Here is what I got up to from the 1st to the 15th of May – my last two weeks living on campus at Penn…
🍽 Dinner and Study 🍕
Part of the requirements for first (freshman) and second (sophomore) year students is that they have to be on a meal plan. Members of the Christian Union with meal plans will arrange for end of semester dinners, an opportunity for those of us with left over meals to swipe in upperclassmen so precious guest swipes don’t go to waste. It was really fun catching up for massive dinners and it was a great study break! After, many of us would go to a lecture hall where we would grind out some study!
⛸ Ice Skating ⛸
Some friend and I went ice skating at the Penn rink. In hindsight, I really regret not taking advantage of the rink, especially as there are so few in Australia! I would have had to invest in some solid ice skates though, as my broad feet felt like they were loosing circulation far too often.
✝️ Outdoor Church 🌳
At RCC’s Church building, we are doing some construction to have a better area downstairs for the children ministry. Because of this, we have to vacate the building whilst the construction is underway. So we could keep meeting up as a Church family, we started congreating at Lemon Hill park, which is actually where the Church met during COVID.
It was really nice meeting outside for Church, especially given that the weather had been warming up!
⚾️ Phillies Dollar Dog Night 🌭
On the 9th of May, some of my friends joined me to the Phillies dollar dog night. You heard me correct – hot dogs for only one dollar! I can’t remember how many hot dogs I ate, but it was a lot – especially considering that I had just come from a Penn dinning hall dinner to use up my last few dinning swipes…
The game was against the Toronto Blue Jays, and happily the Phillies won the game!
☀️ Seniors Trip 🏖
I was so thankful to join my senior friends on the seniors trip on the 10th and 11th of May to New Jersey.
First we drove to Wildwood beach where we played spike ball, football, a soccer-esque game, and of course we also swam. Despite it being spring, the water was freezing and numbing!
After, we went for a walk on the boardwalk, and then had dinner. At the restaurant they had daily deals, and the deal when we were there was for five dollar pretzel cheesesteaks – a real bargain!
For accomodation, we were grateful to sleep at Collin’s Church. It was really fun! I put together a row of seats to create a make-shift bed. The seats did fail me during the middle of the night, but I still had a decent sleep 🤣
The next morning we went to a park where we had a picnic, and played more spike ball. Overall, it was a real fun get away with my friends!
🎓 Graduation 🎓
Over the 14th and 15th of May, many of my friends were graduating. I was delighted to be at my friend Jehuda’s graduation party, and to meet his family.
On the 15th, I went to commencement (well, the end of it), where Joe Biden was in attendance because his granddaughter was graduating. It was strange having to go through the secret service security gate, and I was disappointed that I wasn’t allowed to bring my Boston creme donuts with me.
After commencement, my friends were treated to a yummy Chinese dinner by Jehuda’s parents which was a special way to wrap up the ceremonies.
⭐️ Other Highlights ⭐️
- Another Penn museum trip.
- Dinner with Jack, Carson and his dad.
- Cinco de mayo dancing.
- Dinner with Sofia.
- Dinner with international students.
- Kahoot…
- Farewell breakfast with Max.
- Ice-cream with Alex.
- Penn baseball vs Cornell.
- Seniors dinner (yes, lots of dinners).
- Catching up with my friend Jimmy, who was a fellow teaching assistant for CIT5950.
- Coffee with Ryan.
With the 15th of May came my last sleep in my dorm room. Although it was sad to move out, it meant that my USA travel was just about to begin…
