This might be the end of live journal...
So I don't think anyone reads this anymore, but I just moved to Philadelphia PA for graduate school and I started a blog! I am going to post my first post here but from now on I think that is where I will be doing all my posting. So if anyone actually reads this and wants the link to my blog, let me know! Here is my first post:
This is my first official blog post and I am writing from my high rise apartment on campus! At first when I arrived in Philly with my aunt and cousin, I was not pleased with the condition of my new place. For the money I am paying to live here, I expected much more. What I didn't realize was that most buildings in Philly are so old, that I definitely had some unreal expectations of what my apartment would look like. I met a woman on the elevator during move-in who lived in this very building 35 years ago and that it still looks exactly the same. So after 3 hard days of cleaning, unpacking, and decorating my room/apartment, it finally took shape and began to look amazing! I met my roommate during the second day of move-in and lucky for me, she is great so far! She is from Colorado and she is in the same school as me, but in a different program. After my aunt and cousin left, my dad arrived in Philly to share my first city weekend with me. We had a lot of fun together and it was nice to have him here while I initially adjusted. He left on the early morning of labor day, which marked my first day alone in the city. I thought it was going to be a lot harder to adjust once he left but it really was pretty easy!
The day after my dad left was orientation, which was a very overwhelming experience. All of us from all majors in the school of SW and Policy were together in a large room where we had all the deans speak to us, as well as various presentations about resources on campus, campus safety, and more. After the presentations we broke out into groups for lunch where we had time to eat with a second year student to answer any of our questions and address any concerns we had. Our student shared with us the insane amount of reading that teachers assign weekly and the fact that it is not humanly possible to read it all and that reading needs to be prioritized. I really need to work on this, because she was SO right and the amount of reading and work is absolutely ridiculous and is having me wonder how I am going to do it all. Then after lunch, we got to meet with our foundations class in the classroom to have a pre-class session. This was also very overwhelming and I was very intimidated by the other students in my class. Also, the day was so long that everyone was exhausted and no1 seemed very friendly.
Wednesday was my first real day of classes and I had 2 two and a half hour classes. The first was my racism class with Carly. I forgot to explain that during move-in I met my neighbor who has become my first real friend in Philly (besides my roommate)! She is great and I really don't know what I would do without her! She is from NJ so her family lives only 2 hrs away and she has a car here so this weekend she is actually home for a family party. We have been exploring together and doing all of our errands together and we also have a lot in common so we have a really fun time hanging out whether we are exploring the subway or having wine and talking. Anyway, Carly was in my first class which was good. I am not used to the classes being so small, I think we only had 15 students in that class, so everyone has to talk a lot during discussions. The teacher seems very interesting but it is obvious that he is in love with his own opinions and even though he says he wants to hear everyone else's opinions, he really doesn't. That class has the most books, and it is also the class where I had to read 2 huge books over the summer...which I am sad to say I only read one of them. Oh well! Hopefully my habits of reading will become better as I go through the program and learn what works for me. My second class was my foundations course which I had the pre-class the day before so I knew what to expect (which is the only class I don't have with Carly since she switched into 2 of my classes!) and this time the people were really nice and I made a friend in that class. That class is basically going to be the class where we share information about our internships and do assignments based off of that.
Thursday was a day full of errands that I ran with my roommate, Malore, and we had a really nice day walking around campus and going to the book store, finding the computer labs and libraries, and having a nice lunch in the student union cafe area which I love because there is SO much to choose from, from sushi to burgers to soups, to salads, to asian food, to sandwiches, to basically everything you can think of. My favorite part about it, is that there is an Einstein's bagels in there so you know what I had for lunch! YUM. Then, we went back to the apartment and I rested until I had my first night class which is the class about the history of SW and social welfare. The teacher seems so laid back and relatively easy, so I am really happy about that. The work load is still insane, but she is a really fair grader and told us we will all be fine. Since it is a night class, most of my classmates are part time students who work during the day, which is good because from now on I will be working 9-5 at my internship before that class so we will all be in the same boat. I think that is my favorite class so far because the people in that class are so interesting. I also made a friend in that class and her name's Laura and we have plans to get froyo after class this coming Thursday :)
Friday was a crazy day. Thankfully, Carly woke up at the crack of dawn to go with me on the hunt for the shuttle bus that will take me to my internship. After missing the bus a few times by not being at the right stops we finally got on the bus towards the hospital. I had to go to HR to sign papers and then I had to get a physical which also entailed a TB test, drug test, and blood test, NO FUN! Then after Carly and I hit up DD and did some of her errands on campus. Later that day I got a call that they forgot to have me sign one more form so I had to rush back to the bus to go back. It was a long day. That night I was going to go to my program's student union meeting but long story short I didn't end up going. I want to start going to meetings and events so I can meet more people but we will see how much free time I will have when everything really starts up.
Saturday was my day of work and reading. I literally spent ALL day working. Malore was invited out by her friend from her program and we decided to go out and have a good time. We caught the bus to a really cool jazz bar in olde city and met up with her friend who brought her friend from NY and her roommate. We all had a great time hanging out at the bar and the live jazz band was so cool! After about an hour and a half we headed to another bar, which to my surprise was a dance club and if anyone knows me, I don't dance! Well, that changed tonight. It was so much fun and it was a great and much needed break from my day of study.
Today I plan on finishing my reading and then Malore and I are going to cook dinner together which will be nice. Tomorrow I have to go back to the hospital to prove that I don't have TB and stop by HR again. Then, I will spend the rest of the day reading since I can't start my internship yet b/c the drug test results wont be back yet and I don't have classes Mondays either. Tuesday I have a night class and hopefully I will be at the hospital during the day if the results are in by then. This will be the first time I am in this class because we had orientation last Tuesday so hopefully it will go well and the teacher is nice.
Overall, I really do love Philly so much. There is so much going on and the campus at Penn is breathtaking. The only thing I would change would be that all of my friends and family were here, and of course my amazing boyfriend Marc! I miss everyone so much and I wish everyone could experience this with me. It's definitely a big step going off on my own without knowing anyone in such a big and busy city, but I am so incredibly proud of myself for doing it and for handling it all so well. Not to mention the fact that when this is all over I will have a Master's degree from an ivy league institution.
That's all! I will try to update again soon.
<3 Alex
This is my first official blog post and I am writing from my high rise apartment on campus! At first when I arrived in Philly with my aunt and cousin, I was not pleased with the condition of my new place. For the money I am paying to live here, I expected much more. What I didn't realize was that most buildings in Philly are so old, that I definitely had some unreal expectations of what my apartment would look like. I met a woman on the elevator during move-in who lived in this very building 35 years ago and that it still looks exactly the same. So after 3 hard days of cleaning, unpacking, and decorating my room/apartment, it finally took shape and began to look amazing! I met my roommate during the second day of move-in and lucky for me, she is great so far! She is from Colorado and she is in the same school as me, but in a different program. After my aunt and cousin left, my dad arrived in Philly to share my first city weekend with me. We had a lot of fun together and it was nice to have him here while I initially adjusted. He left on the early morning of labor day, which marked my first day alone in the city. I thought it was going to be a lot harder to adjust once he left but it really was pretty easy!
The day after my dad left was orientation, which was a very overwhelming experience. All of us from all majors in the school of SW and Policy were together in a large room where we had all the deans speak to us, as well as various presentations about resources on campus, campus safety, and more. After the presentations we broke out into groups for lunch where we had time to eat with a second year student to answer any of our questions and address any concerns we had. Our student shared with us the insane amount of reading that teachers assign weekly and the fact that it is not humanly possible to read it all and that reading needs to be prioritized. I really need to work on this, because she was SO right and the amount of reading and work is absolutely ridiculous and is having me wonder how I am going to do it all. Then after lunch, we got to meet with our foundations class in the classroom to have a pre-class session. This was also very overwhelming and I was very intimidated by the other students in my class. Also, the day was so long that everyone was exhausted and no1 seemed very friendly.
Wednesday was my first real day of classes and I had 2 two and a half hour classes. The first was my racism class with Carly. I forgot to explain that during move-in I met my neighbor who has become my first real friend in Philly (besides my roommate)! She is great and I really don't know what I would do without her! She is from NJ so her family lives only 2 hrs away and she has a car here so this weekend she is actually home for a family party. We have been exploring together and doing all of our errands together and we also have a lot in common so we have a really fun time hanging out whether we are exploring the subway or having wine and talking. Anyway, Carly was in my first class which was good. I am not used to the classes being so small, I think we only had 15 students in that class, so everyone has to talk a lot during discussions. The teacher seems very interesting but it is obvious that he is in love with his own opinions and even though he says he wants to hear everyone else's opinions, he really doesn't. That class has the most books, and it is also the class where I had to read 2 huge books over the summer...which I am sad to say I only read one of them. Oh well! Hopefully my habits of reading will become better as I go through the program and learn what works for me. My second class was my foundations course which I had the pre-class the day before so I knew what to expect (which is the only class I don't have with Carly since she switched into 2 of my classes!) and this time the people were really nice and I made a friend in that class. That class is basically going to be the class where we share information about our internships and do assignments based off of that.
Thursday was a day full of errands that I ran with my roommate, Malore, and we had a really nice day walking around campus and going to the book store, finding the computer labs and libraries, and having a nice lunch in the student union cafe area which I love because there is SO much to choose from, from sushi to burgers to soups, to salads, to asian food, to sandwiches, to basically everything you can think of. My favorite part about it, is that there is an Einstein's bagels in there so you know what I had for lunch! YUM. Then, we went back to the apartment and I rested until I had my first night class which is the class about the history of SW and social welfare. The teacher seems so laid back and relatively easy, so I am really happy about that. The work load is still insane, but she is a really fair grader and told us we will all be fine. Since it is a night class, most of my classmates are part time students who work during the day, which is good because from now on I will be working 9-5 at my internship before that class so we will all be in the same boat. I think that is my favorite class so far because the people in that class are so interesting. I also made a friend in that class and her name's Laura and we have plans to get froyo after class this coming Thursday :)
Friday was a crazy day. Thankfully, Carly woke up at the crack of dawn to go with me on the hunt for the shuttle bus that will take me to my internship. After missing the bus a few times by not being at the right stops we finally got on the bus towards the hospital. I had to go to HR to sign papers and then I had to get a physical which also entailed a TB test, drug test, and blood test, NO FUN! Then after Carly and I hit up DD and did some of her errands on campus. Later that day I got a call that they forgot to have me sign one more form so I had to rush back to the bus to go back. It was a long day. That night I was going to go to my program's student union meeting but long story short I didn't end up going. I want to start going to meetings and events so I can meet more people but we will see how much free time I will have when everything really starts up.
Saturday was my day of work and reading. I literally spent ALL day working. Malore was invited out by her friend from her program and we decided to go out and have a good time. We caught the bus to a really cool jazz bar in olde city and met up with her friend who brought her friend from NY and her roommate. We all had a great time hanging out at the bar and the live jazz band was so cool! After about an hour and a half we headed to another bar, which to my surprise was a dance club and if anyone knows me, I don't dance! Well, that changed tonight. It was so much fun and it was a great and much needed break from my day of study.
Today I plan on finishing my reading and then Malore and I are going to cook dinner together which will be nice. Tomorrow I have to go back to the hospital to prove that I don't have TB and stop by HR again. Then, I will spend the rest of the day reading since I can't start my internship yet b/c the drug test results wont be back yet and I don't have classes Mondays either. Tuesday I have a night class and hopefully I will be at the hospital during the day if the results are in by then. This will be the first time I am in this class because we had orientation last Tuesday so hopefully it will go well and the teacher is nice.
Overall, I really do love Philly so much. There is so much going on and the campus at Penn is breathtaking. The only thing I would change would be that all of my friends and family were here, and of course my amazing boyfriend Marc! I miss everyone so much and I wish everyone could experience this with me. It's definitely a big step going off on my own without knowing anyone in such a big and busy city, but I am so incredibly proud of myself for doing it and for handling it all so well. Not to mention the fact that when this is all over I will have a Master's degree from an ivy league institution.
That's all! I will try to update again soon.
<3 Alex