The Best of Both Worlds

As pointed out by multiple faculty and students, Swarthmore really is the "best of both worlds." We headed out this morning on the train again to arrive in the very cute town of Swarthmore around 9:15 AM. We then proceeded to eat breakfast at a small diner called Vicky's Place. I found the diner to also be very cute and we felt as if we were in an older movie as we ate our hot cakes and french toast. It was very delicious, to say the least. We then walked a quick five minutes over to Swarthmore College. My first impression was that it seemed very homey which proved to be true during our tour. 

Our guide was very enthusiastic, as were all the people we spoke to who studied or worked at Swarthmore. She told us personal stories as well as campus stories, such as the huge chair. It was originally a prank; A student built this giant version of all the chairs they have around the campus and moved every chair near it looking as if they were bowing down. The administrators loved it so much, they kept the chair and then later hired him as an art instructor!

The school has a lot to offer. There are countless clubs, a small faculty to student ratio and of course, the beautiful campus. This is, however, what we've said about every school we've seen.

This school seemed extremely close-knit. There were rules about including all 1500 students and lots of ways they kept the underclassmen and upperclassmen interacting. The social life there seemed amazing and fun.

There were also some unique aspects of the academics. For example, in your first semester as a Freshman all classes are on a pass/fail grading system in order to give students more of a chance to grow accustomed to college life. 

After travelling back to Philadelphia, we had some down time during which Audrey and I spent getting supplies for our class starting Monday, finishing up and reviewing some pre-reading material for our Social Justice course and hanging out around the hotel.

We met up for dinner at 6:00 PM and walked over to Distritos, which is owned by Iron Chef star Jose Garces. It was probably the best Mexican food I have ever had and I was very impressed. The atmosphere was fun and inviting and I enjoyed it a lot. Throughout the dinner, I was imagining my family and I eating there if they all came to visit me as a student in Philadelphia. I think this proved to myself how much I can see myself going to UPENN. I had a great time today and am feeling especially grateful to the people who made this experience possible for us.