rather, were not as energetic as the people in the Bay Area. The only ones cheering and clapping were basically our cohort, but that didn’t stop us from having a good time.

At the parade

Afterwards, we walked around the area. This was such an exhausting walk, but I was able to see all of the beautiful, old buildings that were within walking distance. During the walk, we were able to see the outside of Independence Hall, the First and Second National Bank, Carpenter’s Hall, as well as the remains of Benjamin Franklin’s old house. Being with a history teacher as a chaperone, we even learned a little about each of the buildings. There was so much to see around the city and I was fascinated by how gorgeous these old designs were. We also went to a mall that was nearby and just prowled through the area, even though most of the stores were closed.

Benjamin Franklin's house

Carpenter's Hall

  We were going to head back to the hotel after we had finished touring the places, but instead, we took a detour because everyone was starving. As a solution, Mr. Hillyer took us to one of the Philly Cheesesteak places in North Philadelphia. We took the Septa train again and got off at the Fairmount station. I didn’t know what to expect because I’ve never had an authentic Philly Cheesesteak before, but once I tried it, I fell in love. I know I’ve been saying how much I love everything I’ve eaten these past few days, but what can I say; I love food.

Once we were all full and ready to go, we simply went back to the train station and headed back to the hotel again. It was around 4 PM when we finally made it back to the hotel, and Mr. Hillyer let us relax in the hotel until 8 PM. In the meantime, we just stayed in our rooms and went to the gym to “work out” until it was finally time to head to the concert.

Mr. Hillyer gave us two choices; we either walk the extremely long way to get a good spot for the concert, or we could walk a few blocks and only hear the concert from a distance. Since I was already exhausted from the walk this morning, I definitely did not want to walk from 36^th street all the way to 15^th, so our cohort went with the easier route. When we finally arrived in downtown Philly, the place was pretty empty. I wasn’t surprised, considering the fact that it was raining yet again.

Once we were neared the location of the concert, we began to see a massive amount of people. We could not even get relatively close to the stage itself, but we were able to find a screen that showed the concert live. Again, the people were not as energetic as us, and it felt kind of awkward, but that was no reason to stop. We were there to celebrate America’s independence, and that’s reason enough to act lively. Honestly, the concert was not as great as I expected. I was probably expecting too much, but none of the performers were known, other than the Roots and Miguel Pimentel. Also, the people were rather rude to us when we were just waiting around and talking with each other. I can definitely see the difference between the people from Philadelphia and the people from the Bay Area, and it was clear contrast.

Keeping ourselves busy while we wait

When we got tired of just standing around in one spot and listening to an unknown artist, we just kept moving around in order to find a good spot where we could just sit down and wait for the fireworks. We thought we would be able to go home by midnight, but the fireworks didn’t even appear until after midnight, so we ended up waiting by the grass for around 3 hrs. Thankfully, we found a patch of grass to sit on next to the Schuylkill (Skoo-gull) River. I know that it is a rather weird name, but according to the people that are from Philly, that’s actually how to pronounce it.

It was around midnight when we finally got tired of waiting for the fireworks, so we left, but right when we started walking, the fireworks went off. Our group has such perfect timing, don’t we? Anyways, after the fireworks, we went started walking back, and encountered even more individuals that were grouchy or rude. Before we went back to the hotel, we stopped by Axis Pizza and grabbed a bite to eat, thus ending the day at 1 AM.

Today was extremely exhausting compared to the other days, but it was also the most fun. I was actually able to explore the city, and the rain wasn’t too much of a hassle compared to the other days. The other days were spent cooped up in either a hotel or an airport, but today, I actually got to explore a lot of different places, as well as celebrate the fourth of July. I didn’t really want this day to end, simply because I enjoyed it too much, and I was actually nervous about moving in to the dorms tomorrow. I’m just worried about whether or not I’d be able to make new friends, or keep up with my Physics class. Tomorrow is going to be a nerve-wracking day, but I am as thrilled as ever. 

Happy July 4th!

The weather was pleasantly surprising. We exited our hotel with cool breeze within the air (really reminded us of California) and a cloudy sky. I was contented from last night's sleep because I got a good seven hours of restfulness. The comfy bed made heaven close yet Chiamaka, who was sleeping adjacent to me, said there were bed bugs. I was horrified when she showed me her scar. Well well, I don't think I'll be getting a good sleep tonight.

We met at the lobby at 10:15AM to follow Mr. Hillyer off to breakfast. The Philadelphia morning didn't have much of a Independence Day spirit, which was unanticipated. We walked several blocks before settling to a breakfast place next to the parade street. I ordered scrumptious Belgian waffles with a side of smoked bacon.

I was feeling diary so I ended up ordering a cup of warm milk while others went for hot chocolate and iced tea. The breakfast place was decent but they could have sprinkled powdered sugar onto the waffles instead of giving us a cup and having us do the work. I'm not much of a pro so everytime I "sprinkled" sugar onto the waffles, it ended up sitting on top of the waffles like a mountain. I coughed after trying to eat it. Not the best Belgian waffle experience.

Upon exiting the restaurant, the parade commenced without delay. The weather started getting a little jiffy but regardless of the rain, people running the parade was happily continuing. We interacted with several of the groups and we received delighted responses.

After watching an hour of the parade, we decided to go visit the national monuments instilled within the city, one being Benjamin Franklin's house. The remnants of Franklin's house were bricks and cement. Mr. Hillyer explained that after the demolition of the house, we built back the basic framework of the house to get an estimate of how grand his house must have looked in the past. We then toured the First US National Bank and various statues displayed throughout the city.

At 2PM, we started to get really hungry so Mr. Hillyer took us to one of the best cheesesteak place around town. I ordered the Buffalo chicken steak. It was the best steak I've had. We headed back to the hotel around 4PM and I decided to do a little exercise before heading off to the concert at 8PM. I was excited to hear some of the local bands play. All the artists were decent despite the fact that this was a free open concert. Mr. Hillyer said the fireworks usually blossomed around 10AM but this year's Independence Day fell on a weekend, so they postponed it until 11:30PM. While waiting for the fireworks to start, I started yawning and my right contacts fell out. Worst part of the night. No matter how hard I tried to put it back in, it just wouldn't work. Why, why, why. So while others are watching the awesome fireworks in HD, I'm having trouble with 144p vision. We were all hungry after the fireworks so just before heading back to the hotel, we stopped by Axis Pizza to grab a slice of late dinner. I was already falling asleep while munching on my Hawaiian pizza so I quickly stuffed the rest into my mouth and stared off into space while waiting for others to finish.

Tonight would have been perfect if not for my half-blindness but hey, Happy Birthday America!