College Roadtrip - Part One

Yesterday dawned rainy and dank, the "perfect" day for Sam's first college visit. Oh, and don't forget to throw in the closure of Route 95 - which necessitated a very extended "back door" trip into Philadelphia. We definitely saw some new parts of the city!



After finally making it to the Penn campus, we got stuck in a pretty bad traffic jam, but eventually worked our way out. When I saw one empty parking spot on the side of the road, I jumped at it - despite it taking me ten minutes to jimmy my way into it - it was TINY! Fortunately we were close to where Sam's 11am "trial" Anthropology class was to take place - inside Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology - it was every bit as impressive as its name. Really gorgeous building. Sam loved sitting in the class and it was the highlight of the trip for her.



After class, we wandered the campus a bit, hit the bookstore (it was COLD so we got a jacket and sweatshirt on clearance!) and then grabbed a quick lunch. I would always get excited when I saw an area that was familiar from trips to Drexel, e.g., "Joe's CVS."



Afterwards we walked the main quad of the campus, which was absolutely beautiful. At right is a photo of College Hall, in front of a statue of Penn's founder, Benjamin Franklin. The architecture on the campus is just amazing - I'm sure it would have been even more amazing if it hadn't been such a dreary day. We met in College Hall to begin the Information Session and then the student-guided tour. The Info Session was a little dry, but the tour was pretty wet! : ) When we began, the rain really started coming down. We saw some gorgeous parts of campus and learned quite a bit, too. After about an hour we had had enough and cut the tour a bit short.

We made our way back to the car and since our parking meter had run out about ten minutes before, of COURSE I had a parking ticket. My contribution to the city of Philly, I guess. We hit tons of rerouted Route 95 traffic on the way out of the city and the rain made for an exhausting ride home, but it was a good day after all.

I mentioned to Sam on my way home that my grandmother had only finished about six grades of school. Then my mother made it all the way through high school. I then took the baton and finished college. Now it's Sam's turn and she stands a pretty decent chance at completing graduate work at a great college. It does make me proud. Meanwhile, there's Claire - whose parents probably didn't get very far through school, while with her intellect and current opportunities, the sky's the limit! It's a crazy world.