Philadelphia
The last few months have been all about getting into law school, finding an apartment, worrying about details, and trying to work hard so I could have a little money to spend when I got there. Well, now I'm here, in Philadelphia, sitting in my apartment. It's been a hectic four days getting here and getting it set up, but now that it is, it feels quite nice. I am now a Philadelphian, to some extent.
Thursday I got on a plane with my parents and a few bags. I had to pay a little extra to bring my guitar, but there wasn't any better way of getting it here. Despite getting to the airport at 5am, the entire building was packed with people. I've never seen any airport that crowded. Despite this, we got on our plane and got to NY (for a layover) about half hour early. The problem with getting there early was that they didn't have a gate to put our plane at, so we waited a while to catch up to when we were supposed to get there. Well, that came and went, along with another 2 hours sitting waiting for a gate. Eventually we got to a gate with about 30 minutes before our connector flight was scheduled to take off. It boarded as planned, but then sat on the ground for another hour and a half before being pushed back away from the gate. Everything was pretty much smooth sailing after that, but just a long day sitting on stopped planes at JFK airport.
The next day we picked up the keys and moved into my apartment. A note about this beforehand: I picked this apartment without ever seeing it or the neighborhood, all based off of a craigslist ad that looked pleasant. Consider all the things that could have gone wrong here. That said, I lucked out completely, getting a decent place in a wonderful neighborhood at a decently low price. There are a few things that make it less than perfect, of course, like the fact that the loft makes the kitchen ceiling too low for me to walk through without ducking slightly. I'm used to it now though, so I just automatically duck. My apartment is on the route for the Philadelphia bus tour, so every 20 minutes I see a double decker filled with tourists and wave at them. I took the tour yesterday, which was very helpful for someone new to a city. I don't even know this much history about San Diego. Other than that, my neighborhood is close to the biggest urban park in America (much bigger than Central Park), the Schuykill (it's a river, and I'll give a dollar to anyone who can pronounce it correctly), and seems to be a center for twenty-somethings, and probably plenty of fellow Temple Owls.
After moving in, we spent an exorbitant amount of time and money at Ikea preparing to furnish the place. We scheduled delivery for that night, so we rushed home and got ready for the movers. They gave us a 5-9pm window, and about 10:45 and plenty of phone calls back and forth, we decided they weren't planning on showing up. We rescheduled for the next day and finally got our furniture, put it all together, and got the place looking alright. Had to buy some more stuff at Target and Walmart to finish up the next day. My parents just left now to catch their flights back to San Diego.
I've had two Philly cheesesteaks, though I don't think either one was very authentic. None of the places that serve them are close to my apartment, nor easy to get to without going through some bad neighborhoods. I don't have a car, so I'm relying on subways and buses to get me around every day, including to class.
The weather is hot and humid, but not unbearable. I've been to China at this time of year...that was unbearable. Anything short of that is just a small inconvenience. I haven't seen any rain or thunderstorms yet.
I start classes on August 18th, find out my schedule August 8th, get my books August 11th. Those are pretty much the only dates I know for things right now, but I'll update as I go. I have one book I must read by the 18th, and will probably get more assignments this Friday when I get my classes. Until then I'm exploring and reading and trying to have a little fun.
I end with a sad note: The one thing I knew I had to prepare for before I left was the chance that my 17-year old cat, Stephanie, might not live long enough to greet me when I came home for Christmas. Her health, sight, and hearing have all been getting worse in the past year, to the extent I knew she didn't have long. That chance became a reality last night when she was sitting on our front steps and was attacked by two dogs walking by. She was hidden behind a wall so the man walking the dogs never saw her to get his dogs out of the way, and by the time the dogs were pulled back, Stephanie's leg was dislocated and mangled beyond repair. She was in significant pain and chances of her healing were essentially zero, so she was put to sleep. All of her family members were in other places, and we were all sad we couldn't be with her. I was six when we got her, and I can only barely remember any time of my life when she wasn't around. I'm glad I made my peace with Stephanie, but it will be a little strange walking in the door in December without her running down the hall to greet me...and make me give her water out of the sink.
Thursday I got on a plane with my parents and a few bags. I had to pay a little extra to bring my guitar, but there wasn't any better way of getting it here. Despite getting to the airport at 5am, the entire building was packed with people. I've never seen any airport that crowded. Despite this, we got on our plane and got to NY (for a layover) about half hour early. The problem with getting there early was that they didn't have a gate to put our plane at, so we waited a while to catch up to when we were supposed to get there. Well, that came and went, along with another 2 hours sitting waiting for a gate. Eventually we got to a gate with about 30 minutes before our connector flight was scheduled to take off. It boarded as planned, but then sat on the ground for another hour and a half before being pushed back away from the gate. Everything was pretty much smooth sailing after that, but just a long day sitting on stopped planes at JFK airport.
The next day we picked up the keys and moved into my apartment. A note about this beforehand: I picked this apartment without ever seeing it or the neighborhood, all based off of a craigslist ad that looked pleasant. Consider all the things that could have gone wrong here. That said, I lucked out completely, getting a decent place in a wonderful neighborhood at a decently low price. There are a few things that make it less than perfect, of course, like the fact that the loft makes the kitchen ceiling too low for me to walk through without ducking slightly. I'm used to it now though, so I just automatically duck. My apartment is on the route for the Philadelphia bus tour, so every 20 minutes I see a double decker filled with tourists and wave at them. I took the tour yesterday, which was very helpful for someone new to a city. I don't even know this much history about San Diego. Other than that, my neighborhood is close to the biggest urban park in America (much bigger than Central Park), the Schuykill (it's a river, and I'll give a dollar to anyone who can pronounce it correctly), and seems to be a center for twenty-somethings, and probably plenty of fellow Temple Owls.
After moving in, we spent an exorbitant amount of time and money at Ikea preparing to furnish the place. We scheduled delivery for that night, so we rushed home and got ready for the movers. They gave us a 5-9pm window, and about 10:45 and plenty of phone calls back and forth, we decided they weren't planning on showing up. We rescheduled for the next day and finally got our furniture, put it all together, and got the place looking alright. Had to buy some more stuff at Target and Walmart to finish up the next day. My parents just left now to catch their flights back to San Diego.
I've had two Philly cheesesteaks, though I don't think either one was very authentic. None of the places that serve them are close to my apartment, nor easy to get to without going through some bad neighborhoods. I don't have a car, so I'm relying on subways and buses to get me around every day, including to class.
The weather is hot and humid, but not unbearable. I've been to China at this time of year...that was unbearable. Anything short of that is just a small inconvenience. I haven't seen any rain or thunderstorms yet.
I start classes on August 18th, find out my schedule August 8th, get my books August 11th. Those are pretty much the only dates I know for things right now, but I'll update as I go. I have one book I must read by the 18th, and will probably get more assignments this Friday when I get my classes. Until then I'm exploring and reading and trying to have a little fun.
I end with a sad note: The one thing I knew I had to prepare for before I left was the chance that my 17-year old cat, Stephanie, might not live long enough to greet me when I came home for Christmas. Her health, sight, and hearing have all been getting worse in the past year, to the extent I knew she didn't have long. That chance became a reality last night when she was sitting on our front steps and was attacked by two dogs walking by. She was hidden behind a wall so the man walking the dogs never saw her to get his dogs out of the way, and by the time the dogs were pulled back, Stephanie's leg was dislocated and mangled beyond repair. She was in significant pain and chances of her healing were essentially zero, so she was put to sleep. All of her family members were in other places, and we were all sad we couldn't be with her. I was six when we got her, and I can only barely remember any time of my life when she wasn't around. I'm glad I made my peace with Stephanie, but it will be a little strange walking in the door in December without her running down the hall to greet me...and make me give her water out of the sink.