Welcome to Philadelphia

So, it's been an interesting few weeks here. The humidity seem to have broken for the most part, which makes it more than bearable to go outside in the daytime. It also makes my gum less gooey. In Utah, my gum would dry out if I didn't chew it soon enough after opening the package. Out here, it absorbs water from the air. I learned not to carry gum in my pocket on humid days, and was complaining to Eric (a fellow first year who also lives in Summit Park) about the result. His response: Welcome to Philadelphia.

My Utah license plates stand out like a sore thumb. Yesterday when I came out of the salon after getting a haircut, there was a teenage girl taking a picture with her phone of my license plates. I didn't notice what she was doing until after I went to unlock my car. I think I scared her to death. I could tell she was embarrassed, so I attempted to flash a reassuring smile.

So far, people here have been very nice to me. At Home Depot, a fellow noticed I was from Utah, and walked over to welcome me to the city. He asked where I was going to be attending school, and was excited to tell me that Temple was his alma mater. And last, but not least, the night I rolled into town, some of the people in my apartment building were out playing bean bags. They pretty much unpacked my car and carried stuff into the apartment in 5 minutes flat. When I thanked them for their help one of the dudes told me, "No problem. That's how we do it in PA."

That's all I have time for now. I'm going to take some photos and post them in the next couple of days. I have my first day of orientation on Thursday, and then classes start on monday!