At last we have finally made it to the East Coast. After all of the essays, interviews, and applications, the reward has finally arrived. Although we may leave the only home that we come to know behind, I find strength in the knowledge that this experience will bring to me.
Throughout the day we spent all of our time in airports and airplanes in an exhausting endeavor to reach our destination. Despite all of the chaos of traveling, we have already come to realize the vast differences between the East Coast and the West Coast. Everything is much faster and more aggressive here. At the airport we stopped for some lunch in Chicago where there was a complex network of organization within the restaurant. People were shouting orders left and right and somehow the employees managed to avoid error in every single order. If there had been a similar situation back home, there is no way that the workers could maintain their composure so efficiently. It was amazing to see the East Coast in action for the first time.
Another theme that our cohort has noticed is the vast network of brick buildings here in Philadelphia. My first instinct was to assume that the majority of the buildings were not structurally capable of surviving an earthquake. However, I quickly reminded myself that there is not nearly as much seismic activity here in this part of the country. I thought that was a funny little mistake on my part, but I need at least some slack, its only the first day.
Tomorrow we begin our first real day with a tour of UPENN with Dyana So. The weather is supposed to be a little bit better tomorrow and we will soon learn the true definition of summer heat of the East Coast. Maybe we will get lucky and avoid the isolated thunderstorms that plagued us today.
All you have to do, Mike, is look at photos from the San Francisco earthquake of ’06 or any other California quakes and you’ll understand without question why unreinforced brick buildings and earthquake country simply do not go with each other.
ReplyDeleteYou’re so lucky to have Dyana So escorting you. She always has everything dialed in. Dyana is by far one of the best ILCers we’ve ever had.
Dyana was great at dinner tonight. Very informative. Mike, I was impressed by your remark today about the brick, really makes you realize that if an earthquake on the east coast (like the one in DC 3 years ago) happened can easily freak people out. The Washington Monument in DC is still closed 3 years later due to repairs from that, in bay area terms, small earthquake.
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