Welcome to Hogwarts!

Today was the cohorts’ first official university tour outside of UPENN.  We took multiple trains into New Jersey to visit Princeton University.  I was surprised at how rural the surroundings were on the way to the university.  It was like traveling back in time to an era where skyscrapers and cities didn't exist and everything was only a small town.  I also noticed that no matter where we went there was always water on the ground and rust on every square inch of metal.  This was no surprise due to the humidity, however I didn't like the way that everything looked old and dilapidated.  Thankfully though the university was much more maintained than the countryside even if it was much older than its surrounding buildings.    

Before today, I had never really given any thought about attending Princeton, but now it has jumped into my top ten university choices.  The campus was incredibly magnificent and awe-inspiring.  It was as if the Harry Potter movies had designed the set for Hogwarts solely on the Princeton campus. Castle-like buildings and towers flank every corner while at the same time there was a collection of modern day buildings that blended seamlessly with the rest of the campus.  It was a real pleasure to see the change of pace in architecture compared to Philadelphia.  I also appreciated the slower nature of the smaller college town compared to the big city campus style.

In addition to the campus size, the school itself was also superb.  I found it very interesting that Albert Einstein gave a few lectures at Princeton.  It seems somewhat ironic that I am here on the East Coast for a physics course and one of the universities that we visited housed Albert Einstein, one of the most famous physicists in the world.

I also appreciated the fact that the university puts most of its time and resources into the undergraduates.  Mr Hillyer pointed out that most universities put their emphasis on their graduate programs and brush the undergraduates off to the side.  This is a very unique feature to Princeton that captured my interest the most.  As an undergraduate, any additional help from the university would help greatly. 

As for an end to this adventurous day, we had a little run in with nature.  One moment it was sunny and hot with only partial cloud coverage.  Then we decided to go to the market across the street and all of a sudden it was as if the wrath of god had begun to rain down on us.  In the time it took to just cross the street we were soaked to the point to where it appeared as if we had fallen into a pool with our clothes on.  Although we needed to immediately change clothing, it was still a fun moment.  I personally found it hilarious that we had been caught in such a torrential downpour.