Vonnegut and Train Rides

I want to explain first that I'll talk about today in two blogs. The first (this one) will be a basic recap of what I did, what I think and how I feel. The second, which I will post in the next few days (when I have some free time) will be a full blog detailing my thoughts on and experience at UPenn. I took a lot of notes and photos while there, and I feel that it deserves its own separate post.

I woke up today at about 6:30AM and we all met up in the lobby at about 7:15. Today wasn't too hot, and we didn't have to wear formal clothes for a while, so I dressed very casually. We headed down to the subway and went down to Penn station, where we bought breakfast. In case you were wondering, I got an onion bagel with cream cheese, along with a glazed doughnut and a lemonade. Before I could finish eating, we had to board the train headed for Pennsylvania. On the way down I read Kurt Vonnegut's Jailbird. In between chapters, I snapped these shots.

We were going pretty fast

                                                                     

It took about an hour to get down to Pennsylvania. The train station in Philadelphia was beautiful.

After thoroughly exploring the edifice, we hailed a couple of cabs and headed down to Independence Hall. There, we met up with the Cornell cohort, who we took the tour with. In Independence Hall, a series of tour guides led us through the history that this place holds. For a time, this was the capital of our young nation, and was the site of many historic events, such as the signing of the Constitution, the first Congressional meetings and the transition of presidency from George Washington to John Adams.

Our group mixing with the Cornell students

After the tour, we caught some more cabs and headed down to Distrito restaurant, where we had lunch with UPenn students, alumni, and administrators who work at the office of admissions. I didn't take any photos during the meal, but here are a few shots that I took on the ride there.

I really like this photo

Morvarid in the cab next to us

I had a great time at lunch. Lucas and I sat by Ross, a current student at Penn, and Amy, a recent Alumni. They told us a lot about Penn's curriculum, and life in Philidalphia. They really peaked my interest.

After we ate, they walked us over to the campus, where we would attend an info session and recieve a full tour. Like I said at the beginning, I'll cover my thoughts on Penn in another blog, but I to sum it up, I loved it.

When the tour was over, we met up with the Cornell group one last time just to chill. After a few minutes of relaxing, we decided to make our move and go our separate ways. We made our way over to the train station and boarded our ticket home.

Back at the hotel, we got dressed in business attire for dinner. Once again, we went to a very nice restaurant to enjoy a meal with just the seven of us. The place was called Petrossion, and unlikely Keens Steakhouse, which was very old, this place was incredibly modern. I had the steak, and finished it off with some creme brulee.

Now, I'm back at the hotel, tired. I literally took over 400 photos today; I narrowed it down to about 100 and decided to only use these 30 for the blog. I'll put up the UPenn blog soon. Goodnight everybody.