My day began bright and early at 6:00 AM. Despite being dead tired, I was really excited for what the day had in store. Not only we would not only be visiting Independence Hall, but we would also be touring our first Ivy Le age college--the University of Pennsylvania.
After everyone arrived in the hotel lobby, we quickly began to head off towards the subway; stopping only to pick up a quick breakfast from one of the local coffee shops. After breakfast, we boarded our train and set off to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, since I was so tired, I spent most of the train ride napping. However, when I was awake, I was able to see the beautiful landscapes of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
When we arrived in Pennsylvania, we quickly headed off to Independence Hall. We were promptly met with a tour guide who provided us with a very informative, albeit brief the history of the formation of our country of course the Declaration of Independence. After our tour at Independence Hall we explored the nearby Constitution Hall where we learned about things such as the happenings of the original US senate, the inauguration of second president, John Adams, and the political mishaps and corruption of the late 1700s. When our tour of Independence Hall concluded, we then set for lunch.
For lunch we met with Admissions Officer David Toomer and current UPenn students Amy Smith, Monique Sager, and Ross Karlan at a Mexican restaurant called the Distrito. As I enjoyed my lunch of nachos ignacio and chicken tacos, I talked with Mr. Toomer and Monique about UPenn's admission procedures as well as what majors the school offered. After lunch our party made our way to UPenn, where we set to begin yet another tour.
As soon as I stepped onto the school's campus I was amazed by how big and beautiful everything was. One thing that I really love about UPenn is it's campus; the entire school is magnificent historical and it's facilities seem to be both state of the art, while still being able to capture the school's proud history.
We soon joined other tour groups in a informative seminar about the UPenn experience. Today I learned that UPenn is made up of four main departments--Engineering and Applied Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Wharton--which serves as their business department--and Nursing, with Arts and Sciences being the largest of the four. I also learned that everyday, a service is held to commemorate their founder, Ben Franklin. During the summer, students are also expected to either take summer classes or take up a summer job on campus.
After the informative seminar was over, we were assigned a tour guide and given an in-depth tour on UPenn's main facilities and their history. Places that we visiting included the University's many libraries, Wharton Hall, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and courtyard. During the tour, our tour guide, who was also a current student informed us about UPenn his experiences at the school as well as the many helpful student policies that made his stay to enjoyable.
Another thing that I think is great about UPenn seems to really care about making sure that students' educational experience is as great as possible. UPenn provides services such as providing students with advisers and mentors to help provide the students with anything they may need help with, offering many financial aid programs, allowing students who would be living on campus to organize their own living arrangements, and even the option to request clubs or foreign languages that are currently not available within the school. UPenn's method of putting a lot of effort into making their school affordable, comfortable, and accessible is definitively one of the things that makes this school stand out.
When the tour finally ended at 3:15, we left to return to our hotel room to prepare for our quickly approaching dinner. Tonight, we dined at Petrossian, an elegant French restaurant in downtown New York. As my cohorts and I conversed over our thoughts of UPenn, our respective schools, and academics, I enjoyed a nice meal of pan seared duck. I even got the chance to try caviar tonight! Honestly, for unfertilized fish eggs on toast, it was really delicious and it was certainly better than I was expecting. For dessert, I shared a lovely little piece of chocolate cake and raspberry with Mrs. L. After dinner was over, we took the subway back home and returned to our rooms for some well deserved rest.
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