My first visit was part of the traditional eighth grade eastern seaboard trip. We sped through and all I have are vague memories of some sort of cheesy steak sandwich and something about a big bell.
My second time in Philly was part of the spring break mentioned earlier that also took me to Washington DC. I was mostly interested in visiting my friend Sarah who was getting her master's degree in trumpet tootling at Temple University.
I mostly remember the inexpensive produce.
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| Mushrooms? $1.00! |
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| Celery hearts? $1.00! |
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| Strawberries? $1.00! |
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| Bananas? $2.00! But you get a whole bunch! |
My interview slot was the first of the day, 8:30 AM. I was quite glad my mom and I were able to arrive a couple days before the interview to get a bit more acclimated to the area and to the time change.
Interview day began with a gaggle of us sitting nervously in a classroom, waiting for our interviews. When the time came, I was led through a maze of elevators and hallways to the office of the professor who would be interviewing me.
It turned out that it was her first interview, too. And after a nice chat, I attempted to find my way back to our holding pen. While I was waiting for the elevator, another lost looking woman in a suit came by looking for her own trail of breadcrumbs.
When we boarded the elevator and confirmed we were both interviewees, she asked me, "Where do you hail from?" I immediately knew she was good people as before that, I was the only person I knew who uses that phrase in all honesty. "Portland, OR, and let's be friends," I replied.
We spent the rest of the day together. We learned all about how we each arrived at that place at that moment in time. It turned out her name is Genevieve and she's from Southern California. We were both applying for the same program (as we are both interested in working with women, but not so interested in birthing babies.) We went on the tour together, we ate lunch together, and we did the math to figure out that fewer than one in four of us would be asked to return together.
We kept in touch afterward through email and she even put me in touch with one of her roommates from college who showed me around Emory when it was in the running.
We both kept our fingers crossed and updated each other on each nursing school's response to us. When the University of Pennsylvania decisions were available, it turns out that Genevieve was part of the lucky 22% who were invited to be part of the Class of 2015 at Penn.
When I was planning out my cross-country route, I knew I would be passing Genevieve's neck of the woods in California and contacted her to see if she was available for a visit. The calendar told us that she would actually be in school at that point and we changed our meeting place to the City of Brotherly Love.
My arrival was a little bumpy as I had officially left the area of wide open plains and had entered the world of jam packed cities were parking is nearly impossible.
I found a lot downtown that could shelter my car for the weekend, then I had to figure out how to get to Genevieve's with all of my luggage. Her apartment was a little over a mile away, and I decided to give walking a try. I shortly discovered that it was not going to work in the heat with that many bags and I flagged down a cab.
The cab I flagged stopped, along with another cab behind him who was really trying to get me to go with him instead. After a tense discussion between the two drivers, I hefted my suitcases in the trunk and we were on our way.
Thankfully, the Philadelphia taxis take credit cards and I reached into my purse to get ready to pay. But I couldn't find my card. I couldn't find my wallet!
I knew I'd used it earlier in the day, and my best guess was that it was back in the parking garage in my car. I sheepishly asked the taxi driver if he would turn around and let me check to see if I'd left something in my car.
When we arrived, I ran in and sure enough, my wallet had slipped down next to the seat. I ran back and we attempted Round Two of getting me a mile from my current location.
He dropped me off at the address Genevieve had given me, and I called her to confirm that she lives across from two Ethiopian restaurants. She does, and she came down to meet me and help me carry my stuff inside.
She lives in a huge brick home divided into four (not unlike the home I had in Portland). Her quarter of the house is in the top two stories and she shares it with three other entering nursing students. They each have different specialties (which won't really matter until after the RN portion), so they have enough in common and enough individuality to be helpful to each other but also have their own things going on.
I took a few minutes to recombobulate and we started to form a plan. I knew there were three things I wanted to do during my stay. Two of the three things were food related as I had some of the best food I've ever eaten when I was there in December. The third item on my list was to get a bang trim from the person who gave be the best bang trim I've ever gotten when I was there in December.
Genevieve had some ideas, too, and we decided to start with dinner at one of the restaurants on my list. My mom and I discovered Distiro in December and I could hardly wait to get back. It's a funky little tapas restaurant with pink walls, lucha libre masks, and delicious food!
After dinner, we walked to the Philadelphia Museum of Art (where they keep the famous Rocky stairs).
There we joined many people potentially on their traditional eighth grade eastern seaboard trip.
Genevieve had heard that there was a special deal on Fridays where the museums stay open late. When we arrived were buying our tickets, learned that there is a special deal on Fridays, but that this particular museum does not stay open late and we had about 45 minutes to see the whole museum.
We decided to go for it and speed-walked among the exhibits.
We started with the awesomely named Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Dolls and Masks.
Next, we zipped through the Rockwell Kent exhibit. I was pretty impressed by his work, including his self portrait:
Actually, my favorite piece of his was a drawing of wealthy men supported on a pedestal by strained members of the working class. It just proved that even though Kent was born in 1882 and died in 1971, the same story gets told over an over again.
We also zoomed through the permanent exhibit featuring all the famous artists like Picasso, Monet, Warhol, etc.
When the guards kicked us out, we took one last photo in front of the museum.
After that, we got on the bus to a bar downtown where they were having a benefit for a local non-profit. The bar is called Tattooed Mom and it has a very vintage/grungy vibe.
Afterward, we were both exhausted and headed back to the apartment. There, I got to meet all of Genevieve's roommates and learn a little more about them. One of them is from Massachusetts, another is from North Carolina but lived near Portland for a few years when she was little, and the last one likes to bake when she's stressed. (I know from living with Julia that that is the perfect kind of roommate!)
Tomorrow, Genevieve wants to get in a good bit of studying, but she thinks she can spare some time to visit a medical oddities museum and have some lunch out on the town!
Odometer Start: 40707
Odometer End: 40850
Miles Driven Today: 143
Miles Driven Total: 7012
Today In/Around: Philadelphia, PA
Tomorrow: Philadelphia, PA again
States Visited: 18.5 (Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania)
Times I've Passed a Billboard for Actors, Models, and Talent for Christ: 3 (Is it like the new Barbizon?)
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