So, One of my favorite things to do while driving around Philadelphia is look for “With Love, Philadelphia” signs. “With Love, Philadelphia” is a Philadelphia marketing campaign to promote Philly tourism. It’s a series of letters to the world from Philadelphia, and they’re absolutely adorable. If I wasn’t already obsessed with Philadelphia, they would definitely make me want to visit. Does it work on you??
“Dear Great Big World, It’s me Philadelphia. You should come visit soon. That includes you, France. We could grab dinner and maybe a show. Maybe bull- horn it up at a game, run the steps Rocky- style, or shake it ’til the sun comes up. Summer’s lovely here, but then so is every season. Anyway, I enclosed a picture in case you forgot what I look like. I’d come to you but stuffing the art museum in a suitcase could be a problem. With Love, Philadelphia XOXO”
“Dear Guys who like Guys, and Girls who like Girls,we’re into that in Philly. In fact, we have a placeaffectionately referred to as the Gayborhood. Our street signs even shout ” We love Everyone! Gay, Straight, and Not Exactly Sure! So come hang out with us and bring your favorite guy or girl. It’ll be fabulous! With Love, Philadelphia, XOXO”
“Dear Dahling, You. Look. Fabulous. Why don’t you grab your besties and do a little shopping on Walnut St. After all there are so many shoes in need of a good home. Then we’ll go to brunch, which is way more vogue than Breakfast or Lunch. The rest of the day we can parade around Rittenhouse, grab a dirty martini, no vermouth, extra olives, with a splash of delish. Did I mention you look fabulous? With Love, Philadelphia XOXO”
Lots of people have a somewhat grim outlook on life inside residence halls. I’m here to clear up this misconception. I lived in a residence hall here at Temple in my freshman year and remember it as one of this best experiences of my life. My room was in Hardwick Hall, a communal style high rise building right on broad street. I lived on the 11th floor, the highest in the building. My room was spacious and had completely new furnishings, plus the view.. spectacular. There were about 30 other people on my floor and we all
became very close. Being a communal style building, we all shared a large bathroom in the center of the hall. Even though in the beginning it was weird to brush my teeth next to a stranger, it quickly got me to know people.. and I never had a problem as far as having to wait for a shower or anything like that. my residence hall quickly becamemy own little home and family away from home. The floor that I lived on was a living and learning community, that’s a program where Temple groups students of the same major together if the students choose. My roommate and I were randomly assigned to eachother through Temple which isn’t the system anymore. At first we thought we were going to HATE eachother because we are so different. However, we got along great and Brittany is one of my best friends still today : ) We lived together again this year. Well, that’s all for my little look into freshman living on campus. I’ll post a part 2 with my res. hall this year soon! Later!
So when you guys are packing up to come to Temple, one item I definitely reccomend bringing that isn’t included on your run of the mill housing info sheet is a pair of rain boots! My post today is inspired by the gross monsoon-ish weather outside, that destroyed one of my umbrellas today, and left me a little.. damp.Anyway, Temple is such a compact campus that you probably won’t want to drive your car to campus on rainy days. Also, unless you have a parking permit on an on campus lot it is nearly impossible to find a place to park during working hours in the heart of campus. Therefore, rainboots, have become my best friend. Whenever it rains Temple is lit up with a parade of colorful rainboots splashing through the puddles. It keeps you from ruining your nicer shoes and also makes the trek to class from your residence hall or wherever else on a less than gorgeous day slightly more bearable. The ones above are mine. More tips to come : )
Watching news reports about the devastation caused in Haiti by earthquakes has been heartbreaking. There are over 3 million people left in need of emergency aid in the aftermath of the hurricane. In a country where 80% of the population was already living under he poverty line, this is an incredibly serious matter. There have been efforts all over campus by different organizations to try to raise money to send to Haiti to help with relief efforts. There is currently a TU Haiti Relief Campus- Wide Collection Drive being held where student can donate all sorts of hygiene items and nonperishable food items to be sent to Haiti. Delta Zeta held our own emergency can shake at the bell tower at the center of campus yesterday from 10-2. Girls held posters and shook cans asking for donations from Temple students and faculty on their way to class. It seems like such a small thing to do but in just a few hours we raised over $600 to send to Haiti. Being able to participate in meaningful philanthropies, like this can shake for Haiti is one of the things I love most about being in a sorority. Being involved in community service was something that I really wanted to continue to do when I came to college and Temple has presented me with some really amazing ways of doing so inside and outside of my sorority. Another great thing about Temple aside from being service oriented is that I can definitely say I feel like it is a globally minded institution. But anyway, that’s all for now, woo for almost finishing my first week of classes!!
I LOVE the first day of classes! There is so much possibility. Walking into a room of people you haven’t seen before and meeting a new professor and learning something new is so exciting. To reflect the mood of the day I have included a picture of Elle Woods from her first day of law school (left) haha. A pet peeve of mine is when people wear sweatpants on the first day of class. I mean really? this is one of the most exciting days of the semester, you should be up and dressed and excited! Anyway, my first day of spring semester was fantastic. I had American Supreme Court from 11- 12:20. Then I had Mosaics II from 12:30- 1:50. Then finally, I had Myth and Symbol from 2- 3:20. I loved all of my classes so far! American Supreme Court was probably my favorite of the day, it seems so interesting and I love reading supreme court cases. I found out that anothr DZ is in my class and we sat together and she told me the professor is amazing so I’m pretty excited about that. Mosaics II is part of what are basically the general university English requirements. It’s the last in the sequence and puts an emphasis on Literature and critical analysis. My Myth and Symbol class was probably the most entertaining. It is taught by Dr. Katherine Henry. I took American Literature 1 with her last semester and loved it and luckily was able to register for another class with her. ( I’m an English and Political Science double major for those of you who didn’t read my “About Me” page. ) Anyway, the class is going to be centered around literature’s treatment of hell, and three weeks will be spent analyzing Dante’s Inferno. When she passed out the syllabus I literally burst into laughter because at the top where the name of the course is usually in bold it just said HELL in bold and caps. The first thing she said was ” Hello, everyone and welcome to Hell!”. Ha! Soo many good jokes. Tomorrow I have a Political Philosophy Class in the morning and Foreign Politics in the afternoon. I’m excited to be taking so many classes for my major this semester. Anyway, I neeed to go pick up some books from the book store so I can get started on some homework. Later everyone!
So, one of my favorite things to do in Philly ( and everywhere else) is EAT!! So whenever I go to a new restaurant I’ll try to let you know what I thought. Anyway, I was in Philly over the weekend bringing a few things up before I move back in ( only so much fits in my z4 : P ) and visiting my boyfriend. We decided to go out for sushi. Now, let me preface this with the fact that I am by no means a sushi expert. I’m really just starting to get into it. I think part of it is just that sushi is so trendy and fun that I don’t want to be left behind lol. My boyfriend and his family eat it allll the time, so I decided I should try it out. We have a sushi bar in the Student Center, where one of our main dining halls on campus is located. So I started out small with just that sushi. My favorite was the Crunchy Shrimp roll and Spicy roll. However, I developed a really bizarre habit of dunking my sushi in duck sauce, because the Chinese food place is next to the sushi place in the Student Center. I really like it, but apparently to the experienced sushi eater that’s just not cool. But anyway, we went to a sushi restaurant called Swanky Bubbles in Old City. We had some sushi that was DELICIOUS and some that I didn’t care for. My absolute favorite was Dragon roll, yummmm! ( I also am kind of swayed by the names of the rolls) I was a little disappointed though because I thought the inside of the restaurant was going to be a little cooler, like a Steven Star restaurant, but it was still nice. My boyfriend told me about a Steven Star restaurant called Pod where the sushi comes by on a conveyor belt! I really want to try going there soon too. But anyway, even though we drove, what’s nice about Swanky Bubbles ( besides the really cool name) is that it’s super easy to get to from Temple’s campus. You can just hop on two subway lines and be dropped off a few steps around the corner from it. But anyway, I better get going because I haven’t started packing my stuff yet and I move back to Temple today!!! Wooo!!
“And someday when I take to the floor, the world’s gonna wake up and see… Baltimore and me!”
Being the Baltimore girl that I am, I went with my best friend ( the undeniable Tracy to my Penny) to see Hairspray!! I love going to see musicals, so it was a major treat for me to get tickets to Hairspray at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore for Christmas. Being from Baltimore, my best friend since age 7, Katie, and I are always psyched to catch a good rendition of Hairspray, based in Baltimore. We had to restrain ourselves from singing too loudly with all of the songs from our seats. Hairspray has an amazing soundtrack! It was absolutely incredible. We decided that we are definitely going to see Wicked, another one of my favorite shows, when it comes through Philadelphia. Philly is an awesome place to live if you like going to shows, because there are an array of theatres where shows come through. Last year my sorority got discounted tickets to go see Legally Blonde ( my ALL TIME favorite musical.. Elle Woods is basically my idol.) After Hairspray we drove to the Towson diner and got burgers and milkshakes and bought every single Billy Joel song that was available in the juke box.. and sang along. It was definitely a good Baltimore kind of night.
While I was in Florida I was lucky enough to get to go to Disney World!! This was really exciting for me because I haven’t been there since I was really little. I was SO excited to see Cinderella’s castle and I literally cried during “Wishes”, the firework show in Magic Kingdom. My absolute favorite rides were Planet Earth, Finding Nemo, and The Land in Epcot. I was a little bummed that I didn’t get to meet any otherprincesses while I was there but I still had alot of fun. Unfortunately since I had just gotten my new camera I kept forgetting about it and didn’t take too many pictures. However, this one on the left was my absolute favorite. The castle changed colors every couple of minutes. It was gorgeous. It was really funny because on the tram ride back to the parking lot I met another Temple student ( shout out to Dave!) He was down in Disney doing an internship. His job was to announce the stops the tram was making and I was shocked when he announced that he was from Temple. If I was doing the Disney internship I would definitely want to be a princess, unless I could be Tinkerbell and fly on the zipline over Magic Kingdom every night with the fireworks behind me… aweessommmeee! 4 days ’til Temple!!!
That’s what I named my new BMW Z4 <3. I’m pretty in love. My old car was a ‘94 Saturn SL2. You had to climb in through the passenger side and then there was about a 50% chance it would actually start. Elle was a present from my Dad. I’m currently on an EPIC journey so you’ll have to excuse my leave of absence from the blogosphere. I left Maryland, where I live, on December 27th. From there I went to visit my grandmother and great grandmother who live just outside of Cincinnati. On January 30th I flew int Cape Coral, Florida to visit my Father and Step Mother who I haven’t seen since I was about 6. I return to Maryland tomorrow around five. My dad is driving my new car up. He left today at noon and will meet me at the airport in Baltimore with my car when I get in tomorrow. As much fun as I’m having I’m looking forward to coming home and seeing my family.. and COUNTING DOWN the days ’til back to TEMPLE <3333
PS- I got a new camera so more pictures to come!! Keep checking back!!
PSS- My blog is currently undergoing a makeover, so please excuse me if it’s kind of mismatched at the moment. : )
So, even though this is a little late, I wanted to talk about an awesome date I went on to Franklin Fountain on Saturday. My boyfriend surprised me by taking me out for icecream there. Franklin Fountain is this adorable old fashioned ice cream place in Old City. It was about a ten minute subway ride from Temple. They have all of these old fashioned decorations and antiques that give it a really cool atmosphere. You can only pay in cash to reflect the time period in which it is set. Right now they are all decked out for Christmas with a pretty Christmas tree strewn with strands of popcorn and pretty antique ornaments. The signature bust of Ben Franklin that sits on top of the ice cream counter presumably overseeing things is wearing a Santa hat to celebrate the season as well. But what made this date amaaazing, wasn’t the aesthetics of Franklin Fountain.. but the ICECREAM!!! I t was delicious!! My boyfriend and I split a giant sundae called the Mt. Veuvius. It was covered in malt powder and hot fudge.. soooo good.We also got what I might have to say was the BEST hot chocolate I’ve ever had.On the subway ride back we ran into a couple friends who had been ice skating at Penns Landing. It was the perfect thing to do on a December Saturday night. Below is a picture of Franklin Fountain.
Age: 19
Class: Sophomore
Major: Political Science & English
Hometown: Bel Air, MD
Activities: Owl Ambassadors
Delta Zeta Sorority
Pre- Law Association
Favorite Food On Campus:
Strawberry Cheesecake Icecream from J&H Dining Hall
Favorite Study Spot On Campus:
Tech Center- Yellow Section
Favorite Campus Sound:
Beeping of the Crosswalks on Broad St.
Favorite Class So Far at Temple:
Dissent in America with Dr. Ralph Young
“Dear Great Big World, It’s me Philadelphia. You should come visit soon. That includes you, France. We could grab dinner and maybe a show. Maybe bull- horn it up at a game, run the steps Rocky- style, or shake it ’til the sun comes up. Summer’s lovely here, but then so is every season. Anyway, I enclosed a picture in case you forgot what I look like. I’d come to you but stuffing the art museum in a suitcase could be a problem. With Love, Philadelphia XOXO”
affectionately referred to as the Gayborhood. Our street signs even shout ” We love Everyone! Gay, Straight, and Not Exactly Sure! So come hang out with us and bring your favorite guy or girl. It’ll be fabulous! With Love, Philadelphia, XOXO”
