Hello all, I'm sorry I have been so out of it... This whole blogging thing really is difficult, but this time it's not because I'm lazy and unexcited, but rather I have so much going on that I don't know what to do with myself. For example, right now I should be catching up on my readings, but instead here I am taping away - not the best use of my time, but at other times I should be playing and making friends and instead I hide in my room and read my textbook. Speaking of reading, it can't really be that bad because (I got my first Midterm scores back and...) I did QUITE well :) :) I wouldn't brag about scores under any other circumstance, but I'm super duper excited about the fact that on my first ever - college exam I did a good job that I just want to tell everyone I know - I'm not, I promise.
Anyways, besides that everything else is going just dandy! The people here are so nice and I've finally collected a group of friends who are cool and fun to be around. I don't really know many people in the program, partly because I'm being uncharacteristically shy and partly because I'm working really hard, but of the people that I have interacted with, I have only found a few that are being pinned as "bad apples." At the end of this week we are going to go to Jersey Shore, which will be an experience, unless it is totally anti-climatic... and then on Monday I have my second Midterm. I really should be writing about what I have been up to, but my brain is a little to fried to think about it, so some other time I will fill you in on how DC was and how the daily life here at Penn is - maybe if I find the time/energy to write more tomorrow I will do a daily routine... that might be fun... we'll see!
Anyways, as always - thanks for reading and enjoy the sleep that I'm hoping everyone will be getting soon.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, July 08, 2011
Long Time Comin'
So, it's been a while - my apologies!! I have been thinking about all the cool anecdotes to share, but until this afternoon I didn't have any internet on my computer. From this small fact you would think that the first couple of days of the program were terrible, but in reality they have been quite the contrary. Everything is going great and settling in has never been easier (well maybe not that far...). Anywho, everything really is coming together quite nicely and as the first week of my adventure comes to an end I'm really enjoying how things are turning out.
My first day was Monday, it was nerve-racking and scary and until two days ago, I didn't have roommate, so add lonely to the list also. But it was easy enough to settle in and makes friends - everyone here is very like minded and friendly, which really makes things easier. Additionally, nobody else knew anyone the first day, so getting to know people was on the top of everyone's list. My second day, Tuesday, started off with my first International Relations class. Oh my goodness, my life really changed after that class!! It was incredibly interesting, as well as SO college. The teacher is a Penn professor (lucky me, most of the other classes are taught be grad students, including my second) and boy is she something. She was moving around the front of the classroom during her lecture and dropping knowledge like a crazy woman. I was incredibly intimidated, but left with a much higher IQ. The rest of the day I worried about making friends, but then mustered up the courage to talk to some girls in my hallway, and voila, the next thing you know we are all besties. The night was better because they had ice breaker games and people got to know one another, which made being here a little less awkward. Then came Wednesday. Wednesday was a hard day because I had two classes, basically back to back. HOWEVER, that wasn't the most exciting part of my day. The biggest, coolest thing that I learned on Wednesday was that I <3 Greek Yogurt. I had a cup for lunch and man was it good. Since then I have had it at every lunch and snack since, that is like 5 cups of Greek Yogurt in two days - GO PROTEIN. Now back to the important things - class. IR, again, was awesome, except Wednesday it was more intimidating because we actually lectured and people said smart stuff. I sat and looked stupid I'm sure, while typing furiously on my computer to keep up with what was going on. After that class I went to Archaeology (which I am now switched out of). It wasn't stellar; the people were scary and the teacher wasn't that good - PEACE. Night time activities were funsies, per usual and I met some cool people as well as got closer to ones I already knew. Even more exciting that that was that my roommate showed up - she's awesome so yah.
I still have Thursday and Friday to fill you in on, I apologize again for being out of it, but for the time being I'm going to get out of here and read more IR. Hope you are all keeping up with your readings and that this finds you in happiness. More tomorrow or the next day, I swear it!
My first day was Monday, it was nerve-racking and scary and until two days ago, I didn't have roommate, so add lonely to the list also. But it was easy enough to settle in and makes friends - everyone here is very like minded and friendly, which really makes things easier. Additionally, nobody else knew anyone the first day, so getting to know people was on the top of everyone's list. My second day, Tuesday, started off with my first International Relations class. Oh my goodness, my life really changed after that class!! It was incredibly interesting, as well as SO college. The teacher is a Penn professor (lucky me, most of the other classes are taught be grad students, including my second) and boy is she something. She was moving around the front of the classroom during her lecture and dropping knowledge like a crazy woman. I was incredibly intimidated, but left with a much higher IQ. The rest of the day I worried about making friends, but then mustered up the courage to talk to some girls in my hallway, and voila, the next thing you know we are all besties. The night was better because they had ice breaker games and people got to know one another, which made being here a little less awkward. Then came Wednesday. Wednesday was a hard day because I had two classes, basically back to back. HOWEVER, that wasn't the most exciting part of my day. The biggest, coolest thing that I learned on Wednesday was that I <3 Greek Yogurt. I had a cup for lunch and man was it good. Since then I have had it at every lunch and snack since, that is like 5 cups of Greek Yogurt in two days - GO PROTEIN. Now back to the important things - class. IR, again, was awesome, except Wednesday it was more intimidating because we actually lectured and people said smart stuff. I sat and looked stupid I'm sure, while typing furiously on my computer to keep up with what was going on. After that class I went to Archaeology (which I am now switched out of). It wasn't stellar; the people were scary and the teacher wasn't that good - PEACE. Night time activities were funsies, per usual and I met some cool people as well as got closer to ones I already knew. Even more exciting that that was that my roommate showed up - she's awesome so yah.
I still have Thursday and Friday to fill you in on, I apologize again for being out of it, but for the time being I'm going to get out of here and read more IR. Hope you are all keeping up with your readings and that this finds you in happiness. More tomorrow or the next day, I swear it!
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Siesta
Hello all! Day two in Philadelphia, half way over and now that we are back in our room enjoying a much needed siesta I thought I would take some time to write about the first half of my day.
Day two started early with a drive to Doylestown, Pennsylvania to get breakfast with Katie's grandmother, Betty Sue. We went to a classic Doylestown family restaurant, Perkins Pancake House, and enjoyed the yummiest breakfast food - scratch that, the yummiest hash browns - that I have had in a while. The drive was about an hour there and back so we arrived back to the hotel just in time for lunch, which we promptly skipped because our tummies were far too full for more food. Instead of munching we stopped at UPenn to take a quick little tour around my residence for the next six weeks. The trip quelled my worry a little, but increased my feelings of nervous anticipation that come with any new activity. I really wish tomorrow would just be here already so that I could get the worried jitters out of my stomach, really it would make everything a lot easier. Anyways, after our tour we came back to Downtown and toured some more. We walked around, bought some cute new clothes at H&M, saw a group of teenage girls get in major trouble for attempting to shoplift from Urban Outfitters, got some wonderful frozen yogurt from my new favorite place "Sweet Endings", and then topped it off with a visit to the Apple Genius Bar to see if anyone could fix the HUGE, spiderweb crack that I acquired on my phone the day before I left. After a twenty minute wait a super nice, Genius Bar specialist kindly replaced my phone (with a better model nonetheless!!) and now I have a wonderfully clean, fixed iPhone.
Nothing can stop me and everything seems to be falling into place for tomorrow; let's just hope the program is all that I hoped for.
More later,
Lucy
Day two started early with a drive to Doylestown, Pennsylvania to get breakfast with Katie's grandmother, Betty Sue. We went to a classic Doylestown family restaurant, Perkins Pancake House, and enjoyed the yummiest breakfast food - scratch that, the yummiest hash browns - that I have had in a while. The drive was about an hour there and back so we arrived back to the hotel just in time for lunch, which we promptly skipped because our tummies were far too full for more food. Instead of munching we stopped at UPenn to take a quick little tour around my residence for the next six weeks. The trip quelled my worry a little, but increased my feelings of nervous anticipation that come with any new activity. I really wish tomorrow would just be here already so that I could get the worried jitters out of my stomach, really it would make everything a lot easier. Anyways, after our tour we came back to Downtown and toured some more. We walked around, bought some cute new clothes at H&M, saw a group of teenage girls get in major trouble for attempting to shoplift from Urban Outfitters, got some wonderful frozen yogurt from my new favorite place "Sweet Endings", and then topped it off with a visit to the Apple Genius Bar to see if anyone could fix the HUGE, spiderweb crack that I acquired on my phone the day before I left. After a twenty minute wait a super nice, Genius Bar specialist kindly replaced my phone (with a better model nonetheless!!) and now I have a wonderfully clean, fixed iPhone.
Nothing can stop me and everything seems to be falling into place for tomorrow; let's just hope the program is all that I hoped for.
More later,
Lucy
Saturday, July 02, 2011
The Beginning of it All
Here I am; at the start of another adventure! Monday will start the bulk of my summer - the University of Pennsylvania High School Pre-College Program (what a mouthful!!). For six weeks I will be slaving over the books, trying my very hardest to get straight A's and impress the Penn professors who I get to work with, while making friends and hoping that I get along with the 200 other students doing the same thing. I can't wait, though my nerves are slowly taking over my body, but before it begins I thought I should set up my most important means of communication - my new blog!! I think this will be the perfect way to keep anyone in touch who would like to hear about the daily going-ons of my summer and hopefully there will be good stories to fill the interweb with. If not thank you for giving it a try. Now let us begin with today's happenings.
Though my Penn program doesn't start for another two days my family and I (Sister, Mom, and Cousin Katie) drove up to Philadelphia to get a chance to explore the city and settle in with my new location before the big move. Much to our surprise, upon arrival at about 4:30 we all got to the hotel room and fell asleep. I watched Hook, an absolutely classic movie for those of you who have never seen it, while Jessie and Katie slept, and my mom deleted emails from her phone. After a four hour siesta we had dinner at a too-fancy-restaurant, where three out of four of us special order classic comfort food. Our night ended with a wonderful walk around a couple of blocks where I got my first taste of my new city and the quite warm weather. Walking around made me more excited and a little more nervous to be living by myself in the city, but still I am looking forward to taming the buildings around me and taking each day by a storm. It was a lazy first day here, but I'm sure I'll make up for it later. More soon enough!
PS - Didn't mention my pre-Pennsylvania day, but it's important enough that it is worth a shout out. Before starting our drive the ladies and I, plus five our of very best friends went up to Annapolis to recognize Bill Chin and say goodbye to the place that gave me so many fabulous memories over my 17 years of life. I will never forget the Mothers Day from Hell or the countless BBQs that gave me friends who I will never forget. Love you and miss you very much, Dad. Hope you approved of our Annapolis celebration for you.
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