Day 9 - A Day in Philly

A few things about today:

1) It is quite difficult to blog from an iPhone. I am not complaining, because I am eternally grateful for it, but without Wi-Fi in the hotel, my poor thumb fingers are working overtime on this touch screen.

2) I am forever a city girl. I love Philly. Minus the cheesesteaks, which really just seem like heart attacks waiting to happen. But no offense if you like that sort of thing!

3) Today we toured the Constitution Center and the Liberty Bell. I learned some fun facts today. For instance, we celebrate the 4th of July as a mistake. The idea to declare independence was voted on on the 2nd, written in draft form on the 4th, and signed quite a while later-I believe the tour guide said in August. On a side note, I received a huge copy of the Declaration of Independence, and all the s's are written as f's. Funny how the English language has evolved over the years.

4) Things I learned in school are actually quite useful. Hearing about our nation's history and visiting some of these historical locations was really exciting because I could finally make a physical link between the places I'd heard about in school and where I stood. Parts of the tour and of the exhibits I was able to recognize from classes at school. Thank you Mr. McHugh, Mr. Cook, and Mr. Murphy!

5) Afterward, we were able to tour the city, go shopping, and just spend time together. My friends and I wandered down Walnut St and Chestnut St, browsing some of the shops for a little bit. I thought it was really interesting how some of the things they thought were expensive in Europe were considerably cheaper here (ie. Nike or Adidas) and things they were used to in Europe were more expensive (ie. Zara). It was honestly just exciting watching them get excited about buying presents for friends or family, or just for themselves.

6) On a more serious note, I also realized how dangerous cities could be. While we mostly traveled in packs, one of my friends had an incident in which she disappeared for a few hours and nobody knew where she was. There were some scary rumors about strange men accompanying her, but she's back safely, and thank God she's alright.

7) I was really able to get to know Adam from Poland better today, and we took photos together! He's really passionate about the arts (and in fact, when we were choosing labs for the next week, he crossed out all the other options except for the arts and expression one!), and it was fun to watch him find different commonplace things to be so beautiful.

8) I bought my first two piece bathing suit. Consequently, it was used in the pool not too later. Two security guards showed up. I suppose we were a little rowdy.

"I am in a pool. What do you do in a pool? I don't know." - Wouder-Jan

9) When I went on a run today, my ankle popped and has been throbbing a little. Hopefully it will get better soon. I'm glad that Anathea and Gunes are healing at a relatively quick rate though.

10) I remember that a few lunches ago, Wouder-Jan and I had a talk about homeless people and beggars in our respective countries of origin. I told him that my philosophy was not to give money to people, but help them get what they really need, like food or shelter. I thought that this was more effective than just giving money, because of high levels of alcoholism and substance abuse-my giving of money could just fuel the flame. Kat had a slightly different opinion, advocating for giving money to those who beg for it in some cases, and leaving it up to the beggars to make the right choice to utilize it. I think she does have a valid point. But today, many people came up and asked for money. When I asked them what they wanted it for, some of them were flustered and walked away or cursed at me. But one man sticks out in my mind-the man I met outside my dinner at a McDonald's. He asked for money and when I asked him why, he said it was because he was hungry and hadn't eaten. So I had some money from my stipend and with the money he had also garnered during the day, we bought him a Big Mac and a sweet tea. Just a thought.

11) I love Au Bon Pain. Brings back memories of traveling for debate.

12) I also convinced someone that I was from the UK today. It was bloody hilarious.

13) Tomorrow we leave for DC! Ciao.