Getting to Know Philadelphia

After arriving in Philadelphia last night, we woke up bright and early in order to tour the University of Pennsylvania. I was really excited to see a school I've heard so much about, and I know the rest of the cohort was looking forward to it too.

My delicious bagel

But, before our tour, we had to stop and get breakfast. We went to a cute bagel shop called Spread, where I got a plain bagel with mixed berry cream cheese. I was pretty excited to try an east coast bagel, as I've been given rave reviews, and they definitely lived up to those expectations. Also, the coffee was really good, much better than Commons coffee. 

Soon enough we were heading to Penn, we arrived at the info session location about 15 minutes before it started. There we were given wristbands, for building access, and ushered into an auditorium where we found our seats for the presentation. As usual, it was an admissions counselor who gave the presentation, Kim outlined three of the most important factors to consider when applying to Penn. Those being academics, social life, and the application process. The academics really stood out to me, at Penn you have such a wide range of options concerning majors, and you can choose to double major in different departments or even do a dual degree. This lenience really appealed to me as I'm not quite sure what I'd like to pursue in college at the moment.

We next went on a tour of campus, this was probably my favorite part of the day. Our tour guide, Luis, was really interesting and was clearly passionate about the school. He shared his personal experiences concerning his academic and social life at Penn, and gave us the other basic tour information. He explained that he came to Penn as a pre-med student, but is now a political science major with a math minor. This only enforced my prior feelings about the flexibility that Penn gives it's students.

Locust walk

The campus itself is beautiful, Penn is one of the oldest universities in the country so most of the buildings are, also, really old. They've preserved most of the buildings, and kept the architectural integrity of the campus by doing so. As an architecture nerd, I loved seeing how the buildings were constructed and what sort of style each one had. One thing that was really apparent was the excess of brick, something that (even though there isn't much around where we live) felt really homey. 

Sadly, our tour came to an end eventually. We had some free time before our next scheduled activity, so we did a quick photo-op with the famous Benjamin Franklin statue and then checked out the bookstore.

After some time perusing the store we had lunch at a comfort food restaurant called Cosi. I had mac and cheese, a meal with never disappoints.

One side of the prison

The next item on our agenda was touring the Eastern State Penitentiary, one of Americas first solitary confinement style prisons. We had a guided tour of the prison, and our tour guide, Angelina, was very knowledgeable about the buildings history. It was built in in 1821, and closed in 1971, only to become reopened to the public as a historical sight in 1996. From 1971 to 1996 it remained vacant and abandoned, which is the main reason it is in such a dilapidated state now. By dilapidated, I mean that many of the walls are incomplete, with chipping paint or gaping holes, broken furniture is littered throughout the buildings, and much more. This only adds to the already spooky vibe the prison has stemming from the medieval and gothic architecture. Though it was a bit intimating to walk around in, the prison was really intriguing. Throughout it there are small exhibits set up, dedicated to specific inmates (such as Al Capone), famous events (such as the escape of five inmates via underground tunnel), or artifacts from the prison (like the mummified animal collection). I loved getting to learn about all these stories and get a glimpse into what life was like at the prison when it was open so long ago. 

The outside of the penitentiary 

After we finished up at the penitentiary we headed to Spruce Harbor Park, a grassy stretch along the water with hammocks, games, and concession stands littered through out it. There I got an iced coffee, the caffeine was much needed, while we sat and enjoyed the scenery for a while. I think we all missed seeing the water while we were in Tennessee, at least I did, so it was nice to just be able to relax and talk about our time at VSA in such a comforting place. 

The view from the park

We were all getting hungry, so we decided to go get dinner at Jim's steaks. Upon arriving at the restaurant we were greeted with a pretty big line, so Joceline, Evan, and I decided to go check out some shops while Maddie and Jennifer waited in the line. We stumbled across a pet store, where we befriended a cat (how exciting!) and went to a small consignment shop which we browsed for a while. Soon enough Maddie and Jennifer called us to let us know it was almost time to order, so we headed back to Jim's.

Naturally, we all got cheesesteaks. I was a bit on the fence about them, worried they would be overrated and somewhat disappointing, but in the end I had nothing to be worried about. It was delicious, one of my favorite meals we have had on the trip. And to top it off, I also got a black cherry soda to go with my sandwich, one of my all time favorite drinks. That meal made an already great day so much better, I hope that in the future I'll have the chance to come back to Jim's. 

After such a busy day, all of us were ready to go to bed as we have an early morning tomorrow and a big day ahead of us, I think we're all ready to be home and in our own beds tomorrow night.