Philadelphia

Next fall, Lord willing, as a junior I am planning to go to Philadelphia through Hope's Philadelphia Center to take classes and have a 32-hour a week internship. Over Christmas break I completed most of my application to the program, which was my goal and a great relief to check off the list. Today I was dreaming about SENIOR year, during which I hope to travel to South America for a semester as mentioned in my previous blogs (this just recently decided over break). Thumbing through travel guides to Chile and Argentina on the couch, taking notes on a word document, I suddenly realized that I was getting more hyped up to go abroad to South America than I was to Philly. Philly is a 98% sure reality; South America is like a safe 75% probability at the moment. Philly is happening; South America might happen, hopefully will happen. All that to say, I thought, what the heck am I doing, learning all this about South America when I've decided to go to Philadelphia and have spent limited time even thinking about it?

Thank you google for fast access to information. I googled Philadelphia (the first thing anyone does when they're wanting to learn anything, right???). Looking at the map, Philadelphia waved at me from waaaay far East, a trek beyond Michigan and really far from Minnesota. Philly sits in the Southeast corner of Pennsylvania, and unbeknownst to me, borders New Jersey! My birth state. I honestly had not pictured it this far East, so I was a bit surprised to see it on the map, although I knew its close proximity to other big cities.

Philadelphia is halfway between New York City and Washington D.C. I better start saving my cash for some day-trips, because ladies and gentleman, this is going to be wonderful. Other close-by cities are Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Boston. The Atlantic is 100 miles away. The local famous cuisine includes something unappetizing called scrapple, hoagies, water ice (whatever that is!), soft pretzels, and cheesesteak, according to Wikipedia. Local sports teams are the 76ers, Phillies, and Eagles - not that I am all that into sports, but it's good to know who the local athletes are. The city was once the second-largest in the British empire, back before we had declared glorious independence from England. Now it is the 6th-largest in the U.S. All the history, all the sights, all the learning... Lord, I hope I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch and dreaming about a semester that is going to fall through in some sad, tragic way. Which if it does, God has a plan, and then this experience wasn't meant to be. But honestly, I can say that I am truly looking forward to having a blast in this wonderful East coast Metropolitan area.

Just had to get rid of some of the excitement stewing inside so I can settle down and go to sleep. Two nights more in my own bed and then back to Hope!