Project Description

Expectations

Published: August 19, 2013

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about moving.

The stranger

Philadelphia is big, like 1.5 million residents big. That’s more than 3 times the size of Omaha! If you include people living in the surrounding areas in both cities, then Philadelphia has more than 6 million people and Omaha has something like 900,000. With that in mind, Philadelphia is at least 6 times the size of Omaha! I’ve been told things in big cities move faster, and people in big cities tend to not appreciate a good meandering. Maybe people living in big cities like Philadelphia always have someplace else to be no matter where they’re at.

If things in big cities do truly move faster, then I expect the people I encounter in Philadelphia to be more impatient than I’m used to. I expect I’ll be ignored by a lot of the people I pass on streets. I expect Philadelphia residents will generally keep to themselves. If I’m not on someone’s agenda, then I expect I’ll be viewed as an obstacle.

That sounds kind of bleak, doesn’t it? Obviously I’m generalizing. I hope living in a big city doesn’t negatively change the ways I act toward those I don’t have personal relationships with.

The tourist

I expect to feel like a tourist the first few weeks I live in Philadelphia. There are a lot of cool, old things to appreciate there, and I plan on appreciating the hell out of all of them.

Danny, what are doing?

Taking a picture of this really cool thing.

Those are chipped bricks in the side of a building.

They’re 300-year-old chipped bricks in the side of a 300-year-old building!

The hiker

I expect to fall in love with the walkability of Philadelphia. In my ideal future, I won’t have to own a car because I’ll live within biking distance of everything I need. Owning a car is crazy expensive, and if I plan my life right, I think owning one will be completely unnecessary. Living in Philadelphia will allow me to put the practicality of my no car dream to the test.

The socialite

I expect to find tons of people everywhere all the time. Walk outside 6am, what do I see? People doing stuff. Walk outside 2pm, what do I see? People doing stuff. Walk outside 4am, what do I see? Maybe someone getting mugged, but also a lot of people doing stuff.

There’s going to be a whole lot of activity on Penn’s campus, and there’s going to be even more activity in the city surrounding the campus. There will probably always be something new for me to do. If I can force myself to get out and try new things, I’ll never be bored.

I expect a lot of countries to be represented by students at Penn. If I socialize hard enough, it’s completely feasible for me to make friends from multiple continents. I’ve never stepped foot outside the U.S., and I will freely admit I’m ignorant about much of the world. Besides traveling internationally, I can’t think of a better way to absorb information about a country or culture than to talk to people who call that country and culture home.

The scholar

I expect the dorms I’ll be living in to be a pretty quiet place. I’ll be living among other grad students mostly, so I expect there to be a lot of studying happening. Grad students spend all their time studying, right? Man, I hope the dorms are quiet.

The friend

I expect to have a lot in common with my classmates in the CGGT program. The program is niche–you probably want to work in the entertainment industry. The program is small–I’ve been told there are fewer than 20 incoming students this year. The curriculum is very guided–most CGGTers will have all their classes together. This combination of spending a lot of time with each other and being passionate about the same kinds of things makes me hopeful that I’ll form lifelong friendships with many of my classmates.

The encyclopedia

I expect I’ll be answering a lot of questions about Nebraska and the Midwest. Coming from Nebraska, I’ll probably be seen as a novelty in Philadelphia.

The soloist

I don’t think I’ll get homesick. I love my family more than anything, and I will miss them dearly, but I’ll be taking their support with me to Philadelphia. I love my friends, and while there is no substitute for spending time with them in-person, we are far too close to lose touch. I appreciate everyone and everything that has led me to this point in my life. It’s a difficult thing to surrender familiarity, but I feel ready to go out on my own.

That’s a lot of different hats. I hope they all fit.

Cheers.

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Image credit: David Marcu