they said we'd burn so bright, we'd burn this city and go

Not too much happened this week.

Monday we had community gathering and a former player from the Philadelphia Eagles came and spoke. He is now a pastor in New Jersey. It was a very good gathering and I learned a lot!

Oh my gosh, I had no classes yesterday or today. Counseling Theories was canceled for Thursday morning since the beginning of the semester. They were calling for snow that day so Phila Public Schools closed and so I didn't have internship. Then today I was supposed to have three classes all of which were canceled. I got an email saying Human Sexuality was canceled. Ricki texted me this morning to tell me that History and Systems was canceled. Finally I got another text saying Urban Ed was canceled. I was going to go into internship today to make up some hours and make up my hours for next Thursday when I will have to miss but of course the schools were closed today. Philadelphia maybe got 3-4 inches of snow! Ridiculous!

Yesterday I was lazy and slept til 12. Today I woke up at ten. I went to the Tech Center this afternoon with Sarah, my friend from high school who goes to Temple.

This weekend in Immersion Weekend. It is a weekend where we focus on our common text and work on building community. I am not going to update anymore because I will describe it all at the end of the weekend!

My parents left for their Caribbean cruise this past week. They flew to Florida on Sunday and boarded the ship on Tuesday. My sisters and I will meet up with them in Orlando, Florida on March 5. My dad sent me a text the other day, I'm assuming from one of the island. I replied but then didn't hear anything back. I'm sure they are having a great time! Hopefully, my mom isn't doing too much work while on vacation. She took her laptop, blackberry, etc with her!

Have a great weekend! Peace.

but life ain't so bad you know...

Sunday afternoons are always bittersweet. They are relaxing while at the same time you know you need to do homework. You want to just soak up that last bit of the weekend but you know tomorrow you will be sitting in class. I will start my homework soon after I write about my weekend.

Late Thursday night I decided I would attempt to go visit Amy at Eastern. On Friday after my classes I called her to get it all figured out. I took the R5 train that evening at the Temple station and got off at the St. David's station. Amy was there to pick me up. We made a stop at WaWa to get some food then we went to her school. A few people were hanging out in a lounge watching the olympics so we decided to join. Curling was on...

"Why are those guys mopping the floor?" - Amy

I love that girl! haha. After a while down there we went to her room to just hang. Later that evening we went to meet up with some of her friends. Amy, 2 of her friends, and I went to watch The Hangover. About 11:45 we decided we want to order Dominos. So we ordered pizza, cheesy bread, and wings haha. oh man...at least it was good!

We went to bed around 2AM but didn't set an alarm because Ames said she never sleeps in. We woke up at 11. We were both just really tired I guess. We got ready and went to King of Prussia! We only bought clothes in Old Navy. It would be so crazy for that to be the mall that you went to just like Capital City is the mall I go to. We spent about 2 hours there and went back to campus to go to the Eastern vs. Del Val basketball game. Amy and I had to leave a few minutes early in order for her to take me back to the train station. I was able to take the train there and back by myself!

I made it back to Temple just in time to go on the PSAB trip to Gino's and Pat's cheese steaks. That was a fun experience! It was cold though so we ate and left. When I got back I ran into Katie and her family and they invited me to join in celebrating her birthday. We had cake and she got some neat presents! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!

I was able to skype with Heather after that! Mmmm that is always a fun time!

The last activity of the night was watching a movie with Bekah, her friend Jeff, and Derek. We watched the Prestige although I was doing other things and missed the first 2o minutes anyway.

This morning I went to Epiphany with Josh and Derek. The service started at 11:15 and let out at 1:10. The services are longer than what I am used to but the pastor is very passionate along with the rest of the congregation so I didn't even notice what time it was. The earlier service which starts at 9 is shorter and I usually go to that one when I have lots of stuff to do.

This afternoon I am just hanging out and working on homework.

My dad texted me today and told me that my mom and him were on their way to Florida for their cruise. He said I can contact them until Tuesday. I had no idea they were leaving so soon! The next time I will see them will be in the Orlando Airport on March 5. Then it's off to Disney!

cause i'm bigger than my body gives me credit for

So I have my first test of the semester tomorrow. It is in Human Sexuality, but it is an essay test. We were given 4 possible essay questions and one will be picked. It is open note too. We can even write all 4 if we don't want to go to class tomorrow. I think I will just outline all of them and take the test in class. We also have a group project in that class. I don't even know who some of the people in my group are. There has been no communication between us. I sent out an email but I didn't hear back from anyone. I am thinking I will have to take charge.

I had my internship yesterday and today. Yesterday we held our 1st grade group. Our topic was on friends. We read a story about a boy who was new to a school but didn't know how to share. The activity that we did was a worksheet where they drew a quilt and inside they drew pictures of what they like to do with their friends. It went very well! I definitely enjoy working with that group!

Every Thursday when I get there at 11 there is a meeting going on so I usually just sit in on that and then after I do different things. Today the counselor had to teach 4th grade corrective math and she brought us (the interns) with her. I helped her by handing out tickets when they got answers right and reading out of the book what to do and the answers. The rest of the afternoon, there really wasn't much to do so I just did random little things.

Last night I went to Zumba which is a workout class. The music is Latin and it is mostly like dancing! It is quite the workout though. You can burn 600-1000 calories in a one hours session (approx).

Tonight I need to work on my essay test for tomorrow. I am not sure what this weekends plans are. Bekah's friend Jeff is coming on Saturday. I met him last fall when he came to visit. I assume we will be doing some exploring around Philly. Always so much to do! Peace.

i've been all around the world, i've been a new sensation...

Last week we had two snow days! I was definitely getting bored on Thursday and I just want my routine back. Although we did have a fun snowball fight one of the nights. Friday I had two classes and then Amber and I left Philly to go to Messiah. I went home first but then I spent most of the weekend at Messiah.

Friday night I went out to dinner with the family for my dad's birthday but after that I went to Messiah to see my friends. The first person I saw was Heather! Which was soooo exciting! Then I hung out with Danelle and Kristy! Kari came too! A bunch of us went midnight ice skating which was pretty fun. A sleepover with Kristy and Heather followed. I just love those two so much!
Saturday morning we slept in and Shalisa had made us breakfast. I also go to see my other friend Heather and Liz in the afternoon! I had to run home fast to get my camera because that night was the Owl City concert! Kristy made us dinner with amazing pasta and salad. There were 7 of us at dinner. Travis was there and we took on our roles as VIP. Nothing new there! ;) The line for the concert was all the way through the building and into the athletic hallway. The opening band was Alpha Rev and they were very good. Owl City came on shortly after and they were good also except, I only knew one song! I met up with some more people at the South Side Cafe! Then Danelle, Amanda, Heather and I made a random Sheetz run haha. Finally after a long day I went back to Kristy's apartment and her and her roomies put in a movie. Heather came also! She loves me! :) I watched maybe two minutes of the movie before passing out.
Sunday morning the group of us decided to go to CLA. Well Kristy guessed that it started at 10:45 and so we planned to leave at 10:30. Let me paint the picture for you at 10:32...Kristy - dressed, finished hair but not makeup. Shalisa - finished make-up and hair, in sweatpants. Ashley - I'm not even sure what she was doing. I am completely ready so I go get the car and come back and wait for them. They come out one by one every few minutes! Could the morning have been any more ridiculous. So we leave for church at 10:55. Luckily we got there and found out it started at 11 so we were only a little late. After that I got swiped in to Lottie. Haven't been there since last semester. I had to go home to pack to go back to Philly and finish some things up. My dad drove me back to school and I visited different friends until 8 when we left for Philly.

This weekend at Messiah was great. I'm so blessed to have such great friends!

Yesterday, I had three classes in the morning which weren't too bad. I had the afternoon to write a 3 page paper for internship class and I managed to finish it with a half hour to spare! That class is so weird because it is only Katie and I in it and Debi our Professor. So you have to do your work and speak because there are only 2 people! Sometime I hate speaking up in class so it is annoying for me to have to do that when I don't feel like it.

Well today I woke up pretty late, about 7:15. Got ready as best I could then went downstairs. We were all talking and whatnot and Ricki checks her email and tells me that our 8AM has been canceled! I was like seriously! So I went back to my room and watched the Bachelor and slept until internship at 11. So today at internship I had my first session with the little girl in Kindergarten that I am going to be working with. She is soooo cute! I started with a little small talk then I filled out an 'All About Me' sheet with her. Then I talked with her about feelings. The reason she is coming to the guidance office is because she has mood swings a lot and doesn't handle them very well. We listed different feelings then I showed her cards with faces on them and asked her what feelings were on them. After that we played Guess Who. She said she knew how to play but I she didn't really. Hah, I kept having to tell her what to ask me! So cute! I asked her if she wanted to come back sometime and talk again and she said yes. It makes me really excited that I may be able to help someone. I've also gotten to know a few other kids personally and when they see me in the hall they get very excited so I just pray I can make some sort of a difference. I also sat in on correctional math for 4th grade, the D.A.R.E. Program, and a guidance class for 5th Grade on anger management. Today was a very good day at the internship.
Tonight Bekah and I are going to the movies after her night class. So I need to get some work done before that. I'm not sure what the rest of the week has to hold but we'll see.

In other news..
The Bachelor: I really hope that Jake doesn't pick Vienna. She definitely annoys me and I think Tenley is a better match. Two more weeks until the finale...it seems like forever away!
Olympics: I wish I had cable in my room so I could watch it. I have barely watched any of them! I want to make a better effort to watch them! Especially since I have olympic apparel.
Disney: 16 DAYS!!!

I think that is all for now! As always, thanks for reading!

snow and the city

Almost halfway through the week. At the end of this week I am going home and also making a visit to Messiah! I can't wait to see some friends and have a sleepover! :)

Let's see this weekend...REWIND.
On Friday it was Erin's birthday so a bunch of us went to Dave and Buster's to eat and play arcade games! It's like the Coliseum, if you've ever been there! That was very fun. We took the subway there and then after that it was still like a ten minute walk and it was just starting to snow. You can imagine when we came out a few hours later that there were a few inches of snow on the ground. What did we do? Had a snowball fight of course! Jon even had one with a business man in a suit. The man commented on how it was perfect snowball snow! Some excitement occured at a stop on the subway on the way back when about 15 teenagers jumped the gates and got on the subway. The lady in the booth turned the alarm on and it was chaos. The boys came right onto our car and were walking around yelling away. Luckily, we got off at the next stop.

Saturday morning we woke up to lots of snow! Somewhere in Philly they got 28 inches! I believe we only got about 18 where we live. I've never seen such a little amount of traffic on Broad Street.
This is a view from the roof! Which is pretty sweet I may add! Some of the boys even built a snowman on the roof! After this a bunch of the students went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to go sledding. The steps of the museum is the place to be when it snows. That's where everyone goes to sled! The Rocky steps. I did not go however, they said it was a blast! If only I had brought some snow clothes. Bummer. That night a few of us just watched a movie. There wasn't really anywhere to go!

Sunday, we were going to go to church around the corner but it was canceled because of snow! So we didn't go, and I went back to sleep :) That afternoon we took a trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This time to go in it instead of just sledding at it. It was a beautiful day even though it was cold.

You can see everyone walking into the museum here!

View from the steps!

That's my city! It's beautiful.

After the art museum we went back to MCPC for a Super Bowl party sponsered by PSAB with pizza and wings and desserts made by Debi! The food was great and we loved the commercials. It was a very fun time!
In other news, our room started leaking that day. Maintenance came on Monday and attempted to fix it. It is apparently snow that is leaking in from the side of the building. They replaced one of the tiles but they other two are still wet, but at least there is no annoying water dripping into buckets anymore!

Classes yesterday and today went well. Not much to say there. except...

SNOW DAY TOMORROW! How exciting! Not sure what we will do yet, prbably just hang and do homework. seee yaaa

here in these deep city lights

I am now 3 weeks in to my experience here in Philly.

I'll start with classes.
The work load is definitely less than I would have at Grantham. The work consists of mostly reading. In two of my classes I have at least one group project sometime later in the semester. In all of my classes I have at least one paper. Other that than it's pretty much just reading. History and Systems is probably my most boring class, but the small workload makes up for it ;)

Internship:
I just completed my second week at Dunbar School. I work there 10 hours per week. Last week consisted mostly of observing in the office and in classrooms. This week I got to work with students individually and I even worked with a group of 1st graders and led a session on bullying with the two other interns. We are going to continue that group session with different topics every week. Sometimes when students get kicked out of class for disruptive behavior I get to talk to them about what happened. Other times we get to play games with students to get them to open up. It will definitely be a great experience and I am looking forward to more hands-on opportunities.
We have done some fun things since orientation so I will share those. One Saturday a bunch of us went down to South Street and went exploring. There are many cool shops and restaurants down there. I went and saw Avatar in 3D. There is a movie theater down the street so a bunch of us went there last Tuesday. On Friday, Kristy and Travis came to Philly and we went to the Lakers/Sixers game! It was awesome! It was my first NBA game and so that was very exciting!! This past Saturday, we took a PSAB trip to Reading Terminal Market, which is a warehouse type place with loads of food vendors. So many options! After that 4 of us went exploring and shopping. We visited the Comcast building along with Love Park. (I have posted a picture from Love Park) We went shopping on Walnut Street, which is where all the good shopping is. There were some designer stores as well as stores like Gap, H&M, etc. While we were shopping it started to snow! So we made our way back to campus.

Its the weekend again so that means more exciting things to do!
I am not totally sure what my plans are this weekend but on Sunday we are taking a PSAB trip to the Art Museum and we are also having a Super Bowl Party. I'll update again soon. PEACE.

new city. new experiences.

new semester. new city.

I was up late packing on Friday night because of course I saved it until the last minute. I planned to wake up around 5:45 AM Saturday to finish up some things but I either didn’t set or missed my alarm. Our plan was to leave at 8 but since I didn’t wake up until after 7 we didn’t leave until after 9. We pulled up to the building around 11 and I checked in and got all my keys for everything. Then I moved my stuff in which didn’t take too long because there were people to help. Bekah was already moved in but she wasn’t there while I was moving in. After moving in I said bye to my parents and headed off to the first orientation session. We listened to the RD speak and we were then sent off to campus tours. I had a fun group and it was a lot of fun to see the campus. ITS BIG! Blocks and blocks long in every direction, I feel like. At 4 we listened to a Temple Police officer speak about how to be safe and then we were introduced to the staff. Then it was time for dinner, which we got to choose a restaurant to go to. Bekah and I went to Thai food with 4 other students and 3 staff members. We were also introduced to public transportation as we took the subway into center city. I keep calling the subway, the metro because that was what it was called in Greece. I get so excited when the voice comes on to announce the next station but when it isn’t the Greek lady; I remember I am in the states. It was very fun and neat to get to hear lots of stories about Philly.

Sunday morning started off with church which we got to by taking the city bus. We were given a list of churches to sign up for and I went to Spirit and Truth Fellowship. It was different than what I am used to but it wasn’t anything crazy. Hey Liz, one of the songs we sang was in Spanish. It started raining right before we left for church so that was messy. However, after church it was raining pretty hard and we missed the bus because church ran longer than expected. Our options were to wait for another bus which wasn’t going to come for a half hour or walk like a million blocks to the subway. One of the girls with us who attended that church last semester called a man Jose who she became friends with this past fall. So he came and brought a van to take us all back because we had to get back to eat lunch and leave for bowling. The van pulls up and there are 7 seats in this utility type truck. There are 17 of us!!!! We piled in, and I have to say that we had so many laughs on the way back to campus. We got back to MCPC and ate pizza which was followed by our first SAB trip to Lucky Strike, this very classy bowling alley. We bowled and hung out all afternoon. Arriving back we ate dinner at Johnson and Hardwick the equivalent of Lottie. So different though because it is bigger. We had another orientation meeting after that for about an hour and then we headed for dessert in the city, which we signed up for at orientation. My group went to Naked Chocolate…filled with chocolate candy, chocolate drinks, and chocolate fondue. It was fantastic!! The rest of the night was just spent hanging out!

As we all know Monday was MLK day so our morning started off with service projects. Six of us went to Berean Presbyterian Church across the street to help out there. The church is very old but beautiful. We dusted, swept, mopped, wiped, put together a bookshelf, moved furniture around, and set up the new youth office. And when I say new I mean they recently cleaned out
an old storage room and we put a desk, a computer, and a printer in there. We did that from about 9-12 and then we ate lunch at J&H. Then 3 friends and I went to the bookstore to buy books! So much money! After that we checked out the library to see what it was like and it is so different from our library at Messiah! Then we had a meeting followed by dinner and our Town Hall Meeting. At this particular meeting we discussed our community and we as a group decided on the rules. Our visitation hours are from 10AM-4AM with doors open or closed based on personal preference. So there are only 6 hours of no visitation! We aren’t in Grantham anymore! Quiet hours are also shorter although I can’t remember the exact hours. We decided to make attendance at Community Gatherings (chapel) on Monday nights required but not recorded because we all knew we would have to go to them and it’s really not a big deal and I hear they are fun! The debate lasted for 2 hours and by 8:45 we were all ready to get out of that room! Another meeting with our RA came after that! The meetings never end here! After the meetings finally ended a few of us just hung out for a little and then I got organized for the start of classes the next day.

IF YOU ARE STILL READING THIS…THANKS! (I know it is very long!)

A random fact I learned was that approx. 47,000 cars drive in front of our building everyday!

Ah, the first day of classes has arrived! Tuesday was our first day and my first class was bright and early, 8AM. I have counseling theories, although it isn’t called that here. Ricki Vallana is also in the class so we went to it together and there were about 3 people waiting outside the room so we ask a girl with her back turned to us if she was waiting for counseling and she turned around and it was Amber Henry! What a surprise! We talked to her for about 15 minutes, we got there a bit early ;) As more students show up, still no professor. Alas, at 8:05 she comes down the hallway. Her name is Marquita Williams and she is this vibrant African American woman. The class goes as you would expect; introductions, syllabus, etc. Prof Williams talks about her class and her education background. She seems like a very intelligent woman and will be getting her Ph.D. in May. Also weird to have a professor who doesn’t have a doctorate! After about 30 minutes she ends class! So strange to get out early! I feel as though at Messiah we would be jumping right into the material! Not at temple, I suppose. Ricki and I went back to the book store to buy our books for our MCPC World Views class and then we walked back to the dorms. I then changed my clothes and headed over to the nearby elementary school where I am hoping to get an internship in the guidance counseling office for this semester. I met with Ms. Flores the head of the counseling offices and I will be going back on Thursday at 10 with my child clearance forms, resume, and letter of introduction. I walked back, which is only two blocks and met with Debi Peterson, who is in charge of all our internships/field work. I talked with her about the internship and she was very positive about the opportunity. We will have to see. Tuesday evening I had my MCPC course. We take it right here at our campus and it’s in my section so I don’t even have to go outside to get there! I may drop it depending on the internship because if I get that then I will take the class that goes along with that. We took a break for community dinner. Monday – Thursday, a lady brings over food for us to eat and we are allowed but don’t have to attend. It’s pretty convenient though. That pretty much sums up the first day of classes. Later that night Jake and Larry came over and we hung out and they helped me reorganize the music on my computer! What good new friends!

This morning I had three classes all in a row. My first one at 9 was History and Systems of Psychology. The much dreaded upper level class for psych majors! It doesn’t see as though it will be too bad. Our midterm and final are take home essay test! And we have a research paper. My next class at 10 was human sexuality. I’m fascinated! The teacher seems great too! We jumped right in talking about sexuality. The final class of the day at 11 is Schooling and Education in the Third World. All we did today was talk about how the class is going to be run and my professor went on and on about class participation. I am not really sure what we will be learning so I can’t say much about that course yet. That’s enough about classes because they just started. With the first two days of classes out of the way that only leaves one thing left...homework!

Thank you so much for reading this, I know it’s a lot. I hope I was able to portray a small view of what my semester in Philadelphia will be like!