The day began like any other... except 6 hours earlier. A quick shower, a quick breakfast, and off we went to ECHS. After weighing in our luggage and a quick speech from Don, we took our cohort photo. It wasn't until right before we boarded the van that it struck me that I wouldn't be home again for almost a month.
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| Yes, that is a complementary Ipad |
We actually arrived at the airport before the baggage checking booths and security lines opened. Luckily it was only a short wait. Then once we set up at our terminal we went for some breakfast. I ordered a breakfast burrito and was extremely pleased. The flight was a blur as I tried, half awake, to read about Plato's philosophies. After we arrived in Philadelphia I finally felt awake and ready to go. After a short car ride we arrived at our hotel. Unfortunately there was a mixup in the payments for the rooms and we ended up waiting as our fearless chaperone, Alfredo, boldly championed our cause. Finally an agreement was reached and we continued to our rooms. Our rooms are somewhat impressive, each coming equipped with an Ipad 2, a flat-screen TV, thousands of channels, and free WiFi.
After accommodating ourselves to our rooms we took a brief, yet pleasant walk around the area in search of snacks, and came back with only one bottle of water. Despite our lack of success, I enjoyed the chance to see the area and start getting to know Philadelphia.
I spent the next few hours before dinner with Frank in our room, watching sitcoms, getting situated, and of course blogging. For our first East Coast dinner we ate at Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House.I ordered what was advertised as a 32 oz. steak, and even though it was more of a 22 oz. steak with a 10 oz. bone I still enjoyed it. Now all that is left for tonight is to relax, watch some basketball, listen to some music, and read some Plato. It should be fun.
Then tomorrow its off to UPenn for our campus tour and dinner.
Eric,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the real world. Even ordering a 2 lb steak takes some hefty huevos. That’s a lot of meat and I;m betting it came with a hefty price. How many scholarships will we have to cancel to pay for your steak?
I’ve mentioned it in other blogs but the screwup with the rooms was not at our end. We paid for the rooms--many thousands of dollars--back on May 16th and the hotel promptly cashed our check. They just forgot to give us credit for the money we gave them. Thankfully your chaperone took charge, called me and I was able to get the right people on top of it so you weren’t thrown out on the streets. [None of this would have been fixed if our great support staff at District Headquarters weren’t on top of things.]