Wake Up In The Morning Feeling Like Philly

I have to say, I was pretty well rested this morning after going to bed at 2:30 AM, although I’m not sure how Ivette felt upon waking up (seeing as she didn’t get to bed until about 4 AM after a vigorous workout in the gym).  Despite wanting to sleep in for days, we managed to make it to breakfast with the rest of our cohort.

After breakfast, we all checked out of our rooms and headed to the local Kmart to pick up a few last items. We ran around in Kmart for about an hour and then headed back to the hotel. I could tell that excitement was starting to build up within the Penn team and everyone was ready to meet their roommates. We gathered up our luggage and started the three block trek to UPenn. We stopped right across the street from campus to pose for one more photograph inside of an old trolley car.

When we arrived in front of the campus we were greeted by a large group of people wearing electric blue Summer Discovery staff t-shirts. The staff was extremely helpful and efficient in providing the students with great directions and instructions. Once every member of our cohort checked-in, we made our way down the row of residence halls and reluctantly bidded farewell to the team and our chaperone.

Bye Chloe!

BUT WAIT, it wasn’t over yet!

After walking into an empty room and unpacking a bit, Ian and David came by to see my room and then we moved on to visit the rest of the cohort. Upon seeing that everyone was settling in nicely, Ian decided it was time to release his little birdies nest.

The next few hours were filled with socializing and unpacking. Once my roommate arrived, we started a sort of welcoming committee that greeted everyone in the hallways. That was a great way to meet everyone in the dorms. I was relieved to know that all of the halls were connected by a long hallway to the rest of the Penn team were essentially just a few doors down.

At 5:00 PM all 260 of the Summer Discovery participants met for dinner which was followed by an orientation. The rest of the night was filled with getting to know all sorts of people. I met people from Costa Rica, Beijing, Taiwan, and Israel among other places. I also met a guy named Batman!

Just from the way the first day went, I can tell that the next four weeks are going to be such an amazing experience. Tomorrow we start class and I couldn’t be any more excited!