Penn has been pretty alright so far. Orientation and moving in have been really hectic, since a lot of the stuff I needed couldn't be brought by plane (furniture, basically). I've been weaving in and out of campus with my family, buying stuff, getting me back for orientation events, etc. Not to mention that is being done in the middle of a very big city.
I said goodbye to my family today, which was tougher than I thought it was going to be. As I write, they are probably on the plane from San Francisco to Eugene, or perhaps have arrived already. I definitely couldn't have gotten all of moving in without them...
I was too busy today to even watch any football on TV. After some orientation stuff in the morning, moving more stuff in, and saying goodbye to my family in the afternoon, it was already 4. At that point I cleaned up my room and got ready to go to a party Penn was hosting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is the location of the famous steps in "Rocky" (or so I've heard). I hung out with my roommate Luke, who is from New Mexico, and his friend, but proceeded to make few acquaintances thereafter. (Sometimes I wish one of my friends from Eugene had come to Penn with me, so that I wouldn't have to force myself into groups that seem to have already formed, among people from the same high school.) Later on I hung out with two girls from Oregon who I had met in Portland several weeks ago.
The other day my family traveled to New Jersey to meet one of my dad's friends from a long time ago, who lives in Cherry Hill. It was only a thirty-minute drive from Penn's campus, and it was really cool to see the scenery and different environs of the east coast (crossing the Delaware into New Jersey was especially awesome). The license plates might be from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and such, it's quite interesting. I've seen many a thing in this city with either 'Ben' or 'Franklin' associated with it. We got to the house of my dad's friend (who is a pastor) and stayed and talked for a while. I got to talk with the pastor's son, who is a year older than me and attends NYU. Basically, I now have a refuge on the east coast, if I ever get a craving for Korean food, or if I get bored over Thanksgiving. It makes me feel a LOT more comfortable, actually...
Philadelphia is, for the most part, a beautiful city. At least center city is, in terms of 'wow' factor. The skyscrapers are amazing, and the museum and city hall are beautiful as well. Brick buildings dominate the cityscape. The campus is pretty as well, although it can get pretty busy with traffic. Being in a big city brings both its pros and cons, I suppose.
Penn is very much a party school. It's study hard, party equally as hard. I haven't gone to any parties yet, and am not very enthused about going to one, but I might try one before the semester is over. Being in Eugene IHS definitely contributed to my discomfort in this regard, because IHSers don't really party hard, do they? If I do go to a party, I will definitely refrain from heavy drinking.
My roommates seem okay. Luke is the one I hang out with the most. The others are Stephen, from St. Louis, and Ben, from DC. Stephen is a Jewish engineer-to-be, and he is really busy. I don't know if I'll be hanging out with him much, he doesn't really seem to be one of those guys that you can just chill with. Ben is a 6'4" tech-savvy kid, who once told me that he thought he was pretty good at Ultimate. But I can tell by the way he throws around the phrase 'throw a Frisbee' (not using the word 'disc') that he is definitely not going to be that good.
Tomorrow is Sunday, but I won't be going to church. I haven't really made an effort to look for one yet, since I'm still trying to adjust to this new change of surroundings. And the thought of looking for one is daunting. I haven't met any Christian friends yet, and I have to decide whether I'm planning to attend a church on campus, or if I'm commuting to a church elsewhere in the city. And I have to start getting ready for Ultimate again! I guess I'm still getting settled in.
And now I'm settling into bed.
9 comments:
I miss you so much bro! I'm glad to hear that you are settling in somewhat. I'm also glad to hear that you are connecting with the ladies!!! Way to stay true to your roots and stick to the Oregon chicks. hahahaha
How is my house/dorm/building thing? Is it off the chain!? Is there a disco ball in every room?
Wow, Jay, the big city. I'm really proud that you're running at life full force - taking a leap, I know that God can carry you through any adventure or obstacle you could ever encounter, so why not go?
So, does Penn actually have an ultimate team to speak of? Sweet!!
And maybe since this guy is 6'2, you could turn his skills (and his vocabulary) into something ultimate worthy of being called "good". And please, have patience with those of us who aren't "good" but just love the game!!!!
Peace
i forgot to comment the first time i read this... and now i have forgotten my comment so this is a toally lame comment. *sigh*
but hello jay!!! :D
True true about people that use the word frisbee instead of disc.
Also don't make me have to go all the way to penn and, as James would say, "defend your honor". Which in all actuallity simply means....
1.get jealous
2. yell a little (with the voice cracking a lot!!!)
3.go into mild histerics
4. make empty threats towards the "threat"
Just kidding man. Work your suave asian baby bak choi magic on those U-Penn girls. They won't know what hit them.
Love ya buddy.
: )
when do your practices start jay? we had our first one last night and it was SOOOO much fun. i really missed college ultimate.
when do your practices start jay? we had our first one last night and it was SOOOO much fun. i really missed college ultimate.
Greg, your college house (more formal name for a dorm) is kinda, well, not the greatest. It's a bit old, and pretty far from my classes. But it is located close to all the parties (which will probably be a bad thing when I'm studying and such).
Emma, Philadelphia is so busy! I had to bike seven blocks on busy roads to get to Ultimate practice today. (And yes, Penn has both an open and women's team.) And the dude isn't going to play... lame, right? And sorry for being rather blunt with my comments about Ultimate.
Ginny, hi. :)
Aubri, I'm glad you know what I'm talking about! (About the Frisbee thing, that is.) And you'd be most welcome here! But I don't know of any 'Baby Bok Choi magic', it's gotta be a hoax or myth of some kind.
Luke, our practices started today! It was okay, no miracle Schrieber-like beginning, but I earned some recognition. There are two captains, and one of them said Churchill has made a name for itself (you should be proud). But what sucks is that one captain is Asian and wears #10, taking two of my key characteristics, while the other wears #4 (which I wore junior year) and is known as 'Birdo', which is a travesty. I need to etch an identity with this team...
But yeah, Penn is in the Metro East Regional division, and one guy on the team I was talking to said that we would probably be battling Cornell for the second slot at regionals (behind Pittsburgh; Delaware apparently lost a bunch of seniors). So, I'm gonna do my best to get us to nationals. Perhaps I will see you there??? Or maybe Collin's Whitman, or David's Gonzaga, or Daniel and Greg's OSU.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the Penn team is predominantly shorter, quicker guys. And they run a vert stack, which is really frustrating... I am going to try to convince the captains to run a ho stack.
hello jay!!! ya... that's about it. just making the rounds on the blogs and such. whic is weird though since i don't have much worth saying... oh well. :) i love telling people about how i hiked up spencer's all summer. it really was a good way to get a little fitter than... couch potato... nice. be cool birdo!!!
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