Brick Is Red

Travelogue 11-12-2007

Yesterday, went to Philly 1st ward, brought back memories of Vancouver 1st ward. Seth and Leslie had something planned in Baltimore so they left after Sacrament meeting. I got to meet several dental students, and ate dinner with a couple of them. Then I just hung out at Seth and Leslie's place, studying the transit system and stuff.

Today, slept in till 9:30. Got up and after eating breakfast, worked on the USC packet I'm supposed to bring to the interview. It took a while.
Played Guitar Hero: Rock the 80's with Seth and Leslie and Ezra. Fun times. At lunch, played a little more Guitar Hero.
Got dropped off by Seth and Leslie at the 69th St station, bought a day pass, and hopped on the Market St. Subway/El-train. Rode it downtown, switch to the Broad St. Line (awesome stuff :-P the subway station smelled like pee and I was the only white guy most of the time, I tried to not stand out so much. The subway stations aren't like the ones you see in movies of New York, they're small, and narrow, and dimly lit, with long corridors. Way old too) Rode that up to the dental school. Not a bad neighborhood. Maybe it was the time of day, but not as bad as everyone made it out to be. Not Beverly Hills by a long shot, but not scary either. Picked up a copy of the packet they sent me in the mail that I was supposed to have with me tomorrow, looked around for a minute, and took off. I'd been pretty nervous trekking out on my own in a very strange city on a very unfamiliar transit system with nasty subway stations. After I left the dental school, I no longer cared. It took about the whole 40 minute trip to get used to it and the people, and everything. I was feeling pretty raw and out there when I first started ("What did I get myself into?")
Switched back to the Market St line and rode it out to almost the end of the line. The neighborhood there was pretty cool. Lots of shady stores and businesses, lots of garbage everywhere, lots of shady people milling about on street corners and in front of shady businesses. I dropped a letter off in the mail slot of a good friend and left. That would be a crazy area for a suburban-raised white guy to start his mission in. Nothing would phase you after that place. That'd be a cool area. Not a fun home, but a cool mission area :-)
Stopped to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Revolutionary War. I feel grateful tonight.
Walked about a mile down Market St in downtown Philadelphia, past a nice shopping area and to the City Hall: One of the coolest buildings I've seen in person. Big ol' statues and stone decorations. You walk through it into a courtyard and it's like this huge castle. Big gothic style clock tower. Huge.
Then I rode home. Trickiest part was knowing where the Drexel Manor stop was so I could pull the string to tell the trolley driver to stop. I shouldn't have worried. Three other people got off there too. A fun day. I've had a great time with Seth and Leslie.
Tomorrow I dress in my suit, with my backpack and garment bag and ride the train back out to the school for the interview. One of the dental students in the ward said he'd try to meet me at the trolley stop so we could ride together. From the interview I'm going strait to the airport via subway and train so's I can make my flight to LAX.