On Saturday, I woke up bright and early and ran to the Reading Terminal Market at 12th and Arch Streets. I am in love with that place! Perhaps the highlight of the trip was my discovery of Honey Crisp apples, a hard-to-find variety that only remains in season for a little while and TRUMPS all other apples! I also bought some apple cider AND some local Pennsylvania apples! Apples equal fall, and fall is here, and I'm just so ridiculously happy about it! I contemplated buying some colorful corn and pumpkins, but I decided to wait at least until October!
After a market morning, I took the bus home and got ready for our GSE Open House. The other GAs and I prepped the Bodek Lounge in Houston Hall from 10-11 AM, and then the students started to arrive! We had about 85 people at the event, and it was fun to walk around and mingle with them. Some of them have super impressive backgrounds...studies in far off places, awesome job experiences...it's neat to know that I have lots to learn from them, though sometimes a little intimidating because many of them are actually older than me! I try to keep my youth a secret! :-) Jamey, my fabulous co-GA, served as open house point person, and he did an excellent job! I'm glad that he went first so I can ask him lots of questions when my turn comes in the spring!
After the open house, I attempted to be productive, and succeeded in completing a few readings for my Higher Education in American Society class. One of the readings was super interesting, and co-authored by a Penn GSE faculty member! It was all about the gap between high school and college, and how American education systems might work to close the gap and ease the transition for students from secondary to post-secondary schools. It's funny how often I find myself truly interested in the things I read for class. I've also become a more skeptical and critical reader, with the encouragement of my professors here. I love the emphasis on questioning assumptions and "finding out for ourselves" here at Penn. It's good sometimes to be forced to really and honestly THINK.
On Saturday night, we had a cohort party at my friend Nicole's house. It was a great relief to spend time with my classmates and not be talking about academics...too much... We also took advantage of the Penn Shuttle Service, which is truly a beautiful thing. All we had to do was dial 215.898.RIDE and tell the dispatcher our pick-up point. The driver ensured that we had Pen IDs and then drove us back to our respective residences...all for free!
On Sunday, I ventured over to St. Agatha St. James Church for a 10 AM mass service. Having grown accustomed to our little F&M chapel mass, this service seemed pretty full of people! I forget sometimes that I'm no longer at my beloved 2000-person institution, but in a class of 22,000 located right in the middle of a giant city! I think that the large suburb/small city life is more my style, but I definitely value the experience that I'm getting from living in the heart of Philly for a year!
My intention post-church was to be a scholarly superwoman and read everything for the week. Sadly (happily?!) my plans were changed with a spontaneous decision by my sister and me to have lunch in the city with our brother and our two cousins, in honor of my cousin's birthday. We had a fun-filled family style Italian meal at Maggiano's (12th and Filbert Streets--go there!), which was a well-needed break and a great chance to see my family! In some ways, it's nice to be only fifteen minutes from home rather than two hours! On Sunday night, I productively completed all of my readings for history class, and even had time for some bedtime reading with my roommate! (Before we go to sleep, she and I drink tea and read a chapter from a book that interests both of us...call it juvenile, but it's so much fun!)
And now it's Monday, and it's back to the grindstone! I'm just about finished my work for the day, and I think I'm going to head to the Green Line Cafe to complete some serious business reading! I think it's going to be a fun week, despite all the work. On Thursday night, it's off to the Kimmel Center for a classical piano concert, and I'm working on planning an apple pie party for my cohort! I do love those autumn apples!
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